iFX EXPO International 2026 opens today (Wednesday) at the City of Dreams Mediterranean, bringing together brokers, fintech firms, liquidity providers, payment companies, technology vendors, and other participants from the online trading industry.
The event is expected to attract more than 6,500 attendees, 200 exhibitors, and over 120 speakers.
The conference began yesterday evening with the Welcome Party at Columbia Beach. It was an informal networking event that gave attendees an opportunity to reconnect with existing clients and partners before the main exhibition and conference programme.
Conference Sessions and Expo Floor Begin
The exhibition floor and conference sessions get underway today. Discussions across the Speaker Hall and Mastery Hub stages are expected to focus on regulation, trading technology, payments, client acquisition, digital assets, and operational trends affecting brokers and financial services firms. The 2026 edition also marks the Cyprus debut of the Mastery Hub content stage.
Speakers Examine Next Liquidity Shock Risks
The session, titled “Liquidity Under Pressure: Can Markets Handle the Next Shock?”, examined how evolving market conditions are affecting liquidity provision across global financial markets.
The panel featured Mohammad Isbeer, Group Chief Institutional Officer at Equiti Capital, alongside Ivan Virko of APS Group, Elina Pedersen, Co-Founder and CEO of Your Bourse, John Murillo, Chief Business Officer at B2BPRIME, Alexandros A. Patsalides, Vice President of Institutional at GTC Group | GTC Prime, and Andreas C. Kapsos, CEO of Match-Prime Liquidity.
Discussion focused on how liquidity providers are responding to heightened volatility, geopolitical tensions, and fragmented market structures across FX, crypto, and CFD markets.
Speakers explored challenges around maintaining execution quality, adapting pricing models, and managing risk under stress conditions, as well as the role of technology and smart order routing in accessing deeper and more reliable liquidity across multiple venues and asset classes.
Firms Rethink Gen Z Hiring Strategies
The session, titled “MASTERCLASS - Why Gen Z Won’t Work for You (And What to Do About It)”, examined shifting workforce expectations and the challenges firms face in attracting and retaining younger talent.
The discussion featured Jeff Patterson, Head of Education at Finance Magnates, alongside Marianna Hadjiandoniou, Founder and Director of PERHA Group, Marie Pavlou, Founder and Fractional HR Leader at MPHRSolutions, and Donna Stephenson, Founder of Emerald Zebra.
Speakers highlighted how traditional hiring, onboarding, and management approaches are increasingly misaligned with Gen Z expectations, particularly in competitive sectors such as fintech, trading, and payments.
The session explored issues including declining application rates, early-stage employee churn, and the importance of employer branding. It also focused on practical approaches to improving recruitment and onboarding strategies, with emphasis on the critical first 90 days of employment and how firms can better adapt their talent processes to current market dynamics.
Wealth Risk and Capital Stack Reshaped
The session, titled “The New Capital Stack: Who Controls Wealth, Risk & Global Flows in 2026?”, examined how global capital is being structured and managed in an increasingly interconnected financial environment.
The panel featured Nikolai Isayev, COO and Editor-in-Chief of FinanceFeeds, alongside Ashveer Seeboruth, CEO of Graphite Financial Solutions Limited, Anna Stylianou, Founder of AML Cube Consulting and Education, and Zaheer Anwari, Co-Founder and CEO of Revacy Ltd.
Discussion focused on how wealth is created, transferred, and protected across jurisdictions amid evolving regulatory frameworks and fragmented financial infrastructures.
Speakers explored the role of technology and compliance in enabling cross-border capital flows, as well as the challenges firms face in balancing efficiency, risk management, and client expectations in a globalised market environment.
Limassol takes center stage this week for iFX EXPO International 2026
— FXStreet News (@FXStreetNews) June 16, 2026
More than 6,500 attendees and 200+ exhibitors will gather for three days of networking, fintech innovation, trading tech, payments, liquidity, regulation, AI and digital assets.
From the Welcome Party and… pic.twitter.com/CkaUgGsgwr
Legacy Systems Face Modernisation Pressure
The session, titled “Smooth Operator: From Legacy Chaos to Next-Gen Tech Stacks”, brought together technology providers to discuss the infrastructure requirements facing brokers, fintech companies, and trading firms. Moderated by Demetris Milis, Sales Director for Financial Services at Oracle Europe, the panel featured representatives from Google, MetaQuotes, GTN, Syphonix, and Solitics.
The discussion focused on how firms are modernising technology stacks to meet growing demands for scalability, real-time performance, regulatory compliance, and AI integration.
Speakers examined the role of data architecture, execution systems, and interoperability in supporting future growth, while also considering different approaches to technology transformation, including building, buying, or partnering to accelerate modernisation efforts.
Building Authority Beyond Products and Platforms
The session, titled “Personal Branding: Your Platform Is a Commodity. You Don't Have to Be”, explored the role of personal branding in an increasingly competitive financial services landscape.
The discussion featured Martin Zarian, Co-founder and Full-stack Brand Builder at Factory 39 and Balabook, and Ari Gutman, Vice President of Marketing Strategy at Defiance Analytics and creator of the Ari Gutman YouTube channel.
Speakers examined how professionals can differentiate themselves when products and services across the industry become increasingly similar. The conversation focused on the balance between building authority and maintaining credibility, as well as the potential impact of personal branding on professional reputation, career development, and business growth.
Panel Debates Future of Global Payments
The session, titled “The Money Wars: Fiat vs Stablecoins vs Bitcoin”, examined competing approaches to the future of payments and money movement. Moderated by Anton Golub, Founding Member at RWA Labs, the panel featured Baskar Subramanian, CEO of Mobi, Alex Behar, CIO of Zota, Kristin Reischel, Senior Director of Solutions and Partner Marketing at Rapyd, and Andrey Kalashnikov, Head of Match2Pay.
The discussion explored the respective roles of traditional payment systems, stablecoins, and Bitcoin in the evolving financial ecosystem. Speakers considered topics including payment infrastructure, scalability, regulatory frameworks, and user adoption, while comparing the strengths and limitations of each model.
The panel also addressed whether stablecoins can serve as a bridge between traditional finance and digital assets, and the extent to which Bitcoin may play a role in everyday payments beyond its use as a store of value.
Entrepreneurship Lessons Beyond Success Stories
The session, titled “What They Don’t Tell You About Entrepreneurship”, featured Charles Savva, Managing Director of C.Savva & Associates. The talk focused on the less visible aspects of building a business, including setbacks, risk-taking, and decision-making challenges that often sit behind success stories.
Drawing on his personal journey from Canada to establishing his own business, Savva discussed the role of discipline, resilience, and well-being in shaping long-term performance.
He highlighted how mindset and personal stability can influence clarity and decision-making, framing these factors as practical tools for business and professional development rather than purely motivational concepts.
🔥 iFX EXPO International 2026 starts tomorrow!
— B2BROKER (@b2broker_net) June 15, 2026
B2BROKER is joining as an Elite Sponsor, and we’re excited to showcase our latest solutions for brokers, fintechs, liquidity, payments, and trading firms
📅 16–18 June 2026
📍 Limassol, Cyprus
🏪 Booth: #2
See you tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/tPEHWcmZvH
Speakers Debate Future of Prop Trading
The session, titled “Prop Under Pressure: Are Prediction Markets the New Trading Frontier”, brought together industry participants to examine the rising role of prediction markets in retail trading.
The panel featured Pere Monguió, Co-CEO of FXStreet, alongside Abdullah Galib, Chief Strategy Officer at FundedNext, Libi Milshtein, VP Partnerships at Plaee, Haya Zaoui, Trading Business Analyst at Plus500, and Ruben Abitbol, Founder and CEO of RUBIK Prop Firm Consulting.
Discussion centred on whether prediction markets represent a structural evolution in retail trading or a new form of speculative activity under a different framework. Speakers considered how recent geopolitical events have driven trading activity and tested market infrastructure, as well as how regulators and courts are shaping rules around fairness and insider risk.
The panel also addressed the requirements for broader institutional participation, including governance, tools, and infrastructure, and compared prediction markets with prop trading and other retail speculation models.
AI Reshapes Brand Visibility and Discovery
The session, titled “If AI Can Recommend Your Brand, It Can Ignore It Too”, examined how artificial intelligence is reshaping digital visibility and brand discovery. The discussion featured Bojan Ninkovic, Head of Strategy & Digital at UF Agency, and Slobodan Draksimovic, CEO of WAIM.
Speakers highlighted how AI is increasingly influencing search results, content exposure, and early-stage consumer perception, often before users reach a brand’s website. The session explored how visibility signals are evolving in an AI-driven environment, and why some brands are gaining prominence while others are becoming less visible in digital ecosystems. It also focused on how businesses can adapt their content and positioning strategies to maintain relevance and authority in this shifting landscape.
Crypto Panel Examines Market Survival Amid Stress
The session, titled “Bull Hangover: Who Survives When the Music Stops?”, brought together industry speakers to discuss how digital asset markets are responding to tightening liquidity and shifting sentiment.
Moderated by Duska Nedeljkovic, Head of Conferences at Ultimate Group, the panel included Anton Golub, Founding Member at RWA Labs, Andrey Stoychev, CEO and Managing Partner at VS Capital, Tom Higgins, Founder and CEO at Gold-i, Bas Kooijman, CEO and Asset Manager at DHF Capital S.A., and Andreas Vlachos, Web3 Growth Expert at the University of Nicosia.
- Tools for Brokers to Launch Broker AI System DEXA, Integrating MT4 and MT5
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- Webull Lets US Retail Traders Place Trades via Natural Language With MCP Server
The discussion focused on the current phase of crypto market stress, including questions around which business models remain resilient during lower trading volumes, and how exchanges, market makers, and token projects are being affected.
Speakers also examined whether current conditions represent a cyclical downturn or a broader structural reset driven by macroeconomic pressures and regulation, as well as the growing shift of some crypto-native traders toward FX, indices, and commodities markets.
CySEC Chairman Opens iFX EXPO Keynote
The event opened its conference programme with a keynote address by Dr. George Theocharides, Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
In his remarks, he outlined key regulatory priorities and supervisory developments shaping financial markets across the European Union, set against Cyprus’s broader role within the European policy agenda and its ongoing Presidency.
The session continues the event’s tradition of opening with a regulatory-focused address and provides attendees with insights into the evolving legal and compliance landscape affecting the industry.
TikTok Masterclass Focuses Finance Ad Scaling
The session, titled “MASTERCLASS by TikTok: Driving Performance: Scaling Finance Ads with TikTok Solutions”, focused on how financial brands can leverage TikTok’s advertising tools to scale performance campaigns.
Delivered by Anastasia Dudina, Client Partner, Fintech at TikTok, the masterclass highlighted the growing presence of financial content on the platform, as users increasingly turn to it for trading-related education and insights.
It outlined approaches to automating campaign management, including the use of TikTok One, Smart+ 2.0, and API-driven optimisation tools. The session also covered ways to streamline content production using built-in creative features and automation systems, aimed at reducing manual workload while maintaining scalable and consistent ad performance.
