This article is authored by John Stead, VP Strategy & Marketing at smartTrade
The FullFX Scandinavia 2026 conference provided a deep dive into a market currently defined by “dynamic” US trade policy, rising Asian influence, and a significant technological pivot. As someone who sat on the “Talking Tech” panel, I walked away with a clear sense that while the industry has been chasing a “multi-asset” dream for twenty years, we are finally moving past the theoretical toward practical, modular execution.
Here is a summary of the most insightful takeaways for those who couldn’t make it to Copenhagen this year.
1. The Multi-Asset Future: It’s Not About the Screen
One of the most critical points I discussed is that multi-asset trading is a workflow challenge, not a front-end problem. For years, some in the industry focused on putting more products in one all encompassing cross asset solution, but that ignored the reality that each asset class has its own pricing logic, latency expectations, workflows, and credit models.
- Integrated, Not Monolithic: We shouldn’t force every asset class into one giant, “behemoth” platform. Instead, the goal should be a seamless experience where purpose-built services (like smartTrade’s LFX for trading or kACE for options and CBP for Payments) are tightly integrated at the vendor level allowing banks to focus their time and resources on offering services to their customers, not managing the integration of multiple software providers, each with their own APIs, release cycles, security requirements, support levels and so on.
- Market Complexity: The scale and breadth of the market makes this integration more challenging, not easier. OTC FX turnover reached $9.6 trillion per day in April 2025, with FX options more than doubling their share of turnover since 2022.
- The Workflow Shift: Success now depends on “normalizing” the operational layer—handling the “hard parts” like non-linear products and treasury swap curves rather than pretending everything behaves like spot FX.
2. Precious Metals: The Return of the “Second C”
In a particularly insightful session, Jonas Schirm (Julius Baer) highlighted why precious metals have moved from an “add-on” service to center stage in 2026.
- The Silver Macro Story: Silver has become a fascinating macro play due to its role as a superior conductor for the booming Chinese solar industry. Because silver is primarily a byproduct of other mining, there is a structural supply shortage that could drive prices significantly higher.
- The Settlement Hurdle: A major pain point is that precious metals are not on CLS. This is partly because metals use MT600 message structures while CLS is built around MT400, creating a massive operational efficiency gap.
- Counterparty Risk: With gold prices hitting new highs, settlement risk has doubled even if the volume of ounces traded remains the same, filling up credit lines faster and forcing traders to be more selective.
smartTrade View: We have seen a lot of interest in both paper and deliverable trading of precious metals, both for investment and also for industrial use cases. Whilst paper trading is relatively easy, the pivot from standard FX, adding in the specifics of deliverable precious metals trading has added a lot of value for our clients as a differentiator. The synergies with FX make it a very compelling use case for clients.
3. Onchain FX and 24/7 Markets
The convergence of traditional FX and digital assets is no longer a “future” concept—it is happening now.
- Stablecoin Dominance: Stablecoins are now overtaking Visa and Mastercard in payment volumes.
- Corporate Adoption: Major corporates like BMW are migrating their treasury FX onchain, signaling a shift toward 24/7 trading cycles.
- The “Stablecoin Sandwich”: We are seeing a rise in “sandwich” transactions where stablecoins bridge traditional FX pairs.
smartTrade View: 24/7 trading is a reality for many of our clients trading fiat and cryptocurrencies including stablecoins, even though volumes and liquidity may not be as during traditional weekend hours. It’s still a differentiator that counts for clients, whether for payments, hedging or speculation.
4. Volatility Winners and Losers
Volatility has returned to the markets, largely fueled by shifting US policy and energy crises.
- The Winners: The Brazilian Real and Mexican Peso have emerged as winners due to their status as safe-passage oil exporters.
- The Dollar Strategy: There is a sense that the dollar is in a “Trump-orchestrated decline” intended to boost US exports and put pressure on China’s valuation.
- Clearing Resilience: In times of stress, clearing has become “sticky.” Today, 50% of the interbank NDF market is cleared, up from 46% the previous year.
smartTrade View: Whilst volatility is good for the banks’ bottom line, they also need systems that can amply cope with huge amounts of market data associated with such moves. It’s not just about low latency, high capacity bandwidth, but also smart algos and workflows to manage execution and volatile markets.
5. The Next Generation: AI as Cognition
The “Next Gen” panel offered a refreshing look at how the workforce is changing.
- Cognition over Action: While previous automation focused on actions (if X, do Y), LLMs are now being used to automate cognition, acting as a “thinking” colleague (copilot) to speed up complex tasks.
- Values and Agency: Younger talent (Gen Z) isn’t necessarily looking for a linear “VP title” path. They value agency—the ability to have a real impact on a model or book early in their career.
- The Data Gap: A major challenge remains the lack of historical data; many banks have real-time data but failed to archive the historical sets needed to properly train new AI models.
smartTrade View: It was great to see the next generation of market participants embracing AI and data as core enablers of the market. It’s something we believe passionately about at smartTrade. If you are just starting in the industry, or even if you’re more experienced and want to consider a future with an innovative dynamic vendor at the forefront of technology in capital markets, get in touch. https://smart-trade.net/culture-at-st/
smartTrade Final Thought: The view of the market is evolving; the future isn’t one universal system to rule them all. It’s a common ecosystem where multiple asset classes and payment flows coexist under shared, modular controls. Banks and vendors that partner to deliver fully integrated services and systems efficiently are the best placed to concentrate on what adds most value for the end client. Do that, and profitability and market share will follow. To know more about how smartTrade enables its clients to monetize their flows, reduce risk, and gain market share, get in touch.