Following IS Prime’s recent announcement about our partnership with Pelican Trading to integrate their social copy-trading technology into our trading platforms, it’s worth exploring some of the potential issues that copy trading can raise for both retail brokers and Liquidity Providers (LPs), and how IS Prime helps address those issues.

Barry Flanigan, head of Electronic Trading Solutions (ETS) at IS Prime, talks to eForex magazine about the pitfalls of purely focusing on spreads.

April saw broker volumes fall off significantly from the near-record numbers recorded in February and March. Profits, though down as well, were respectable as a result primarily of mid-month moves in oil markets that saw prices fall briefly into negative territory. Profits were also buoyed by movements in gold and US indices. Oil prices will likely be in focus again in May as we approach the expiration of this month’s futures contract.

Nonfarm Friday is a day that used to be quite exciting for trading desks and traders alike, although the last couple years have been somewhat sleepy. After hovering in a tight range for an extended period of time, US Nonfarm Payroll figures dropped by 700,000 in the April release.

New products could potentially save brokers from losing millions of dollars

The last year has not been a particularly easy one for brokers. Increasing costs associated with regulatory compliance, lack of volatility in the markets, falling revenues, tighter margins and now, on top of all of that, the impacts of COVID-19, are taking their toll.

The recent rise in market volatility has left all brokers susceptible to being taken advantage of by predatory traders but this is particularly true for startups and smaller brokers. While the opportunities for traders to attempt to exploit brokers have always existed, current market conditions have exacerbated the risk with strategies ranging from weekend gap loading to depth of book and spread arbitrage.

Tuesday 14 April 2020 - IS Prime Hong Kong, part of the ISAM Capital Markets Group, has appointed Antony Tan as Vice President – Trading Solutions, Asia. Tan joins IS Prime Hong Kong from Invast Global where he was Head of Dealing Services.

Volume totals in March matched the strong numbers from February, though daily figures trailed off late in the month. Daily profit figures also softened in the second half of the month, but monthly totals exceeded February as volatility in a broad range of markets brought strong early month results. After the turbulent market movements in February and March, volatility will likely continue while markets try to discover their true bottom. 

Like many firms across the Globe, the IS Prime team is now working from home and adjusting to a new way of living and working.