MetaTrader India

Integral Development Corp. ( www.integral.com ), a leading provider of FX trading solutions and services, announced today that FX Week has awarded the firm with the coveted e-FX Award 2011 for Best Trading Technology Vendor.

“While Integral is honored to have been recognized by FX Week, the leading trade publication that covers FX markets, it is crystal clear to us that as a company, we win when our partners win,” said Harpal Sandhu, CEO, Integral Development Corporation. “Since it is well-known that FX Week puts a lot of emphasis on customer endorsements when selecting the winner, we are proud and thankful to everyone who helped us get to this point.”

When characterizing this category, FX Week stated, that “this award will go to the business that can demonstrate their track record in delivering the best technology to the FX industry. The winner will be able to show how the innovative products they have offered the market have set them apart.”

Added Sandhu: “Integral has a track record of successful innovation that spans many years. To be recognized in this overarching way, not just for a particular product, is a source of great pride.”

Last year, Integral won in the category “Best Algorithmic Trading Technology” of the 2010 e-FX awards for FX Inside Alpha(TM), the most complete solution designed to take on the challenges of FX algorithmic trading.

Integral also was recognized twice by Profit & Loss Magazine in the magazine’s 2010 Reader’s Choice Digital Market Awards. Integral won in the category of Best Retail FX Platform with FX Power Trader(TM), Integral’s white label retail margin trading solution. It also took top honors in the category Best Algorithmic Trading System with FX Inside Alpha(TM).

Source: www.marketwatch.com

We at Interbank FX are seeing more and more traders using Expert Advisors and algorithms in their trading, so we decided to create this infographic about algorithmic trading in the FX market.

Source: www.ibfx.com

Alpari (US), LLC (“Alpari”), a global provider of online foreign exchange (“Forex”, “FX”) trading services, announced enhancements today to its Pro Division, AlpariFX Pro. Alpari FXPro is an advanced line of FX business that offers a competitive trading environment for professional traders as well as a variety of dynamic solutions for partners.

The AlpariFX Pro trading environment features an ideal combination of competitive pricing and liquidity from multiple tier 1 banks. Clients can choose from a variety of platforms to access to the Pro pricing model, including MetaTrader 4, Alpari Direct and Alpari Direct Pro, powered by Currenex ®. All platforms are designed for speed to market and enable trading on over 55 currency pairs.

Not all clouds are the same, and I am not talking about the different ones you see up in the sky. The term cloud computing has reached true buzzword status by now, with everyone having a different understanding of what it means — which by the way is one characteristic of a buzzword.

I don’t want to add to the many interpretations of cloud computing out there, rather outline the most important characteristics that in my view define it: 1) Market participants receive and deliver services over the Internet. 2) They are sharing a common pool of IT infrastructure. 3) They have the ability to easily scale these services up or down in line with how their business needs change. 4) They pay for these services in a pay-as-you-go business model and, and 5) these services are managed by a provider. If all these statements are true, you are looking at a real example of cloud computing.

Open matters

Today, Integral announced an open platform for FX. While ‘open’ to some might just be yet another buzzword, it is critically important in this context.

In FX, many trading venues are in the cloud — but private, in that they are limited to a group of market participants that the bank, broker or venue that operates it, considers favorable to reach its business goals. That by definition limits their appeal and growth, but makes them a great source of revenue for that particular provider. Any market participant however, who is on venue A and wants to connect with others in venues C and D, is required to replicate his efforts, building and managing these connections, again and again. We at Integral don’t believe this is the right solution for such a vibrant market.

Changing the economics of FX

By using Integral’s FX Grid, the FX platform already used by hundreds of customers today, and re-launching it as an open FX platform, making it accessible to non-customers and all third-party FX service providers, Integral delivers on its vision to provide the common infrastructure to integrate the fragmented world of FX today. Every participant, whether a liquidity provider, a liquidity taker, or an FX service provider, will be able to leverage this shared platform to dramatically change the ROI of their FX business.

As a neutral technology provider, our primary interest is in increasing the flow through our platform. Launching initiatives like this, that stand to grow the market, is our way of getting there.

If your goal is to simultaneously trade with counterparties on all venues— A through Z let alone C, D and E — check us out. Through our platform, you’ll be able to keep on trading on A, but as effortlessly be connected with other venues out there.

Think about it. If you were offered great deals to sign up with phone company A but only allowed to talk with people on their network, not also with people who have previously chosen phone company B or C, would you accept that? If you don’t accept it in any other business, why accept it in FX?

Jet Blue ran a number of funny commercials, filming people with a hidden camera, while putting them in positions that treated them on the ground the same they are treated while on a plane.  In one, a faux NYC cab driver is trying to charge customers $25 per bag that was in the trunk, just because it was there and not a ‘carry-on’ to the back seat. In another, a street vendor gives a paying customer only a small glass of Coke but wants to keep the can for the next guy.

Jet Blue’s tag line was: If you wouldn’t take it on the ground, don’t take it in the air. My feelings exactly.

Here is your chance to read more about Integral’s open platform for FX.

Source: http://blog.integral.com

Panda TS Releases Platform for Integrating Proprietary Trading Systems with MetaTrader 4

Panda TS, a global leader in FX technology, today announced the launch of Panda Sync Server, a product which enables FX brokers to integrate and synchronize MetaTrader 4 with their existing proprietary systems. This eliminates the need to operate two trading environments, reducing cost and complexity.

Today’s retail FX world is becoming increasingly competitive, and brokers are adding more services to attract new customers. One such service is the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4). Brokers are adding MT4, or other third-party platforms, alongside their proprietary trading platform—but then find that they are forced to operate two or more separate trading environments. This adds overhead, cost and complexity, and scatters valuable customer data across multiple separate information systems.

Panda Sync Server solves the problem by offering multi-way synchronization between MT4, other third-party trading platforms, and a broker’s proprietary trading system. Panda Sync Server does not add one more central system—it simply pushes MT4 data to the existing proprietary systems. Brokers can integrate MT4, or other third-party platforms, and deliver immediate value to traders, without affecting their business.

Panda Sync Server is most suitable for top-tier FX brokers, which already offer MT4 as an additional trading platform, or are considering adding it. Because these brokers manage a large volume of customers and transactions, maintaining two separate trading platforms becomes a major challenge. With Panda Sync Server, large brokers can add MT4 to their service offering without sacrificing scalability and agility.

“We have recently implemented Sync Server at a top-ten FX broker, and I was very pleased with the results” said Sam Gutman, CEO of Panda TS. “Our dedicated integration team was able to complete the project in only a month, and our client was immediately able to offer MT4 services to traders and second-tier brokers. In parallel, the client substantially reduced operating costs and complexity, by managing only one trading environment, instead of two.”