What is the name and position in the company?
Marilyn McDonald, Vice President of Customer Experience, Interbank FX

How has your company dealt with / overcome the current economic situation?

Although the current economic downturn has chilled the financial markets globally, a unique characteristic of our company and the Forex market as a whole is that we actually welcome volatility in the financial market. Volatility creates potential trading opportunities for our customers.

Interbank FX has customers in over 140 countries and had a trading volume of $750 billion in 2008-- great standings in such an uncertain economy. 

In addition, Interbank FX has an ongoing commitment to the customer.  This is reflected in our free online education and the variety of trading tools that we offer to our customers free of charge, including Dow Jones FX Select real-time news.  We feel this is what keeps our business thriving, allowing for continued growth.

How has the Forex market been affected by the financial crisis?

Like all financial markets, we have seen a softening of the marketplace.  However, due to its sheer size the Forex market , particularly the off-exchange retail foreign currency market, is still attracting traders that are eager to try their hands in this volatile market. 

Do you have any current data or numbers for the Forex market volume/ size?

The following facts and figures relate to the overall foreign exchange market (not just the off-exchange foreign currency market, which is where Interbank FX participates). Much of the information is drawn from the 2007 Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity conducted by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in April 2007. 54 central banks and monetary authorities participated in the survey, collecting information from approximately 1280 market participants.

Excerpt from the BIS:
"The 2007 survey shows an unprecedented rise in activity in traditional foreign exchange markets compared to 2004. Average daily turnover rose to $3.2 trillion in April 2007, an increase of 71% at current exchange rates and 65% at constant exchange rates...Against the background of low levels of financial market volatility and risk aversion, market participants point to a significant expansion in the activity of investor groups including hedge funds, which was partly facilitated by substantial growth in the use of prime brokerage, and retail investors...A marked increase in the levels of technical trading – most notably algorithmic trading – is also likely to have boosted turnover in the spot market...Transactions between reporting dealers and non-reporting financial institutions, such as hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds and insurance companies, more than doubled between April 2004 and April 2007 and contributed more than half of the increase in aggregate turnover."
Size:  $3.2 trillion average daily turnover.  The spot market accounts for just under one-third of the daily turnover.

Average Daily Turnover by Geographic Location:  UK – 34.1%, US – 16.6%, Switzerland – 6.1%, Japan – 6.0%, Singapore – 5.8%, Hong Kong – 4.4%, Australia – 4.3%, France – 3.0%, Germany – 2.5%, Denmark – 2.2%, Other – 15.0%


Do you think the worst is behind us now?

I hope that we will begin to see recovery in the global financial markets. 

Do you have any advice for the traders today?

I always emphasize planning and practice. The Forex market isn’t going anywhere, so make sure to take the time to create and perfect your own trading style. Learn to manage the risk. A great start is to open an Interbank FX free demo account. It’s free to all traders and we never pressure demo account holders to open live accounts. This is a great start to begin trading in the forex market.

Do you allow automated trading and/or the use of expert advisors?

Yes! We offer one of the only platforms (MetaTrader 4) in the world that has automated trading capabilities.

Which tools and strategies do you think are important for traders?

We believe that our long term success is closely tied to that of our customers.  With that in mind, Interbank FX has created a number of tools for traders include a terrific online University (www.ibfxu.com) where beginning traders can come to find out more about this market.  We also offer an unlimited demo account and encourage people to use it as long as they need.  Once they decide to trade real money they can open a mini account and trade micro lots which are essentially pennies out of their margin account. IBFX is pleased to inform you that we no longer have minimum deposit requirements for any of our accounts. We have also added new tools and services.  The most exciting is DowJones FX Select News.  This is free to all live account holders.  Other brokers charge up to $1000 a month!