Want to distribute your own liquidity without platform constraints? Here is how! Live from iFXEXPO, Cyprus

Today, at the iFXEXPO International conference in Limassol, Cyprus, the global hub of the retail FX industry, technology and the advancement of relationships between technology vendors, liquidity providers and brokers alike is a very poignant subject.

As was very much part of the initial discussions today among senior executives of technology vendors, the need to be able to connect to universal sources in order to further the connectivity between all components of the industry is on the agenda.

Spotware Systems, developer of the cTrader platform, is about to launch an outbound FIX API solution in order that brokers can distribute their liquidity to other platforms, other brokerages, to traders that can use it in black box algorithms, as well as firms across multi-asset electronic financial services businesses.

A very important point that has been raised today is that if a prime brokerage can only distribute its liquidity to broker partners via MetaTrader 4, then it is not able to attain the status of prime of prime, largely because it cannot distribute liquidity outside of a retail platform which is identical to retail platforms in use by end users.

Currently, the solution, which goes under the Spotware Connect brand, is available in demo mode, in order that liquidity providers and brokerages can test its functionality, however the live version is set to be launched in the forthcoming few weeks.

This will allow full functionality to be provided to brokers wishing to become liquidity providers in their own right without having to face the difficulty of competing with retail customers, and will allow the fostering of adaptable liquidity partnerships with specific institutions, traders and brokers.

Here at the iFXEXPO, FinanceFeeds spoke to James Glyde, Business Development Manager at Spotware Systems, who concurred that as the retail FX trading infrastructure continues to emulate that of the institutional sector, and the cost of obtaining credit from banks for many smaller brokerages is increasingly expensive, the demand for obtaining liquidity from brokerages which can supply it via an institutional methodology rather than a retail platform is increasing exponentially.

FinanceFeeds will continue to follow the development of this interesting technological solution to the ever challenging cost of accessing good quality liquidity for retail brokerages.

Featured photograph: James Glyde demonstrates the FIX API connectivity solution at iFXEXPO, Cyprus