How has Fintech Improved the Foreign Exchange?

Whilst the forex market may be one of the biggest entities of its type in the world, there are other growth sectors emerging in the fast-moving world of financial services.

Take the global fintech space, for example, which includes a number of financial applications and is expected to be worth a staggering $305.7 billion (£249.7 billion) by the year ending 2023.

With a current CAGR of 22.7%, it’s little wonder that fintech is revolutionising several financial markets across the globe. But how exactly has fintech improved the foreign exchange, and how have traders been able to benefit?

1. The Reduction of Fees

Blockchain is one of the key technologies that drives fintech, and this is definitely had a seminal impact on the financial services space.

Synonymous with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, blockchain is essentially a decentralised and transparent technology that can maintain accurate records across multiple devices.

When applied to the foreign exchange, it has the potential to create a fair and more open marketplace, whilst also reducing (and in some cases, eliminating) the fees associated with exchanging currencies and executing orders.

This only serves to make the market even more accessible, continuing a trend that has persisted throughout the digital age.

2. Combating Fraud

This brings us neatly onto the issue of fraud and forex market rigging, which has plagued the foreign exchange over the course of the last decade or so.

Fintech has begun to combat these issues, however, and not only by creating a more transparent marketplace in which all transactions are visible and outside the control of a central financial authority.

Beyond this, we’re seeing fintech platforms collate huge swathes of data, which can be analysed in detail and used to identify specific trends and patterns of investment.

This will make it almost impossible for traders to rig the market in the future, and this can only help to improve the reputation of the sector over time.

3. The Evolution of Mobile Trading Platforms

The combination of fintech and HTLM5 has also ushered in the age of mobile trading platforms, which have helped the forex market to evolve and become completely accessible to traders across the globe.

As a result of this, traders can access the 24-hour forex market regardless of their location, with three separate trading sessions available to investors in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region.

This has also made it easier for traders to execute a high volume of orders in real-time, which is ideal for day traders whose goal is to leverage trends and price shifts with optimal efficiency.

Fintech is also helping to improve the range and quality of analytical tools offered by these platforms, leading to more informed decision-making across the board.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.