Broker OANDA Rebrands, Launches Crypto Trading Service in US Market

<p>OANDA, a longtime player in the multi-asset retail trading industry, has added crypto trading ability to its platform for users in the United States. </p><p>The crypto trading offering was launched in partnership with Paxos, a regulated blockchain infrastructure company, the broker announced on Friday.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Crypto trading now available through OANDA! ??Find out more about the benefits of trading cryptocurrency with OANDA ?? <a href="https://t.co/Qlfvukz7lp">https://t.co/Qlfvukz7lp</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OANDA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OANDA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SmarterTrading?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SmarterTrading</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Crypto?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Crypto</a> <a href="https://t.co/ReIdEUyS8S">pic.twitter.com/ReIdEUyS8S</a></p>— OANDA (@OANDA) <a href="https://twitter.com/OANDA/status/1583110275032457217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2022</a></blockquote><p>The new feature means that users in the United States can now trade spot crypto on Paxos’itBit exchange from the OANDA mobile app, the broker said.</p><p>“The decision to add crypto access to OANDA’s popular forex trading platform was made in response to the needs of active traders—giving them the ability to trade according to their personal style is key,” explained <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/executives/oando-onboards-fxcms-jessica-beckstead-as-md-north-america-ceo-us/">Jessica Beckstead</a>, the CEO of OANDA for North America.</p><p>The launch comes almost one month after the broker, which is based in Canada, announced its <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/brokers/oanda-joins-forces-with-paxos-to-develop-crypto-trading-ecosystem/">partnership with Paxos</a> to develop a crypto trading ecosystem.</p><p>OANDA said it had added a crypto trading feature to its platform “to give investors easy access to crypto alongside their existing forex portfolios in a secure environment.”</p><p>“Everything from Paxos account opening to funding to trading is managed within the app so investors can seamlessly access major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and PAX Gold against the US dollar from an intuitive platform,” the broker explained.</p><p>Rebranding</p><p><a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/tag/oanda/" target="_blank">OANDA</a> said it is unveiling a new brand identity this week. However, the broker's new logo is already on display on its website. </p><p>OANDA, which also offers currency data and analytics services, added that the move proves its commitment to facilitate smarter trading for its customers.</p><p>“OANDA’s new look and feel represents the company’s commitment to always putting its clients first,” the broker said.</p><p>It added, “The core focus of OANDA’s brand evolution is to empower traders with the right tools so they can trade smarter.”</p><p>A New Phase of Growth</p><p>Speaking on the launch, Gavin Bambury, the CEO of OANDA, noted that the number of Americans in search of exposure to cryptocurrencies continues to increase.</p><p>Hence, the need to create “a unified trading experience” for active traders and sophisticated investors through the inclusion of digital assets in their portfolios.</p><p>“Our partnership with Paxos continues that growth trajectory as its regulated blockchain infrastructure allows us to provide our clients [with] access to crypto trading, so they have a fast and secure route to the digital economy,” Bambury added.</p> This article was written by Solomon Oladipupo at www.financemagnates.com.

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Your Bourse Appoints Heads for Operations, Customer Success, and Engineering Teams

<p>Your Bourse, a London-based technology provider to forex and contract for difference (CFD) brokers, recently appointed new heads to spearhead various units in its organization.</p><p>These are Valter Timanov as Head of Operations, Maria Porandaikina as Head of Customer Success, and Sergey Rudenko as Head of Engineering.</p><p>Your Bourse disclosed this in a press statement shared with Finance Magnates on Thursday.</p><p>While Timanov joined Your Bourse from <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/tag/online-broker/" target="_blank">online brokerage firm</a> Just2Trade Online where he was the Chief Technology Officer, Porandaikina came from MetaTrader4/5 tech solution developer, Brokeree Solutions, where she was Head of Customer Success.</p><p>On his part, Rudenko was once a developer for Your Bourse. He had previously worked with the technology provider between March 2016 and April 2018. He also once worked with Your Bourse's Co-Founder Andrey Vedikhin while they were at top forex broker Alpari.</p><p>“I am thrilled to re-join and be part of Your Bourse as we look to adopt best practices in software engineering, optimize our team structure and establish technical standards,” Rudenko noted, speaking on his appointment. </p><p>Your Bourse noted that Rudenko is bringing “extensive knowledge of modern software development practices to support Your Bourse’s leadership team.”</p><p>“These recent appointments will enable Your Bourse to transform development procedures to accelerate innovation plans with clear focus on customer satisfaction from their growing client base,” Your Bourse said in a statement shared with Finance Magnates.</p><p>Speaking on the new appointment, Elina Pedersen, Your Bourse’s Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Revenue Officer, noted that the appointed leaders will enable the company’s 'ambitious growth plans.'</p><p>“These are significant hires for Your Bourse and demonstrate our commitment to deliver ongoing enhancements to our Platform-as-as-Service and the best customer experience in the industry,” Pedersen said.</p><p>Career Experience</p><p>According to his LinkedIn profile, Timanov joined Your Bourse in July and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.</p><p>Timanov was once the Head of the Investment Department for <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/brokers/just2trade-integrates-your-bourses-solution-as-main-liquidity-provider/" target="_blank">Just2Trade’s office</a> in Cyprus. He served the broker between 2017 and 2018. He was also once the Technical Manager at WhoTrades, and a Software Engineer at FINAM Investments. </p><p>On her part, Porandaikina was once a SharePoint Consultant at SkillUnion Limited and Information Technology Help Desk Analyst at Japan Tobacco International.</p><p>On his part, Rudenko has worked as a .NET developer at London Capital Group, Alpari and Engineers of Information LLC.</p><p>Meanwhile, Kate Rutkovskaya, the Chief Operating Officer of Your Bourse, earlier this month <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/executives/your-bourses-coo-kate-rutkovskaya-announces-her-resignation/" target="_blank">resigned from her position</a>. The C-suite executive spent two years and four months in the capacity before her exit from the company. She spent almost three years there.</p><p>“Kate has resigned to start her own project in the field of mindfulness and with her amazing set of leadership, management and resourcing skills, I'm sure it will be a great success," Pedersen told Finance Magnates.</p> This article was written by Solomon Oladipupo at www.financemagnates.com.

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ThinkMarkets Adds 5 New Crypto CFDs to Portfolio

. ThinkMarkets, a multi-asset online broker, has added five new decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens to the line-up of cryptocurrency contracts for difference (CFDs) customers can trade on its platf...

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Denmark’s FSA Orders Saxo Bank to Dump Crypto Holdings

Denmark’s financial markets supervisor has demanded that Saxo Bank dump its cryptocurrency holdings. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) stated this in a statement released today (Wednesday), noting that the multi-asset broker’s trading in digital assets for its own accounts falls outside the investment bank’s “lawful area of activity.”

Danish Watchdog Frowns at Saxo Bank

As a bank that specializes in online trading and investment, Saxo Bank offers a wide range of financial products and services, including online trading in stocks, bonds, commodities, forex, contracts for difference, fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.

According to the FSA, the Copenhagen-based investment bank hedges its crypto assets to match the market risk associated with its digital asset products. However, the regulator noted that trading in crypto is not part of the supported activities listed in Appendix 1 of the Danish Financial Business Act.

“Unregulated trading of crypto assets can create distrust in the financial system, and the Danish FSA finds that legitimising trading in crypto-assets would be unjustified,” the financial watchdog explained. “Thus, the activity cannot be accepted as an ancillary banking activity for reasons of financial stability, cf. section 24 of the Danish Financial Business Act.”

Furthermore, the regulator pointed out that because the European Union’s recently passed crypto regulation, Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), will only come into enforcement in its entirety on December 30, 2024, crypto trading among financial institutions “remains unregulated for the time being.”

"We naturally take the decision of the Financial Supervisory Authority into account and will read it thoroughly to consider how we otherwise respond to it," Saxo Bank said in a statement shared with Finance Magnates, pointing out that its customers get exposure to cryptocurrencies without owning them.

"With regards to this, we have held a very limited portfolio of cryptocurrencies, solely to hedge a very marginal proportion of risk associated with the facilitation of crypto assets. The vast majority of this exposure is mitigated through exchange-traded and cleared products," the Danish investment bank elaborated. "Therefore, the FSA's decision will have a very limited impact on our business, and our client will not experience any significant changes.”

Saxo Bank’s FX Volume Drops 8% in June

Meanwhile, Saxo Bank on Wednesday released its monthly trading volumes for June 2023, reporting an 8% decline in its forex trading volumes. The volume came in at $119.5 billion, with the daily average falling by 5% to $5.4 billion.

However, compared to the same month last year, the drop in total forex volume in June 2023 is much more significant: the volume went down by 22% from $152.5 billion. Similarly, the daily average volume plummeted by 21% from $6.9 billion.

Since the start of 2022, Saxo Bank’s monthly forex trading volumes have been undulating, finally sinking to $102.8 billion in April, which is the lowest volume since December 2021. However, the volume later picked up, jumping by 27% to $130.5 billion in May, only to drop again last month.

Across all markets, Saxo Bank’s trading volumes weakened by 4% to $391.7 billion, with the monthly volumes from its trading activities in commodities and fixed income slumping by 21% and 13% to $32.1 billion and $6.6 billion, respectively. On the contrary, trading volume in equities strengthened by 2%, rising from $228.2 billion in May to $233.5 billion last month.

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