Saxo Bank Launches New Institutional Trading Platform SaxoTraderPRO

Danish multi-asset brokerage Saxo Bank is starting to deploy to market a new Trading Platform Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real-time updates on quotes, charts and is the main frontend which customers are facing.Brokers either use existing trading platforms and sometimes customize them, or develop their own platform from scratch. Since the beginning of the retail FX trading business MetaQuotes and its platforms MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) have been the industry standard, especially when it comes to automated trading.MT4 Shows Resiliency While MT4 has long been seen as ubiquitous amongst brokers’ offerings, a targeted push by MetaQuotes themselves has led to broader adoption of MT5 in recent years. Advanced trading platforms such as MT4 or MT5 also allow access to a wide range of asset classes available for trading.The development of trading platforms over the past decade has failed to successfully dethrone MT4 or MT5, notably in the retail market. However, in institutional markets, brokerage companies and banking entities also construct and utilize proprietary currency trading platforms to help satisfy internal needs with trades executed through institutional trading channels.By far the most important parameter for many retail clients is the optionality and pairs available on trading platforms. Additionally, demand by traders has led to a greater emphasis on newer features such as advanced charting and other tools. In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real-time updates on quotes, charts and is the main frontend which customers are facing.Brokers either use existing trading platforms and sometimes customize them, or develop their own platform from scratch. Since the beginning of the retail FX trading business MetaQuotes and its platforms MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) have been the industry standard, especially when it comes to automated trading.MT4 Shows Resiliency While MT4 has long been seen as ubiquitous amongst brokers’ offerings, a targeted push by MetaQuotes themselves has led to broader adoption of MT5 in recent years. Advanced trading platforms such as MT4 or MT5 also allow access to a wide range of asset classes available for trading.The development of trading platforms over the past decade has failed to successfully dethrone MT4 or MT5, notably in the retail market. However, in institutional markets, brokerage companies and banking entities also construct and utilize proprietary currency trading platforms to help satisfy internal needs with trades executed through institutional trading channels.By far the most important parameter for many retail clients is the optionality and pairs available on trading platforms. Additionally, demand by traders has led to a greater emphasis on newer features such as advanced charting and other tools. Read this Term that caters to institutional investors. The company dubbed the new tool SaxoTraderPRO. It is designed using HTML5 technology and will be available to clients worldwide as the launch starts from the UK and Denmark.

Saxo Bank targets SaxoTraderPRO at active traders and institutional clients but it is not restricting any of its clients from using it. The multi-screen trading platform has fully customizable workspaces and works with both Windows and Mac, replacing the legacy SaxoTrader platform.

Saxo Bank will keep offering its proprietary SaxoTraderGO HTML 5 platform for those traders who do not require the full suite of features that SaxoTraderPRO offers.

Development and Details

The Head of Platforms of Saxo Bank, Christian Hammer shared some insight on the matter with Finance Magnates.

Is the platform installable or web-based? How did you come to the decision to develop a version for Mac?

The platform is downloadable but actually, it consists of HTML5 web modules in an Electron framework. We chose this solution to ensure that clients always have the latest software version available without frequent downloads, and to support the active traders demands for customizability across multiple screens. Finally, it helps us reduce cost and complexity in our IT infrastructure to have coded all our platforms in HTML5 and powered by a single REST-based API. Several of our clients have requested a professional and customizable platform for Mac.

What would be the criteria for traders to be able to use the platform?

We do not have fixed criteria for this but the platform is designed for our most active traders and institutional clients. These clients typically have several screens, using more advanced order types, run many positions in different asset classes, pays for Level 2 data and want to be able to customize the platform layout to their specific needs. The majority of our retail traders and investors will be better served by using the existing SaxoTraderGO web platform that is optimized for single screen usage.

How much did it cost to develop in terms of time and money and what were the biggest challenges to overcome during the development phase?

We have spent 2 years developing the platform involving at any given time +50 developers. We have worked with ongoing client feedback and early prototyping to ensure that what we developed actually fits the needs of active traders. We made early prototypes available to beta clients 10 months before launch and got a great deal of feedback and suggestions for improvements directly from the beta clients. We also did a number of focus group test in the UK with active traders.

Detailed Functionality

The new trading interface from Saxo Bank supports a slew of features. Starting from support for up to six screens on Windows and Mac the platform is configurable zoom, drag and drop, a right-click menu, link modules and others.

SaxoTraderPRO features some advanced trading tools to manage and execute orders and analyze market data. Algo orders and placement and management of trades in relation to the Level 2 order book in real time are also available with Time and Sales to view real-time exchange tick data.

Clients can also choose between “Real Time Netting” or “End Of Day Netting” of individual trades

Saxo Bank has also integrated a set of Risk Management Risk Management One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, most brokers employ a risk management department tasked with analyzing the data and flow of the broker to mitigate the firm’s exposure to financial markets moves. Why Risk Management is a Fixture Among BrokersTraditionally the company is employing a risk management team that is monitoring the exposure of the brokerage and the performance of select clients which it deems risky for the business. Common financial risks also come in the form of high inflation, volatility across capital markets, recession, bankruptcy, and others.As a countermeasure to these issues, brokers have looked to minimize and control the exposure of investment to such risks.In the modern hybrid mode of operation, brokers are sending out the flows from the most profitable clients to liquidity providers and internalize the flows from customers.This is deemed less risky and are likely to incur losses on their positions.This in turn allowing the broker to increase its revenue capture. Several software solutions exist to assist brokers to manage risk more efficiently and as of 2018, most connectivity/bridge providers are integrating a risk-management module into their offerings. This aspect of running a brokerage is also one of the most crucial ones when it comes to employing the right kind of talent. One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, most brokers employ a risk management department tasked with analyzing the data and flow of the broker to mitigate the firm’s exposure to financial markets moves. Why Risk Management is a Fixture Among BrokersTraditionally the company is employing a risk management team that is monitoring the exposure of the brokerage and the performance of select clients which it deems risky for the business. Common financial risks also come in the form of high inflation, volatility across capital markets, recession, bankruptcy, and others.As a countermeasure to these issues, brokers have looked to minimize and control the exposure of investment to such risks.In the modern hybrid mode of operation, brokers are sending out the flows from the most profitable clients to liquidity providers and internalize the flows from customers.This is deemed less risky and are likely to incur losses on their positions.This in turn allowing the broker to increase its revenue capture. Several software solutions exist to assist brokers to manage risk more efficiently and as of 2018, most connectivity/bridge providers are integrating a risk-management module into their offerings. This aspect of running a brokerage is also one of the most crucial ones when it comes to employing the right kind of talent. Read this Term tools that include custom margin alerts and margin utilization breakdowns and quick-close buttons for positions & orders.

Availability for clients of Saxo Bank in the UK and Denmark will be followed by the APAC region. Deployment of the platform to the rest of the world will follow later in April and during May.