Institutional Market Insights: Technology

The Lowdown - newsletter. Something significant is happening in financial markets right now. Prediction markets are the new shiny object, and they are definitely now an institutional asset class. In the same way that brokers scrambled to add crypto to their offering a few years ago, the smartest operators in our space are already asking how they access prediction markets.

Candlestick charts dominate trading screens worldwide — but they are not always the sharpest tool available. This guide explores five proven alternatives: Heikin-Ashi, Renko, Point and Figure, Range Bars and Kagi. Learn how each works, what it reveals that candles can obscure, and how to integrate any of them into your existing workflow without disruption.

LSEG's DiSH promises atomic settlement and 24/7 PvP and DvP capability using tokenised commercial bank deposits. But when the balances move and the banks don't, who actually owns what? Olaf Ransome examines the mechanics - and the risks.

n in-depth review of TMGM (TradeMax Global Markets), the ASIC-regulated ECN broker offering raw spreads from 0.0 pips, MT4 and MT5, copy trading via HUBx and ZuluTrade, and 24/7 multilingual support across four regulated jurisdictions. Find out if TMGM belongs on your shortlist.

LiquidityFinder's Sam Low sits down with Nathan Sage, founder and CEO of Sage Capital Management, to trace his journey from FX fund manager to running a Bitcoin fund doing $1BN a day in 2016 — and how that experience of pain built one of the most connected prime brokerages in the digital assets market today.

Gold at record highs, oil as a meme stock, and crypto exchanges eyeing your clients. Watch our expert panel - Gold-i, Your Bourse, Tapaas and Devexperts - discuss broker risk management, , AI trading and the MetaTrader debate.

Explore live spread and quote benchmarks powered by the Tradefora Composite Index (TCI), an independent dataset aggregated from multiple FX and CFD brokers. View average, minimum and maximum spreads by instrument and timeframe, plus composite bid/ask quote data updated continuously at millisecond precision.

In Part 6 of his A-Book STP series, Youssef Bouz from GCC Brokers looks at how the rise of algorithmic and AI-assisted trading is forcing brokers to rethink risk models, revenue strategy, and long-term sustainability, and why trader longevity, not short-term extraction, is the real measure of a resilient execution business.

In Part 5 of his A-Book STP series, Youssef Bouz from GCC Brokers provides a guide to distinguishing healthy algorithmic trading from latency arbitrage and structural abuse — and why behavior, not profitability, is the real risk indicator.

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.

In Part 4 of his A-Book STP series, Youssef Bouz explains why execution quality and infrastructure are now core performance drivers for algorithmic traders, and why consistent latency, stable fills, and VPS-based environments reduce execution noise, improve backtest realism, and support disciplined, scalable trading.

A complete comparison of MT4, MT5, cTrader, and modern proprietary trading platforms.

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.

Guest insight from Olaf Ransome on UNITE Global FMI and a “single pool of liquidity” vision to reduce nostro reliance, cut buffers and enable real-time PvP/DvP.

Gas fees can be the most confusing part of using Ethereum and other blockchains. This guide explains what gas fees are, why they exist, how costs are calculated (including EIP-1559’s base fee and priority tip), and the key factors that drive price spikes. You’ll also learn practical ways to reduce fees using gas trackers, smarter timing, batching, and Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon and zkSync.

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.

Watch the LiquidityFinder webinar replay on A-Book vs B-Book execution models for retail FX/CFD and crypto brokers. Hear Lars Holst (GCEX), Rob Brown (MAS Markets), Jeremy Kinstlinger (Afterprime), Youssef Bouz (GCC Brokers), Victor Ivanchenko (cBridge/Spotware) and Sam Low (LiquidityFinder) discuss AI-driven trading, liquidity stress, regulatory scrutiny, risk transfer, LP/PB relationships, balance-sheet volatility and brokerage valuation over the next 3–5 years.

In part 2 of his series A-book STP series, Youssef Bouz from GCC Brokers explains why Algorithmic and AI trading demand better execution. Youssef explains STP trading environments, slippage, spreads, and broker–trader alignment.