- ForexSpace.com editor reports back from day two of the IFXExpo

- Saxo Bank chief economist on why things can't get worse

- Forex Magnates say it how it is 

The second day of seminars was full-out forex, pure and simple... or maybe that should read pure and complicated! The ubiquity of IT - algo, ultra low-latency, mirror trading et al, is total. And to reinforce the clear direction of travel in the uptake of ‘social’, Steen Jakobsen, Saxo Bank's Chief Economist with over twenty years markets experience, kicked off the programme with a fascinating lecture covering the convergence of mobile, social and automated forex trading.

Turning to the global economic situation, Jakobsen - who, in reassuring his audience that the good news is things aren’t going to get any worse, (“because they’re already as bad as they could be!”) - went on to expound on his view that nothing short of a new orthodoxy is needed if we are to avoid endlessly repeating the cycle of boom and bust. “After all, quipped Jakobsen, “as Einstein said, ‘an idiot is someone who, having failed with an experiment, carries out exactly the same experiment the next day, and the day after that, in the hope of a different outcome!’”

The highly respected economist also had an exclusive chat with us, sharing his thoughts on the future of China. Click here to read why he doesn’t fancy the Asian nation right now.

Plain speaking from Forex Magnates

As the day progressed, with such luminaries as Leverate’s head of marketing, Remy Rosenbaum, on making Your Brokerage Prime, followed by Hudi Zack, CEO of CorrSight, who discussed forex customer management, the audience was palpably crackling with anticipation of what promised to be the star act. Nor were we disappointed. Michael Greenberg (pictured), CEO of Forex Magnates, lived up to his reputation for plain speaking, outlined the development of research in the forex industry and stressing in no uncertain the increased importance of transparency. Greenberg pulled no punches when he told his audience comprised largely of brokers they needed to raise their games. Forex Magnates is the premier forex research firm, who besides issuing a quarterly retail fx market research, also performs regional and country specific research as well as specialized one.

“You should try reading some of it, and soon” insisted Greenberg. He then illustrated his contention that too many brokers are too fixated on themselves and each other to care about the wider markets, by flashing up a screen grab of a man with his head impossibly inserted into his own... well, I’m sure you get the idea! We in the audience were certainly in no doubt.

Stay ahead of the game

So, the overall vote as to whether iFXEXPO was a success is a resounding yes. Absolutely so, if the comments exchanged over drinks at the closing night’s popular cocktail party, hosted by ForexSpace.com, are anything to go by. The future for our industry looks bright; but the key message was that in order to sustain growth and drive volumes, it’s imperative to stay ahead of the game, adopt all the new technologies, look outward, and anticipate future developments.  Mind you, as sciences go, crystal ball gazing has its limitation. Thus I sign off with the words of Saxo Bank’s Steen Jakobsen, who treated us to his definition of an economist being “someone who tells you tomorrow why the things he told you that were going to happen today were wrong!”

Don't miss my report from Day One at the iFXExpo.

Drew Hillier, Editor. ForexSpace.com.