Online trading has caused a major paradigm shift in investing. At the turn of the millennium, there are over 6 million online investment accounts, up from 1.5 million in 1997. As a result, start-up firms now compete directly with financial institutions to serve investors in the new E-economy, and the clear winner is the customer. The competition between the brick and mortar institutions and the Internet-based companies has dramatically lowered the costs of investing, and empowered the individual investor to take control of their own investment strategy.
On-line trading will revolutionize the currency markets by making it accessible to the small and medium sized investor. For the first time, these investors have the ability to execute transactions of between $100,000 and $10,000,000 at the same prices the Interbank market offers for deals well over $10,000,000.
This benefits both those who wish to speculate on the direction of the currency markets for profit, as well as the money manager or corporate treasurer looking to hedge against unwanted exposure to future price fluctuations in the currency markets.
