Choosing partners in the forex world, a personal journey by Luis Urquiza

By Luis Urquiza, CEO & Founder, FinancialFX

I remember the first time I started blogging about forex and technical analysis (this goes way back to 2007-2008 as far as I can remember). My idea was to “attract” some traffic, and “monetize” the blog by placing some google ads and affiliate links from forex brokers. So far I´ve made $8 out of that old blog (thanks for buying that forex book via my affiliate link mom!)

Many lessons were learnt from this failed experience. First, I sucked at bringing traffic to my site, as my idea of writing in a blog was that of Kevin Costner´s “Build it and it will come”.

Second: although there were some clicks on the affiliate´s links, the conversion rate was extremely low (for not saying non-existent). It didn´t take too long to realize that the only way to have a decent income (with advertising, or as an affiliate or IB of a brokers) would be to reach a critical mass of readers.

So, I had some choices: invest some $$$ and compete directly with bigger websites (who had better content, better writers, and better design), or do the total opposite: focus on a niche, don’t give a damn about the masses, be a leader of opinion on that niche, give free valuable content to the visitors, make them your truly fans, and then (and only then) would I proceed with a sale. First trusts, first added value, and then only ask for something in return.

My blog/website was redeveloped, and there was no advertising at all. My focus was on giving free valuable content, get subscribers, and only when the time was ripe, would I offer different services such as: brokerage accounts, premium courses, products, etc etc.

As the subscribers grew by the day, I realized many novice forex traders weren´t so sure about which broker should they work with, so I wrote a book about choosing the right broker. Then the idea hit me: why don´t I become one myself?

Finding the right partner

During this period of non-commercial activity, I approached and was approached by a series of brokers, so I could become their white label (Which was the most interesting option for me). Although I wasn´t known in the institutional field, I tried to contact and analyze as many possibilities as possible.

As a “leader of opinion” among novice forex traders, I knew I had to choose the right partner, so I could work with a company that wouldn´t rip off my potential client base (so yup, Iron FX was out of the list immediately) and that would offer and excellent executions of the trades. In other words, I focused on the things I was looking for as a trader, rather than on how much would my rebates/commissions scheme would look like.

What else did I take into account in choosing the right partner? What every other traders looks for of horse:

• Regulated in a decent jurisdiction (sorry guys from BVI, Seychelles, Belize, etc etc)
• Good spreads
• Spanish speaking personnel (for 24 hr services)
• Withdrawal procedures easy to do and understand
• A management team that would give me enough confidence I was teaming up with the right guys.

There were companies that took me serious in this quest, and there were companies that took me as just one more “IB” out there. I think you can imagine I kept the talks with those who took me serious. Each time I think on the companies that let the opportunity pass the story of the shoes salesmen in Africa comes to my mind: whereas one salesman though it was useless to try selling shoes in a place nobody uses shoes, the other salesman saw the amazing opportunities ahead.

But alas, as my father always said to me “you can´t kiss all pretty girls”. Although I narrowed my list of potential partners to some companies, I knew I had to stick to one or two if I really wanted their support and focus my efforts on developing our business.

Financial FX was thus born. Although our mission was to increase the capital of our clients, we realized we needed to go a bit further, and decided to include as part of our mission to preserve the wealth of our clients. And what´s the best way to achieve this? With Precious metals!

And so I am happy to say that Financial FX is the first broker in the Spanish speaking countries of the Americas to offer both Forex/CFD investing services, and the buy/sale/storage of physical precious metals. On the forex side, we teamed up with BMFN and Fx Primus, and on the metal side we became members of Bullion Capital, the first clearing company to work with the main 11 precious metals markets of the world.

The road is far, the challenges are huge. But we are here to stay for the long term.

This is where our story begins.

Photograph: Luis Urquiza discusses FX with Andrew Saks-McLeod in Miraflores, Lima, Peru