OptAxe, a regulated trading venue for FX options, announced Tuesday that it received FCA authorisation to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF).
OptAxe Gains FCA Authorisation For FX Options Multilateral Trading Facility
OptAxe explained in a press release that it aims to address the inefficiencies and fragmentation of the current FX options market by providing a centralised platform for liquidity discovery, dissemination, and execution.
“OptAxe offers an innovative and automated approach to FX options trading that digitises and centralises the distribution of FX options axes,” the company stated.
Chris Jackson, CEO and Co-Founder of OptAxe, said the company “set out to bring much-needed innovation to the FX options market, improve liquidity discovery and unlock previously untapped trading opportunities.”
By digitising and centralising the distribution of FX options axes, OptAxe aims to improve efficiency, enable risk recycling, and advance market intelligence for both market makers and market takers.
The platform aggregates axe inventory into a single platform, effectively acting as a multi-issuer venue rather than a multi-dealer platform.
Yorke O’Leary, COO and Co-Founder of OptAxe added, “Securing FCA approval to operate a regulated MTF for FX options trading is a significant milestone for OptAxe and represents a step-change in how the industry operates.”
He added that with OptAxe, “all market participants can easily access a centralised source of actionable axe inventory with evidence-based pricing that meets the demands of the trading community today and tomorrow.”
With the overall size of the FX options market estimated to be approximately $300 billion per day, the company believes that even small improvements in the current distribution and execution success rate will be transformative.
