On the heels of earlier news surrounding a revamped platform, FXCM has announced that it will be discontinuing a total of thirteen exotic currency pairs on February 20, 2015, given the prevalent amount of respective risk associated with them.

The changes keep coming at FXCM, as earlier today the company unveiled a new version of its platform, aimed at delivering a new set of data to work with – this included Real Volume indicators, which will be available exclusively on FXCM’s own Trading Station platform.

With the memories of the  Black Swan  Black Swan A Black Swan event is most commonly associated with an unforeseen calamity or event. In its most basic form, this event results in disastrous consequences for multiple parties, markets, or individuals and are characterized as extraordinarily rare in frequency, yet are seemingly predictable in retrospect. In the foreign exchange space, the most noteworthy of these events in recent memory was the Swiss National Bank (SNB) crisis which roiled currency markets back on January 15, 2015.During this instance, the SNB abruptly decided to abandon the Swiss franc (CHF) currency peg with the euro, convulsing markets. In particular, the aforementioned cap was designed to keep the franc pegged at 1.20 to the euro in a bid to shield exporters and mitigate deflationary pressure. With the removal of this peg, the rate plunged to 0.86 francs per euro, before ultimately recovering slightly.The resulting move led to total wash outs of positions and margin calls that stressed brokers and traders alike. The aftermath led to an ongoing debate over negative balance protection and other lingering effects on the FX industry and has remained controversial ever since.Other Black Swan EventsIn addition to the SNB, other examples of Black Swan events include the US housing market crash in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the hyperinflation of Zimbabwe in which inflation rates peaked at 79.6 billion percent and the dot-com bubble of 2001.More recently, many experts have posited whether the outbreak of Covid-19 can be characterized as a Black Swan event, given its seismic influence on equity markets in March 2020. Ultimately, there is no uniform consensus on the pandemic being a Black Swan event given the crisis is still ongoing. A Black Swan event is most commonly associated with an unforeseen calamity or event. In its most basic form, this event results in disastrous consequences for multiple parties, markets, or individuals and are characterized as extraordinarily rare in frequency, yet are seemingly predictable in retrospect. In the foreign exchange space, the most noteworthy of these events in recent memory was the Swiss National Bank (SNB) crisis which roiled currency markets back on January 15, 2015.During this instance, the SNB abruptly decided to abandon the Swiss franc (CHF) currency peg with the euro, convulsing markets. In particular, the aforementioned cap was designed to keep the franc pegged at 1.20 to the euro in a bid to shield exporters and mitigate deflationary pressure. With the removal of this peg, the rate plunged to 0.86 francs per euro, before ultimately recovering slightly.The resulting move led to total wash outs of positions and margin calls that stressed brokers and traders alike. The aftermath led to an ongoing debate over negative balance protection and other lingering effects on the FX industry and has remained controversial ever since.Other Black Swan EventsIn addition to the SNB, other examples of Black Swan events include the US housing market crash in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the hyperinflation of Zimbabwe in which inflation rates peaked at 79.6 billion percent and the dot-com bubble of 2001.More recently, many experts have posited whether the outbreak of Covid-19 can be characterized as a Black Swan event, given its seismic influence on equity markets in March 2020. Ultimately, there is no uniform consensus on the pandemic being a Black Swan event given the crisis is still ongoing. Read this Term event still fresh in the minds of investors and FXCM, the company has opted to target thirteen exotic currency pairs that structurally are more prone to rampant fluctuations of  Volatility  Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. Read this Term given their currency floors, pegs, or bands in place.

The pairs targeted for discontinuation include:

FXCM will discontinue trading on 13 currency pairs on Friday, February 20, 2015. Many of these exotic currency pairs carry significant risks due to over-active manipulation by their respective governments, either by having a floor, ceiling, pegs, bands, etc in place. As such, FXCM will be removing the 13 currency pairs below:

• GBP/SEK
• NOK/JPY
• HKD/JPY
• EUR/PLN
• USD/ILS
• CHF/SEK
• SEK/JPY
• USD/SGD
• EUR/CZK
• CHF/NOK
• SGD/JPY
• USD/PLN
• USD/CZK