With Enis Mehmet, New York Manager for CMC Markets, Daniel Darst, Executive Director Sales Strategy & Marketing at Saxo Bank, Muhammad Al-Amin Rasoul, Executive Vice President & COO, at Global Forex Trading, Nicholas Bang, Executive Director & Partner at ACM-REFCO and Leo Nemirovsky, VP, Marketing at ActForex, Inc.

The pace of eFX platform innovation has been dramatic over the last few years and consequently Retail FX clients can look forward to the benefits of their advanced features and functionality. Are customers driving this rapid pace or are providers trying to differentiate themselves by continually raising the technology bar?

Mehmet: The development of eFX platforms can be attributed to both competition within the market place, as well as the increasing sophistication of retail clients. As the retail FX market continues to witness an influx of seasoned traders from equities and futures markets, retail FX providers such as CMC Markets have developed their offerings so as to cater to varying needs of traders offering such features as a 1 click trading as well as the ability to write bespoke indicators and back test trading strategies.

Darst: Clearly a function of both, in fact, we would also suggest that the rapid evolution of technology encourages all of us to advance our solutions. Its simply too tempting. In a rational environment where each input, each variable is available, the sane response is to make something better, more manageable, more adaptable.

Rasoul: It is a combination of both. Each retail customer has their own idea of what should comprise an FX trading solution, and at the same time each broker-dealer wants to differentiate themselves to make their offering unique. The two really play off of each other quite well, especially if you look at the innovations you find in the marketplace. The market-leaders take into consideration both sides and blend them together through innovation (e.g. creating a sophisticated and easy-to-use trading platform/offering) that exceeds the expectation of the customer.

Bang: As the market expands and competition becomes more intense, online fx providers that wish to remain at the top have no choice but to constantly add new features and functionality and generally improve their platforms. It is definitely customer driven, just consider where retail spreads were 3 years ago and where theyre now, pratically the same as institutional spreads. The race to attract more customers is more aggressive now than its ever been.

Nemirovsky: From our experience as a technology company providing white label trading platforms to multiple trading firmsand by extension their 30,000+ tradersI think it would be fair to say that the answer is both. On one hand, retail customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are demanding more advanced features and tools, such as execution from charts, new instruments,