For Canadian retail FX stalwart OANDA Corporation, the approach to social trading has been something of an engima.
In its foray into the provision of social trading, the company developed its own proprietary social trading network which was offered under the commercial brand of fxUnity.
Despite the development cost and initial effort to bring fxUnity to market, it was canned after a very short period on the market, with OANDA subsequently purchasing Currensee as a going concern at a point in time when that particular social trading network had experienced a downturn in interest.
A mere year has passed since that particular transaction took place, however OANDA is taking a further turn, today issuing a notice to its customers which indicated that the firm intends to alter the methodology of its social trading facility offered via Currensee as of October 31, 2014.
A notice on OANDA’s forum states “Today, we have notified all participating parties that on October 31, 2014, Currensee and the OANDA Trade Leaders Program (OTLP) will cease operation. Following a strategic review including feedback from our customers around the world, self-directed trading remains their priority. As such, we will continue to focus on core OANDA principles of superior execution, competitive spreads, integrating with industry leaders like MT4, providing analysis tools from partners like Autochartist, and premium educational resources. Questions can be directed to [email protected].”
This move serves to demonstrate that the purchase of Currensee was a shrewd move by OANDA to acquire an existing social trading community with many traders in the coveted Asia Pacific region, rather than focusing on the actual social trading solution itself.
OANDA confirmed that aside from the concentration on core business, customer demand for the Trade Leaders Investment Program (TLIP), originally a Currensee product that OANDA adopted subsequent to acquiring the firm, has been scant.