Tuesday

Risk disclaimer (risk warning)

The risk disclaimer is meant to inform the user of the potential financial risks of engaging in foreign exchange trading. The transaction of such financial instruments known as forex, fx, or currency, and dealt on a valued basis known as 'spot' or 'forward', 'day trading' and 'option', can contain a substantial degree of risk. Before deciding to undertake such transactions with Easy-Forex LTD (hereinafter Easy-Forex), and indeed, any other firm offering similar services, a user should carefully evaluate whether his/her financial situation is appropriate for such transactions. Trading foreign exchange may result in a substantial or complete loss of funds and therefore should only be undertaken with risk capital. The definition of risk capital is funds that are not necessary to the survival or well being of the user. Easy-Forex strongly recommends that a user, who is considering trading foreign exchange products, read through all the main topics contained in the Easy-Forex website so that he/she may obtain a clear and accurate understanding of the risks inherent to fx trading. Opinions and analysis on potential expected market movements contained within the Easy-Forex website are not to be considered necessarily precise or timely, and due to the public nature of the Internet, Easy-Forex cannot at any time guarantee the accuracy of such information. Trading online, no matter how convenient or efficient it may be, does not necessarily reduce the risks associated with foreign exchange trading, and Easy-Forex™ does not accept any responsibility towards any customer, member or third party, acting on such information contained on the website as to the accuracy or delay of information such as quotations, news, and charts derived from quotations.

Do market makers and clients have a conflict of interest?

Market makers are not intermediates, neither portfolio managers, nor advisors who represent customers (while earning commission), but rather they buy and sell goods to the customer. By definition, the Market Maker always provides a two-sided quote (the sell and the buy price), hence maintains neutrality as for the client. Banks do that, same with merchants in the markets, who buy goods and sell it to customers. The relationship between the trader (the customer) and the Market Maker (the bank; the trading platform; Easy-Forex™; etc.) is simply based on fundamental market forces: supply and demand.

Can a Market Maker influence market prices against clients' position?
Definitely not, because the Forex market is the nearest to being a "perfect market" (as defined by economics theory). This is the biggest market today, reaching a daily volume of 3 trillion dollars throughout the globe. That means that there is no single participant in the market, banks and governments included, who can consistently push the price in a certain direction.
 
What is the main source of earnings to Easy-Forex™?
Being a Market Maker, the major source to earnings is the spread between the bid and the ask prices. Accordingly, Easy-Forex™ maintains neutrality (as for the direction of any or all deals made by its traders), since the leading source for its income is the spread it earns.

How do Market Makers manage their exposure?
The way most Market Makers hedge their exposure is to hedge on bulk. They aggregate all clients' positions and pass some, or all, of their net risk to their liquidity providers. Easy-Forex™ hedges its exposure in a similar fashion, in accordance to authorities' instructions and its risk management policy.
As for liquidity providers, Easy-Forex™ works in cooperation with world's leading banks which provide liquidity to the Forex industry: UBS (Switzerland) and RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland).

Market makers

What is a Market Maker?
(Lexical)A Market Maker is the counterparty to the client. The Market Maker does not operate as an intermediate or trustee. A Market Maker performs the hedging of its clients' positions according to its policy, which includes offsetting various clients' positions, hedging via liquidity providers (banks) and its equity capital, at its discretion.

Who are the Market Makers in the Forex industry?
Banks, for example, or trading platforms (such as Easy-Forex™), who buy and sell financial instruments at the market. That is contrary to intermediates, which represent clients, basing their income on commission.

Do Market Makers go against a client's position?
By definition, a Market Maker is the counterparty to all its clients' positions, and he always offers a two-sided quote (two rates: BUY and SELL). Therefore, there is nothing personal with the trading conduct between the Market Maker and the customer. Market Makers regard the total positions of their clients as a whole, same goes for banks and other market makers in the Forex market. They offset between clients' opposite positions, and hedge their net exposure according to authorities' guidelines and their risk management policies.