ODL taps Integral as institutional competition increases

It seems that the institutional FX market is as competitive now as ever. Integral, Currenex and Cognotec (First Derivatives), FXAll, Hotspot (and EBS and Reuters to some extent, although these are becoming somewhat obsolete) are competing to provide the best technology and deepest Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term.

I totally agree with Integral's Harpal Sandhu view that the future of institutional forex is to develop into several independent but interconnected venues (liquidity pools if you will). I believe that the same will eventually happen with the retail Forex as the largest brokers, such as FXCM, are already Liquidity Providers Liquidity Providers A liquidity provider (LP) constitutes an individual and/or an institution that functions as a market maker in a given asset class. Broadly speaking, liquidity providers will act as both the buyer and seller of a particular asset, thus making a market. In the equities space, many stock exchanges rely on liquidity providers who make the commitment to provide liquidity in a given equity. These liquidity providers commit to providing liquidity in the hopes that they will be able to make a profit on A liquidity provider (LP) constitutes an individual and/or an institution that functions as a market maker in a given asset class. Broadly speaking, liquidity providers will act as both the buyer and seller of a particular asset, thus making a market. In the equities space, many stock exchanges rely on liquidity providers who make the commitment to provide liquidity in a given equity. These liquidity providers commit to providing liquidity in the hopes that they will be able to make a profit on Read this Term to smaller ones. I don't think it'll take too long for some of the large brokers (especially those with superb technology) to start creating their own liquidity venues as they evolve from providing only trading services to providing liquidity and technology to smaller market participants.

Eventually I think this will completely redesign the market and several liquidity venues will completely dominate this market. Some will be larger (for larger traders and brokers) and some smaller for (mid-large traders). This will contribute immensely to pricing and technology competition and these venues will be much easier to regulate - perhaps this will spark the rise of liquidity Self Regulatory Organizations - SROs.

In the meanwhile, each technology/liquidity provider is trying both to connect as many clients as possible and improve the technology (execution and latency). When this process is complete (most of traders will be connected to this or that venue) the consolidation process will kick in and we'll see a few more mergers of the FXAll/LavaFX kind.

Lately First Derivatives has acquired Cognotec's advanced technology in a blitzkrieg move and two months later signed a first Japanese client. Yesterday Integral signed a similar agreement with ODL (which already offers Currenex, Hotspot and FXAll/LavaFX). To the best of my knowledge, Integral and Cognotec's technology is better however Hotspot and FXAll offer deeper liquidity at this point.