Forex Brokers-What You Should Know Before Opening a Start-Up

Forex Brokers Risk: What You Should Know Before Opening a Start-Up

Over 5 trillion dollars a day now comes from the foreign exchange market. It is, therefore, the largest market in the world in terms of volume. In the past few years, many investors and traders have been attracted to the opportunities and successes in the foreign exchange market. There has been a huge growth in the number of forex brokers within this period because they have realized that it is much more profitable to own a brokerage rather than to simply introduce clients.

Best Forex broker on the Market?

Best Forex operators are seeing more profit in running their own businesses than continuing to act as channels of business to bigger brokers. This is what is responsible for the rise in the number of start-up brokers in the last ten years. There are a lot of opportunities in the forex market. You should know the following things before ever starting your own brokerage.

Do your Research

Best Forex broker on the Market

You need to embark on a research and understand what your target market will be. It is the country from which your traders will come that determines the forex licensing and regulation requirements.

Acquire Startup Capital

There are two types of expenses that you will make as a forex brokerage. These are operating and trading expenses. In some places, there is a minimum capital requirement which forex businesses who are either based locally or who are actively seeking clientsresident in those places must meet. In addition tocapital requirements set by local laws, your brokerage should set aside significant funds to cover ongoing costs during the first couple of months of its operations. And you must separate operating funds from trading funds.

You need to incorporate before you even start your brokerage

As soon as you are incorporated, you will need to do your registration and get a license.  The following jurisdictions, Cyprus, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Luxembourg, and Panama, cater to newly incorporated brokerages.

Set up contracts with Payment Service Providers.

 It is wise to have more than one payment service provider available so that if your primary payment service provider shuts you down, you will not be stranded because you already have a backup one on ground. 

Establishing a company

Every newbie will face major challenges when opening his or her own brokerage due to the initial work involved in establishing a company and the legal framework surrounding it, establishing corporate banking relationships and developing the firm’s workflows and processes. The following are a few of the most important steps that you will need to give a great deal of thought when starting your own brokerage: 

  • Doing registration and licensing for your forex brokerage company in a jurisdiction that is suitable for your budget and business requirements.
  • Opening corporate bank accounts for client deposits and company operations.
  • Establishing an office, buying office equipment, etc.
  • Recruiting staff

Choosing a business model for your Forex Brokerage

There are generally three business models that a Forex brokerage can adopt:

  • Market Maker or Principal model: This is where the brokerage B-books (takes the risk on its own books) its clients’ trading activity.
  • Agency or Straight Through Process model: This is where the broker STPs (STP) all of the trading activity to a reputable counterparty.
  • Hybrid model: This is where the brokerage runs a combination of the Market Maker and Agency models based on a certain set of risk criteria.

Transparency and Ownership

Make sure you choose the most transparent partners to deal with for liquidity and technology as they will be giving you the most complete information regarding trade reporting and execution on a real time basis. Ensure that you maintain full ownership of the clients and that you do not share their account detailswith anyone, especially with your competitor.

Technology

Find a partner that will offer you innovative technology in order to ensure you have an edge over your competitors. New brokers should look for a flexible technology provider who can grow with them as their needs change. Technology involves trading software, bridges and risk management tools.