Fazzaco Weekly Digest: FXSpotStream Posts Trading Volume in October; SquaredFinancial’s Client Base Increases 220% in Q3

Take a look at the latest happenings in this week's news digest from around the forex and fintech industry. Here are some of the top headlines from this past week.

1. FXSpotStream Posts Total Trading Volume of $1.06 Trillion in October 2021​

Fazzaco learned that FXSpotStream, which provides a multibank Forex and precious metals streaming service, has posted its trading volumes for October 2021, showing a substantial jump in the average daily volume (ADV).

In October, FXSpotStream reported an overall trading volume of $1.060 trillion, which was a small decline compared to the previous month. October's ADV stood at $50.4 billion, which was up by nearly 4.4 percent compared to September 2021. The ADV rose by 29.8 percent when compared to the same period last year.   

2. SquaredFinancial’s Client Base Significantly Increases 220% in Q3 2021​

SquaredFinancial Group, a fintech brokerage firm, has released its Q3 trading results, reporting a growth of 220 percent in its client base during the three months.

According to the press release, the company’s trading volumes grew 266 percent compared to last year when the coronavirus pandemic created unprecedented volatility across varying asset classes. In addition, the broker saw a 200 percent increase in its gross profits.

3. Rakuten Securities Australia to Reduce Gold Spreads​

Fazzaco learned that Rakuten Securities Australia, an online trading broker, announced that it will reduce Gold spreads by 30 percent, effective from November 8, 2021, to December 7, 2021.

The spreads will be reduced from their current level of 2 pips to 1.4 pips. Please note that these are average spreads and, hence, they may vary.

4. CMC Markets Connect Updates Price Construction Mechanism to Drive down Latency​

CMC Markets Connect, a leading global provider of institutional trading and technology solutions, has today announced the upgrade of their tech stack in order to facilitate faster price construction and increase the range of asset classes available to trade. CMC Connect clients in APAC will now have access to an additional 60+ Spot FX pairs and precious metals.

The Connect team have been looking for microsecond-level speed improvements by partnering with Quod Financial to utilise their AI/ML powered algorithms and thereby upgrade existing infrastructure. Together CMC and Quod’s technical integration in LD4 between Quod’s quoting servers & CMC’s trading engine optimises price feed management; this in turn powers CMC’s ability to provide consistently competitive pricing.

5. Starling Bank Rolls out Bills Manager to help Clients Better Manage Money​

Starling Bank, a fully-licensed and regulated digital bank headquartered in the UK, announced yesterday the launch of Bills Manager, to help customers pay their bills on time and better manage their money.

The new feature, requested by the bank’s users, enables customers to have a Direct Debit or standing order taken from money set aside in any of their ‘Savings Spaces’. Spaces is the section of the app that allows customers to set money apart from their main balance for specific savings goals.

6. Swissquote Expands Trading Instruments with CFDs on US Stocks​

Fazzaco learned that Swissquote, Swiss leading bank in online trading services, has added CFDs on individual US listed stocks to its trading offerings. The new offerings are available on the firm’s MT5 platform, and will be introduced to the trading platform Advanced Trader soon.

Swissquote is reported to have enabled its users to trade CFDs on Swiss, German, French and British blue chip stocks in the past several months.

7. CySec Announces Withdrawal of SonaFX Operator’s CIF License​

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced that it has withdrawn the Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) authorisation with Number 174/12 of Sonaf Business Ltd, the operator of SonaFX that is an FX trading platform.

The CySEC stated that on its meeting of 11 October 2021, it has decided, pursuant to section 8(1)(a) of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017 and section 4(7) of Directive DI87-05, to cancel the CIF license, due to the indicated company’s decision to expressly renounce it.