It seems as though the Forex ECN business is getting crowded. At a time when incumbents such as Hotspot FX, FXall and ICAP-EBS are having a tough time growing volumes, we recently saw new entrants crop up, including traFXpure (backed by France’s Tradition) and MoltenFX. Today comes news that FXCM and Credit Suisse are introducing a new business called FastMatch, which will be based on Credit Suisse’s existing Crossfinder matching engine, used primarily today for equities.
Our understanding is that this will not be the last such announcement in the near future, with other similar networks in the planning stages. However as volumes continue to stall in the electronic FX sector, and with margins diving due to increasing competition, we expect to see some consolidation to begin in the sector.
For more on the global FX market see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.