The Lowdown Interview with Stuart Pettman and Joe Roeder from MarketsVox

In my latest industry deep dive, I recently sat down with Stuart Pettman, Director, and Joe Roeder, CEO of MarketsVox, to explore their expanding business operations and get their insights on the retail trading landscape. 

Though originally intended as a podcast, sound quality issues led us to adapt it into this written format – a blessing in disguise as it allows us to delve deeper into their multi-faceted business approach. 

MarketsVox, a retail brokerage regulated out of the Seychelles, has grown significantly in recent years. During our conversation, we explored three key components of their business: the core MarketsVox brand and institutional operations, MV Funded (their proprietary trading division), and EconQ (their social trading technology platform).

The Evolution from ForexVox to MarketsVox

Last January, the company underwent a significant rebrand from ForexVox to MarketsVox. According to Stuart Pettman, this was partially a strategic decision to better reflect their comprehensive offering beyond forex trading.

"It was a forced decision," Stuart explained. "It does encompass more what we do. We don't just do Forex, which is what the previous brand name was. But more importantly, and I think you're seeing this as an industry trend, the banking side with the high risk and the Forex name was becoming ever so more problematic."

This pragmatic approach to branding highlights a broader industry challenge – the increasing difficulties forex-branded businesses face with banking services. The rebrand allowed MarketsVox to both accurately represent their multi-asset offering while addressing practical operational concerns.

Seychelles Regulation: Underestimated Strength

One of the most interesting aspects of our discussion centred on regulation, specifically the role of the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA). I've noticed that Seychelles regulation often receives less recognition than it deserves, something Stuart strongly agreed with.

"I think that's absolutely fair to say," he noted. "They're constantly in contact with us. Their route to taking regulation further is better than most that I've seen so far... I think it's very underrated in what it does. People don't give it as much credit as it probably deserves."

Recent regulatory changes in the Seychelles have brought new requirements, including mandated local employment. Stuart highlighted this as a challenging adjustment for the industry: "The island is basically built or has been previously built on a tourism basis. And now all brokers have been forced to take local employees, which is a good thing for the market, for their own local economy... But there's about two or three hundred regulated brokers all searching for the same people."

This competitive environment for local talent is creating interesting market dynamics, with salaries likely to increase as brokers compete to meet regulatory requirements before they come into full force.

Responsible Leverage in Retail Trading

When discussing leverage, (while I understnd there is demand for extreme leverage - I still struggle to understand why) Joe explained their approach to balancing client demands with responsible business practices. While they offer leverage up to 1,000:1, Joe expressed skepticism about brokers offering unlimited or extremely high leverage ratios.

"There are certain cases we can adjust [leverage], but potentially you start to get into murky waters there where there's a few people out there doing unlimited, 5,000 to one," Joe explained. "Quite frankly for us, it's just not something we would be looking to entertain nor go down that path."

I've always been surprised by retail traders seeking extreme leverage, which Joe acknowledged is often driven by partner requests and marketing considerations – what he described as "the race to the bottom of whoever can offer the biggest number."

The company's solution is a dynamic leverage model, where the highest leverage is only available for certain position sizes, then decreases as positions grow – a balanced approach that aims to protect both broker and client interests.

MV Funded: A Differentiated Prop Trading Approach

The proprietary trading space has been a hot topic in retail trading, with many prop firms entering and some exiting the market over the past 18 months. MarketsVox joined this space with MV Funded, though they've taken a considered approach in a crowded marketplace.

Joe offered a nuanced view of the proprietary trading landscape, noting that many early entrants were "vintage financial influencers" with marketing but not financial expertise. This led to consolidation as some prominent names struggled or closed.

"Whilst it is a slightly saturated market, I think there's definitely been a somewhat clear route or a consolidation in terms of the players that are in it now," Joe noted. He pointed to an interesting trend where traditional prop firms are seeking regulation and moving toward the broker model, while brokers are developing prop trading arms – a convergence that shows the maturation of the space.

What sets MV Funded apart, according to Joe, is their focus on quality execution, liquidity, and actual market conditions – core strengths derived from the founders' backgrounds in trading and risk management. Their approach is "fairly defensive," focusing on finding and developing successful traders rather than aggressive customer acquisition.

A particularly refreshing aspect of their prop offering is the flexibility given to traders. Unlike some competitors, MV Funded doesn't pressure participants to trade within arbitrary timeframes.

"That is essentially one of the issues when it comes to the retail trader and the retail mindset. They think they need to be trading every hour, every day in the hopes to capture some profit from the market," Joe explained. "I think anyone with enough experience in the market would probably tell you that that is definitely not needed. Sometimes the best trade is to make no trade."

We briefly discussed the issue of traders attempting to "game" prop trading programs – a growing concern in the industry. Joe acknowledged they've been cautious in their approach, limiting which countries they accept clients from based on observed patterns of behaviour, and implementing robust monitoring to identify suspicious activity early.

EconQ: Building Trading Communities

Perhaps the most exciting development in the MarketsVox ecosystem is EconQ, their proprietary technology platform that powers MVSocial. Stuart described this as his "baby" – a comprehensive solution for trading communities, signal providers, and copy trading.

"Our big drive is towards communities and paid-for communities and also the telegram arena," Stuart explained. The platform allows traders to share analysis, signals, and insights in either free or paid environments, with the potential for larger providers to obtain white-labeled versions.

What truly sets EconQ apart is its recent integration with Telegram – a significant development that Stuart was particularly excited about. This feature allows signal providers to maintain their Telegram communities while enabling automated copy trading based on those signals.

"We've actually now managed to be able to turn the telegram signals providers now into the ability to, if they want to, auto copy trade that," Stuart explained. "That gives them the opportunity to still keep their telegram audience, but also then automate the signals that they're putting out."

This addresses a significant pain point, as manual signals typically see pickup rates of around 20-23% due to timing issues, whereas automated execution dramatically improves implementation. The platform handles subscription management, payments, and access control, creating a seamless experience for both providers and subscribers.

While currently operating under the MVSocial brand, Stuart indicated plans to eventually offer a broker-agnostic version of EconQ, potentially followed by white-label opportunities for other brokers. The platform's flexibility allows for extensive customisation, including the integration of third-party widgets and services.

Regulatory Challenges and Industry Evolution

As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked what regulatory changes they would advocate for in the retail trading industry. Stuart didn't hesitate: "Copy trading. There's no regulation on copy trading, and equally funded [trading]. I mean, there's got to be a million accounts out there, and there's no regulatory framework anywhere."

Stuart expanded on the copy trading concern, highlighting issues with transparency: "There's a load of people out there showing fantastic results, yet they've got hundreds of positions on fake demo accounts with massive drawdowns, so they're not closing to give skewed numbers."

When asked what advice they would give to aspiring prop traders, Joe emphasized discipline and psychological control: "Being able to just sit on your hands and not overtrade... And it leads into the next one of you go the other way and the revenge trading." He also highlighted the importance of emotional detachment from money, suggesting traders consider the real-world value of the numbers they're seeing on screen.

Stuart added a trader's adage from his floor trading days: "The art of trading is managing losses."

AI - the next Frontier

Our final topic touched on the emerging impact of AI on trading – something I've been watching closely. While Joe indicated they haven't yet seen significant adoption of AI trading bots among retail clients, he acknowledged the potential disruption coming, particularly in liquidity management.

"In terms of using AI to create systems, now that's obviously something that will become more frequent," Joe noted. "It gives the ability for clients to enhance their skills and learn from maybe sources they wouldn't have been able to understand themselves."

I believe AI represents the next major battleground between brokers and clients – with traders leveraging AI to identify opportunities and brokers employing it for risk management. As I suggested to Joe and Stuart, brokers should prepare quickly for this shift, a point Joe agreed with: "That's why it's paramount to be invested in technology in the next couple of years to be prepared for anything."

A Name to Watch

MarketsVox is an interesting case study in the evolution of a retail brokerage successfully differentiating itself in a crowded market as it expands beyond traditional trading products into proprietary trading and trading community technology. Their approach balances innovation with careful / sensible risk management, seeking sustainable growth rather than explosive expansion.

The challenges they've navigated – from rebranding to adapting to regulatory changes in Seychelles – show decent management, while their technology developments, particularly the EconQ platform with its Telegram integration, suggest a novel independent approach to the future of social and copy trading.

MarketsVox show that to survive and thrive in this industry it is necessary to be innovative and adaptable, with solid risk management.