YoursMineShag

A few people asked me about more details on YoursMineShag.com after The Full FX's Colin Lambert mentioned it in his recent Podcast. So I dug out the original press release from almost 15-years ago. Some things have changed a bit, but others not a lot.

YoursMineShag.com - New Platform for Today’s FX Market

November 9th 2006

London: YoursMineShag today announces the launch of a completely new FX trading platform to meet the needs for all participants in the huge global foreign exchange (FX) market. The platform,?www.yoursmineshag.com, will provide a completely transparent trading arena for everyone who wants to manage their FX exposure or trade and speculate in the currency markets.?

YoursMineShag?has been launched by Ron Smith-Galer, who has over 35-years of experience in the FX market. “The proliferation of platforms, whether for the interbank market, sell-side trading community or whether supposedly as a true market place along exchange lines, have all been cobbled together from existing models. Almost without exception, none have taken a new approach to satisfying the complex needs of the vast range of participants in the modern market place,” says Smith-Galer.

“We believe that after extensive consultation and market research, we have devised the platform,?www.yoursmineshag.com, that fully meets those needs in a manner no other platform does. We will prove a fully transparent and open market which is completely fair to everyone,” adds Smith-Galer.?

Initially,?www.yoursmineshag.com?will work using a bilateral credit model, but it will be fully open to buy-side players and less-credit worthy banks through Prime Brokerage arrangements. However, once trades are given up, the true counterparty will be revealed, meaning the platform is completely transparent.

“One of the biggest complaints we hear from the sell side is that anonymity doesn’t work both ways. By making the platform transparent, we remove that issue while keeping it fully accessible, says Smith-Galer.?

Perhaps the platform’s greatest innovation is the way in which it tackles latency. “While our IT infrastructure will ensure that we are one of the fastest, if not the fastest platforms out there, we will operate a choke so that nobody is discriminated against on the basis of location. Transaction and data messaging speeds will be extremely fast, but more importantly they will be the same for everyone trading on the platform,” says Smith-Galer.

While the speed throttle is an obvious solution to the latency issue, another innovation developed to remove the problem is the ‘WhatAreYouForMeShag’ function. “Sometimes you have to look back to go forward,” says Smith-Galer.?

“We will have sophisticated monitoring and anyone suspected of latency arbitraging will be obliged to quote whoever they have picked off a price back in what is considered the normal amount. This will be a legal obligation,” adds Smith-Galer.?

Furthermore, serial offenders will have to quote back more than once after receiving a follow up request via the??‘HaveYouHadEnoughOrDoYouWantSomeMoreShag’ function. “These functions can be hard-coded by the user to look for what are disparagingly called snipers. The feedback we’ve received suggests they will be popular. If snipers are comfortable that they can handle the resultant risk they’ll assume if they mess around too much with the big liquidity providers, they’ll have nothing to worry about. For the liquidity providers, it is a comfort that they’ll now be able to get even, rather than just mean. The end result will be a truly democratic market place for everyone.”?

For the moment,?YoursMineShag?does not intend to implement a centrally cleared model, although that is something it may examine if the market demands it. “We believe that a Prime model will work initially. It allows the big liquidity providers to earn revenue for supporting the platform, while allowing smaller players on to access their liquidity,” says Smith-Galer.?

The platform will list 22 currency pairs when launched in the second quarter of 2007. It will cover spot and forwards, as well as providing option trading capabilities through a request-for-quote facility from designated market makers. All trades will be netted off. It will also have position keeping and risk management functionality, as well as straight-through-processing into end users’??existing infrastructures.?

The whole system will be web delivered as an ASP solution, freeing up end users’ IT resources. “The system is a low-cost and democratic solution. We know that many banks have been crying out for this, but have not been able to openly request if because they believe they have to be seen playing the game. There is no doubt that supporting platforms has developed into a high-cost arms race and we will provide a convenient means of dropping out of a competition that many simply can’t win. We will be announcing early adopters in due course and launch a beta site early in the New Year,” concludes Smith-Galer.

YoursMineShag

A privately owned company,?YoursMineShag?has been set up by market veteran Ron Smith-Galer. After working on the Ford production line, Mr Smith-Galer joined the FX market with Banque Belge in 1968 and subsequently rose to senior positions in both banking and broking. He retired in 1999 and subsequently established MyBuilder.com, a leading property services company, while maintaining an interest in FX as a result of managing his personal international investment portfolio.

#fxtrading #fxmarkets #forexmarket