Can you give us a quick overview of what CitiFX TradeStream is?

CitiFX TradeStream (also referred to as “TradeStream”) allows mid-sized institutions access to aggregated liquidity from a variety of providers whilst using Citi as their contractual counterparty.

Whilst Citi is recognised as a leading FX liquidity provider in its own right, TradeStream aggregates liquidity from additional providers to consistently deliver very high quality pricing with excellent depth of liquidity.

Importantly, TradeStream does not operate a dealing desk and executed trades are passed on to liquidity providers on an STP basis.

You launched CitiFX TradeStream during the second half of 2012. Has it lived up to your expectations, and if so why?

through our own proprietary GUI and through a FIX API, we have expertise with a variety of MT4 set-ups, including integration with most leading bridge providers. TradeStream has been configured for plug-and-play MT5 integration via MetaQuotes’ MT5 Gateway. We have also recently announced integrations with Deltix, cTrader, and Tradable.

How does CitiFX TradeStream work alongside the conventional Citi price-making business?

Whilst Citi is one of the key contributors of liquidity to the TradeStream pricing engine, TradeStream operates behind a Chinese wall, segregated from other parts of Citi’s FX business.

Absolutely, we’ve been thrilled with the customer reaction, confirming the initial feedback upon which we based our decision to offer the service. It’s worth remembering that TradeStream was designed to address two key needs faced by mid-sized clients: to reduce the overall cost of liquidity in the face of diminishing margins, and to have a relationship with a counterparty of higher credit quality.

In building TradeStream, Citi leveraged from its unique position of having direct relationships with the largest banks and buy-side price makers. Owing to the fact that these liquidity relationships are not reliant upon third party technology providers or other credit intermediaries, significant costs can be stripped out of the transaction process.

Accordingly, TradeStream is able to access and deliver market-leading liquidity at a lower cost than previously possible whilst allowing mid-sized clients to face Citi directly as a counterparty.

What would you say is your unique selling point and how is TradeStream different from ECNs?

I think we can sum this up by saying that CitiFX TradeStream customers can face one of the largest banks in the world to access consistently good liquidity, sourced directly and cheaply from a broad spectrum of providers. Citi’s unique position in the market allows us to strip out a lot of the key costs from the transaction, and we are able to pass on these savings to participants on both sides of the trade.

The various alternatives for accessing aggregated liquidity and their associated costs versus complexity are illustrated in the diagram above.

The long and complex onboarding, documentation and credit processes required to trade with a major bank can be enough to put customers off. How have you tackled this?

TradeStream pricing and liquidity can be easily accessed by opening a CitiFX Margin Trading account. The documentation process has been designed to be as simple as possible. Whilst we still observe standard bank know your customer and anti-money laundering processes, the credit and margining aspects of the relationship are governed under a pre-approved programme that speeds up our client setup process whilst allowing us to offer standard leverage of 50:1 on majors (up to 100:1 in some cases).

Is CitiFX TradeStream liquidity available through some of the standard platforms like MT4?

We’ve done a lot of work in this area. As well as pricing

How do you see the e-FX market evolving over the next few years and how do you think TradeStream will position itself in the industry?

Low-cost access to tight and deep liquidity will continue to drive the industry, but this will go hand in hand with a need for participants to be even more aware of the credit quality of their counterparty (in many cases regulators are already accelerating this process).

We believe that TradeStream’s value propositions are very appealing to the mid-market segment for whom process efficiency, pricing and credit quality are fundamental cornerstones of their FX business.

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Options to access Aggregated Liquidity

CitiFX TradeStream -delivering high quality pricing with excellent depth of liquidity