Jay, can you give us an overview of FX HedgePool and its evolution since its inception?
Absolutely. FX HedgePool’s mission from the beginning was to modernize institutional FX through bold innovation and cutting-edge technology. We started with a simple yet powerful idea: to make peer-to-peer a reality for the FX market, and we did that with X•Match, our swaps matching platform. Since then, we’ve leveraged our technology, vendor integrations, unique credit model, and growing community of buy- and sell-side clients to evolve our products. We began with offering a single product and now have a multi-service platform with the introduction of X•Bridge.
Our progress hasn’t happened in a vacuum. Collaboration with clients has been an essential ingredient to our success. We’ve focused on working closely with industry leaders to solve real client problems.
What are your job responsibilities and the roles of senior executives within FX HedgePool?
As a senior executive, my role is dynamic. I oversee the strategic direction of FX HedgePool, drive the product roadmap, and maintain key client relationships. Our executive team is a diverse group of finance, technology, and trading experts. For example, my co-founder and our CTO, Emin Tatosian, brings a wealth of knowledge from capital markets and modern tech, offering a fresh perspective on product design and user experience and an incredibly disciplined approach to product development. Townsend Smith, our CFO, has extensive experience in markets, operations, legal, compliance, and regulatory matters, allowing us to navigate the complexities of the FX industry. The mix of expertise across the broader team allows us to tackle industry challenges head-on and scale our mission effectively. Each member’s unique strengths ensure our products are highly relevant and impactful.
What challenges in the traditional FX market structure does FX HedgePool aim to address?
There are many challenges facing the industry. The traditional FX market structure can be quite restrictive. For our primary target market, the institutional folks, funds are usually limited to trading with banks they have direct credit relationships with under ISDA agreements. This creates inefficiencies and limits market access. We wanted to change that. Our goal was to create a more inclusive and efficient trading environment where liquidity isn’t constrained by credit and broker restrictions. By leveraging our proprietary credit intermediation model and modern platform, we can democratize access to liquidity, helping market participants trade more freely and efficiently, thereby reducing costs and enhancing market transparency and fairness.
“At FX HedgePool, we are committed to creating a more inclusive and efficient trading environment by democratizing access to liquidity.”
Jay Moore
How does X•Match work, and what makes it unique?
X•Match is our peer-to-peer matching platform for FX swaps. It allows naturally opposing institutional counterparties to match their swaps directly, avoiding market exposure where information leakage and uncertain spreads are common. What sets X•Match apart is its separation of liquidity from credit, making trading more efficient, discreet, and flexible without needing direct credit relationships with trading partners. By removing traditional barriers, X•Match enables access to a broader universe of liquidity, including peers, to help participants meet their best execution requirements and scale their growing liquidity requirements.
What led to the development of your new product, X•Bridge?
We asked clients what they needed. What a groundbreaking concept, right? The development of X•Bridge was driven by our collaboration with some of the world’s largest asset managers. They challenged us to leverage our unique credit model to address other market inefficiencies. This collaboration inspired X•Bridge, which is designed to allow managers to source liquidity independent from credit to enable improved cross-account netting and access to new sources of pricing in a true all-to-all environment.
We conducted extensive research and gathered client feedback to ensure X•Bridge met clients’ specific needs. This client-centric approach has been key to its successful launch.
How does X•Bridge differ from traditional FX trading platforms?
X•Bridge breaks free from traditional market constraints of credit and broker restrictions, enabling a true all-to-all trading environment. This modern global superhighway supports liquidity from various sources, including banks, non-banks, and peers thanks to our proprietary credit model. It also leverages state-of-the-art technology for superior performance and reliability, ensuring clients can trade efficiently through familiar workflows. Its modern design and robust infrastructure make X•Bridge a game changer for
the industry.
What are the specific benefits of X•Bridge for buy-side participants?
Buy-side participants enjoy numerous advantages with X•Bridge, such as:
Broad Liquidity Sources: Access to diverse liquidity sources, starting with algos and fixing orders, without broker restrictions, enhancing execution quality and reducing costs.
Credit Intermediation: Use existing bilateral credit lines for booking and settling trades, optimizing credit relationships and managing counterparty risk more effectively.
Maximize Internal Netting: Defragment orders for consistent execution, reducing transaction costs and improving efficiency.
Seamless OMS Integration: Utilize existing Order Management System (OMS) workflows, ensuring a smooth and efficient trading process. These benefits translate into tangible improvements in trading efficiency, cost savings, and overall market access.
How does X•Bridge benefit sell-side participants?
Sell-side participants also reap significant benefits with X•Bridge, including:
Modern Account Allocations Tool: Receive account-level allocations for Voice and IB Chat trades at zero-brokerage, simplifying the allocation process and reducing costs.
Liquidity Distribution: Bypass broker restrictions and distribute liquidity to a wide range of clients, enhancing market presence.
Algo Store: Deploy algorithms to reach new real-money clients, cutting algo brokerage costs.
Lower Regulatory Capital: Optimize counterparty mix, reducing regulatory capital requirements and improving financial performance. These features streamline operations, expand client bases, and enhance financial performance.
How does FX HedgePool ensure that its products address real client needs?
Our product development is heavily influenced by close collaboration with clients and other industry leaders. As one client put it, we focus on solving actual problems, not just innovating for innovation’s sake. We engage with clients through feedback sessions, Innovation PoolTM meetings with trendsetters in the industry, and collaborative workshops to understand their evolving needs. We also directly engage with our clients regularly to provide updates, deliver demos, and seek live feedback for the product development process. This ongoing dialogue ensures our products are practical, relevant, and truly beneficial.
Emin, what impact has X•Bridge had on the FX market since its launch?
X•Bridge is our second category-defining service and the only true all-to-all liquidity platform; it’s the clearest expression of our pursuit to democratize liquidity access. The initiative proves that meaningful innovation needn’t take months or years but can be delivered in weeks with the right mix of talent, technology, and mindset. By going live with the first version in just four weeks and rapidly adding new capabilities, we have again demonstrated our appetite to take on tough market structure challenges.
FX HedgePool catalyzes positive change in the institutional FX industry and is actively reshaping the landscape using advanced technology and collaborative client relationships. The overwhelming interest in contributing to our various initiatives by thought leaders proves that we are bringing about change in the right way.
Can you share some success stories or feedback from clients using X•Bridge?
Our clients have been enormously supportive throughout our journey, and the X•Bridge chapter is no different. Category-defining services in the FX industry have a much better chance of success with the engagement of thought leaders, and we’re blessed to have the backing of many.
The buy- and sell-side working groups are an ongoing success story that reflects positively on participants who can see the step change brought about by X•Bridge. Another success story is the considerable cost savings delivered by X•Bridge for market participants. For instance, we can offer post-trade allocations of voice trades at no brokerage cost, thanks to our modern platform and low cost base. This is only the beginning of an ambitious roadmap, which will see the growth of a purpose-built algo store, intelligent credit intermediation, and much more.
What role has a modern technology practice played in the development and success of FX HedgePool’s services?
As a modern fintech, technology is at the heart of everything we do. Our continued investment in agile development tools and practices enables the team to rapidly deliver thoughtfully crafted features across the Platform, X•Match, and X•Bridge. With 24 meaningful product releases yearly, our agility is 10X that of incumbents. Our rapid and well-rehearsed product development process means we can swiftly address client needs during market change and deliver category-defining solutions quickly. Furthermore, our flexible integration layer allows us to continue weaving FX HedgePool into the fabric of e-FX, making our solutions easily accessible via leading OMS dashboards.
“We combine modern tools and agile techniques to deliver high-quality, innovative, and scalable solutions at an unmatched velocity.”
– Abhijit Rao. Principal Software Engineer.
Our thoughtfully crafted solutions set new benchmarks for functionality, usability, and reliability. We will continue to deliver novel yet familiar solutions for the betterment of all market participants.
Emin Tatosian
Jay, FX HedgePool has created X•Match, X•Bridge and the Innovation Pool with a relatively small team in only 5 years. What’s the secret and how do you plan to expand in terms of product development and market expansion?
The secret? Adaptability, sleepless nights, and a sense of humor! The real secret is absolutely the team working on something they believe in. Every person on this team wears numerous hats and Emin and I are constantly in awe of them. We plan to enhance our existing products, expand the team and explore new opportunities to address market inefficiencies. Expanding our reach to new products and increasing our client base, while maintaining a white glove service are key objectives. Our commitment to innovation and client satisfaction will guide our future endeavors. We aim to stay at the forefront of the FX industry by integrating advanced technologies and expanding all-to-all trading capabilities. We’re also exploring partnerships with industry leaders to enhance our product offerings and expand globally.
Also, it needs to be said that we believe that true innovation requires visionaries and thought leaders who are willing to take a chance and drive change. We are proud to acknowledge our groundbreaking community of participants in the Innovation Pool and our investors who have partnered with us on this journey so far. Their trust and collaboration have been instrumental in shaping the future of FX trading.
As we take on this exciting new chapter, we’re all ears – and we invite everyone to join us in exploring the boundless opportunities that X•Bridge and X•Match offer together. The FX trading landscape is ever-evolving, and with the right tools and vision, we can shape it to be more efficient, inclusive, and dynamic than ever before.
“The eagerness of our buy- and sell-side partners to collaborate and openly share ideas makes client engagement both refreshing and rewarding.”
– James Davison, Americas Distribution
“Our highly customizable integration layer allows us to quickly and seamlessly integrate our solutions into existing client workflows”
– Michael Buchsbaum, Head of Integration
“Our client-centric approach to innovation means that our products address real market needs and deliver tangible benefits.”
– Jane Krenitsky, Head of Product Management
“FX HedgePool’s unique credit intermediation model forms the foundation for true all-to-all liquidity, enhancing efficiency and flexibility for all market participants.”
– Townsend Smith, CFO
