For many years, some foreign exchange participants and industry watchers predicted that it was only a matter of time before trading, especially of spot, migrated on to a single, exchange-like location. However, far from consolidating, the FX market has continued to fragment and, perhaps more important, it has continued to thrive. If ever there was proof that competition is beneficial to a market’s smooth and efficient operation, it is FX. The view that FX would one day function in much the same way as equities has now almost completely disappeared. Instead, it seems that the equity market is in the process of fragmenting and moving toward an FX-type model.
Nick Dyne, the founder and head of business development at Logicscope, says he is among those who never believed that FX would consolidate. When pushed, he admits that if this had happened, there would have been little reason for his company to exist. But Dyne had spotted a gap in the market that needed to be filled when Logicscope started operations in 1997. That was, put simplistically, to connect the various electronic trading platforms to market participants’ back offices. This is what Logicscope still does; however, because of the proliferation of platforms, such a service is now even more important.