Oanda announced today that it is suspending FX trading on weekends, effective immediately. Oanda was the only major FX brokerage which allowed its clients to trade through Saturday and Sunday, although typically with wider spreads in effect.
Last month Oanda suspended trading for one weekend (June 16-17) in advance of expected market volatility due to the Sunday, June 17 Greece election.
Clearly, Oanda has admitted that the benefits of being open for business when others were all closed was simply outweighed by the additional risk of being unable to hedge its positions, and the difficulty of setting the right prices when all other market makers were not giving quotes.
This action also seems to be in line with our prediction made when Oanda replaced its CEO at the end of May, that Oanda is preparing itself for an IPO. Reducing unnecessary risk, such as being open for business on weekends, is likely a step public market investors would want to see.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.