To venture to suggest that corporate competition within the retail FX sector in North America has become somewhat streamlined in recent years would perhaps amount to an understatement as the giants accrue even greater strength and market presence whilst a whole host of other well-renowned global firms have bowed out entirely.
Indeed, FXCM and GAIN Capital have embarked on vast acquisition campaigns, taking them into new niche sectors as well as consolidating client bases of other firms, MONEX Group’s US subsidiary Interbank FX (IBFX) appears to be taking a different route.
This particular retail FX giant is now entirely focused on offering the TradeStation platform. On Saturday, September 20, the websites of the company reemerged with a new design, promoting the proprietary solution of the TradeStation group only.
The change is in tune with the new strategy of IBFX, announced on September 5th as FXCM announced that it would be acquiring the entirety of IBFX’s MetaTrader 4 accounts in the US and Australia. At that time, IBFX President Gary Weiss said “For some time now we have supported two forex business lines, MetaTrader 4 and TradeStation, and have decided that we should focus solely on our award-winning TradeStation platform offerings and not dilute our brand or message.”
The new focus appears as TradeStation has just released the latest version of its platform (9.5) offering even better capabilities to traders who wish to test their skills on a multi-asset platform.
Along with MetaTrader 4, it appears that several other services from IBFX’s portfolio have been consigned to the history books, including the Currensee accounts and the ZuluTrade accounts. This change comes after in July the broker announced that it would discontinue its own social trading platform Connect.
Meanwhile, the transfer of IBFX MetaTrader 4 accounts to FXCM is underway, at least this is a vibrant subject for discussion among retail FX traders in certain forms. This transition should be completed by the end of September. IBFX’s websites provide holders of such accounts access to their statements.
IBFX remains a registered Forex Dealer Member and swap dealer (provisionally registered) with the US National Futures Association, as well as a holder of an AFS license with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).