The Estonia-based Forex broker operating as Armada Markets, registered as a spot foreign exchange and metals broker by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Estonia, has today made trading available in two new currency pairs, including USDCNH and USDRUB, for all of its clients, Forex Magnates confirms with Armada Markets’ CEO, Ingmar Mattus.
Mr. Mattus explained how the new changes were implemented on March 17th , in read-only format, then live on the 20th, as updated on the Armada Markets' website, and finally made available to all clients today, and how already the USDCNH has been actively traded a few days after launch. The news follows just two days after Forex Magnates reported about another Estonian broker, with a similar-sounding company name, Admiral Markets, not to be confused with Armada Markets, after Admiral Markets launched a web platform, with technology provided by TradeToolsFX.
In addition to the new pairs, based on the Chinese yuan and Russian ruble, both traded against the US dollar in the respective offered pairs, the company launched a new server in Hong Kong to help facilitate its growing Asian client base, as explained to us during the interview. Clients in the region will automatically go through the Hong Kong server, helping to provide them with less latency and faster access to prices.
Plans for Asia-Focused Entity Revealed, after USDCNH and USDRUB Live
Mr. Mattus also revealed upcoming news planned for Asia, “We will shortly also launch a new company in our group specifically for the Asia-Pacific region. So having a server in Hong Kong is one of the first steps to set the scene for the launch.”
In the official press release updated on its website, the company said that the demand for the new products has been primarily from Asia and Eastern Europe where it thought as one of the fastest growing brokers. Armada Markets said in the update that it’s committed to enabling its clients to capitalise on this growth, with its own monthly trading volumes exceeding 10 billion USD and its client base expanding over 135 countries.
Since both pairs include currencies that aren’t fully floated, Armada Markets noted in the update that these pairs are subject to shortened trading hours, including the USDCNH, from 04:00 until 24:00, server time (GMT+3), and for the USDRUB from 09:00 until 23:00. Also noted was how Leverage on the Chinese yuan and Russian ruble is a 1/5 of the account leverage (e.g. Leverage on the yuan and ruble is 1:100 when account leverage is 1:500.)
Polands KNF Warns, and News that Company is Close to MiFID Approval
Recently, the Polish KNF issued a warning after it thought that Armada Markets was mainly targeting Polish clients, or residents in its jurisdiction (Poland), and alerted the public how the company is not authorized by KNF for the time being.
The firm has even been warned by its other home regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), although it maintains that it's in compliance with current law in Estonia applicable to its FX business, as a registered spot foreign exchange and metal brokers.
However, this limitation of not being regulated with the Estonian FSA prevents it from offering CFDs, and thus is something that it looks to change by obtaining full MiFID authorization, which would also passport it through Europe to avoid issues such as those which arose with the KNF.
Ingmar Mattus, CEO Armada Markets
Forex Magnates asked Mr. Mattus about the development which was announced by KNF weeks ago, and he said, “We are currently working with Polish KNF to clarify the matter at hand. We are in the final stage of getting the MiFID license so I don't see any issue as we will shortly start offering CFDs on stocks and futures. Currently we provide trading in spot FX and metals only.”
Although we could not yet confirm the jurisdiction that Armada Markets chose for its EU regulatory application, the company said it would make the announcement soon, after the expected approval is granted.
