Exclusive:
Retail traders can now design, backtest and work together to develop algos historically available only to banks and hedge funds
Hedge funds and interbank dealers no longer have an advantage over retail traders with more capital to design algos and trading systems to beat the market
There is no doubt that today’s retail traders bear very little similarity to the retail traders that existed en masse even as recently as the end of the last decade.
Just under a decade ago, the MetaTrader 4 platform had already rocketed to ubiquity. At that time, however, its format was a closed system, not designed to connect retail traders to a live marketplace. Instead, it was integral to the dealing desk software, hence the counterparty was always the house.
Back then, FX trading was in its infancy on the retail market as a global proposition, bringing to fruition thousands of new brokerages in unregulated jurisdictions. It targeted a global audience of uninitiated novices, with startup costs of just $5,000 for a white label license and a monthly service fee.
The market connectivity, trade reporting, post-trade settlement, aggregated price feeds and decades of experience required to negotiate prime brokerage relationships with banks were anathema to the owners of the plethora of brokerages that appeared at the time; to all of the customers said brokerages onboarded, these prerequisites were completely foreign.
Unlike the experienced British and American entrants to the retail electronic trading world — such as FXCM, GAIN Capital, IG Group, CMC Markets and Matchbook FX — whose proprietary trading platforms, experienced developers and market experts set them apart as industry benchmarks, the new MetaTrader 4 firms were there to capitalize on untouched territories.
Evolution has been rapid, however, and whilst the MetaTrader 4 platform is still used by the customers of over 1,231 firms globally, that is the only similarity between the brokerages of the early millennial years and today.
With the evolution has come the experienced retail trader.
Charting software, news and analytics, ten years of experience and prominence in a global marketplace and an understanding among the financially astute as to the mechanics of trade execution are now prominent factors. Regulators globally have implemented specific directives aimed at ensuring that companies educate and inform their customers. Forums, research and insights into how retail trading systems operate proliferate the internet.
INFO : Finance Feeds
Retail traders can now design, backtest and work together to develop algos historically available only to banks and hedge funds
Hedge funds and interbank dealers no longer have an advantage over retail traders with more capital to design algos and trading systems to beat the market
Attached Image
There is no doubt that today’s retail traders bear very little similarity to the retail traders that existed en masse even as recently as the end of the last decade.
Just under a decade ago, the MetaTrader 4 platform had already rocketed to ubiquity. At that time, however, its format was a closed system, not designed to connect retail traders to a live marketplace. Instead, it was integral to the dealing desk software, hence the counterparty was always the house.
Back then, FX trading was in its infancy on the retail market as a global proposition, bringing to fruition thousands of new brokerages in unregulated jurisdictions. It targeted a global audience of uninitiated novices, with startup costs of just $5,000 for a white label license and a monthly service fee.
The market connectivity, trade reporting, post-trade settlement, aggregated price feeds and decades of experience required to negotiate prime brokerage relationships with banks were anathema to the owners of the plethora of brokerages that appeared at the time; to all of the customers said brokerages onboarded, these prerequisites were completely foreign.
Unlike the experienced British and American entrants to the retail electronic trading world — such as FXCM, GAIN Capital, IG Group, CMC Markets and Matchbook FX — whose proprietary trading platforms, experienced developers and market experts set them apart as industry benchmarks, the new MetaTrader 4 firms were there to capitalize on untouched territories.
Evolution has been rapid, however, and whilst the MetaTrader 4 platform is still used by the customers of over 1,231 firms globally, that is the only similarity between the brokerages of the early millennial years and today.
With the evolution has come the experienced retail trader.
Charting software, news and analytics, ten years of experience and prominence in a global marketplace and an understanding among the financially astute as to the mechanics of trade execution are now prominent factors. Regulators globally have implemented specific directives aimed at ensuring that companies educate and inform their customers. Forums, research and insights into how retail trading systems operate proliferate the internet.
INFO : Finance Feeds
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