ISSUE #18
BRILLIANT BARAKAT! Rebranding was only the first step: What’s coming next for SquaredDirect.
GAME CHANGERS
DIRECTORY O1
Note from the editor
O2
Youssef Barakat
O3
Lola Negmatova
O4
George Agathangelou
O5
Calvin Morris
O6
Raj Reddy
O7
View from the top. 03
SquaredDirect. 04-06
GCTV. 07-08
Nakamoto’s Den. 09-11
Pheasant Tech. 12-13
Starting Brokerage. 14-16
Thomas Papapolyzos, Stathis Xenos & Stelios Choumas a-quant. 17-19
VIEW FROM THE TOP This month has been an incredibly busy month with the Hong Kong expo (write up next month.) and the launch of our first video on GCTV with the magnificent Tom Higgins from Gold-i. We are really happy with the feedback from the Prime Time show, however there is still a lot a long way to go to fulfil the vision of having a show that represents the ethos of the Game Changers brand. I am writing this from the foyer of the Gloucester Luk Kwok hotel in Hong Kong, where the past 6 days have been a mixture of meeting new friends and old, and of course massive amounts of jet lag! In this months edition we have CEO of Youseff Barakat the CEO of Squared Financial. After a successful re brand we catch up with him to see his thoughts. My good friends from Pheasant Tech who I will have the pleasure of meeting in person in the coming months. It is always great to get the thoughts of tech providers from different regions.
Having taken the long journey over to Hong Kong, I had the absolute pleasure to meet with Game Changers staple Raj Reddy. We had a magnificent meal and he and his team were wonderful company in a great restaurant.
I am also incredibly happy to have mt presenting partner for GCTV Lola Negmatova make her first appearance in Game Changers.You will be able to see the tour de force that is Ms Negmatova in future editions of Prime Time.
Last but definitely not least, we have the good gentlemen from A-Quant make another appearance in this months edition.
We were incredibly happy to be offered the role of media partner for the next big expo to hit Cyprus and the Crypto Sphere. Nakamotos Den will bring the quality of the ICO world to our amazing Island. In the next issue and in GCTV we will have some world class content from then event.
Many thanks to all those who contributed and I met at the expo, I am looking forward to battling the jet lag on the reverse trip. Have a great month!
Paul ORFORD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
P-3
SquaredDirect YOUSSEF BARAKAT CEO at SquaredDirect.
Q I have never worked in marketing. How hard is it to rebrand a brokerage? Rebranding is always a challenge. Like all challenges, it can be hard but not impossible. To happen successfully, it requires thorough planning and excellent coordination of every department in the company. Marketing is responsible for reimagining the brand. They conceptualize and design the new identity and corporate image. After designs are finalized the other departments are responsible for proper implementation. There are a lot of changes happening for each department respectively so everyone needs to quickly adapt. After implementation is over its back to marketing again, for making our current and future customers aware of the change that has taken place and to actively start promoting our new brand in the market. There’s a process to it as you can see. The better you manage to streamline this process the better the workflow and the overall result. Q ProbusFX was very well recognised, why did you choose to rebrand? We made the decision to pair-up with our sister company, SquaredPro, which has been successfully servicing institutional customers and professional traders for over a decade, to form the Squared Financial Group of companies. The reason behind this decision was the rise of interest in our industry for premier financial services, custom online trading solutions and trusted customer support. This company restructuring required the creation of a new identity to be shared by all members of our group. By being in the same group with our sister company, SquaredPro, we are now able to provide the best selection of financial services available in the markets today. These changes will give our company a fresh new start in achieving our long-term goals which include business expansion, improving customer satisfaction and increasing our profit margins.
Youssef Barakat CEO at SquaredDirect
Q Is there a difference in your core services? (Spreads, comms etc) Our core services remain the same as before but we are proactively seeking ways to offer our clients even better conditions. It is something that we are currently looking into.
P-5
Q ProbusFX was known for great service. How are you looking to improve on it? We plan on establishing other group companies that will allow us to enrich our products and services even more and we are also planning on expanding to different jurisdictions globally, ultimately making us the go-to place for any financial need, anywhere in the world. Q The rebrand was the goal for 2018, what does 2019 have in store for your brokerage? I believe that 2019 will be a great year for further growth. We are currently moving forward with our next steps when it comes to expanding our group with some solid plans already in place. I want to stress out that in 2019 our main focus will be our clients. We want to make sure that we offer the maximum in our power to every customer and are looking into many things that could make their trading journey a worthwhile experience. Rebranding was the first step, there’s a lot more to come down the road and we are eagerly looking forward to an exciting and promising new year.
Q Which events can we catch you at this year? We will be attending financial conferences and expos including the iFX Expo in Limassol and Finance Magnates in London and many other events that will be published soon. Q What is the secret behind the success of your management team? They are all able to cooperate and coordinate the company for what is needed to be done. Our management team understands our vision for growth and each one knows their part. They really care about the success of the company. They make sure to communicate frequently, they have already built strong teams and they are committed to our goals. I’m pretty satisfied that they are responsible people with values. I know I can count on them to get things done.
GCTV LOLA NEGMATOVA Account Manager at Tools For Brokers and Presenter on GCTV.
Q Let’s give the readers an outline of yourself and how you ended up becoming a presenter on GCTV? Hello, everyone! Some of you might know me by now, some of you not. My name is Lola, I proudly represent Tools4Brokers company for more than 3 years already and since November, 2018 - GCTV with my partner-incrime, Paul. I can say that none of this would have happened if I didn’t meet Paul back in December 2017 at the Ship Inn bar on one lovely Friday evening. Since then, we were keeping in touch, discussing about FX, Limassol, parking issues, and how hard is to be vegetarian in Cyprus. Basically, Paul was one the first person I met since I made my move to Limassol. I was acknowledged about Paul’s GameChangers magazine when he offered to feature Tools4Brokers. After some time, once GC started to expand and Paul launched its GCTV project, i was lucky enough to be offered of such a great and fresh opportunity to become a part of GCTV. Maybe I was chosen because of my accent, I’m not sure :D But it’s surely opportunity that I am blessed to have.
Q Can you tell us how you got into FX? Well, I think as majority of the other people in FX - by absolute accident :D My friend, who we studied together in the University, offered me to try my skills in the company as they were looking to add a sales person into their team. I had no clue what Meta Trader platform is and I was sure girls have no future in IT, however, here I am 3 years after, representing Tools4Brokers company from its Limassol entity.
Lola Negmatova Tools For Brokers
Q How are you settling into Limassol, I guess it is a lot different to New York? Limassol is a beautiful place to have a beautiful life. Before settling fully in here I had couple of visits and each time I was more and more confident that the move needs to be made. Im sure you heard all this lots of times, however I can not hide it - Limassol is so convenient in the majority of aspects of everyday life, the settlement here is not even noticed, nor it can be called challenging. I lived in New York for 5 years and of course life here differs drastically. Limassol wins, for its convenience, weather and food, of course. New York is a place I would always consider for a visits - in my opinion it is an unique place with its own vibe and energy, that you can not find elsewhere. I love my NYC visits as each time you open not just the city from a different angles, but yourself as well.
Lola Negmatova Tools For Brokers
Q Have you got any new year’s resolutions for 2019? Of course! It’s hard to go on not just thought the life, but through a year without having motivating goals! I have my goals separated for the personal and professional growth, Firstly I really want to learn greek, besides the basic words I already know. Of course keeping my body and mind strong and healthy same time. From the professional point of view, I am excited for this year and it’s indeed an honor to be a part of a great team.
Lola Negmatova and Albina Zhdanova Tools For Brokers
Nakamoto’s Den GEORGE AGATHANGELOU Business Development. Nakamotos Den.
Q Hello George, it is nice to have you back in GC. Can you tell us more about the upcoming expo that you are holding in Limassol, Nakamotos Den? Nakamoto’s Den 2019 is an international two-day innovation & investment blockchain conference organized by Universal Crypto and aims to have an audience of about 1000+ attendees, in the Carob Mill Venue in Limassol. At the event, there will be networking opportunities with renowned people in the crypto sphere, VCs, academics, regulators and influencers coupled with digital start-up pitches and educational lectures from best-selling authors and industry leaders. Our goal is to bring together bright minds to give talks that are blockchain idea-focused on a wide range of subjects, and to foster learning, inspiration and provoke conversations that matter.
Vit Jedlicka Present of Liberland
On our Digital Start-up Battles, competitors will face the scrutiny of some of the world’s greatest crypto-analysts to get access to a pool of investors ready to shape the future through blockchain. Battle participation and booths will be completely FREE for the selected projects. Nakamoto’s Den will also have the first Post-ICO Battle in the world, which will feature eight successfully crowdfunded Blockchain projects. The participants will face each other directly, answering questions regarding the main aspects of their project with the aim to assess their viability and potential for success. Q As I have quite a low knowledge base on Crypto and Blockchain is this relevant to people like me?
Brad Yasar Founder & CEO of Beyond Enterprizers
Absolutely, the event is ideal for people with little or no knowledge of blockchain technology, as it will provide a solid pool of information and access to networks of people and organizations such as universities and academics, eager to help spread awareness. Afterall, everyone is a newbie in everything the first time.
P-9
Q What makes it so different from other expo’s of this kind? I believe it’s mainly the mentality we have as a team that makes this event so special. We are providing a fantastic opportunity for startups, to pitch in front of international Venture capitalists and get all the support and funding they need, entirely for free!! A startup to startup kind of thing, like Peer to Peer. I also think that the passion behind the idea and the vision of Universal Crypto makes this event more special and it seems that people acknowledge this. In fact, the support we have received so far from our network is overwhelming and we couldn’t have organized this event without it. We have grown a lot ourselves, and we know and understand the hurdles of new business in the current market, because we are a startup as well.We are dedicated to helping entrepreneurship and adoption of new technologies and we are open to collaboration on many subject locally and internationally. Q I saw that you are targeting family offices and Institutional investors. Why have you focused on this market? We believe that the tokenization of assets and the limitless possibilities of these emerging technologies like blockchain and DLT are still in very early stages. Passed the initial stages, innovative blockchain projects require serious investment and support.. ICOs have been an extremely risky way to invest in emerging technologies and we can see that regulation has struggled to keep up with the developments in this space. Education plays a huge role when it comes to vetting investors interests and we aim to develop an environment where people get to learn how to protect themselves from these situations, by listening to what experts, regulators and academics in this sphere have to say.
taste of the experts and infuencers, attendees will be getting to know. Moreover, our VIP guests will get to wine and dine with the speakers at a few exclusive parties we have arranged over the course of the conference. Q The Carob Mill is quite a different location for an expo. It will be nice to visit such a luxurious space. Why did you choose this venue? The Carob Mill was a sound choice for two main reasons. Firstly we believe the location of the venue would inspire people not familiar with Cyprus to explore the beautiful old town of Limassol. We wanted to provide our attendees and guests to walk down streets full of history, enjoy local cuisine and get a sense of true cypriot culture. Secondly and symbolically as it was a castle (?) we have run with that idea of something new being born out of something historic. Afterall that has been the evolution of technology. From carrier pigeon to phone lines, to internet to blockchain. Q I understand it is selling out fast. How can we get tickets? You may purchase tickets through our website www.nakamotosden.com. We focused on providing payment for tickets through over 1000 cryptocurrencies first BEFORE providing a fiat gateway to promote the use of digital currencies in general. If however fiat is the preferred choice we offer that as well and are happy to process them manually so feel free to reach out and contact any of our team through our social media channels or send an enquiry to info@nakamotosden.com.
Q I saw that you have quite an extensive list of speakers. Can you give us an outline of who they are? From dynamic professional speakers, to influencers, high net worth individuals and experts we have invited and have brought together a knowledge base of experience that could fill a library full of material. Among them you will get to know the author of the best selling book on Bitcoin, “The Bitcoin Standard”, Saifedean Ammous, Heads of States, such as Vit Jedlicka, the president of the US Blockchain Association, Mr. David Kam, legal experts such as Steve Tendon, that actually helped write legislation for Malta, top world-renowned cryptographers like Nicolas Courtois and Theodosis Mourouzis from UCL. Additionally, we are bringing Mr. On Yaniv from Cointelligence, Mr. Yoav Dror from Pumapay, Mr. Aki Hussein from Harneys International. These are just a
Demetra Kalogerou Chairwoman of CySEC
Pheasant Tech CALVIN MORRIS Head of Business Development.
Q Can you tell us about your background? How did you first get into the FX scene? I come from a sales background; since I started my career my interest was sales & marketing. Though I have not taken any formal training for the same. I have been catering to different industries, be it Technology hardware & software, education, real estate and finally into Forex Fintech. I entered forex market in 2015 working for a broker as a back office execuive, but then I realized that brokerage is a tough competition so thought to enter a business which caters to these brokers. I started brainstorming on different elements that make a forex broker and that’s how PheasanTech was born in the year 2016.
Q Having personally used Pheasantech for several services, where do you believe your brand’s strength is? Initial 1st year was a bit challenging, but once our flagship product Cloud Forex CRM was crafted, we got the real boost and our clientele started building. In the year 2017, we acquired a 5-year-old Sigmate Informatics which was in a similar business since 2013 and our client strength got doubled. Currently, I can position PheasanTech in top 10 players in the industry.
Q The CRM market is really crowded now. What makes yours so different? I agree there are quite a lot number of players compared to 2016-17 because every 5th broker wants to be a FinTech company, but when it comes to product stability and support we have an edge over other part-timers. There are many cheap priced Forex CRM’s available in the market, but I fail to understand when we are talking about multitrillion Forex industry, why people can’t invest in the core setup of their business and look for cheaper unstable products.
Q One of my annoyances, when I brought a product, was the post-sales service. How can you make me happy?
GAME CHANGERS Issue #18
Well, post-sales support is our one of the top USP’s. We have a sleek team in support but they are too competent. I personally monitor the support department and to make your doubt more clear, I will say just one thing that my Skype is silent only for 6 hours a day when I am not awake. Our turnaround time for any small to medium priority issue is 24 to 48 hours.
Q Some owners can be a little inexperienced, can they outsource the brokerage functions to you? This is a new segment we have already started working on, many start-ups know how to set up brokerage but not aware of how to run it to its full potential and they close down in few months or a year. We have a capacity to set up a full fledge Brokerage Service, Sales & Marketing and the most important part is Risk Management Service which is the most integral part of any brokerage.
Q Do you have any new products coming out for 2019? Yes indeed, we have big plans for 2019. We are planning to revamp our flagship product i.e. Cloud Forex CRM, improving its UI & UX and some functionalities. We are also working on integrating many new features. We are also working on PAMM, Analytics Tool, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning based tool like ChatBot, Tools based on Robotic Process Automation, Social Trading, Mentoring Tool to name a few. An enhancement on a regular interval is a common practice we follow.
Q Are you open to B2B partnerships to spread your wings? Yes, we are open to B2B partnership and soon we will come-up with Reseller program, White Label program to acquire the maximum business through our channel partners. We are equally aggressive on a cross-selling scenario in which we promote your products and you promote our products & services provided there is no conflict of interest.
COMPANY INCORPORTIONS AT UNBELIEVABLE PRICES
UNITED KINGDOM Company Incorporation € 449
€ 249
Company Incorporation € 849
MARSHALL ISLANDS Company Incorporation € 1349
SEYCHELLES
€ 749
BELIZE
Company Incorporation € 879
INCORPORATE YOUR COMPANY TODAY !
€ 349
€ 399
OUR SERVICES :
CONTACT US
COMPANY INCORPORATION FINANCIAL LICENSING
GET YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
BANKING & PAYMENTS
Our specialists will answer all your queries and offer you the best possible solution for your business.
BROKERAGE SOLUTIONS MARKETING SOLUTIONS
Website : www.startingoffshore.com
Email : support@startingoffshore.com
Phone
Skype : starting.offshore
: +44 20 32 89 8689
Starting Brokerage RAJ REDDY CEO of Starting Brokerage.
Starting Brokerage is a premium IT & Technology Solutions Consultants, dedicated to providing a wide array of innovative solutions with a team of specialized experts in Financial Technology Industry. We offer the best solutions for both the new brokerages as well as the current brokerages. Our team of experts gain with over a decade of experience serving multiple financial brokerages across the world! We ensure our clients to offer leading consulting services by providing a broad range of forex consulting and financial advisory capabilities. Q What does Starting Brokerage offer in general? At Starting Brokerage we offer most competitive MetaTrader White Label offerings, Trader’s CRM & Other tools that a brokerage needs to run efficiently. We use the best of the technology to make it very secure, robust & providing very low latency trading environment. So that the clients can experience the best trading atmosphere. Q Why should someone choose MT5 over MT4? We introduced MT5 keeping in mind the flexibility that it offers WL Brokerages, which is not possible on MT4 due to its limitations & also the ecosystem on MT5 more robust. MT5 allows a lot of flexibility unlike MT4, MT5 is a very efficient multi-asset platform suitable for trading FX, Stocks, Futures, Options, Equities, Bonds & Cryptos. It also offers tools for different needs. MT5 Platform provides everything needed for full-fledged and flexible trading operations. It allows a level of customization that MT4 cannot offer. Q What kind of flexibility that MT5 will offer as you mentioned? MT5 platform provides White Label managers full control over their brokerage. From within the manager platform, we can provide role-based managers for administrators, dealers, risk managers & also can effectively control trade conditions such as spreads, commissions, margin requirements, swaps & any other trading parameters. This makes MT5 be more robust by offering more freedom to White Label Brokerages. Q Why should someone choose Starting Brokerage to start a forex brokerage? We understand total needs of the forex brokers right from beginning to the end, such as:
Raj Reddy CEO of Starting Brokerage.
Incorporating your company. Getting a license if required. Assisting with payment solutions to operate the business. Setting up a white label trading platform with their requirement. Setting up the Website & Traders CRM. Providing digital marketing services to start reaching customers. So it is a complete turnkey solution that we offer. As you are aware we started with Starting Offshore, which provides all legal services especially for Forex Brokerages. When a customer comes to us, we try to understand his needs and plan things for them accordingly with our team of experienced professionals. Hence, Stating Brokerage as consultants, ensure to offer compelling and innovative solutions to help start-up brokers for having all the necessary components for a quick, affordable and convenient way to set-up.
P - 15
Introducing MT5 White Label From Starting Brokerage at Cost Effective Packages With Turnkey Solutions. Get Access To The Most Powerful & Feature Rich Trading Platform.
Key Benefits Fully Branded Meta Trader Platform On Your Company Competitive Pricing With Cost Eective WL Packages Choose Your Own Liquidity Provider Price feed for Forex, CFD's, Metals & Crypto Currencies A & B-Book Solutions MAMM & PAMM Solutions Available
Start Your Own Brokerage Today! We Provide Every Solution That A Brokerage Needs
Get Free White Label Consultation Contact us Today !
Get in touch
Website : www.startingbrokerage.com Phone
Email : support@startingbrokerage.com
: +44 20 32 89 8689 Starting Brokerage is Owned By Starting Oshore Limited
STELIOS CHOUMAS
COO, Chief Operations Officer. Q Tell us a few things about a-Quant’s major products First of all, I will tell you what we do NOT offer and what we CANNOT offer. We don’t promise miracles like surreal and improbable performance and results. We don’t sell Expert Advisors that will you make you rich with $1K account balance. We don’t give dangerous strategies like Martingales that may provide temporary profits but long term is going to ruin an account. a-Quant has designed and developed a series of high-quality products for Brokers, Traders, Funds and High Net-worth Individuals. Our main concern is to take advantage of Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence techniques and algorithms, Technical Analysis and Information Technology combined with our expertise in financial markets. For brokers a-Quant has developed analysis of charts for the most popular FX pairs, Indices, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies that lead to explicit results for each market direction, volatility and other metrics.
For traders there are many trading tools that make a trader’s life easier, simpler and more efficient. Trader saves huge work & time by using a-Quant tools because we take advantage of specific software techniques and design patterns in order to present concentrated and compact information for markets trends & volatility, back-testing machines, technical analysis indicators & price action and risk management. For Funds and High Net-worth Individuals, a-Quant has designed and implemented Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence algorithms which are combined with selected Fundamentals in order to provide efficient, high performance and low risk strategies for a series of asset classes, including Stocks and ETFs. Q How do you combine your programming background with the trading industry? Programming in our days combines a variety of disciplines and skills. It requires a full engineering background, mathematics and mathematical mindset as well as a solid understanding of algorithmic thinking. All these skills are similar to the most important trading aspects. In order to design & develop trading strategies and products, knowledge of reading a chart, Technical Analysis, Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence and mathematics are serious and important advantages.
Stathis Xenos (CMO), Thomas Papapolyzos (CEO) and Stelios Choumas ( COO).
It is something more important though: A trader may have an unlimited number of ideas for trading tools, technical indicators, strategies, risk management, money management etc. A trader with programming background & skills is able to implement and test all these ideas without having the effort of finding a programmer. A programmer who is not the idea owner needs to understand an idea before implementing it and if changes, enhancements or improvements need to be applied then there is a difficult communication process between the trader and the programmer. A trader-programmer is the best combination.
P - 17
STATHIS XENOS
CMO, Chief Marketing officer. Q How do you see the future of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in the trading industry? Machine learning (ML) is one of the most promising areas of innovation that companies from all sectors are recently seeking to explore. Companies ranging from the manufacturing sector to the robotics and mechanical engineering sector are increasingly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ML. Beyond that, the AI concept has extended its impact to the financial markets through machine learning. Over the last two decades, markets have become more dynamic and trading using ML algorithms is seemingly taking over from the traditional exchange-based trading. Hedge fund managers and traders alike are now focusing on developing programs that assist their daily trading business in an effort to increase returns. It is also a fact that human beings cannot be excluded from trading. However, the size of data required for making a good trade are increasingly bigger. For this reason, it is inevitable that at some point in the near future machines will become increasingly prevalent over humans on this task. Machines have the ability to quickly analyze data, news and tweets, process earnings statements, scrape websites, and trade on all these instantaneously. This ‘ability’ will provide an invaluable tool for traders, fundamental analysts, equity long-short managers and macro investors. Nevertheless, humans still retain an advantage on seeing the big picture. Machines are still not very good at spotting market turning points and making forecasts involving human responses such as those of politicians and central bankers, or anticipating how markets are going to move. In addition to this, the data required for ‘predicting’ the markets are getting more and more complex.
amongst them is a properly backtested, validated and robust system and the discipline to apply the signals from it consistently. In order to reach this level of achievement you have to put in all the hours of research required to analyze your trades and try to learn from your mistakes. However, things may sometimes go wrong. When this happens, a good trader is willing to admit his mistake and close out his position when the market doesn’t move as predicted. Learning from your mistakes is a valuable skill for a successful trader, as well as turning those mistakes into a profitable trading strategy and apply this strategy with no more emotion. “Following Your Own Trading Plan” is also a motto that characterizes successful traders. While it’s good to know what’s going on in the news and media, you need to make sure you are making your decisions and not being influenced too much by anything around you. You need to learn for yourself and take responsibility for your choices and actions. Learn as much as you need to be able to make personal decisions and reach your conclusions. Last but not least is the proactive attitude that each trader should have. Successful traders realize that their greatest enemy is their own emotional state and how dangerous it can be if they overreact and make quick decisions without thinking. You should always follow your trading plan and make logical decisions. Be proactive and understand the market through your learning, rather than just reacting to it.
THOMAS PAPAPOLYZOS CEO and Founder.
Q What is your vision for a-Quant? In general, the use of ML-based trading systems has started to make trading easier and more profitable. While these systems are common among both large hedge funds and smaller startups, third party trading software developers have also provided a new way for individual traders to get in the game. All the above have changed the way traders are doing their every day jobs. We are living in an era where making money in the stock market is not only a question of how experienced you are, but also of how powerful your trading tool is. Q According to your opinion, what should be the profile of a successful trader? To be a good trader, you need many things, but prime
GAME CHANGERS Issue #18
I started a-Quant with a very simple purpose: to become a benchmark into the world of Fintech companies for the quality and innovation of services and products. I have a solid experience in financial markets for the last 27 years when I opened my first trading account in a US broker. As a businessman and entrepreneur, the financial markets and trading is what I love the most compared to all the rest business units I’m involved. The challenge and the joy are endless when I feel like a series of combined skills produce specific results. We have set a fantastic team of experienced professionals including quants, technical analysts, markets analysts, programmers and marketeers in order to have work ethic, enjoyable working environment and high quality & innovative products and services.
So far, the results are more than impressive: many traders, brokers and institutions have trusted us for the quality, i nnovation and results of our products and services. Also, our team’s technical background has eliminated any bugs or exceptions and the deliverance of our products and services is flawless. Our vision for the short-term future is to design & develop more state-of-the-art products and services that the trading community will embrace. Our vision for the medium-term future is to expand and dominate in the world of fintech companies. Our vision for the long-term future is to become market leaders and influencers through the trading community. Q What would you suggest to brokers, funds and investment companies in order to become more competitive? Organizations that are into the trading industry such as brokers, funds and investment companies are facing indeed a new era. There are certain challenges and new demands that should be followed if they want to survive and to become competitive and innovative: Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence revolution is already here. It is the 4th and most important industrial revolution that will affect most of human activities but specially and intensively the technology companies such as the trading companies.
Traders become more and more sophisticated. It means that they have explicit demands for high quality services, cutting edge technology and state of the art products. Trading companies should invest in technology and innovation. The churn-and-burn model is about to end. Internet and easy information reveal easily all the scammers and false ethic companies and organizations. Integrity, honesty and transparency should be applied from all companies and organizations of the industry in order to stay alive. Recent regulatory changes oblige trading companies to follow specific and trader friendly rules. It means that they should turn to other directions in order to increase their profit margin. These directions are indeed new and innovative products and services. Markets dynamics have changed dramatically. Most of the old-fashioned algorithms do not work anymore. New & innovative algorithms and strategies should replace the old ones by adjusting to the recent trading market needs. Brokers should offer to their clients much more things than an account manager and a trading platform. Clients need high quality products, tools and education that will improve their trading. Funds and investment companies should get on the Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence trend by designing and implementing new strategies and algorithms.
P - 19
ISSUE #18
THE JOURNAL FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS
http://gchangersmag.com info@gchangersmag.com