2024 and 2025 were historic years for FXSpotStream in terms of volumes. As you look at the trajectory for 2026, what do you see as the primary driver behind this sustained, record-breaking growth?
2025 was undoubtedly a year of milestones for the Service. We saw consistent volume records, culminating in October’s ADV high of USD 129.614 billion. While Spot remains our core, the real success story of 2025 was the growth across our entire product suite, particularly with Algos, Swaps, and NDFs.
That momentum has not only carried into 2026 but has amplified. In March, we reached a new peak ADV of USD 173.604 billion. While April saw a slight seasonal normalization following those highs, we were one of the few services to report significant Year-on-Year (YoY) growth – a reassuring indicator of our underlying strength.
There are always several levers for growth, whether it’s onboarding new clients and LPs or deepening our offering for current partners. We pride ourselves on balancing these two paths by leaning into the relationship-driven nature of FX. More recently, however, we have become a primary destination for large, multi-manager hedge fund clients. These firms see immense value in the operational efficiencies of the FXSpotStream model, allowing them to scale quickly and effectively in an increasingly complex market.
With the launch of RateStream LLC, you are moving beyond your core FX identity into Fixed Income. What was the strategic catalyst for this diversification, and how does it change the value proposition for your current bank owners?
The genesis of FXSpotStream was a direct response to the rising costs of execution in the FX market. As we began to hear identical pain points echoed within the Fixed Income space, we saw a clear opportunity to port the FSS “efficiency model” into a new asset class.
The catalyst was a series of strategic conversations with our Board of Directors—who represent some of the world’s largest liquidity providers. It became clear that from an LP perspective, there was a significant appetite for a more cost-effective, transparent way to distribute liquidity in Rates.
From a value proposition standpoint, this is a natural evolution. Our bank owners have already seen the transformative benefits of our infrastructure in FX; by applying that same logic to Fixed Income through RateStream, we are helping them streamline their distribution costs across multiple desks and customer segments.
We now have a dedicated team focused exclusively on the rollout, and we are currently very close to our official go-live date. This cross-asset expansion is a pillar of our 2026 strategy, and we look forward to bringing the same level of transparency and efficiency to the Fixed Income market that we have delivered to FX for over a decade.
You’ve recently completed a major migration to an Ultra Low Latency network. In a market where milliseconds matter, how has this specific upgrade translated into better fill rates and execution quality for your takers?
Our client base has evolved significantly, particularly with the influx of sophisticated hedge funds that view network performance as a mission-critical requirement. These firms demand extreme reliability and minimal slippage, which is what drove our recent migration to an Ultra-Low Latency (ULL) network.
In FX, latency isn’t just about speed; it’s about determinism. By reducing the “noise” and delay in the round-trip journey, we’ve seen a measurable improvement in execution quality. For our takers, this translates directly into higher fill rates and reduced market impact, as they are hitting the latest prices which will reflect the current market regardless of the volatility.
The fact that we continue to see high-end sophisticated customers migrate to FXSpotStream is the ultimate validation of this investment. As industry leaders, these hedge funds have very high benchmarks for performance; their continued growth on our Service tells us that our infrastructure is not just meeting, but exceeding, the rigorous standards of the modern electronic trading landscape.
Market participants are increasingly demanding sophisticated pre- and post-trade analytics. How is FXSpotStream leveraging the data passing through its pipes to help clients benchmark their execution performance?
Data has undergone a fundamental shift in the FX market; what was once a “value-add” is now a mission-critical requirement for every participant. We recognize that any service neglecting this evolution will quickly be left behind. To that end, we have focused on transforming the vast amount of data passing through our pipes into actionable intelligence.
Our strategy is twofold. First, we have invested heavily in our proprietary analytics suite, FX|Insights. By integrating direct feedback from our clients and LPs, we’ve developed high-level reporting and filtering capabilities that allow users to benchmark performance and refine their decision-making in real-time.
Secondly, we understand that the data landscape moves fast, so we have strategically partnered with industry leaders like FairXChange. This partnership enhances the sophisticated tools available to FSS users, providing a level of transparency into execution quality that was previously difficult to achieve.
To support this, we’ve overhauled our delivery infrastructure. By introducing a dedicated SFTP server and automating our reporting processes, we have drastically reduced delivery times. Our goal is to ensure that by the time a client needs to analyze a trade, the data is already there, processed, and ready to use.
Expanding into Fixed Income is a significant undertaking. What are the biggest technical or structural hurdles in applying the FXSpotStream “no-cost-to-taker” model to the Fixed Income streaming market?
The feedback for our Rates offering has been overwhelmingly positive, confirming that the market is ready for the same efficiencies we brought to FX.
The primary structural hurdle isn’t just the technology—it’s the complexity of the global Rates landscape. To ensure the integrity of the “no-cost-to-taker” model, we’ve made the strategic decision to focus exclusively on US Treasuries for our initial launch. This allows us to fine-tune the price routing engine and ensure execution quality is seamless before we scale.
The value proposition grows exponentially as we expand. The next milestone will be the addition of European Government Bonds, where the demand for a low-fee, transparent provider is particularly high. By starting with a concentrated focus on US Treasuries, we can ensure the platform is battle-tested and running smoothly before opening it up to a wider, more complex array of global fixed-income products. For our bank owners and takers alike, this measured approach ensures that “efficiency” never comes at the expense of performance.
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We’ve seen a massive surge in NDF and Swap volumes on the platform. To what extent is this a result of a natural migration to your streaming model versus broader market trends?
The growth we’ve seen in these products is very robust: in 2025 alone, Swaps on FXSpotStream grew by over 40%, while NDF volumes surged by more than 80%. This is a clear indicator that our clients are looking for the same efficiencies in derivatives that they’ve long enjoyed in Spot.
The primary driver here is the inherent commercial logic of our model. Because the vast majority of our LPs pay a flat subscription fee—rather than being charged on a per-transaction basis—they can migrate as much of their Swap and NDF business to FSS as they choose without incurring incremental costs. This “cost-certainty” is incredibly rare in the current market.
We often see a “land and expand” pattern: a client joins us for our core Spot offering, realizes the operational and cost benefits, and subsequently migrates their more complex products. By providing a high-performance environment for Swaps and NDFs, we’ve successfully evolved from a “Spot venue” into a comprehensive, multi-product ecosystem.
March 2026 saw extreme market volatility due to geopolitical tensions. How did the platform handle the surge to a daily high of $226 billion, and what lessons were learned regarding platform stability under duress?
March 2026 was a true “stress test” for the global FX markets. The geopolitical landscape triggered a massive spike in both trading volumes and the velocity of market data. In these environments, the priority for any participant is certainty of execution—knowing that when you hit a price, it will be there.
The most telling metric of our performance during this peak was that, despite the record traffic, our reject rates actually decreased compared to January and February. Handling a $226 billion day with higher efficiency than a standard trading day is the ultimate proof that our recent infrastructure investments are paying off. That said, we are continually investing in optimizing our systems, expanding capacities and meeting customers functional needs so it is continuous effort.
We approach stability with a philosophy of continuous improvement. Following a series of risk-mitigation initiatives last year, we implemented new protocols to ensure that all system upgrades are executed flawlessly. However, technology is only half the battle. As FXSpotStream scales toward a $250 billion ADV target, we have also scaled our human capital. By investing in headcount and specialized training, we ensure that our high-touch customer service remains a constant, even when market conditions are at their most volatile.
You operate a unique commercial model where takers pay nothing and makers can pay a flat fee. As the industry faces margin compression, do you see this “utility” model becoming the industry standard for all liquid asset classes?
The “utility” model isn’t just a unique selling point for us; it is a direct response to the reality of modern banking. As margin compression continues to squeeze institutions, the industry is moving away from opaque, volume-based taxations and toward models that offer transparency and cost-certainty.
We believe that for any liquid asset class where high-frequency, high-volume trading is the norm, the current “toll-booth” approach is becoming unsustainable. By offering a flat-fee subscription for LPs and a “no-cost” model for takers, we remove the friction that prevents liquidity from flowing efficiently.
Our expansion into Fixed Income with RateStream is a perfect example of this philosophy in action. We aren’t just adding a new product; we are applying a proven, cost-effective framework to an asset class that is crying out for more efficient distribution. Whether it becomes the “standard” for every asset class remains to be seen, but for the world’s largest liquidity providers, the ability to scale their business without a corresponding spike in transaction costs is an incredibly compelling proposition.
Ultimately, our goal is to prove that a venue can be both high-performance and high efficiency. As we look toward our next major milestones, we expect the market to continue gravitating toward models that prioritize the health of the relationship over the cost of the click.
With major consolidations happening among other institutional venues, how does FXSpotStream maintain its “disruptor” edge while being owned by the very banks that provide the liquidity?
Our “disruptor” edge comes from the fact that we were built to solve an industry problem, not to extract a tax on every trade. We exist to complement, rather than interfere with, the direct relationships between banks and their clients.
Where FXSpotStream becomes indispensable is in reducing the “operational tax” on the market. Clients want to see multiple LPs without the overhead of building and maintaining dozens of individual connections. We provide that single point of entry with maximum efficiency.
Because our commercial model is not transaction-driven, we don’t have the same friction points as traditional venues. If a client chooses to go direct with a bank, it doesn’t impact us financially. This alignment of interests is why our direction has remained so consistent over the last 15 years. We aren’t beholden to the same quarterly revenue pressures as consolidated PE-backed venues. Today, the Service has reached a level of maturity where we can grow independently, continuing to innovate for the benefit of the entire FX ecosystem while staying true to our founding mission of lowering the cost of discovery and execution.
Looking toward 2027, what are the goals you have set for the team at FXSpotStream and what is next for you as CEO?
My goal for FXSpotStream as we look toward 2027 is to transition from being a market-leading FX venue to becoming a truly multi-asset, global infrastructure utility.
From a volume perspective, our eyes are firmly set on the next milestone: averaging $250 billion in daily volume. Reaching that level isn’t just about the number; it’s about having technical resilience and the team in place to handle that scale flawlessly. This is why we are continuing to invest so heavily in our Ultra Low Latency network and expanding our global headcount.
In terms of product, the successful rollout and scaling of RateStream is a top priority. Proving that our “no-cost-to-taker” model works as effectively in Fixed Income as it does in FX will be a game-changer for the industry.
As for my role as CEO, my focus is on ensuring that as we grow, we don’t lose the “disruptor” spirit that defined our first 15 years. My job is to provide the team with the resources they need to innovate while staying incredibly close to our LPs and clients. We have a saying here: “The key to success is to start before you are ready.” We are starting on the goals for 2027 today, ensuring that FXSpotStream remains the most efficient place in the world to trade.
