This article is authored by John Stead, Director of Sales Enablement & Marketing at smartTrade
The dust has settled on another fantastic FullFX London, and for those who couldn’t make it, you missed a day packed with insightful debate and forward-thinking discussions. The event, held at the historic Plaisterers’ Hall, brought together the brightest minds in foreign exchange to tackle the industry’s most pressing questions. As the coffee break sponsor, we at smartTrade were delighted to fuel the conversations and connect with so many of you.
Two of the most exciting and recurring themes of the day were the convergence of TradFi and DeFi and the evolution of the FX Swaps market. While the crypto space is often associated with volatility and speculation, the conversations at FullFX London painted a much more nuanced and promising picture. It’s a tale of two markets, each with its own lessons and opportunities, rapidly learning from one another. Supporting the electronification of swaps workflow is close to our hearts at smartTrade, and so we were glad to see progress is being made here in terms of underlying credit and matching support.
The Swaps Market: Circling the Solution
The “FX Swaps Market Structure 2025 and Beyond” panel was particularly energizing, addressing what many of us have been watching closely for years. The pieces are finally coming together for meaningful transformation in this space. As one panelist aptly put it, we’ve been “circling around” the solution for some time, but the momentum is now undeniable.
The discussion centered on the evolution from soft match to hard match capabilities, the expanding role of clearing houses, and the critical importance of API accessibility for driving automation. What struck me most was the recognition that while many banks have the capability to automate FX swaps, only a few have actually done so. This isn’t a question of technical feasibility but rather one of prioritization and investment. The tipping point may well come from a regulatory driver, but the infrastructure is increasingly ready.
At smartTrade, we’ve been at the forefront of enabling this electronification journey. As one of the first vendors to support ESP swaps aggregation and distribution, we’ve been instrumental in helping banks navigate this transition from its earliest stages. Our technology supports banks in building the connectivity and automation frameworks necessary to participate effectively in the evolving swaps market. The challenge isn’t just about speed—though our ultra-low latency capabilities certainly matter—it’s about providing the right tools for banks to price electronically into order books, manage their exposure across multiple venues, and ultimately deploy algos when the liquidity depth justifies it.
The panel highlighted a crucial insight: with approximately 250 value dates along any curve, the swaps market will never be as “spotified” as the cash market. This complexity demands sophisticated technology that can handle diverse liquidity sources, flexible credit arrangements, and nuanced execution strategies. Voice brokers will continue to play an important role, particularly for longer-dated and more complex structures, but the short end of the curve presents a clear opportunity for automation and efficiency gains.
What’s particularly exciting is the diversity of liquidity now coming online. It’s not just the tier-one banks anymore; regional banks and specialist players are looking at specific areas of the curve and particular currency pairs. This fragmentation of liquidity providers actually creates opportunity, but only if the technology infrastructure can aggregate and access that liquidity efficiently. That’s precisely where smartTrade’s expertise in aggregation, pricing, and distribution becomes invaluable.
The conversation around clearing houses also revealed both promise and caution. While clearing can reduce margin requirements and extend credit capacity, there’s a real risk of fragmenting the market if multiple clearing solutions emerge without interoperability. The industry needs to be thoughtful about how these solutions are implemented to ensure we’re building bridges, not silos.
The Real Revolution is in the Rails
During the “Future of FX Trading” panel, I had the pleasure of sharing smartTrade’s perspective on where the true value of this new technology lies. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of cryptocurrency trading, but the real game-changer is the underlying technology and its potential to revolutionize the world of payments. We often hear about the more sensational aspects of crypto, but we should embrace the possibilities that stablecoins and tokenized deposits offer.
This technology is poised to drastically reduce the costs associated with cross-border payments. This is especially significant for emerging economies where trust in existing institutions may be low and high fixed costs on traditional payment rails make small transactions prohibitively expensive. Even in more developed economies, the ability to make micropayments at minimal cost opens up a world of interesting new use cases. By moving away from the old payment rails, we can also free up the billions of dollars currently held dormant in Nostro accounts, injecting that capital back into the global economy.
Learning from the Past to Build the Future
The “Just Like FX in the 90s” panel drew fascinating parallels between the early days of the electronic FX market and the current state of the digital asset space. The fragmented liquidity, the absence of robust settlement infrastructure, and the challenges in credit tracking are all reminiscent of the hurdles the FX industry overcame decades ago. The key difference? Crypto started with retail and is now attracting institutions, whereas FX evolved in the opposite direction. This presents a unique opportunity for the FX community to bring its hard-won expertise in market structure, compliance, and risk management to this new frontier.
Technology as the Engine of Change
The “Talking Tech” series delved into the role of Artificial Intelligence in our industry. The consensus was that while AI is not yet ready to take over the trading desk, it is already proving invaluable as a tool for enhancing efficiency. From data visualization to automating internal processes, AI is helping firms to better understand their data and serve their clients more effectively. The conversation has moved beyond the hype and is now focused on practical applications that deliver real value.
The ongoing debate around pre-hedging and market conduct further underscored the industry’s commitment to fairness and transparency. As technology continues to evolve, so too will the standards and best practices that govern our markets. Transparency in execution costs is becoming increasingly critical, and the technology platforms that can provide clear, auditable evidence of performance will be the ones that win client trust.
smartTrade: Your Partner in the New FX Landscape
FullFX London 2025 was a powerful reminder that the worlds of FX, swaps, and digital assets are not just colliding, but are actively shaping each other’s future. At smartTrade, we are excited to be at the heart of this transformation, providing the technology that enables banks and brokers to navigate this complexity with confidence. Whether it’s building the API connectivity that powers electronic swaps trading, providing the aggregation engines that access fragmented liquidity, or delivering the ultra-low latency execution that institutional clients demand, we’re focused on solving real-world problems.
The future of FX is not about choosing between the old and the new, but about intelligently integrating the best of both worlds. It’s about leveraging new technologies to create a more efficient, transparent, and accessible financial system for everyone. We look forward to continuing the conversation and working with you to build that future together.