Edison Ventures Announces Investment in OptionsCity – Gain Capital’s Wald Added to Directors

Venture capital firm Edison Ventures has announced that they have invested in OptionsCity, a Chicago provider of options and multi-asset trading platforms. Among venture firms, Edison Ventures continues its focus to back financial related startups servicing the banking, electronic trading, and payment processing sectors. Within electronic trading, notable investments of Edison Ventures include GAIN Capital, EdgeTrade, Derivatives Portfolio Management (which have been exited via and IPO or company sale) and TraderTools.

For OptionsCity, “the investment will accelerate the Company’s sales and marketing efforts, product innovation and international expansion.” Having been founded in 2006, OptionsCity launched Metro in 2007, an “end to end electronic market making and 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 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 Read this Term” for the options industry. In 2011 they expanded their reach with the release of Freeway, “a multi-asset automated trading platform designed for deploying user-built algorithmic strategies.” Stating why they chose to receive funds from Edison, OptionsCity CEO Hazem Dawani said “We selected Edison as a partner – after thorough due diligence – based on their impressive track record of fast-growing businesses as well as their commitment and knowledge of the Financial Technology sector. We’re excited to begin a new chapter in the growth of our firm.”

Despite a long track record of financial related investments, OptionsCity marks Edison Ventures for funding of a Chicago firm. Chris Sugden, Managing Partner at Edison Ventures stated “OptionsCity is a proven innovator. We believe Freeway represents the next major development for options and futures trading. Traders demand a multi-asset capability where they can quickly test and deploy new strategies. OptionsCity’s customers repeatedly confirmed this capability”. Mike Cichowski, Principal at Edison Ventures added “OptionsCity is a profitable, fast growing company bringing innovative technology to the derivatives market. We are excited to partner with the management team and assist with the company’s global expansion

In an interesting twist, Edison Ventures also announced that Joe Wald, former CEO of EdgeTrade and current Executive Vice President at Gain Capital who has recently become in charge of the broker’s GTX Institutional division would be joining the Board of Directors at OptionsCity. As GTX is one of Gain Capital’s few bright spots at the moment, the appointing of Joe Wald follows Gain’s goal of continuing to diversify beyond the retail Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term market. As such, it will be worth watching how the current Gain/FXCM takeover developments affect the future of GTX and whether it will remain a standalone unit or merged within FXCM if the acquisition takes place. When questioned about GTX, a spokesperson from FXCM declined to comment, citing “At this point in the process, we cannot provide more specifics about our post-merger integration plans. “