Forex website Finance Magnates to buy peer ForexLive

Currency-market news and information website Finance Magnates has agreed to purchase online peer ForexLive for an undisclosed sum, according to a statement from the companies seen by Reuters on Thursday.

The deal is the latest sign of investment in the market in the provision of news, data and analysis to thousands of small independent traders who are becoming an increasingly influential part of the $5 trillion-a-day global currency market.

A source with knowledge of the deal said it had been completed at the end of 2016 after being held up by some haggling over price following the $40 million purchase of another similar service, DailyFX, by leading UK broker IG Limited.

Combined traffic on Israel-based Finance Magnates and ForexLive surpasses 1.5 million visitors per month, according to analytics site similar web, the statement said.

Previously viewed as a sideshow to the trading between banks and big investment and pension funds that forms the core of the global currency market, trading through online brokers such as IG, FXCM or CMC Markets has grown steadily over the past three years.

A retreat in wholesale volumes has also made retail accounts a larger part of overall market activity, and industry sources estimate that trading in the second quarter was worth the equivalent of $335 billion a day.

“You can see that there is interest in this area from the brokers, who are looking to offer more analysis to clients on their platforms,” the source said. “This deal takes one more of those firms out of the market [as a potential purchase].” (Reuters)