Prominent introducing broker Paul Towne of BBFX is preparing to launch a new FX signals and investment service, which is set to go live next week under the name of Back Bay Markets.
Mr. Towne and his firm are well versed in the methodologies of operating within the North American introducing broker sector, and is now taking this expertise to an international audience.
LeapRate today spoke to Mr. Towne in order to gain full perspective on the focus of the new firm. “We are keeping some of the traditional introducing broker approach, where we feel our experience in the space is an asset to clients. However we are also adding professionally managed and vetted Signal Trading to beef up our offering” explained Mr. Towne.
“The service will focus on global customers outside the United States, and is setup to provide solutions to retail investors but we are also seeking to partner with other like-minded industry professionals and money managers with proven performance” continued Mr. Towne.
“We have a few very good signals provided by professional traders and are in the process of sourcing more quality traders. We will never be a wholesale shop like many existing signal trading or copier based firms, instead we view our method as one with a more customized and boutique feel.”
Mr. Towne stated that Trevor Ford, a partner of the firm, is handling the vetting of algorithmic managers using his extensive knowledge of expert advisors and algorithmic FX trading. “Back Bay, like many other MT4 brokers is comprised of a large percentage (up to 60%) of Algo and EA traders” said Mr. Towne.
“Knowing this is a key demographic we have spent a considerable amount of time creating a proprietary in-house tool to evaluate and compare various algorithmic strategies in order to determine those strategies that have the best risk-to-reward ratios. Taking into account criteria such as max drawdown, Z-score, profit factor, standard deviation, Sortino Ratio, V2 ratio, and others in unique weights we are confident we have included some of the best algorithmic programs for our current and prospective clients” he said.
With regard to the structure of the firm, Mr. Towne explained “We aren’t acting as an off shore broker/FCM, making markets and holding funds. For self-directed clients, it is a traditional IB approach but with access to some pricing, conditions, and services that they can’t receive elsewhere.”
“As far as the signals are concerned, they are provided by us, and sourced from professional money managers, former bank traders, among other sources that have actual performance based results and legitimate trading experience” he explained.
“There is a synergy between our company and the traders we are working with that allow us to do this. The managers want access to retail traders but don’t have the time or logistical structure in place to deal with individual retail clients. We, on the other hand, have the retail clients, understand what they want/need, and have provided services to them for several years. Now we have customized a solution to pair them with our institutional trading partners via our signal copy trading service, which adds an extra level of value to our existing product.”
Mr. Towne concluded by detailing his vision for the new service and approach to the existing signal space. “We are not actually looking to reinvent the signals sector. By launching our new service we are really looking to help the signal space evolve into a legitimate investment vehicle. We believe this will be done by offering boutique trading programs for FX hungry investors whose goal is to discover under-the-radar top performing strategies.”