LMAX Exchange Editor’s Verdict

LMAX Exchange (London Multi Asset Exchange), founded in 2008, is domiciled in London, UK. In 2012, it bought out its parent company, Betfair and opened an office in Hong Kong in 2014. LMAX is not an ordinary financial broker. Although it is classified as an FX and CFD broker, it is the first MTF (Multilateral Trading Facility) regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is defined as such by MiFID.

Pros
  • Highly Professional

  • Demo Account

  • Regulated

Cons
  • Missing Information

  • Confusing Website

Overview

LMAX was established to deliver the benefits of exchange quality execution to both buy-side and sell-side trading institutions.

HeadquartersUnited Kingdom
RegulatorsFCA, MiFID
Year Established2008
Execution Type(s)No Dealing Desk
Trading Platform(s)MetaTrader 4, Proprietary platform
Islamic Account
Signals
US Persons Accepted?
Managed Accounts

Execution Speed Statistics
Execution Speed Statistics

LMAX Exchange trading technology, which can process up to 400 million orders a day, has been recognized for excellence and innovation by the FX industry’s most prestigious awards--2015 Best Margin Sector Platform – Profit & Loss Readers' Choice Awards; 2015 Best FX Trading Venue – ECN/MTF – WSL Institutional Trading Awards; and 2014 #1 Fastest Growing Tech Company in the UK – Sunday Times Tech Track 100.

My initial reaction to this site was confusion. It wasn’t clear to me exactly what type of broker LMAX is and what they offer. After reading through the site carefully, it becomes clear we are dealing here with a totally different type of brokerage. I got the distinct feeling that this firm is basically for traders who have been in engaged in Forex trading for some time and not for novice traders who are just starting out in the field. This broker is for individuals and groups with a strong financial background.

Accounts

LMAX is divided into three different types of trading. Within the Professional sector, the LMAX Prime Account provides access to LMAX Exchange, top tier global banks and ECN liquidity as well as to multiple liquidity sources which can be tailored to a trader’s needs.

The LMAX Prime Account offers centralized clearing across multiple venues, a pre-trade risk management solution, multiple liquidity sources via one prime brokerage agreement, a cost-effective clearing model and elegant and simple ‘turnkey’ implementation.

The account offered through the LMAX Institutional sector are FCA regulated MTFs for Forex and are aimed at institutions using sophisticated algorithmic trading strategies.

LMAX Institutional “open order book” offers firm limit order-driven liquidity from a range of institutions, creating a unique FX trading venue with exchange quality execution. It services Hedge Funds, High Frequency Traders, Corporates and CTAs, providing a transparent, neutral, level playing field for all market participants. Specifically, LMAX Institutional offers unparalleled exchange quality execution, complete trading anonymity, low latency execution, pre and post-trade transparency, firm limit order liquidity with no ‘last look’ rejections and a full range of clearing solutions.

Clients can now leverage LMAX Exchange institutional liquidity relationships to access competitive pricing and fast, efficient settlement for its Deliverable FX account. A professional team at LMAX Exchange is dedicated to helping clients who pro-actively manage their FX exposures. Competitive FX rates, combined with ease of use, make the LMAX Deliverable FX service cost effective for managing your FX exposure risk.

With the LMAX Deliverable FX service traders receive FX for any amount between $50,000 and $10,000,000, competitive, institutional exchange rates, rates that include commission and bank transfer fees, automatic commission reduction for higher amounts, delivery in all the major global currencies, experienced, professional client services team, funds that are held in a segregated bank account and live currency rate calculator with indicative real-time exchange rates.

The 3rd sector available at LMAX is their LMAX InterBank which is a spot FX execution venue for banks only. LMAX InterBank delivers all the benefits of exchange quality execution, complete pre and post-trade transparency and a level playing field for all participants - regardless of status, size or activity levels.

With the LMAX InterBank include traders can benefit from true transparency with real time publication of order book updates and anonymous trade data and exchange quality, ultra-fast, execution averaging 0.5ms.

Every member of this group benefits from superior credit solution with a single credit line and no fixed costs such as account charges or other fees. What makes this account even nicer is the fact that all bank members are created equal regardless of status, size or activity levels.

It was nice to see that a demo account is offered as there are most probably plenty of traders who could use the opportunity to practice trading without risking any of their funds.

Customer Support

Customer Support Methodsemail-support chat-support
Support Hours24/5
Website Languages
      • English
      • French
      • German
      • Chinese
      • Polish
  • Members can contact a representative by email or at the London office. Chat was also available. The website is available in English, German, French, Russian, Chinese and Polish.

    Education

    LMAX offers a huge video library mostly with CEO, David Mercer, presenting a variety of subjects including his speeches at various business and financial conferences. There is a short listing of future events as well as past events, and updated news reports are presented in both text and video formats.

    Clicking on the blog section takes you to a listing of different tweets and their links which lead to interesting news items and analysis.

    LMAX Exchange Blog
    LMAX Exchange Blog

    The LMAX mobile app is available for all members and it delivers full trading functionality, real-time price updates and exchange quality execution speeds. It also comes with a Me2 mirror trading (iPad only) capability, social news feed and is currently the only trading app showing full market depth. It is available for iOS and Android devices and can be downloaded from App Store of Google Play.

    Conclusion

    Besides being confusing, there seems to be a lot of missing information. After concluding that there is little information about its platforms, or how an account can be funded or money I realized that this information is available ONLY after an account has been opened. This is very odd. Still it is regulated and has won many awards for service and performance so it must be doing something right. I conclude that this broker is not for novice traders.

    Features

    LMAX Exchange has been a consistent recipient of awards in the financial sector. It operates as a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) and is a liquidity provider for many forex brokers. It offers access to a liquidity pool, tight spreads, low latency, and faster execution of trades with no intervention. The website may be somewhat confusing at first, but for traders who are looking to trade with a floating spread broker with the added assurance of no dealer intervention, LMAX Exchange will not disappoint you.

    Trading Platforms

    MT4
    MT5
    cTrader
    Proprietary Platform
    Automated Trading
    Guaranteed Stop Loss
    Scalping
    Hedging
    OCO Orders
    Interest on Margin

    Traders can choose between several platforms.

    LMAX Web Trader

    The LMAX Web Trader is a multi-functional browser based trading platform with good charting capabilities, making it ideal even for traders using a Linux based operating system.

    Multicharts

    Multicharts is a proprietary trading platform that is targeted towards the professional trader. While there is a cost associated with licensing Multicharts platforms, LMAX Exchange offers their data-feed thus allowing you to trade directly from this professional trading platform.

    MetaTrader 4

    If you like and prefer to use the MT4 trading platform, LMAX Exchange offers this option as well. While opening an account with LMAX Exchange, make sure to select “MT4″ as the trading platform. Upon verifying your account credentials, you would receive the download link to the MT4 platform.

    Mobile Trading Platform
    Mobile Trading Platform

    About the Author

    DailyForex.com Team
    The DailyForex.com team is comprised of analysts and researchers from around the world who watch the market throughout the day to provide you with unique perspectives and helpful analysis that can help improve your Forex trading.