Currenex, Inc. is a New York based company that provides a platform for the electronic foreign exchange market

Foreign exchange market

The foreign exchange market is a global, worldwide decentralized financial market for trading currencies. Financial centers around the world function as anchors of trading between a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers around the clock, with the exception of weekends...

 providers. It focuses on connecting buy and sell side forex traders using the FIX protocol

FIX protocol

The Financial Information eXchange protocol is an electronic communications protocol initiated in 1992 for international real-time exchange of information related to the securities transactions and markets...

 and other application programming interfaces. It provides the service in it own name as well as for others under white label or private label

Private label

Private label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company's brand. Private label goods and services are available in a wide range of industries from food to cosmetics to web hosting...

 arrangements.

History

Currenex was founded in 1994 in Larchmont, NY. It was the first online multi-dealer foreign exchange trading platform. The original name of the company was Waldron Management. The name was changed to Currenex at the end of 1999 when it was sold to a group of California investors. Its headquarters are in New York which remains its principal office. In 2007 was bought by State Street Corporation for $564 million after which it became a operating division of State Street. It has offices in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Redwood City California, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Technology

Key part of Currenex's business is its trading platform

Electronic trading platform

In finance, an Electronic trading platform is a computer system that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. This includes products such as shares, bonds, currencies, commodities and derivatives with a financial intermediary, such as a...

 and Currenex holds several patents which focus on lowering latency

Low latency (capital markets)

Low latency is a topic within capital markets, where the proliferation of algorithmic trading requires firms to react to market events faster than the competition to increase profitability of trades. For example, when executing arbitrage strategies the opportunity to “arb” the market may only...

 and improving execution technology. Traders can trade spot

Spot price

The spot price or spot rate of a commodity, a security or a currency is the price that is quoted for immediate settlement . Spot settlement is normally one or two business days from trade date...

, forwards

Forward contract

In finance, a forward contract or simply a forward is a non-standardized contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified future time at a price agreed today. This is in contrast to a spot contract, which is an agreement to buy or sell an asset today. It costs nothing to enter a...

, swaps

Currency swap

A currency swap is a foreign-exchange agreement between two parties to exchange aspects of a loan in one currency for equivalent aspects of an equal in net present value loan in another currency; see foreign exchange derivative. Currency swaps are motivated by comparative advantage...

, and loan

Loan

A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower....

s and deposits with a counterparty in a chosen currency

Currency

In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...

. Currenex offers Executable Streaming Prices (ESP), Request for Quotation

Request for Quotation

A request for quotation is a standard business process whose purpose is to invite suppliers into a bidding process to bid on specific products or services. RFQ, generally means the same thing as IFB ....

 (RFQ), Benchmarking

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost...

, Algorithmic Trading

Algorithmic trading

In electronic financial markets, algorithmic trading or automated trading, also known as algo trading, black-box trading or robo trading, is the use of electronic platforms for entering trading orders with an algorithm deciding on aspects of the order such as the timing, price, or quantity of the...

, and complete Prime brokerage

Prime brokerage

Prime brokerage is the generic name for a bundled package of services offered by investment banks and securities firms to hedge funds and other professional investors needing the ability to borrow securities and cash to be able to invest on a netted basis and achieve an absolute return...

 functionality with integrated Straight Through Processing

Straight Through Processing

Straight-through processing enables the entire trade process for capital markets and payment transactions to be conducted electronically without the need for re-keying or manual intervention, subject to legal and regulatory restrictions...

(STP).