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ONLine Trading
K H A L E E J T I M E S | A DV E RT I S I N G S U P P L E M E N T T h u r s d a y, A p r i l 2 5 , 2 0 1 3
Alpari ME
Adding more value Providing a suitable environment for clients to make informed investment decisions ‘Education is the cornerstone of success in online trading’ As one of the most transparent and trusted online trading brokers operating regionally, Alpari ME DMCC has emerged as one of the fastest growing providers of online foreign exchange (Forex, FX), commodities and contracts for difference (CFDs) trading services for private and institutional clients. Founded in 1998 in Moscow, Alpari soon penetrated the UK and US markets and made its foray into the Middle East at Dubai in 2008. Currently, the Alpari group of companies serves its global cli-
ents from offices in over 20 countries. “In each region that we enter, we regulate ourselves with the local exchanges,” says Iskandar Najjar, CEO, Alpari ME. “In Dubai, we are a full broker on the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX). This has allowed our clients to broaden their reach into the global foreign exchange and commodities markets. Any Alpari client has access to a host of services including futures and options in the US, spot transactions in the UK, Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in India and DGCX in the UAE.” Last year, Alpari launched the live MetaTrader 5 (MT5) — the most advanced futures trading platform available — and is the only broker that offers MT5 to DGCX. “In the FX industry, every millisecond counts as it is imperative to take advantage of sudden market moves,” says Najjar. “For traders, therefore, the MT5 offers the most advanced technology in a very user-friendly plat-
form to trade as quickly and as effectively as possible. It gives them access to the complete DGCX product bouquet from anywhere — be it in the car or at home or while travelling.” Although clients can access a great range of currencies and commodities, the Indian market has become extremely important, points out Gaurav Kashyap, Head of DGCX desk, Alpari ME. “The Indian Rupee Futures Contract, for instance, launched four years ago, achieved total volumes of over 100,000 contracts in a single day for the first time in April 2013 valued at a record-breaking $3.5 billion.” Unlike other online trading brokers, Alpari differentiates itself by adding as much value as possible to enable its clients to make informed investment decisions, says Kashyap, “The key to education is experience. In the Forex industry, there is always an opportunity to capitalise on the market volatility and currency fluctuations. Clients can make profits
Iskandar Najjar
Gaurav Kashyap
both in times of rising and falling prices but it is very important to be aware of the risks as well as rewards of investing in such markets.” At Alpari, the global strategic goal is to first educate and then offer a platform, he adds. “Our demo accounts enable clients to trade virtually against a real market backdrop. We also conduct regular seminars while the Alpari Academy offers comprehensive introductory education via video
tutorials and webinars.” “Our global brand philosophy is to provide an optimal customer experience for our clients, and accordingly, we also conduct face-to-face interaction with our clients at seminars in small groups of 10 to 15 every week at our offices in UAE and KSA. These complimentary training sessions are open to anyone wishing to make informed decisions before entering the forex, futures and options markets,” he adds.
easy-forex
MIG Bank
Trading with a personal dealer
Sharing strategies Speaker set to share long-term tactics for future investment opportunities
Presenting research and analyses in an accessible way that is both informative and educational is among easy-forex’s specialties Nicolas Shamtanis, Dealing Room Manager, easy-forex, shares his views in an interview with Khaleej Times. Excerpts: You’ve been with easy-forex for six years now, and leading the dealing room for the past three. What’s it been like? It’s been incredible. It’s very humbling to work with such a dynamic team and great clients. Our dealing room clients are our more experienced traders and I think they value the easy-forex approach. What is that approach? It sounds simple but in practice I don’t know how many companies manage to get it right. It is a truly ”trader-centric approach”. Everything we do is focused on the trader. Every trader has their own account service manager, and premium traders get a personal market analyst who they can contact at any time to bounce off their ideas and discuss the market or their trading strategies. Our personal market analysts make an extra effort to understand their clients’ needs, giving them all the time and help they want, and as a result we have built some very strong relationships. Our research and analyses are also strongly focused on the trader. We try to present it in a very accessible way so that it is not only informative but also educational. As well as providing research from leading international agencies like Trading Central and MNI, we produce our own Daily Outlooks. Education and training have always been an important part of easy-forex’s offering because we firmly believe that knowledge is the key to successful trading. What platform do you like to trade best? Well, easy-forex has a number of
trading platforms. I think my personal favourite is the mobile platform because of its straightforward interface and I can trade wherever I am. I think it was Da Vinci who said simplicity is the greatest sophistication. We first began with what is still our most popular platform, the web trading platform. It has sophisticated tools and unique features and ongoing innovations and developments that make it one of the most sophisticated online-based platforms on the market. Realtime rates, one-click trading, freeze rate and the Inside Viewer™ are just a few of these features. It’s fully transposable with our mobile platform and our downloadable platform, TradeDesk™. This means, for example, that you can open a deal with the web trading platform and then close the same deal in TradeDesk™. We also offer easyforex’s MT4 platform, which has some unique features, including fixed spreads, all expert advisors and low latency. What is the best part of your job? The best part of the job is undoubtedly the pleasure when I see my clients win. We build a partnership — although I obviously cannot tell a trader what to trade, I can discuss the market and various trading scenarios with them and we both feel rewarded when the trade is successful. The mood can get incredibly exciting in the dealing room, especially when the market is volatile! The other part of the job I love is when I get the chance to give educational seminars to traders. I travel to the Middle East and China regularly and give seminars to our clients here. We believe easy-forex won the award for “Best dealing room”
Nicolas Shamtanis at the 2012 MENA Forex Expo. Yes, that was a huge achievement and we were thrilled to get it. We have worked hard to create a dealing room that is really different, really trader-friendly and I’d like to think the award confirmed our efforts. Stepping back a bit, tell us about easy-forex. It seems you were one of the first online trading companies, yet you have managed to keep your offering fresh and innovative. easy-forex really brought forex trading to the individual trader back in 2003 when the internet trading started to take off. Ten
Risk warning Forex, commodities, options and CFDs (OTC Trading) are leveraged products that carry a substantial risk of loss up to your invested capital and may not be suitable for everyone. Please ensure that you understand fully the risks involved and do not invest money you cannot afford to lose. The information provided is for informative purposes only, and can under no circumstances be considered as a recommendation to engage in any trade.
years later, we now service clients in 160 countries around the world. We are regulated in Europe and Australia and are committed to transparency and client fund security. Our philosophy has always been to keep it simple, accessible and transparent for the trader, and we have kept a market lead through this philosophy. The other key of course is to have industry-leading technology and we have managed to develop some superb proprietary systems and tools. Along the way we have added new forex instruments to our product palette. In 2009 we started gold and silver trading and in 2010 our energy/oil commodities. Last year we added stock indices and I’m really excited about our latest offering — options trading. Is options trading taking off worldwide? Tell us more. Yes, easy-forex has just opened up the beta version of its new online options platform to the world. The platform takes options trading to a new level of easiness and accessibility. It allows traders to hedge open positions of any forex trade with any broker. Option trading also allows traders to profit simply by predicting volatility rather than the direction of a move. With no minimum deposit the easy-forex options platform is a first for the industry.
MIG Bank, the largest Swiss bank specialised in online Forex trading, delivers investment strategy in Dubai. MIG Bank’s Chief Investment Officer Dieter Merz will speak at the MENA 11th Forex Show in Dubai, April 25 and 26. Hisham Mansour, CEO of MIG Bank, explained, “We are excited about participating in the MENA 11th Forex Show 2013 where every year we meet with our esteemed clients and partners.” Dieter Merz, MIG Bank’s Chief Investment Officer will host a conference at the event on trends affecting investors. With more Dieter Merz than 26 years of experience in asset management and On his scheduled private banking, Merz is presentation on April considered an expert in his field. He and his team de- 25 at the MENA 11th Forex liver exclusive trading in- Managed Fund Expo and sight and advice, so that clients can trade confident- Conference, held in Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Merz will discuss ly every day. “MIG Bank’s Investment global economic trends and its and Research team proimpact on the investment and vides a mix of multi-asset management, as well as an Forex markets uncommon type of longshort strategies, managed in a disciplined manner and based upon rigorous analysis. We are driven to deliver absolute returns regardless of benchmarks. We are constantly looking for new investment opportunities for our clients. This approach, combined with the safety and security of a Swiss-regulated bank (by FINMA, the Swiss regulatory authorities) and supported by our transparent fee structure creates a rare haven for invested capital,” said Merz. When asked about the current global deflationary trends, he replied, “These will ultimately strengthen the US dollar and further weaken gold. In effect, global growth and inflation appear to be cooling again. Thus the Federal Reserve can continue purchasing assets to the tune of $85 billion a month. The Bank of Japan is now emulating the Federal Reserve, or actually, doing much more. “Indeed, in an indebted world, deflation is the biggest enemy because it increases debt’s real value. As such, central banks are probably right to go the extra mile in fighting the dangerous deflationdebt cycle. Only the European Central Bank is reluctant. It has, however, an additional problem: the Eurozone is financially fragmented. In countries such as Italy and Spain, interest rates remain prohibitively high for small and medium enterprises. The European Central Bank will be forced to do more, i.e. further reduce rates and take unconventional measures to ensure lower effective rates in its periphery. Since only the US is being able to reduce its total debt stock, it will be the first one to exit massive liquidity injection. As a result, the US dollar is poised to strengthen over the next years, while gold will remain weak in a world where inflation is no longer the major scare.” On his scheduled presentation on April 25 at the MENA 11th Forex Managed Fund Expo and Conference, held in Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Merz will discuss global economic trends and its impact on the investment and Forex markets. MIG Bank’s Middle East Regional team will be present throughout the duration of the event to meet with clients, partners and prospects.
The ‘science’ that is economics • Continued From previous page
solidate in this range. However, nagged by slowing growth (Indian GDP was at 4.5 per cent during Q4 of 2012, its lowest in 15 quarters), decreasing price pressures (March’s WPI inflation reading came in at 6 per cent, well below February’s 6.8 per cent) and falling commodity prices, the Indian Central Bank has room to manoeuvre rates and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a cut in the repo rate during their next policy meeting in May. This could see the USD-INR re-test that
54.90 level before moving back to 53 levels on those weakening prospects for the greenback. And finally, gold has shown some signs of consolidation with resistance coming in at 1,438 levels. Gold bulls may not yet be out of the woods and the yellow metal would need to close out April above 1,400 levels to maintain any further upward momentum. As for justifying the economic fundamentals behind gold’s vicious sell-off from two weeks ago — beats Samuelson, but economics has never been a science.