ProbusFX, a Limassol, Cyprus based financial services provider, founded in 2017 has announced that they have now changed their trade name to SquaredDirect. The move is also part of their recent pairing up with sister company Squared Financial Services Limited, now trading under SquaredPro, to form the Squared Financial Group. Both companies are now in synergy to be able to respond to the rising demand for Top-Tier financial services and access to institutional-grade Liquidity .
In light of the move, SquaredDirect's CEO Youssef Barakat details the transition and recent developments in the company.
What has been the impetus behind the recent rebranding of ProbusFX as SquaredDirect?
While operating as ProbusFX for the past year, we have been noticing a rise in the interest for premier financial services and custom online-trading solutions. In order to be able to respond to market demand and supply current and future clients we have decided to pair-up with our sister company, Squared Financial, which has been successfully servicing institutional customers and professional traders for over a decade, forming the Squared Financial Group of companies.
Because of this company restructuring decision, we have created a new identity which is shared by all members of our group. ProbusFX rebranded as SquaredDirect, while Squared Financial is now trading under SquaredPro. By rebranding ProbusFX as SquaredDirect and belonging under the same group with our sister company SquaredPro, we are now able to provide our customers with the best selection of financial services available in the financial markets today.
These changes will give our company a fresh new start and achieve our long-term goals which include business expansion, improving customer satisfaction, and increasing profit margins.
In general, how do you feel the shifting regulations have impacted the FX market and has this had any effect on ProbusFX’s business?
As most traders are already aware, online trading and investing involves a high degree of risk. Before regulators set all the strict measures, most brokers were not conducting legitimate business and the market was riddled with deceivers and service providers who did not have the best interest for their clients.
Regulation has thankfully eliminated fraud and has proven effective in safeguarding the trader from severe financial losses by limiting their exposure to risk along with setting up conditions that need to be met by the broker in order to be allowed to operate.
The more limitations and restrictions brought forth by shifting regulation, the harder it is for brokers to market their business and services. However, we prefer that the trader is protected as much as possible from anything that could adversely impact their experience and financial situation. For us, the trader always comes first. Therefore, it goes without saying that we accept and support any measure that is meant to protect the trader from any negative and undesired situation.
In what ways will ProbusFX’s rebranding affect its position in the market and will this be seen as a strength moving forward?
We believe that this move will indeed strengthen our market position and will be paving the way towards further growth. We can now offer services to retail clients that we usually offered only to institutions and professional high-net worth traders.
By differentiating our corporate image from the "typical" image currently established in the competitor-saturated market, this change will improve our company's competitive position and leadership in the financial industry. Our new corporate image will play a major role in expanding our customer base, which will consequently increase our profitability and return on investment.
Additionally, by combining strengths from both Group Companies, we are now able to design and implement innovative technological solutions that may yield competitive advantages and can empower our traders. Also, we are now able to significantly raise the quality and value of our content and trading tools.
Competition has really heated up in 2018 for brokers, what services and products does SquaredDirect offer and how does this stack up to others across the industry?
We offer a professionally selected range of CFDs on Forex , Precious Metals, Energies and International Indices with 3 different account types that were designed to cover the needs of almost any type of trader. Additionally, we offer FIX 4.4 API connectivity for high-volume/high-net worth traders and we have partnered up with additional service providers to be able to offer services like Trade Mirroring, also known as Social Trading, and other automated trading solutions upon request.
Our main difference with many competitors is that we are operating with a True DMA/STP model. DMA stands for Direct Market Access and STP for Straight Through Processing. Simply put, through this model we act strictly as an intermediary between the trader and the liquidity provider.
We do not engage in market making or in price manipulation practices. Our data is hosted by Equinix LD4, one of the worlds biggest data hosting centres with the highest operating standards. This enables us to offer almost instant market order execution at the lowest possible latencies while displaying Live, unaltered, market prices. By operating following this model, we cannot have any conflict of interest rising between us and any of our clients.
What do you foresee ahead in 2019 for SquaredDirect both in terms of group expansion or other initiatives and with the regulatory shift behind us, will you be focusing more on growth?
We predict 2019 will be a great year with plenty of opportunities for further growth. We are currently discussing our next steps when it comes to expanding our group with some solid plans already in place. We plan on establishing other group companies that will allow us to enrich our products and services even more and we are also planning on expanding to different jurisdictions globally, ultimately making us the go-to place for any financial need, anywhere in the world.
However, I want to highlight that in 2019 our main focus will be our clients. We want to make sure that we offer the maximum in our power to any of our customers and are looking into many things that could make their trading journey a worthwhile experience.
Grouping up and rebranding were the first steps, there’s a lot more to come down the road and we are eagerly looking forward to an exciting and promising new year.
