FX technology provider X Financial Solutions today announced that it has formed a corporate alliance with Tradency in order to integrate the firm’s Mirror Trader copy  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 with the back office and trading engine of X Financial Solutions’ X Open Hub  Cloud  Cloud The cloud or cloud computing helps provides data and applications that can be accessed from nearly any location in the world so long as a stable Internet connection exists. Categorized into three cloud services, cloud computing is segmented into Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). In terms of trading, the versatility of the cloud service allows retail traders the ability to test out new trading strategies, backtest pre-existing concepts performing run time series analysis (or trend analysis), and execute trades in real-time.Advantages of Cloud Computing in TradingAn advantage that stems from cloud computing would be that entities don’t need to construct a data center infrastructure themselves.Instead, entities can conduct trials and perform refinements, and should no solutions pan out then the cloud may be shut down while the payment terminated at the same time. This methodology of renting virtual space and time in cloud tends to be far more appealing than the costs, time, and resources required with constructing hardware and software infrastructures.These also happen to be the exact concept used in SaaS with trading related software.While executing trades via the cloud is an important capability to keep intact, most retail traders are drawn to the cloud for the research, backtesting, and analytics advantages that stem from using the cloud. In forex, traders that use Expert Advisors (EAs) and automated trading software are uploading their solutions onto a broker’s cloud account. The cloud is an ecosystem for multiple industries, sectors, and niches. Its versatility has not been peaked while in trading many retail traders are transitioning to cloud computing as a means to reduce expenditures, optimize efficiency, and maximize available resources. The cloud or cloud computing helps provides data and applications that can be accessed from nearly any location in the world so long as a stable Internet connection exists. Categorized into three cloud services, cloud computing is segmented into Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). In terms of trading, the versatility of the cloud service allows retail traders the ability to test out new trading strategies, backtest pre-existing concepts performing run time series analysis (or trend analysis), and execute trades in real-time.Advantages of Cloud Computing in TradingAn advantage that stems from cloud computing would be that entities don’t need to construct a data center infrastructure themselves.Instead, entities can conduct trials and perform refinements, and should no solutions pan out then the cloud may be shut down while the payment terminated at the same time. This methodology of renting virtual space and time in cloud tends to be far more appealing than the costs, time, and resources required with constructing hardware and software infrastructures.These also happen to be the exact concept used in SaaS with trading related software.While executing trades via the cloud is an important capability to keep intact, most retail traders are drawn to the cloud for the research, backtesting, and analytics advantages that stem from using the cloud. In forex, traders that use Expert Advisors (EAs) and automated trading software are uploading their solutions onto a broker’s cloud account. The cloud is an ecosystem for multiple industries, sectors, and niches. Its versatility has not been peaked while in trading many retail traders are transitioning to cloud computing as a means to reduce expenditures, optimize efficiency, and maximize available resources. Read this Term-based trading environment.

Juan Jutgla, Director of Institutional Business at the X Financial Solutions said of the partnership: “We are very excited to be working with Tradency to offer our clients a complete trading solution fully integrated with the world-renowned Mirror Trader platform.”

“This alliance, along with our recently announced partners last week, is a strong validation of the open concept we are developing through our flagship X Open Hub trading environment.

The response has been extremely positive from both our existing clients and the marketplace and we look forward to the advantages this collaboration will bring to our broker clients and their end users” he explained on behalf of the firm.

Copy Trading Migration To Open Platforms?

With most of the copy trading and automatic trading firms having concentrated their efforts on MetaTrader compatibility over the last few years by forming revenue-share type arrangements with retail brokers that offer MetaTrader, a significant business was built by such firms effectively offering a third party solution which worked in conjunction with MetaTrader 4.

A degree of immediate change came about this year, when MetaQuotes began to offer its own social trading facility which is built into the platform.

This was swiftly followed by the extremely vociferous accusation by the firm that four of the major copy trading providers were hacking MetaTrader protocols, in the form of a notice on the firm’s broker support website discouraging brokers from using any of these firms.

With Tradency being the first of these to refute the allegations made against it, and withdraw its relationship with any broker using MetaTrader 4 platform the same day, this integration with X Financial’s X Open Hub provides the firm with a formula to enter the non-proprietary, open platform market.

Nadav Levi, Tradency’s Director of Marketing, made a corporate statement regarding the integration: “We are experiencing a global growing demand for the Mirror Trader service and as a result we are expanding our backend partners’ network with leading technology providers.”

“X Financial Solutions’ X Open Hub is an important addition to our complete offering and we have great confidence that our joint proposition will enable many more brokers to enjoy the Mirror Trader value” said Mr. Levi.

The new partnership is, according to X Financial Solutions, a two way street insofar as it will be available to both existing brokers of X Open Hub which are now able to swiftly implement the Mirror Trader platform and for Mirror Trader potential clients that are now able to use X Financial Solutions’ back-end.

Interesting times ahead, as MetaQuotes takes an increasingly proprietary view toward the plethora of third party software providers which had built an entire ecosystem around the MetaTrader 4 platform.

At this year's IFXEXPO the firm launched a third party marketplace in which it can vet and control each offering, plus having denounced the four copy trading platform providers earlier this year, in this instance, does this represent a case of MetaQuotes showing Tradency the door, or Tradency turning its back on MetaQuotes in favor of new, open pastures?