Seeing customer demand and reacting to trading volatility, Australian IC Markets is launching trading in the Chinese yuan (USD/CNH) and Russian ruble (USD/RUB) on both of its MT4 and cTrader platforms. According to the firm, they are the first Australian-based broker to be offering USD/RUB trading for their customers.

Commenting to Forex Magnates, IC Markets Managing Director, Andrew Budzinski stated that the demand for the new products has been primarily from China, with some occurring from Russia due to an increase in clients from those two countries. In their public statement, IC Markets attributed the growth of Chinese-based clients in part due to their having an office in the country. However, Budzinski explained that the current geo-political situation has also led to the decision, saying “Adding the RUB is primarily opportunistic given the currency situation in Crimea.”

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In Budzinski’s statement provided in the broker’s public release of the news, he explained that recent volatility in yuan has made the currency more appealing to broker’s Asian traders as he said, “We have also seen increased volatility in the Chinese yuan against the US dollar as China’s central bank intervenes in its currency, squeezing hot money out of speculative positions. The large fall in the USD/CNH of almost 13 big figures since the start of the year represents significant opportunity for our clients in the east.”