Spot FX has stolen the fame since the urn of the century - with technology, systems, brokers and traders finding their feet in the $4 trillion a day market. Amongst the midst lies an important component of this arena - NFD's. Non Deliverable Forwards are usually regarded as complex products for complex traders, however the limited growth opportunities in developed markets have opened up doors for FX brokers to explore emerging markets where NDF'S are commonly traded.
We caught up with Demir Savatli, Director Corporate Sales, of FTechnics a software provider in financial derivatives and discussed their multi asset Prodigy Platform which offers NDF trading.
Please give a background about the company, the creators of Prodigy trader, the rationale behind the concept and what you’re looking to achieve.
Ftechnics is a software company founded by market professionals in 1999. FTECHNICS was founded on the belief that technology could not keep pace with financial product evolution. Currently its in- house products have a loyal client background. We are developers of Products like Direct, Platinum and Core Options which have been in use for over a decade in the financial markets. And in addition, company supports other commonly used platforms like Meta 4 or Currenex Viking through its support services. At the corporate solutions level, some of their developed technologies are at the foundations of exchange technologies, in various exchanges, including Nasdaq OMX Exchange. Our Core Options product led the non bank OTC Options market for several years. Now our newest product: Prodigy trader is the next generation in ‘All in one’ Platform bundles. It has integrated news, charting, spot metals, non deliverable forwards, options, backoffice, statements, mail, market depth, various forex pairs. Most importantly, it is based on a technology where prices are derived from an integrated pool of banks/ Liquidity providers. Our Products are being used by end users from 80 + different countries. Our products stretch from Exchange traded products, to Non deliverable forwards, Spot Bullion, CFDs to Forex.
The platform is designed with DMA features, there are already several platforms both on the high and low ends of the market, what makes Prodigy Trader stand out?
•Prodigy differentiates in the market by four main factors. First of all, it is a complete trading tool offering opportunities in FX Spot, Bullion, FX & Bullion Options and NDFs. This variety allows traders to explore different trading and hedging strategies not available on common trading platforms. Option and Spot margin is netted with a risk based approach and increases the leverage of investment.
•Another important feature is the unique order ticket with the market depth ladder allowing traders to view market activity from a new perspective and they can place and manage their orders directly on the market depth ladder. The order ticket was developed with extensive survey research among retail and institutional investors in order to meet all needs.
•Third, Prodigy is established on ground breaking financial technology with databases around the world for seamless execution. 9 out of 10 users have stated that Prodigy’s order execution is faster compared to their alternative trading platform after a 1 week test period. None user complaint about order execution problems related to speed, accuracy, slippage or persistence.
•Finally, Prodigy differentiates with other platforms by its look and feel. Fast responding charts with extra sharp visualization, customizable layouts and skins for serious or causal look impresses everyone.
Most unique features of the platform are:
•Integrated Options. Including Options like USD/INR, USD/TRY, EUR/TRY, Spot Gold, Spot Silver, GBP/JPY and EUR/JPY, and all major crosses, system is equipped with streaming ‘auto executable’ Options on select strikes and expiries, plus RFQ availability in almost all other alternatives. On most platforms, Option trading is a hassle, as no one knows what will happen at exercise date, where as with Prodigy, smoothly the position turns into FX position on the same platform.
•Streaming USD/INR NDFs. This is also very rare product, as with most systems, Forward contracts are on a request for quote basis. Ftechnics is one of very few companies that can offer streaming quotations to be STPed on select contracts.
•Market Depth on FX and Spot Bullion. Ftechnics is the first company to introduce market depth feature availability on spot bullion on STP setups, where it has been utilized by many brokers in the business. Where partial fill can be provided from multiple market layers.
•Better fill capability on limit orders. Most end users are tempted with the idea that Prodigy platform is capable to offer better fills at gap prices for limit orders.
Who is your target audience (profile)?
Ftechnics products are offered at a wide range of companies from different regulations. Our most common clients are interested in our ‘broker subsidized packages’ for small companies/ IBs at start up packages. Still we do have multiple regulated clients with couple thousand plus clients, which also act as a part of our STP force.
Prodigy is a trading platform with customizable options for everyone. The platform is available in both FIFO settings and Long/Short (Hedge) settings. It offer order execution without any pre-confirmation which is suited for experienced traders or with precautionary confirmations for new traders.
What assets classes can be traded, and what plans have you for the future of new asset classes?
The Prodigy platform currently offers trading in FX currencies, Bullion, FX Option, Bullion Option and NDFs. We plan to include CFD/Future products into the same platform, as we are currently supplying these solutions at an alternate product.
MT4 has been taking all the fame, do you think people are looking for a new trading platform?
MT4 is a simple and very customer friendly product. However, there are various common problems like news integration, costs, server maintenance, data freezes, slippage, poor money management tools, lack of market depth etc. As the market expands, especially for larger and more sophisticated clients brokers constantly seek for alternate solutions. It is very hard for a small sized broker to onboard a large client account doing Expert Advisor, and sit back and relax during a Non-farm payroll type of News announcement.
MT4 has differentiated itself with EA functionality but fails to meet needs in other areas such as product variability, compliance, flexibility, functionality and look. Most trades just need to be made aware of that there are better platforms offered. This will happen when brokers begin to differentiate their products. It is also well known that MT4 has it bugs and flaws that are forcing brokers to look for alternatives.
Prodigy Trader is very glamorous and classy, does it deliver in trade execution, what is the latency?
Matching Engine provides the fills within 2-3 millisecond (0.02 second) levels with Prodigy trader, with instantaneous fills on streaming prices. No dealer interventions.
What advance functionalities have you added, e.g. order types?
Prodigy supports the main order types; Market, Limit, Market-Limit, and Stop as well as IF Done and OCO orders. An advanced option is to place ‘market limit’ orders which allows you to limit your acceptable slippage. Assume the market is trading 1.3555-1.5556. You want to sell at the market but you are also afraid to miss the price in a fast move. The worst you accept to sell is 1.3550, then you place a market limit order at 1.3550 and get filled at the best available price in the market. If the market is still at 1.3555 you get filled at 1.3555
Algo trading is where the market is headed on both the retail and institutional side, can your platform trade automated systems?
Prodigy currently supports Algo trading through Ftechnics’s FIX and socket based API technologies. Where clients can develop their own technologies and link to the system to do anything that they can do from a standard GUI.
How easy is it for a new broker to implement your system?
Extremely easy. Unlike competition, we do host our main servers for the services ourselves. We support brokers in every step of the system implementation with cost effective solutions. So after the client decides, Prodigy is provided with turnkey solutions within 2-3 days.
Do you offer a back office/ admin./ Risk Management tool for brokers?
Yes, prodigy has an embedded backoffice functionality which includes statements and reports for client as well as detailed analysis for brokers. Risk management is provided with a dealer tool that allows to watch client activity with streaming risk analysis. Trades have direct access to the support/trade desk of brokers via embedded an embedded chat function.
Is the platform compliant to NFA rules?
Yes, Prodigy is fully compliant with NFA rules
We would like to thank FTechnics for sharing their ideas and product details and wish them luck in the future.
Demir will be following the post and will be available to respond to questions and comments.
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