A sharp split is emerging in retail FX and CFDs just
as a new wave of convergence with institutional markets gathers pace, senior
executives warned during the “All-Star Panel: Next Industry Trends” at FMLS:25
in London.
Moderated by Melissa Stringer, the Fractional CPO and
Product Strategy Consultant, the discussion brought together Simon Maisey, LMAX
Group’s Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships, Andrew Ralich, oneZero CEO
and Co-Founder, Hugh Whelan, President at ACI UK, Financial Markets Association,
Drew Niv, the Chief Strategy Officer at ATFX, and Martin St‑Hilaire, the CEO of
Titan FX.
The panelists delved in a wide‑ranging debate on
market structure, risk and the impact of new entrants.
Niv argued that the last decade has seen retail
and institutional FX pull apart, as retail brokers leaned harder into
internalisation and B‑book models while expanding into emerging markets.
From left: Melissa, Simon, Andrew, Hugh, Drew, and Martin
“In traditional FX CFDs, it’s kind of diverging, but
in the multi-asset is converging. And I think what’s interesting is that we
are, and I’ve said this in other panels before, we are like on the verge of
some pretty significant changes in the industry in terms of new entrants coming
in.”
Maisey stressed that access to data and
wholesale liquidity has levelled dramatically across the spectrum from retail
brokers to banks and buy‑side firms.
You may also like: “Before Algorithms, the Market Moved at the Speed of a Shout,” Industry Reflections from FMLS:25
“There’s no longer a market that people can’t see. If
you’re prepared to pay, you can get that data, you can get that information.
And also like the liquidity is largely the same as well.”
Execution, Expectations and Regulation
Asked what “good execution” means in 2025, St‑Hilaire
described a clash between marketing claims and economic reality in emerging
markets.
“If the spread is really, really tiny and tight,
tight, tight, there’s a good chance that you might not get the execution
actually that you deserve. If the spread is maybe a bit wider, you will get
probably more chance to be actually feel your order will be filled at the price
that was advertised to you initially.”
According to Whelan, retail expectations are often
misaligned with the demands of institutional liquidity, particularly on depth,
low latency and multi‑regional infrastructure. Moving up the ladder requires
significant investment in technology, operational resilience and regulatory
engagement that many retail firms underestimate, he warned.
In Asia, he pointed to Korea, India and Taiwan as
examples of markets opening to foreign institutions but only in return for
“multi‑year investments” in local partnerships, reporting and on‑the‑ground
presence, with Singapore’s MAS providing the template for higher standards.
Blind Spots: Risk, Volatility and Big Tech
When the discussion turned to blind spots, Niv argued
that the industry remains too focused on a “pocket of gambling‑leveraged
traders”, leaving execution quality and risk management as secondary concerns
so long as most clients lose money.
He predicted that the entry of “big supermarkets” such
as large crypto platforms and app‑based brokers with tens of millions of
accounts will reset standards, especially if firms like Binance or Robinhood
were to acquire established FX brokers.
Keep reading: “Prop Trading Will Transform FX Like Retail Did 25 Years Ago,” ATFX’s Drew Niv at FMLS:25
“And I think they’re going to make the standards very
different. And I think there’s always going to be a niche in this business, but
I think the landscape is going to shift. There’s a lot of big…Super apps are
kind of a trivializing word.”
Ralich pushed back on the idea that today’s retail
conditions are inherently unrealistic, likening tight spreads to free drinks in
a casino – “it is what it is” given how the market works.
He sees the real blind spot in risk: brokers managing
ever larger, bank‑sized B‑book positions without enough hedging, particularly
beyond simple spot, leaving the industry exposed to book blow‑ups and
insolvencies reminiscent of the pre‑CFTC era in the US.
Product Shifts, Tokenisation and AI
Maisey highlighted how client demand is already
reshaping product mixes, with some brokers seeing gold volumes surpass FX in
recent months.
“And people are going to start trading things they’re
interested in rather than just products they can change. We’re already seeing
from our broker partners now, we’re seeing like in the last month, gold was
more popular than FX.”
He also noted a shift in how retail traders are
influenced, away from linear broadcast news and toward self‑selected online
sources, which in turn shapes what they choose to trade.
Ralich argued that convergence with crypto and digital
assets may allow the OTC industry to “hopscotch” over a traditional exchange‑driven
model, pointing to perpetual futures as a crypto invention that looks, in his
words, like “just a CFD that has been given a prettier name.”
He and Maisey both floated the idea that stablecoins
and tokenized assets could underpin more transparent brokerage balance sheets,
with regulators eventually mandating on‑chain visibility of firms’ positions
and collateral to prevent blow‑ups.
2026 Priorities: Infrastructure,
Localization and Concentration Risk
Looking ahead to what brokers will need in 2026,
Maisey listed three non‑negotiables: being “digital‑ready” for tokenized and
crypto‑style products; upgrading connectivity and prime‑broker workflows to
handle institutional flows; and securing the right regulatory jurisdictions for
institutional business.
The implementation burden for institutional
connectivity, he said, remains very different from retail plug‑and‑play
models. St‑Hilaire made the case for deep localization as the
only viable way mid‑sized brokers can compete with global “super apps.”
“And if we break out from these regulations and this
legislation and coming from emerging market where the legislation are much
lower, we could imagine like that it’s quite easy to have an AI that actually
do your website. You have your front end for your trading platform.”
Niv warned that the industry is now “long gold
volatility,” with many brokers deriving more than half their exposure from gold
and facing a dangerous concentration risk if volatility dries up.
“And the biggest risk in this industry, people have to
think like January to August of 2023, there was like a gold volatility drought.
And just from my experience, I would say half the industry was probably four to
five months away from bankruptcy. And big names.”
Whelan echoed that the lesson from institutional
markets is diversification – across client segments and asset classes –
suggesting retail brokers may likewise need to look beyond FX and metals into
broader multi‑asset offerings to smooth earnings.
For all the talk of tokenization, AI and app wars, the
panelists returned to a simple conclusion: firms that thrive in the next cycle
will be those that combine institutional‑grade risk management and transparency
with sharper product design, richer client experiences and a more honest
conversation with retail traders about what “good execution” really means.
A sharp split is emerging in retail FX and CFDs just
as a new wave of convergence with institutional markets gathers pace, senior
executives warned during the “All-Star Panel: Next Industry Trends” at FMLS:25
in London.
Moderated by Melissa Stringer, the Fractional CPO and
Product Strategy Consultant, the discussion brought together Simon Maisey, LMAX
Group’s Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships, Andrew Ralich, oneZero CEO
and Co-Founder, Hugh Whelan, President at ACI UK, Financial Markets Association,
Drew Niv, the Chief Strategy Officer at ATFX, and Martin St‑Hilaire, the CEO of
Titan FX.
The panelists delved in a wide‑ranging debate on
market structure, risk and the impact of new entrants.
Niv argued that the last decade has seen retail
and institutional FX pull apart, as retail brokers leaned harder into
internalisation and B‑book models while expanding into emerging markets.
From left: Melissa, Simon, Andrew, Hugh, Drew, and Martin
“In traditional FX CFDs, it’s kind of diverging, but
in the multi-asset is converging. And I think what’s interesting is that we
are, and I’ve said this in other panels before, we are like on the verge of
some pretty significant changes in the industry in terms of new entrants coming
in.”
Maisey stressed that access to data and
wholesale liquidity has levelled dramatically across the spectrum from retail
brokers to banks and buy‑side firms.
You may also like: “Before Algorithms, the Market Moved at the Speed of a Shout,” Industry Reflections from FMLS:25
“There’s no longer a market that people can’t see. If
you’re prepared to pay, you can get that data, you can get that information.
And also like the liquidity is largely the same as well.”
Execution, Expectations and Regulation
Asked what “good execution” means in 2025, St‑Hilaire
described a clash between marketing claims and economic reality in emerging
markets.
“If the spread is really, really tiny and tight,
tight, tight, there’s a good chance that you might not get the execution
actually that you deserve. If the spread is maybe a bit wider, you will get
probably more chance to be actually feel your order will be filled at the price
that was advertised to you initially.”
According to Whelan, retail expectations are often
misaligned with the demands of institutional liquidity, particularly on depth,
low latency and multi‑regional infrastructure. Moving up the ladder requires
significant investment in technology, operational resilience and regulatory
engagement that many retail firms underestimate, he warned.
In Asia, he pointed to Korea, India and Taiwan as
examples of markets opening to foreign institutions but only in return for
“multi‑year investments” in local partnerships, reporting and on‑the‑ground
presence, with Singapore’s MAS providing the template for higher standards.
Blind Spots: Risk, Volatility and Big Tech
When the discussion turned to blind spots, Niv argued
that the industry remains too focused on a “pocket of gambling‑leveraged
traders”, leaving execution quality and risk management as secondary concerns
so long as most clients lose money.
He predicted that the entry of “big supermarkets” such
as large crypto platforms and app‑based brokers with tens of millions of
accounts will reset standards, especially if firms like Binance or Robinhood
were to acquire established FX brokers.
Keep reading: “Prop Trading Will Transform FX Like Retail Did 25 Years Ago,” ATFX’s Drew Niv at FMLS:25
“And I think they’re going to make the standards very
different. And I think there’s always going to be a niche in this business, but
I think the landscape is going to shift. There’s a lot of big…Super apps are
kind of a trivializing word.”
Ralich pushed back on the idea that today’s retail
conditions are inherently unrealistic, likening tight spreads to free drinks in
a casino – “it is what it is” given how the market works.
He sees the real blind spot in risk: brokers managing
ever larger, bank‑sized B‑book positions without enough hedging, particularly
beyond simple spot, leaving the industry exposed to book blow‑ups and
insolvencies reminiscent of the pre‑CFTC era in the US.
Product Shifts, Tokenisation and AI
Maisey highlighted how client demand is already
reshaping product mixes, with some brokers seeing gold volumes surpass FX in
recent months.
“And people are going to start trading things they’re
interested in rather than just products they can change. We’re already seeing
from our broker partners now, we’re seeing like in the last month, gold was
more popular than FX.”
He also noted a shift in how retail traders are
influenced, away from linear broadcast news and toward self‑selected online
sources, which in turn shapes what they choose to trade.
Ralich argued that convergence with crypto and digital
assets may allow the OTC industry to “hopscotch” over a traditional exchange‑driven
model, pointing to perpetual futures as a crypto invention that looks, in his
words, like “just a CFD that has been given a prettier name.”
He and Maisey both floated the idea that stablecoins
and tokenized assets could underpin more transparent brokerage balance sheets,
with regulators eventually mandating on‑chain visibility of firms’ positions
and collateral to prevent blow‑ups.
2026 Priorities: Infrastructure,
Localization and Concentration Risk
Looking ahead to what brokers will need in 2026,
Maisey listed three non‑negotiables: being “digital‑ready” for tokenized and
crypto‑style products; upgrading connectivity and prime‑broker workflows to
handle institutional flows; and securing the right regulatory jurisdictions for
institutional business.
The implementation burden for institutional
connectivity, he said, remains very different from retail plug‑and‑play
models. St‑Hilaire made the case for deep localization as the
only viable way mid‑sized brokers can compete with global “super apps.”
“And if we break out from these regulations and this
legislation and coming from emerging market where the legislation are much
lower, we could imagine like that it’s quite easy to have an AI that actually
do your website. You have your front end for your trading platform.”
Niv warned that the industry is now “long gold
volatility,” with many brokers deriving more than half their exposure from gold
and facing a dangerous concentration risk if volatility dries up.
“And the biggest risk in this industry, people have to
think like January to August of 2023, there was like a gold volatility drought.
And just from my experience, I would say half the industry was probably four to
five months away from bankruptcy. And big names.”
Whelan echoed that the lesson from institutional
markets is diversification – across client segments and asset classes –
suggesting retail brokers may likewise need to look beyond FX and metals into
broader multi‑asset offerings to smooth earnings.
For all the talk of tokenization, AI and app wars, the
panelists returned to a simple conclusion: firms that thrive in the next cycle
will be those that combine institutional‑grade risk management and transparency
with sharper product design, richer client experiences and a more honest
conversation with retail traders about what “good execution” really means.
