TECHNOLOGY NEWS

GCI adds online clients and volumes

BELIZE -- Online broker GCI Financial has added institutional FX customers to its mainly retail client base, a senior official at the firm in Belize told FX Week.

In addition to the new institutional business, an expansion of the firm’s product suite has helped GCI Financial to a 10% increase in FX volumes on its online trading platforms -- now at about $2.5--$3 billion per month -- since the start of this year, said Blair Baker, director of FX research at GCI in Belize.

The number of institutional clients using GCI’s online services reflects both market volatility and the firm’s improved presence in the market, Baker told FX Week. While the introduction of a new contracts-for-difference (CFD) trading platform in Q3 last year added to the rise in forex transactions, because traders using the platform to access one product are likely to trade other asset classes at the same time. "With the decrease in activity in the equity markets people are looking for alternatives, and clients can trade a variety of financial instruments on margin as opposed to full value," said Baker. "More people are looking at CFDs and FX benefits as a by-product of that."

GCI has three online trading platforms that can be accessed from the same portal: a ‘standard’ forex site for major currencies and crosses; 'a mini FX' platform for deals with a notional size of 10,000 currency units and a margin requirement of $50, and the new CFDs platform.

The GCI forex trading software provides real-time prices in 15 major currencies, including cross rates and exotic currency pairs, live charts and real-time profit and loss and account equity tracking. Clients have access to 24-hour trading on four-to-five pip spreads in major currencies and crosses.

As well as the interest in CFDs, the most popular instruments traded on GCI are the major currencies, gold, and crude oil -- largely driven by geopolitical tensions, said Baker.