Real estate agents and brokers, referred to as realtors, help facilitate real estate transactions. Unfortunately, these services aren’t free and the realtors' fees attached to their services can take a chunk out of your sale.

With that said, let's consider how much your typical realtor would charge you, and how the fees are split between agents and brokers.

What Are Realtor Fees?

Realtor fees are the expenses paid to a real estate agent as profits from the sale or rent of a property. These fees are only paid when the sale of the house is complete. 

In most cases, the seller of the house disburses the payments to their realtor, who then shares the profits with the one brought by the buyer. Even while realtor costs can be high, a home buyer may consider them an investment because a skilled broker's work pays off amply.

How High Are Typical Realtor Fees? 

Most realtors receive their fees through commissions and fees with regular salaries. These fees are often not paid upfront but are in the home's price. Once the sale is complete, the realtor's fees will be deducted and paid. 

Realtors' fees can vary depending on the firm, expertise, and home area, but generally, they are 5-6% of the total home price. Take, for example, a $150,000 home that may attract realtor fees of about $7500 on a 5% commission. 

However, clients can always negotiate a lower realtor commission rate. To prepare for a sale/purchase, you can calculate realtor fees on your desired house beforehand. Usually, the 5-6% fee is split to reimburse the buyer's agent commission and seller's agent commission, leaving them with roughly 2.5% each. 

The 5% fee brings the average annual earnings of a realtor to  $85,000  per year in the United States and can be as high as 1 million dollars depending on skill and location. 

How Are The Fees Split Between Agents and Brokers?

There is a distinct difference between a real estate agent and a broker. The former connects while the latter supervises, hires, and takes up more technical work. 

If referrals are involved, the realtor's fees are often split into about three places or more. As mentioned earlier, the first split happens when the buyer and seller's agent split the 5-6% equally. Once each agent gets their commission for helping customers buy, sell, or rent a home, they further split the money with their broker. 

The agent and broker determine the split at the start of the real estate agent’s job. Agents may discuss rates with their brokers, which may be the standard split ratio of the money in their business. 

Without negotiation, realtor fees may be split in half, leaving the agent and broker with about 1.5% each from the initial 3%. 

Sometimes, the split may be 60-40 or 70-30. In these unequal cases, the agent tends to earn more, depending on the agreement. A real estate agent may also reimburse their broker monthly and not with every house sold. 

Even without doing much work to complete a sale, a broker receives a cut to cover the costs involved in operating a real estate agency. They invest money to train agents and recruit other individuals to make the work seamless. 

In addition, there are payments made towards operating their business, such as rent, equipment, advertising, signage, phone lines, and other expenses related to running their firm. 

The forex market is highly liquid and records over $5 trillion in trades worldwide, every day. It involves the process of buying, selling, and exchanging different currencies at ongoing prices or pre-determined prices. Due to its massive popularity, retail traders continue to join the forex bandwagon. However, forex trading without proper market knowledge and trading skills can lead to huge financial losses. So, if anyone wants to learn about forex trading and become a better trader, they must abide by the following practices.

1. Know The Forex Market

The forex market is highly dynamic and brings new trends every day. Therefore, the most important approach for succeeding in this market is to be aware of all new information. So, one needs to have great research skills besides being good with numbers. Skills like the interpretation of charts, graphs, financial ratios, and identification of profitable currency pairs are also must. In case you are not equipped with these technical skills, you can instead consider other platforms that provide you with the best forex signals to execute a trade. 

2. Define Goals And Strategy

Before you begin trading, you must set realistic financial goals and select strategies based on your risk appetite and capital allocation, which should be followed in a disciplined manner. The ones who lack patience may opt for approaches like scalping while the ones with little more patience and good analytical skills can choose daily trading. A swing trading approach can be adopted by patient individuals who believe in long-term market analysis.

3. Keep A Check On Emotions

You must never allow strong emotions to dictate your trading decisions. Emotions like greed, excitement, panic or fear only hinder success. For the most successful trades, one must have a logical approach and should manage their risks properly and keep their emotions to a bare minimum because that would help them take well-strategised positions and generate maximum profits.

4. Select A Broker

Selecting a reputed broker is very important. One must choose a broker who offers desired trading goals and whose trading platform is suitable for performing the kind of analysis they are comfortable with. A good broker having a poor platform or a poor broker having a great platform can both invalidate all the gains that one has acquired through their hard work and studies.

5. Demo Accounts

The new traders can start off with demo/simulation accounts to gain some practical experience about the forex environment by testing different trading strategies. However, despite being realistic, these demo accounts fail to deliver the sense of discipline and money management or risk management skills amongst the traders, as here you trade with demo money that wouldn’t match the amount of capital the person would generally have access to.

6. Analyse Conflicting Information

Many traders are often confused by the conflicting information provided by different charts belonging to different time frames. While some weekly charts would show a buying opportunity, the intraday charts would give a sell signal. So, to avoid taking any misinformed decisions synchronisation of all the charts is a must. For that when weekly charts show a buy signal traders must wait to confirm the same from the daily charts.

7. Accept Losses

Forex trading involves high risk and some losses are inevitable. Even the most experienced forex traders have a history of both profits and losses. So, rather than focusing on the small losses, one should shift their focus towards improving their trades instead and learn from their past mistakes. 

8. Maintain A Trading Journal

Both beginners and experienced traders should always keep a record of their trades. Without taking proper notes it is very difficult for a trader to assess his trading weaknesses and strengths. The journals would also help in self-evaluation and review of the previously made trades.  Additionally, this information can be used to customise the trading style and strategies so as to get better results.

9. Stop-losses

Many people often forget their trading limits and end up incurring losses as a result. To avoid such a situation and maintain discipline in trading, tools like stop-losses are used. These stop and limit orders ensure that the traders lower their risk profile and have a method to cut or minimise their losses. You can set these stop-loss orders based on market conditions beforehand.

10. Follow The Trend

Following the trend is always advisable, especially for beginners, with little or no expertise in forex trading. So, if a trader can easily identify the trends in the forex market, they can position themselves at favourable entry and exit points, enabling them to derive consistent profits. 

Experience is the best teacher in forex trading. Still, the above-mentioned steps can help forex traders lower overall risks by following a structured approach while refining their trade practices. Moreover, you should trust your strategies and remain open to learning new methods because of the high dynamicity involved with the forex market.

When searching for your dream home, you will often require a large amount of money to ensure a quick purchase.

If, for example, you intend to move to a new house and have found the home you want at a bargain price, but your current home is not selling as fast as you would have liked and you don't have the deposit for the new purchase until the existing home sells. This can put you in a sticky situation, and you are likely to lose the house to another buyer unless you can find the money quickly.

So, what can you do? If friends and family are not an option, the answer is to get a loan. You can try to go to the bank for the loan, but the process may take weeks due to the red tape. Another solution is getting a bridging loan.

Hanan Shapira, director of Property Finance Partners says "bridging loans in the last few years have begun to be more popular for homeowners looking to purchase a new residential property."

What are they and how do they work?

Bridging loans are specialised short term finance, typically acquired for between 3 months to 12 months. One of their advantages is the speed at which an application is processed. One can go from applying for a loan to money in the bank in as little as a week.

To get a bridging loan, you will have to have a property to be put up as security against the loan. You can borrow up to 80% loan to value (LTV) on the equity within your property.

Bridging loans are specialised short term finance, typically acquired for between 3 months to 12 months.

There are many uses of bridging finance such as developments, buying a property at an auction, buying uninhabitable properties or properties that require refurbishment for businesses and for buying residential homes.

How does it work for buying a home?

When you obtain the loan, you can use the money to put down a deposit for the new home, and then once your existing home is sold, you can then repay the loan. This is known as "bridging the gap." It is a common use of bridging loans and works well in the right scenarios.

Regulated vs unregulated bridging loans

If the security offered is your current residence, the loan is automatically a "regulated" bridging loan. That means the loan is regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). Regulated loans carry an extra level of protection; consumers are protected under the MCOB(Mortgage Code of Business) rules.

If the bridging loan is obtained against commercial property, it is likely to be unregulated.

Where can I get a bridging loan?

Your first thought may be from the bank, but the majority of high street lenders don't offer bridging loans. The banks discontinued offering bridging loans after the crash in 2007-08, due to stricter regulations on unregulated home loans.

There are specialist lenders who provide bridging loans in the market, made up of hard money lenders and private funds. You will need to approach one of these lenders and package an application to them.

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Costs of bridging loans.

Something to take into consideration is the costs involved in bridging finance. Relevant fees are broken down below:

• Interest Rates - Bridging loans carry an interest rate from 0.30% - 1.5% per month.
• Valuation Fees - You are likely to pay a valuation fee of about £700 on a £500,000 property.
• Arrangement Fee - The arrangement fee can be 1% - 2% of the loan amount.
• Legal Costs - You will levy the bill for your legal fees as well as the lenders
• Administration Costs - In some cases, you may have to pay an admin fee; it depends on the lender.
• Exit Fees - There may also be an exit fee involved, again this depends on who you are getting the loan from.

The bridging loan market is quite a competitive currently in the UK, which has lowered interest fees considerably. It is advisable to find a few lenders and to check what they have to offer.

One way of saving you time and money is to use a broker. A broker can package your application in the right way as well as find you the best deal in the market, as they will have access to many lenders.

Those operating in the mortgage and specialist finance industry have felt the squeeze in recent weeks and many bridging lenders have had to turn down any new business during the coronavirus lockdown.

With over 50 bridging lenders and hundreds of intermediaries, the industry has seen very slow growth with hundreds of staff put on furlough and limited funding due to no construction work, surveys or auctions taking place.

However, with restrictions easing, the thousands of households and property developers that use bridging finance each year will start to purchase properties again and getting their businesses back on track.

Bridging finance is often seen as an alternative to traditional mortgages, allowing those to avoid traditional property chains and access funds in a matter of weeks, rather than months.

“It has been a testing time for the bridging industry,” explains Dan Kettle of Octagon Capital, a bridging loans broker based in Moorgate.

“Our products are often used as a quick way to buy properties and avoid mortgage chains, but the lockdown has meant that almost all deals were put on hold and we could not acquire any new business.”

“However, with restrictions easing, we are in a good position to resume funding again. Many people and investors will be excited to start building and buying property again and with mortgage lending even tighter than before, we could see positive growth and a good Q4.”

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During the 10-week lockdown period, bridging providers were in suspense over whether they could offer mortgage holidays to their customers and what the terms they could offer to customers.

Bridging finance is often used for a maximum of 24 months, but with so many construction jobs halted, this increased the chance of deals expiring and challenges for customers in terms of repossession or refinancing.

Nicholas Wallwork of the Property Forum explained: “The vast majority of building sites have come to a standstill. As a consequence, those working against tight bridging loan finance repayment dates will struggle. The property/project, if work does not restart very soon, would likely be worth nowhere near their target value. As a consequence, they would not be able to raise as much traditional finance as expected which would usually be used to pay off the bridging loan. Indeed, when you also factor in the potential reduction in property prices on the whole there could be a huge shortfall.”

However, with restrictions easing and the Prime Minister looking to open all non-essential retail by 15 June, there is more confidence in the specialist finance and bridging industry and many will be delighted to hear this news.

Selecting a forex broker isn’t easy. When doing this, you need to be aware of many things:

• Security and Regulation
• Trading products
• Instruments for Trading
• Trading platforms

Apart from checking these, keep in mind the forex market is uber-competitive. And high competition can offer both advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, you have got brokers lowering their prices to nearly zero just to fetch more customers. On the other hand, not all these forex brokers are trustworthy.

So, is there a way to choose a good broker? We’ll answer that in this article.

There’s no “Perfect Broker.”

Right off the bat, there’s no such thing as a “perfect broker.”

There’s always something. For example, a broker might offer you cheap services. But the same broker has a not-so-good reputation among traders. Maybe it’s not regulated. Or maybe it doesn’t have sufficient fund protection policies. Maybe it’s a scam.

On the other hand, you might find a broker that’s regulated, trusted, and highly popular among traders. Its platforms and trading instruments are excellent. Additionally, customer service is super accommodating and friendly. It has everything you need. But the prices will drain your pockets. Maybe the transaction costs are high. Maybe the trading instruments aren’t cheap.

So, when choosing a forex broker, remember to keep a balance between reasonable prices and excellent services.

Importance of Regulation

Now, you might be looking at hundreds of forex brokers at the moment, and you just can’t choose which one’s right.

To help you narrow down your choices, check their regulatory status. This step is the first and most crucial step you need to take. Regulated brokers typically offer the best policies and security clauses for traders.

But you should not go for just any regulator. There are top tier regulators, and then there are those that just don’t cut.

So, when choosing a forex broker, remember to keep a balance between reasonable prices and excellent services.

Top Forex Regulators Around the World

In the United States:

• National Futures Association (NFA)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission

In the United Kingdom:

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)

In Australia:

• Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)

In Switzerland:

• Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC)

In Germany:

• Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFIN)

In France:

• Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)

In Canada:

• Investment Information Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)

Trading Products

When we say trading products, we mean every asset the broker offers. And since we’re talking about forex brokers, they should provide forex products. Essential forex products include all the major and minor pairs.

If you’re not familiar with the majors yet, here they are:

• EURUSD
• USDJPY
• GBPUSD
• AUDUSD
• USDCHF
• NZDUSD
• USDCAD

These are the essential pairs you may trade. They get the most significant trading volume in the market, as well as the broadest news coverage. So, it’s easy to buy them and search for information.

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Trading Platforms

After checking out what you can trade with the broker, check out where you can trade those assets. The trading platforms are your portal to the market. They’re the bridge connecting you to the world of currencies and currency pairs.

In the forex market, the most popular trading platform is MetaTrader4.

What is the MetaTrader4 (MT4)?

MetaQuotes developed the MT4 in 2005. Although traders can use it to trade stocks, indices, cryptocurrencies, and commodities, they mainly use it for forex trading.

Most forex brokers offer the MT4 platform to clients as an industry standard. It comes with excellent trading features such as the following:

• Built-in indicators
• Timeframes
• Economic calendars
• Drawing tools
• Charting tools

And many more. The MT4 is a useful, high-quality platform every trader needs in forex trading. Also, traders can use them on different devices.

A forex broker can also offer platforms other than the MT4. The newer platform and successor of MT4, the MetaTrader5, is also now available in many brokerages. Other times, forex brokers develop their in-house platform. Such platforms typically fit the more specific needs of the broker’s clients.

Read Broker Reviews

Reading a forex broker review goes a long way.

When you finish checking the broker’s background, products, and platforms, it’s time to read from people with first-hand experience with the broker.

Reviews from websites are usually a treasure trove of information about the broker. They talk about more things other than products, platforms, and regulatory status. You’ll get to know the broker’s customer service. Are they accommodating? Friendly? Are they rude? Unprofessional?

You’ll also know how the broker ranks in comparison with others in the field. Are they popular among traders? Do they receive negative reviews from angry traders?

Moreover, with readily available access to different broker reviews, you will not be dealing with a broker with zero clues on what you’re looking at.

Reviews from websites are usually a treasure trove of information about the broker.

Conclusion

With the advent of retail forex trading comes the emergence of retail forex brokers. You can search for thousands of brokers, and you will see how the industry is booming.As a trader, it’s your responsibility to check the broker information as thoroughly as possible. Never forgo the background check.

Finally, finding the right broker is one of the first crucial steps you’ll take if you’re serious about succeeding in the forex market.

Studies show that a large portion of forex traders fail. The problem is that most do not prepare adequately before starting their live trading activity.

You can increase your chances of becoming a successful trader by identifying the mistakes that most traders do and avoiding them. The following are some of the common mistakes that beginner forex traders do and our tips on how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: Not enough forex education

You will never trade successfully unless you invest in education. Many beginners start trading with a gambling mindset. However, successful forex trading requires an understanding of the global markets, trading strategies and technical and fundamental analysis. You need to know how to use financial information resources like Bloomberg or the Financial Times, charts and other tools.

Once you are confident with your knowledge you should test it with the help of the demo account. Demo trading is the best time to test different strategies. You should not start live trading until you identify a trading strategy that you feel comfortable with in the demo environment.

Mistake 2: No risk management plan

Forex trading is a high-risk venture, and it is therefore critical to have a risk management plan that factors in the amount of risk you are willing to take. Once you identify your risk appetite, you should identify trading tools to protect yourself against additional risk.

For example, you can implement a stop-loss to close trades when the prices hit your risk threshold. Likewise, you can have a 'take-profit' feature in place to lock in trades when your target price is reached. These are not the only risk management practices you can adopt and before you start trading you need to be aware of all important practices and how to use them to your advantage.

Mistake 3: not sticking to your risk management plan

You can have a trading strategy and a risk management plan, but you will achieve nothing unless you follow them. Remember that forex trading requires high discipline. Traders often ignore their risk plan when chasing losses or when they feel overconfident about a specific trade. You should learn to identify the urge to ignore your risk management plan as an emotional reaction and keep reminding yourself that emotions are the number one cause of wrong decision making in trading.

Mistake 4:  Choosing the wrong broker

Most novice traders assume that all brokers are equal.  This is not true. There are many factors that can differentiate one broker from the other and choosing the right broker has a huge impact on your success or failure in the trading world.

But if we can think of one factor that is simply crucial to check before choosing a broker it is the license. You should only work with forex brokers like Capex.com who have a license from top regulatory bodies. If a broker is not regulated by one of these bodies then it cannot be trusted and you should not work with them.

Bottom line

It is always good to learn from other people's mistakes and this is what we have tried to help you do in this article. We do hope that you learned the pits and falls of forex trading and that you will have the patience and discipline to avoid them.

Trading forex, especially with CFDs may involve a high risk and your potential losses when trading CFDs may be substantial.

The controversy surrounding Facebook and privacy issues has made news headlines. However, data brokerage and the miss-use of information is nothing new.

The subtle manipulation of the way in which users respond to certain information stimuli is currently a hot topic of conversation. This after the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal literally broke the internet in a way that no amount of funny cat video footage has ever managed to do. Whilst it certainly is no surprise that Facebook users find this kind of intrusion on privacy and thought manipulation to be exceptionally disturbing, it is interesting to note that many people consider this to be news, when in fact, it has been going on for a very, very long time. The only difference being that it was called by a different name.

The truth is, data, or information brokers have been around and doing business for almost as long as what the internet is old. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry and its not bound to come crashing down anytime soon. In many ways, the need for this type of intellectual trade is fuelled by everything from over-supply to economic recessions.

Companies have become increasingly more desperate to get a grip on effective marketing in order to sell their products to the best possible target market. Making the most profit from the least amount of effort and capital input has become the driving force behind every conceivable marketing strategy under the sun.

Information Is Money

Data brokers collect everything from census information, motor vehicle and driving records, court reports and voter registration lists, to medical records and internet browsing histories. The idea is to gather as much information about every conceivable human profile as possible.

This information is then categorised and grouped into typical market profiles, providing an in-depth analysis on everything from religious affiliation, political affiliation, household income and occupation to investment habits and product preferences.

It doesn’t require a technological genius to see why this information is worth thousands of dollars.

No Control

Individuals are usually not able to determine exactly what is known about them by data brokers. Most data brokers hold on to the information that they have obtained for an indefinite period of time. Loosely translated: the information may very well never go away. Part of the efficacy of the gleaning process is that historical information can be compared with the latest information in order to better determine customer trends as well as the rate at which certain dynamics evolve.

A very scary thought indeed, especially considering the fact that entities like social media giant Facebook still consider allowing companies like Cambridge Analytica to continue trolling its pages from an insider’s perspective, knowing full well that this is the case.

More Than Marketing

Moving away from the manipulative marketing point of view, information in general can be a very sensitive issue. The truth is, somewhere along the line, many of us have dabbled outside the borders of a marriage or relationship or have even discussed sensitive information relating to criminal behaviour and activities with contacts via instant messaging apps.

It’s safe to say that most of us would pay considerable amounts of cash in order to protect information of this nature, especially since the leaking of this information to interested parties can have dire effects on the very quality of our lives.

When considered in this light, blackmailing activities become a real and imminent danger, no longer something found only in crime and drama series on television. There’s also the risk of users information being used in scams, and con-artists are well versed in identity theft and assuming other peoples data as their own.

Its Free For A Reason

People have long been aware about the many dangers of over-sharing information on social media. Many people have fallen prey to identity theft and have lost everything but the clothes on their backs due to this. Imagine now the dire nature of the situation now that the problem is no longer criminals trolling social media pages that have not been sufficiently hidden from the public eye, but instead, are being handed sensitive information on a silver platter, for a minimal fee.

The question begs: is Facebook more than just a social media platform? Or has it been headed towards being a modern-day surveillance tool all along?

Perhaps there is a more sinister reason behind the fact that its free, and always will be, than what meets the eye.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_broker

https://hbr.org/2018/04/facebook-is-changing-how-marketers-can-target-ads-what-does-that-mean-for-data-brokers

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-says-its-ending-use-of-information-from-outside-data-brokers-for-ad-targeting-1522278352

https://thenextweb.com/facebook/2018/03/29/facebook-to-block-data-brokers-from-its-ad-network/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2018/04/05/the-data-brokers-so-powerful-even-facebook-bought-their-data-but-they-got-me-wildly-wrong/#6740e0193107

To hear about mortgage misconceptions and the challenges that potential homeowners face in California, Finance Monthly talks to broker and owner of Mortgage Express – Carole Ryan.

What are the key misconceptions among buyers in relation to mortgages?

Buying your first home should be an exciting and fun endeavour, but I think a lot of potential first-time homebuyers are held back by misconceptions of the loan approval process and the fear they may not qualify. Two of the biggest misconceptions are that they need 20% down and perfect credit. But not anymore - Fannie Mae’s, HomeReady mortgages, and Freddie Mac’s

Home Possible® and Home Possible Advantage® mortgages are new and innovative conventional programs that bring a whole new set of underwriting guidelines to help more low to moderate-income borrowers realize their dream of home ownership. Down payments of 3%, FICOs starting at 620 with most lenders, and higher debt-to-income ratio’s in some circumstances.

Another change by Fannie and Freddie that took effect on 1 January 2018 will also help buyers buy more with less down. The conforming and high-balance loan limits were increased. Now buyers can put 3% down on loans of up to $453,100, whilst in high-balance areas, from $453,101 to $679,650, the minimum down is 5%. The bottom line here is that if you are seriously interested in buying a home, there are options out there to help your achieve your dream of homeownership. The only thing that you have to do is to take the first step - find a good lender and get preapproved.

What are the key challenges that your clients face before applying for a mortgage and how do you help them overcome them?

As a broker with over 25 years of experience in mortgage lending, I work with all types of buyers. I find that almost all of the clients that I advise face challenges revolving around what I call the BIG 3 - income, credit and funds to close. If we have a debt to income issue, we look at adding a co-signor, and/or paying off debt, or as a last resort - buying less. I help borrowers resolve minor credit issues that don’t keep them from getting a loan, those with major issues, I refer to a great credit restoration company I work with.

There are several solutions for funds to close. The easiest one being a “gift” from a family member, a lender credit, based on the interest rate chosen, a seller credit, a loan against or liquidation of a 401K, and of course a variety of down payment assistance programs.

What makes your company unique when compared to your competitors?

What makes me and my company unique is very simple - I’m able to provide incredible hands on service to my clients, built around their schedules and needs. Mortgage Express is my company and I handle all of the loans that I work on personally - from pre-approval to close of escrow. This allows me to oversee my files, keeping everyone involved in the transaction updated and being sure we’re always on track to meet the closing date. I meet with borrowers on-line in a unique screen share, based on the time of day, night or weekend that is convenient for them, whilst they can attend from the comfort of home. This allows me to show them, in real time, how their income, debt and assets affect the loan they can qualify for, as well as ways to restructure the loan in different ways, based on their needs. All of this as they watch, ask questions and request changes. It’s also a great opportunity for me to educate them about the processes we will be going through so they know exactly what to expect, including our time frame and the items I will need them to take care of. No screen share would be complete without an explanation of how lenders pricing works, showing them the different interest rates, and how pricing adjustments affect the options they will choose from. We wrap up with me preparing an estimate of funds needed for closing. The real magic starts when they get an accepted contract and escrow is opened. In a matter of a few days, I have the loan submitted, appraisal ordered and our initial loan approval. My average closing time is 21 days.

Next up we spoke to David Bily who introduces us to Vantage FX - an Australian regulated forex broker, providing traders of all asset classes’ access to global markets. As Vantage FX are an ECN broker and not a market maker, the company’s traders experience lightning fast trade execution and some of the tightest interbank grade spreads. Whether you’re an indices, commodities or forex trader, Vantage FX has a trading solution to meet your individual needs.

One of the things that Vantage FX has been growing very aggressively for, in the recent months, is the company’s reputation and transparency – could you tell us a bit about the company’s ethics and priorities towards its clients?

Regulated by one of the most respected regulatory bodies in the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), our increased reputation within trading circles has been a testament to the work that our entire team at Vantage FX continues to undertake.

Vantage FX is a true ECN forex broker, meaning that there is no conflict of interest or dealing desk intervention between Vantage FX and our clients. Whether you’re a relatively small trader, or a consistently profitable professional, the spreads you see are the spreads you get. Transparency is as simple as that.

You and your team have been pivotal in managing the transparency with the company’s clients and potential clients – would you evaluate your role and its impact over the last year or so?

I’ve helped to oversee this transition from a classic phone sales model, to a fully integrated digital marketing driven sales approach. This integration has helped us brand as an honest and transparent ECN forex broker, who basically have nothing to hide behind a dealing desk curtain.

In today’s online environment of public social media, forums and review websites, there really is no point in hiding away from being a part of the greater trading community or criticism. It is integral for transparency that our team is always on hand to address any online client issues up front and in full view of the public.

What are the most common challenges that you are faced with in your role? What motivates you about it?

My role within Vantage FX is to oversee the entire sales and marketing operation. Within the forex trading industry, the sales and marketing teams simply must be working side by side in order to achieve a consistent message to both existing and potentially new clients.

Changing the thinking of traditional corporate structure has been challenging, but the agility of our talented staff here at Vantage FX certainly hasn’t come as a shock internally. It’s the people that make a business and I could not be more proud of my team!

Vantage FX has been recognised worldwide by a number of organisations and publications, including the Forex Awards and Finance Monthly’s FinTech Awards. What do these recognitions mean for the company?

The diversification of awards that Vantage FX has received across numerous categories show that we are so much more than just a ‘forex broker’.

While ECN forex trading will always be our core business identity, the ability to offer world class trading of indices and commodities on our industry leading MT4 platform, has seen us recognised in a more broad sense.

We are proud that Vantage FX is being recognised on the world stage and will continue to use such accolades as motivation to keep moving in a forward direction.

What is your outlook for the future of Vantage FX for 2017 and beyond?

Major IT infrastructure and customer relationship management upgrades are two business critical projects that are still within the implementation stage. The full benefits of the upgrades will soon be felt but patience here is key. We simply have to get it right.

In terms of sales and marketing, our new proprietary CRM system is going to revolutionise the way that affiliates and introducing brokers do business with us, putting them in full control of their own dealings with us.

We will continue to allocate our sales and marketing budget smarter, not necessarily wider. Learning from our past and continuing to innovate moving forward will be key.

The future of Vantage FX is certainly bright!