Industry Analysis & Reports: Market Trends & Data Insights

In 2026, ready-made infrastructure is beating custom development on speed, cost and compliance. Learn when to build vs buy—and where CTOs lose time and budget.

African FX liquidity is shaped by hard-currency scarcity and capital controls. Roland Schilling, COO at Sika Financial, explains how interbank reference rates differ from parallel markets, and how Sika settles via CCP/PvP.

In Part 3 of his A-Book STP series, Youssef Bouz explains why STP should be viewed as a trading environment—not a feature—exploring execution realism, market behaviour, and why professional and algorithmic traders prefer true STP models for long-term alignment and scalability.

Think A-book is safer? This guest insight from Anya Aratovskaya breaks down the hidden risks for FX/CFD brokers: leverage mismatches, margin shocks, collateral traps, tech outages and flow quality.

Why one-size-fits-all trading models fail as automation rises. In the second in his series of articles Youssef Bouz from GCC Brokers explains how discretionary and algorithmic traders need different execution conditions (transparency, predictability, stable infrastructure and clear scaling rules) and why realistic market behaviour (spreads, slippage, external liquidity) plus clear broker positioning reduces friction and supports long-term performance.

S&P Global Ratings gave Tether (USDT) the weakest Stablecoin Stability Assessment. Olaf Ransome breaks down what drives stablecoin risk—asset backing, custody/correspondent chains, transparency and reporting.

Gold-i CEO Tom Higgins explains why most crypto exchanges are still retail-first and what must change to win institutional flow — including FIX support, independent custody, predictable liquidity, and pricing models that reward aggregator-driven volume.

Why buy-side and sell-side firms are turning to tokenised collateral for efficient liquidity management.

GCC Brokers’ Youssef Bouz exposes how unrealistic leverage, bonuses and rebates distort the FX/CFD market – and why true A-Book, transparent brokerage is the only sustainable model.

Olaf Ransome explores how stablecoins offer faster, 24/7 payments and banking access where traditional rails fall short, with insights from industry experts: 6 reasons Stablecoins beat traditional payments

Olaf Ransome explores whether the rapid growth in the number of stablecoins will improve financial innovation or create new inefficiencies in digital payments.

JPMorgan is breaking new ground with the launch of JPMD – a “public-permissioned” stablecoin-like token that combines the interoperability and 24/7 settlement of a public blockchain with the regulatory controls and credit backing of a traditional bank deposit. In this post, Olaf Ransome revisits his long‑held view that tokenized deposits only work “inside the four walls” of their issuer, explains why JPMD’s hybrid model changes the game, and explores its far‑reaching implications for institutional liquidity, payment rails and the future of financial services.

Keep an eye on key upcoming economic events, announcements, and news. Plus, set up filters in a few clicks, selecting for event importance and affected currencies.

“Let’s get together!” Big US banks and infrastructure providers are apparently looking at a common stablecoin. How should you think about this and what should you think?

Around things digital assets we have huge momentum. Who is going to win? To understand where we might be headed, I caught up with somebody who thinks about things crypto aka digital assets for a living. Kenny Hearn, the Chief Investment Officer at SwissOne Capital, a specialist asset management company with a focus on institutional grade crypto and blockchain investment funds. Kenny spends his time thinking about who the winners and losers are going to be. He shared his thoughts on what he sees as the differentiators, and just as importantly his view on what is important for institutional investments to be made. This is not investment advice, just a view on how the digital asset space will develop. If you do want investment advice, feel free to contact Kenny.

Stablecoins are off to the races across the pond. The Donald and his team have been preparing a plan, and now with the help of the Senate are moving to making new laws to help and encourage things stablecoins. The team is ready with a bill which has been read in the Senate, kicking off its path to being a new law. The modestly named “Genius Act of 2025” sets out new rules for things Stablecoins.

Digital assets are on the Trump agenda. Amongst the flurry of Executive Orders signed in the White House was a directive on things Digital Assets (see comments for link). Trump was expected to be “pro Crypto”. This order tastes better than “just Crypto”; in my opinion it is “pro Digital Assets” ice cream with a generous sprinkling of “America first” on top, but bureaucrats don’t get one of whatever it is “this” turns out to be. Read on for more, and please do share a comment or two.

An analysis of all the cryptocurrencies related to Donald Trump, as well as an overview of his own involvement in the crypto space.