America’s FX giants unanimous alignment with specialist retail platform

For retail FX traders in the United States which do not execute via Chicago’s all-encompassing futures exchanges or qualify as high net worth investors, there are now three choices of broker, those being evergreen OTC electronic trading firms OANDA Corporation, GAIN Capital and FXCM.

Preferences among retail traders have varied in many parts of the world, however in America, loyalty to steadfast domestic companies has been constant, further accentuated by the National Futures Association’s ban in 2011 on overseas firms soliciting customers from the US, and from American citizens from doing business with overseas firms.

The dynamics of retail trading are very different in the US to the rest of the world, one notable example being the average deposit size which is $6,600 compared to $3,800 in all major markets outside the US, and many investors have a diversified portfolio which is made up of equities and stocks, often traded via proprietary stockbroking platforms or those connected to futures exchanges.

Part of this is exemplified by the propensity toward concentrating on proprietary retail platforms, OANDA corporation’s technology led ethos being an example, with fxTrade being a mainstay of the US OTC market, as well as FXCM, whose Trading Station platform dominates, alongside MetaTrader 4 which continues in tandem following FXCM’s acquisition of IBFX’s US and Australian MetaTrader 4 client base in 2014.

Furthermore, cacophony with regard to changing platform was notable by its complete absence when OANDA Corporation brought on board over 2000 Tradestation users earlier this year, switching them to OANDA Corporation’s fxTrade platform with seamless aplomb. This is completely contrary to what would happen anywhere else, and is one of the reasons why MetaTrader 4 is so popular in all other global markets.

Interestingly, a demand among American traders for one specific third party trading platform has emerged recently, that being ProTrader, which is a multi-broker platform developed by Ukrainian software firm PFSOFT.

This week, PFSOFT has now included a connection to Interactive Brokers, one of America’s most highly capitalized retail electronic brokerages, which just last week waved goodbye to the notion of onboarding new, small-deposit retail clients in order to concentrate on institutional and high net worth retail business only.

Certainly, investors in America generally have a preference toward multi-broker solutions (such as Trading Technologies on the exchange-traded derivatives side) which allows them to manage their portfolio via one solution.

Avantgarde and unconventional in its approach, PFSOFT is led by flamboyant CEO Denis Borisovsky, a young technology expert who took a different approach to the development of platforms from the outset of the company’s establishment.

By connecting to Interactive Brokers, traders can now manage their entire electronic investment portfolio, whether OTC or exchange traded, via the Protrader Multi-Connect (PTMC) solution that offers connection through IQFeed, a supplier of real-time market data for exchange and OTC markets.

Currently, OANDA Corporation and Interactive Brokers are connected to this solution, as American clients continue to be loyal to the firms that provide specific asset classes and trading environments across their often diversified portfolios.

For those wishing to familiarize themselves with Mr. Borisovsky’s other talents besides platform development, here is an entertaining insight