Industry WIKI

ActivTrades is a UK-based brokerage firm providing an electronic trading platform to trade Forex, Contracts for Difference (CFDs), and spread betting. It provides services to retail and institutional traders via the electronic trading platforms ActivTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and TradingView.

Admirals (formerly known as Admiral Markets) is an Estonian online brokerage group based in Tallinn, Estonia, providing access to foreign-exchange trading and contracts for difference (CFDs). Established in 2003 by Alexander Tsikhilov, the company operates through several licensed entities.

Alpari is a retail broker offering trading in the foreign exchange (forex) and contracts for difference (CFDs). The brand was founded in 1998 in Kazan, Russia, by entrepreneur Andrey Dashin. The brand has operated in a number of jurisdictions under local entities. As of 2025, Alpari’s international services are provided by Parlance Trading Ltd, licensed by the Mwali International Service

The phrase Big Bang, used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets, was coined to describe measures, including abolition of fixed commission charges and of the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange and change from open outcry to screen-based electronic trading, effected by UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1986.

A central securities depository (CSD) is a specialized financial market infrastructure organization holding securities such as shares or bonds, either in certificated or uncertificated (dematerialized) form, allowing ownership to be easily transferred through a book entry rather than by a transfer of physical certificates. This allows brokers and financial companies to hold their securit

A financial data vendor provides market data to financial firms, traders, and investors. The data distributed is collected from sources such as stock exchange feeds, brokers and dealer desks or regulatory filings (e.g. an SEC filing).

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is the Belize government agency responsible for non-banking financial regulation. It is responsible for regulating all non-banking financial market participants and setting and enforcing of financial regulations. A number of international online forex brokers obtain their international license from FSC.

Futu Holdings Limited (Chinese: 富途控股) is a Cayman Islands-incorporated financial technology holding company headquartered in Hong Kong. Through its subsidiaries, it provides online securities brokerage, margin financing and securities lending, wealth management, and corporate and institutional services. Its main digital platforms are Futubull, used primarily in Hong Kong, and Moomoo, its

Pawnbroking, lending money on portable security, began in ancient history. The practice was widespread in many parts of the world, from ancient Greece to medieval China and medieval Europe.

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (commonly known as Interactive Brokers or IBKR) is an American multinational brokerage and financial services company headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. Through its subsidiaries, it provides automated trade execution and custody services for stocks, options, futures, foreign exchange, bonds, funds and other products on electronic markets worldwide. I

An intermediary, also known as a middleman or go-between, is defined in various ways, according to context. In law or diplomacy, an intermediary is a third party who offers intermediation services between two parties. In trade or barter, an intermediary acts as a conduit for goods or services offered by a supplier to a consumer, which may include wholesalers, resellers, brokers, and vari

This is a list of former stock exchanges in the Americas, including North America, South America, and the Caribbean Islands. Year of formation and the year the exchange was acquired, liquidated, or folded are also included. Some of these exchanges remain active as subsidiaries or divisions of other current exchanges (see current stock exchanges in the Americas). See regional stock exchan

The following is a list of securities examinations and the organizations that offer them.

MetaTrader 4, also known as MT4, is an electronic trading platform widely used by online retail foreign exchange speculative traders. It was developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2005. The software is licensed to foreign exchange brokers who provide the software to their clients. The software consists of both a client and server component. The server component is run by the br

Mirror trading is a trading selection methodology that can be carried out in both the foreign exchange and the stock markets; however, this is much more common in trading in the foreign exchange market.

The uniform net capital rule is a rule created by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") in 1975 to regulate directly the ability of broker-dealers to meet their financial obligations to customers and other creditors. Broker-dealers are companies that trade securities for customers (i.e., brokers) and for their own accounts (i.e., dealers).

Neteller is a global payments platform and digital wallet used to transfer money to and from merchants, such as forex trading brokers, social networks, and gambling websites. Users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom can add a Net+ Mastercard to their account to pay with their balance in stores or withdraw it as cash from ATMs. Regardless of their location, users c

OneChicago was a US-based all-electronic futures exchange with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. The exchange offered approximately 12,509 single-stock futures (SSF) products with names such as IBM, Apple and Google. All trading was cleared through Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). The OneChicago exchange closed in September 2020.

The Pawnbrokers Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 93) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed, altered and consolidated all previous legislation relating pawnbroking in Great Britain.

Payment for order flow (PFOF) is the compensation that a stockbroker receives from a market maker in exchange for the broker routing its clients' trades to that market maker. The market maker profits from the spread (the difference between purchase price and sale price) and rebates a portion of this profit to the routing broker as PFOF. Some of this benefit may be passed on to the retail

A pitch book, also called a confidential information memorandum, is a marketing presentation (information layout) used by investment banks, entrepreneurs, corporate finance firms, business brokers and other M&A intermediaries advising on the sale or disposal of the shares or assets of a business. It consists of a careful arrangement and analysis of the investment considerations of the cl

The Republika Srpska Securities Commission (Serbian: Комисија за хартије од вриједности Републике Српске or Komisija za hartije od vrijednosti Republike Srpske) is a financial services regulator in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is based in the city of Banja Luka.

Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of vessels.

Social media in the financial services sector refers to the use of social media by the financial services sector to promote and distribute financial services. Social media is used in various aspects of the financial industry including customer service, marketing, and product development. It has enabled financial institutions to extend their reach through direct and real-time communicatio

Social sorting is understood as the breakdown and categorization of group- or person-related raw data into various categories and segments by data manipulators and data brokers. Social sorting involves the key task of separating one group from the other. These groups can be based on income, education, race, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, derived power (social and political

A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividends. Securities traded on a stock

Stock market data systems communicate market data—information about securities and stock trades—from stock exchanges to stockbrokers and stock traders.

TradeStation Group, Inc. is the parent company of online securities and futures brokerage firms and trading technology companies. It is headquartered in Plantation, Florida, and has offices in New York; Chicago; Richardson, Texas; London; Sydney; and Costa Rica. TradeStation is best known for the technical analysis software and electronic trading platform it provides to active traders an