FNG Exclusive Interview… We thought that this would be a good opportunity to catch up with Managing Director and Global Head of FXCM Pro Sales Mario Sanchez, as FXCM Pro is looking forward to attending the Finance Magnates London Summit from 22 November through 23 November. FXCM invites everyone to come and speak to its team at booth #69 about how its strategic partnerships and market-leading solutions provide clients with competitive pricing, innovative products and best-in-class market access.

FNG: Hi Mario. We are approaching the end of 2022, what are some of your highlights from the past year?

Mario: In recent months, big swings in global currencies such as the euro’s decline against the dollar have created opportunities for investors, driving many towards the FX market.

In line with our ‘Client First, Trader Driven’ mantra, in 2022 we have made our pricing more competitive than ever before. We further reduced spreads on major currency pairs and CFDs for our institutional clients, providing added value to our clients trading activities.

We are also continuously innovating and our new CFD Prime service is a testament to our desire to cater for the unmet needs of market participants. It brings the netting, rollover fee, and margin benefits enjoyed in the FX market to those trading CFD products, something never-before-seen in the trading ecosystem.

FNG: Tell us more about your innovative CFD Prime offering.

Mario: The benefits of CFD Prime are numerous and extensive, providing an all-encompassing product that levels up the experience of those trading in CFDs on our platform.

Our customers also benefit from FXCM’s real-time support, which features CFD Prime dedicated coverage, account management and trading teams. It also includes real-time comprehensive portfolio, risk, performance and account reporting using FXCM’s well-established infrastructure. They can also make seamless transfers between FX and CFD prime brokerage accounts held at FXCM.

FXCM CFD Prime is underpinned by market-leading trading technology that allows more market participants to connect and trade with the broadest range of counterparties. By eliminating bilateral credit as a barrier to the market, many can access core CFD liquidity more efficiently.

FNG: The prime of prime model has grown in popularity over the past year, what do you think is driving this?

Mario: For a long time, clearing within prime brokerage has been dominated by large tier-one banks. This trend has reversed in recent years as prime banks reassessed their eligibility criteria for prime clients. In some cases, they have withdrawn their services as they seek to manage their credit and risk management processes.

The result was considerably tighter credit conditions for some prime clients, particularly small and medium-sized trading institutions.

FXCM Prime identified a gap in the market for a prime-of-prime service aimed at small-to-medium sized non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs). It acts as a neutral intermediary and facilitates an all-to-all trading model, whereby users can act as both liquidity providers and liquidity takers.

Crucially, our technology provides direct market access with centralized clearing. This allows our customers to source liquidity from more than 10 professional trading venues through a single account.

FNG: How important are partners to your business?

Mario: We continue to invest in proprietary technology and partner with specialist vendors to provide clients with a market-leading trading experience.

A prime example of this is our partnership with MaxxTrader, which ensures we offer an end-to-end wholesale execution and order management system. This is complemented with robust technology, customised solutions and competitive pricing from tier 1 liquidity providers.

By onboarding clients with MaxxTrader across the Equinix LD4 hosting centre, we provide our customers with enhanced trading execution alongside significant cost-savings through low-latency solutions.

These technology partnerships contribute to FXCM Pro’s ability to offer one of the most competitive pricing models in the market with ultra-low latency and optimised connectivity.

Speak to our team about how to transform your FX trading business.

FNG: You will be attending the Finance Magnates Summit London 2022 conference later this month. What are you looking forward to?

Mario: There is something special about in-person events where people gather together, share ideas and help drive the industry forward. It’s a chance for us to catch up with old friends and new clients and have conversations and debates about where the industry will go next.

The Finance Magnates London Summit 2022 will serve as a catalyst for collaboration and idea-sharing as we recap on the learnings of 2022 and cast our eyes to the future.

FNG: FXCM CEO, Brendan Callan, will be speaking on a panel about online trading. What sort of topics will he cover?

Mario: The ‘Online Trading, A Futurist Look’ panel has a strong line up of experts and will take place during an interesting time in the world of online trading.

Financial markets have experienced extreme volatility in recent months. For example, in FX, the dollar surged to 20-year highs while the pound and euro slumped to 50- and 20-year lows respectively. This, combined with volatility across other asset classes such as stocks and commodities, has created opportunities for all types of traders, driving an online trading boom.

Other interesting online trading trends include changing hedging and risk management approaches, rising popularity of prime of prime offerings, growing importance of market data, the increasing use of algos and the debate around 24/7 trading. There really is plenty of ground to cover and we look forward to seeing you all there.

If you’re attending Finance Magnates London Summit from 22 November to 23 November, get in touch today to set up a meeting with the FXCM Pro team.

The information is intended for institutional and professional clients only.