MetaQuotes is quietly reshaping an important a part of the buying and selling expertise stack. It stepped instantly into the liquidity bridge area in 2025 when it launched Ultency, shifting into part of the buying and selling tech stack that had lengthy been dominated by third-party suppliers for the reason that early MT4 period.
Singapore Summit: Meet the biggest APAC brokers you recognize (and people you continue to do not!).
This bridge infrastructure is what hyperlinks brokers’ inside platforms with exterior liquidity swimming pools, and for years MetaQuotes left that function to others. That hands-off strategy has clearly modified. The corporate has reportedly poured thousands and thousands into constructing a world server community to help Ultency.
However it’s Ultency’s pricing that basically stands out. The service costs a flat US$1 per US$1 million traded, with progressive reductions for increased volumes, undercutting what seems to be the business norm. In contrast, most third-party bridge
Bridge
The bridge or liquidity bridge is an integral part for brokers which can be enabling their purchasers to commerce at interbank charges instantly by way of a Prime Dealer or a Prime-of-Prime (PoP). Whereas market makers don’t require a bridge as a way to service their purchasers, brokers that are sending via orders to a liquidity supplier or an digital execution venue want a bridge to attach their buying and selling platform to the interbank market.Bridges are used extensively in foreign currency trading, particularly for Met
The bridge or liquidity bridge is an integral part for brokers which can be enabling their purchasers to commerce at interbank charges instantly by way of a Prime Dealer or a Prime-of-Prime (PoP). Whereas market makers don’t require a bridge as a way to service their purchasers, brokers that are sending via orders to a liquidity supplier or an digital execution venue want a bridge to attach their buying and selling platform to the interbank market.Bridges are used extensively in foreign currency trading, particularly for Met
Learn this Time period suppliers cost brokers on a volume-based mannequin, the place infrastructure prices rise as buying and selling exercise grows, making Ultency’s construction significantly engaging to high-volume brokers.
Hantec markets Q1 quantity hits file excessive
A number of brokers launched their earnings this week. Hantec Markets recorded its strongest first quarter on file in 2026, pushed by a pointy enhance in buying and selling volumes. The efficiency builds on the momentum the corporate established in 2025, supported by continued progress throughout its buying and selling exercise and product choices.
The agency reported $1.206 trillion in buying and selling quantity for Q1 2026, up from $437.7 billion in the identical interval final yr, marking a 176% year-on-year enhance. This additionally exceeded its earlier quarterly excessive of $1.013 trillion in This fall 2025, representing an additional rise of about 19%.
Plus500 raises outlook as Q1 income climbs 18%
On the identical time, Plus500 reported $242.1 million in income for the primary quarter, marking an 18% enhance in comparison with the identical interval final yr. The corporate additionally mentioned it now expects its full-year 2026 income and EBITDA to exceed present market forecasts.
The London-listed dealer attributed the robust efficiency to increased consumer exercise, a rising share of higher-value prospects, and continued enlargement in its US futures and prediction markets enterprise, which helped drive a 24% enhance in income in comparison with the earlier quarter.
Buying and selling 212 UK progress continues
Extra numbers this week got here from Trading212 UK, which strengthened its place within the UK retail buying and selling market in 2025, reporting a 72% soar in income to £277.6 million. Pre-tax revenue rose to £123.1 million from £52.9 million a yr earlier, whereas internet revenue reached £92.2 million.
The dealer provides each CFD and inventory buying and selling. It generates CFD income from market making, spreads, and in a single day financing, whereas its zero-commission inventory buying and selling mannequin earns primarily from foreign exchange
Foreign exchange
Overseas trade or foreign exchange is the act of changing one nation’s foreign money into one other nation’s foreign money (that possesses a distinct foreign money); for instance, the changing of British Kilos into US {Dollars}, and vice versa. The trade of currencies will be completed over a bodily counter, reminiscent of at a Bureau de Change, or over the web by way of dealer platforms, the place foreign money hypothesis takes place, referred to as foreign currency trading.The international trade market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi
Overseas trade or foreign exchange is the act of changing one nation’s foreign money into one other nation’s foreign money (that possesses a distinct foreign money); for instance, the changing of British Kilos into US {Dollars}, and vice versa. The trade of currencies will be completed over a bodily counter, reminiscent of at a Bureau de Change, or over the web by way of dealer platforms, the place foreign money hypothesis takes place, referred to as foreign currency trading.The international trade market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi
Learn this Time period conversion charges and curiosity on consumer money.
E8 Markets warns retail merchants off CFD brokers
Within the prop buying and selling area, E8 Markets, a prop buying and selling agency that now describes itself as a “SaaS instructional simulation platform for monetary markets,” warned retail merchants in opposition to the dangers of depositing funds with FX, futures, and crypto brokers. The announcement was tied to US Nationwide Monetary Literacy Month.
Supply: E8 Markets
The corporate additionally launched a loyalty program named after one in every of its top-earning customers, Tom Gibbs. Whereas losses amongst FX and CFD merchants are extensively documented, E8 didn’t present knowledge on loss charges inside prop corporations buying and selling in simulated markets, the place business figures additionally recommend unfavorable outcomes.
Axi says 46% of purchasers maintain crypto throughout CFDs
Axi mentioned 46% of its purchasers now maintain cryptocurrencies as a part of their portfolios, regardless of a current three-month interval of low volatility within the digital asset market.
The dealer famous that adoption covers its full vary of crypto merchandise, together with perpetual contracts, CFDs, and spot buying and selling via its “Purchase Crypto” function, which permits customers to purchase, promote, and maintain digital belongings. The transfer displays a broader development of CFD brokers increasing into spot crypto providers.
Russia’s foreign exchange quantity hits file $68B
In the meantime, Russia’s regulated foreign exchange market recorded a quarterly buying and selling quantity of $68.6 billion in Q1 2026, the very best on file. Nonetheless, business knowledge suggests the expansion is concentrated fairly than broad-based.
In response to the market’s self-regulatory physique, 90.6% of the whole quantity got here from purchasers of a single agency, Alfa-Foreign exchange. Russia has three licensed foreign exchange sellers, with the opposite two accounting for lower than 10% of complete turnover.
AI RegTech lure: why instruments fail unprepared corporations
AI is turning into central to RegTech, with corporations utilizing it to enhance surveillance, reporting, AML detection, and oversight of communications and monetary promotions. Nonetheless, its effectiveness below regulatory scrutiny will rely primarily on two elements: explainability and safety.
Whereas regulators and business contributors are actively discussing AI-related dangers, there stays a niche between these discussions and the event of programs to handle them in apply. This disconnect leaves corporations uncovered from a compliance and operational standpoint.
New York targets Coinbase and Gemini over prediction markets
Within the Wild West of the prediction markets, New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Coinbase and Gemini, alleging that their prediction market platforms function as unlawful playing providers. The case, filed in Manhattan, seeks to cease each exchanges from providing these merchandise in New York except they get hold of state gaming licenses.
.@Gemini and @coinbase‘s so-called prediction markets are simply unlawful playing operations that expose younger folks to addictive platforms.
Playing by one other title continues to be playing. I am suing to cease these platforms from breaking the legislation.https://t.co/DosDKe2un1
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) April 21, 2026
The lawsuit argues that prediction markets needs to be handled as unregulated wagering fairly than monetary devices. James mentioned the platforms quantity to “playing by one other title” and are usually not exempt from state playing legal guidelines and constitutional necessities.
The prediction market business spent $1.84 million on federal lobbying within the first quarter of 2026, a file degree and greater than 60% increased than in the identical interval in 2025. This marks the biggest quarterly lobbying outlay but reported by corporations within the sector.
The determine supplies the primary concrete indication of how a lot the business is investing in political affect because it confronts rising legislative and regulatory scrutiny. It underscores the extent to which prediction market operators are ramping up formal engagement with policymakers in response to that stress.
Polymarket targets $15B valuation in pre-ruling fundraise
Moreover, Polymarket is in talks to boost a further $400 million, which might raise its present funding spherical to $1 billion and worth the corporate at about $15 billion, in accordance with The Info.
The talks come as investor curiosity in prediction market platforms continues to develop. The additional capital would construct on a $600 million funding already dedicated by Intercontinental Alternate (ICE), the guardian of the New York Inventory Alternate. ICE has beforehand outlined plans to take a strategic stake of as much as $2 billion within the platform.
Kalshi and Polymarket push into perpetuals
Kalshi and Polymarket are each shifting into the perpetual futures market, increasing past event-based contracts and positioning themselves in direct competitors with offshore crypto exchanges that presently dominate this phase.
We worth the long run.
Now you possibly can lever it.
Perps are coming to Polymarket.
Join early entry 👇 pic.twitter.com/j3PRHhxv8N
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 21, 2026
Bloomberg reported that Kalshi plans to launch crypto perpetual futures within the coming weeks, citing a supply aware of the matter. Shortly after the report, Polymarket introduced the same providing, turning what may have been a low-profile rollout into a transparent race for market share in probably the most actively traded crypto derivatives.
From insider dangers to Bitcoin technique debates
As US regulators proceed to debate who has jurisdiction over prediction markets, present and potential customers are being urged to contemplate the dangers they face when inserting bets on these platforms. The Wall Road Journal reported that, in late March, White Home employees have been warned by way of e mail to not use private info obtained via their work to guess on occasion outcomes.
Responding to the report, Trump administration spokesman Davis Ingle instructed the BBC that any suggestion officers have been concerned in such exercise with out proof was “baseless and irresponsible reporting.”
Government strikes of the week: Scope Markets, BMLL, and Buying and selling
Applied sciences
Within the govt strikes of the week, former Scope MarketsRegional Head Kubra Caglar joined Tattvam Markets as Head of Industrial within the
United Arab Emirates. She took up the function in April 2026 after practically 9
years with Scope Markets, the place she held a senior regional place.
BMLL Applied sciences appointed 9 new workers throughout partnerships, gross sales, income operations, finance, and engineering. The hires
are a part of the London-based market knowledge agency’s ongoing industrial and
technical enlargement following its acquisition by Nordic Capital in October final
yr.
Lastly, Buying and selling Applied sciences has reorganized its senior
administration workforce, creating a brand new Chief Technique Officer function for present ChiefRevenue Officer Nick Garrow and appointing Josh Monroe as the brand new CRO.
MetaQuotes is quietly reshaping an important a part of the buying and selling expertise stack. It stepped instantly into the liquidity bridge area in 2025 when it launched Ultency, shifting into part of the buying and selling tech stack that had lengthy been dominated by third-party suppliers for the reason that early MT4 period.
Singapore Summit: Meet the biggest APAC brokers you recognize (and people you continue to do not!).
This bridge infrastructure is what hyperlinks brokers’ inside platforms with exterior liquidity swimming pools, and for years MetaQuotes left that function to others. That hands-off strategy has clearly modified. The corporate has reportedly poured thousands and thousands into constructing a world server community to help Ultency.
However it’s Ultency’s pricing that basically stands out. The service costs a flat US$1 per US$1 million traded, with progressive reductions for increased volumes, undercutting what seems to be the business norm. In contrast, most third-party bridge
Bridge
The bridge or liquidity bridge is an integral part for brokers which can be enabling their purchasers to commerce at interbank charges instantly by way of a Prime Dealer or a Prime-of-Prime (PoP). Whereas market makers don’t require a bridge as a way to service their purchasers, brokers that are sending via orders to a liquidity supplier or an digital execution venue want a bridge to attach their buying and selling platform to the interbank market.Bridges are used extensively in foreign currency trading, particularly for Met
The bridge or liquidity bridge is an integral part for brokers which can be enabling their purchasers to commerce at interbank charges instantly by way of a Prime Dealer or a Prime-of-Prime (PoP). Whereas market makers don’t require a bridge as a way to service their purchasers, brokers that are sending via orders to a liquidity supplier or an digital execution venue want a bridge to attach their buying and selling platform to the interbank market.Bridges are used extensively in foreign currency trading, particularly for Met
Learn this Time period suppliers cost brokers on a volume-based mannequin, the place infrastructure prices rise as buying and selling exercise grows, making Ultency’s construction significantly engaging to high-volume brokers.
Hantec markets Q1 quantity hits file excessive
A number of brokers launched their earnings this week. Hantec Markets recorded its strongest first quarter on file in 2026, pushed by a pointy enhance in buying and selling volumes. The efficiency builds on the momentum the corporate established in 2025, supported by continued progress throughout its buying and selling exercise and product choices.
The agency reported $1.206 trillion in buying and selling quantity for Q1 2026, up from $437.7 billion in the identical interval final yr, marking a 176% year-on-year enhance. This additionally exceeded its earlier quarterly excessive of $1.013 trillion in This fall 2025, representing an additional rise of about 19%.
Plus500 raises outlook as Q1 income climbs 18%
On the identical time, Plus500 reported $242.1 million in income for the primary quarter, marking an 18% enhance in comparison with the identical interval final yr. The corporate additionally mentioned it now expects its full-year 2026 income and EBITDA to exceed present market forecasts.
The London-listed dealer attributed the robust efficiency to increased consumer exercise, a rising share of higher-value prospects, and continued enlargement in its US futures and prediction markets enterprise, which helped drive a 24% enhance in income in comparison with the earlier quarter.
Buying and selling 212 UK progress continues
Extra numbers this week got here from Trading212 UK, which strengthened its place within the UK retail buying and selling market in 2025, reporting a 72% soar in income to £277.6 million. Pre-tax revenue rose to £123.1 million from £52.9 million a yr earlier, whereas internet revenue reached £92.2 million.
The dealer provides each CFD and inventory buying and selling. It generates CFD income from market making, spreads, and in a single day financing, whereas its zero-commission inventory buying and selling mannequin earns primarily from foreign exchange
Foreign exchange
Overseas trade or foreign exchange is the act of changing one nation’s foreign money into one other nation’s foreign money (that possesses a distinct foreign money); for instance, the changing of British Kilos into US {Dollars}, and vice versa. The trade of currencies will be completed over a bodily counter, reminiscent of at a Bureau de Change, or over the web by way of dealer platforms, the place foreign money hypothesis takes place, referred to as foreign currency trading.The international trade market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi
Overseas trade or foreign exchange is the act of changing one nation’s foreign money into one other nation’s foreign money (that possesses a distinct foreign money); for instance, the changing of British Kilos into US {Dollars}, and vice versa. The trade of currencies will be completed over a bodily counter, reminiscent of at a Bureau de Change, or over the web by way of dealer platforms, the place foreign money hypothesis takes place, referred to as foreign currency trading.The international trade market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi
Learn this Time period conversion charges and curiosity on consumer money.
E8 Markets warns retail merchants off CFD brokers
Within the prop buying and selling area, E8 Markets, a prop buying and selling agency that now describes itself as a “SaaS instructional simulation platform for monetary markets,” warned retail merchants in opposition to the dangers of depositing funds with FX, futures, and crypto brokers. The announcement was tied to US Nationwide Monetary Literacy Month.
Supply: E8 Markets
The corporate additionally launched a loyalty program named after one in every of its top-earning customers, Tom Gibbs. Whereas losses amongst FX and CFD merchants are extensively documented, E8 didn’t present knowledge on loss charges inside prop corporations buying and selling in simulated markets, the place business figures additionally recommend unfavorable outcomes.
Axi says 46% of purchasers maintain crypto throughout CFDs
Axi mentioned 46% of its purchasers now maintain cryptocurrencies as a part of their portfolios, regardless of a current three-month interval of low volatility within the digital asset market.
The dealer famous that adoption covers its full vary of crypto merchandise, together with perpetual contracts, CFDs, and spot buying and selling via its “Purchase Crypto” function, which permits customers to purchase, promote, and maintain digital belongings. The transfer displays a broader development of CFD brokers increasing into spot crypto providers.
Russia’s foreign exchange quantity hits file $68B
In the meantime, Russia’s regulated foreign exchange market recorded a quarterly buying and selling quantity of $68.6 billion in Q1 2026, the very best on file. Nonetheless, business knowledge suggests the expansion is concentrated fairly than broad-based.
In response to the market’s self-regulatory physique, 90.6% of the whole quantity got here from purchasers of a single agency, Alfa-Foreign exchange. Russia has three licensed foreign exchange sellers, with the opposite two accounting for lower than 10% of complete turnover.
AI RegTech lure: why instruments fail unprepared corporations
AI is turning into central to RegTech, with corporations utilizing it to enhance surveillance, reporting, AML detection, and oversight of communications and monetary promotions. Nonetheless, its effectiveness below regulatory scrutiny will rely primarily on two elements: explainability and safety.
Whereas regulators and business contributors are actively discussing AI-related dangers, there stays a niche between these discussions and the event of programs to handle them in apply. This disconnect leaves corporations uncovered from a compliance and operational standpoint.
New York targets Coinbase and Gemini over prediction markets
Within the Wild West of the prediction markets, New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Coinbase and Gemini, alleging that their prediction market platforms function as unlawful playing providers. The case, filed in Manhattan, seeks to cease each exchanges from providing these merchandise in New York except they get hold of state gaming licenses.
.@Gemini and @coinbase‘s so-called prediction markets are simply unlawful playing operations that expose younger folks to addictive platforms.
Playing by one other title continues to be playing. I am suing to cease these platforms from breaking the legislation.https://t.co/DosDKe2un1
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) April 21, 2026
The lawsuit argues that prediction markets needs to be handled as unregulated wagering fairly than monetary devices. James mentioned the platforms quantity to “playing by one other title” and are usually not exempt from state playing legal guidelines and constitutional necessities.
The prediction market business spent $1.84 million on federal lobbying within the first quarter of 2026, a file degree and greater than 60% increased than in the identical interval in 2025. This marks the biggest quarterly lobbying outlay but reported by corporations within the sector.
The determine supplies the primary concrete indication of how a lot the business is investing in political affect because it confronts rising legislative and regulatory scrutiny. It underscores the extent to which prediction market operators are ramping up formal engagement with policymakers in response to that stress.
Polymarket targets $15B valuation in pre-ruling fundraise
Moreover, Polymarket is in talks to boost a further $400 million, which might raise its present funding spherical to $1 billion and worth the corporate at about $15 billion, in accordance with The Info.
The talks come as investor curiosity in prediction market platforms continues to develop. The additional capital would construct on a $600 million funding already dedicated by Intercontinental Alternate (ICE), the guardian of the New York Inventory Alternate. ICE has beforehand outlined plans to take a strategic stake of as much as $2 billion within the platform.
Kalshi and Polymarket push into perpetuals
Kalshi and Polymarket are each shifting into the perpetual futures market, increasing past event-based contracts and positioning themselves in direct competitors with offshore crypto exchanges that presently dominate this phase.
We worth the long run.
Now you possibly can lever it.
Perps are coming to Polymarket.
Join early entry 👇 pic.twitter.com/j3PRHhxv8N
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 21, 2026
Bloomberg reported that Kalshi plans to launch crypto perpetual futures within the coming weeks, citing a supply aware of the matter. Shortly after the report, Polymarket introduced the same providing, turning what may have been a low-profile rollout into a transparent race for market share in probably the most actively traded crypto derivatives.
From insider dangers to Bitcoin technique debates
As US regulators proceed to debate who has jurisdiction over prediction markets, present and potential customers are being urged to contemplate the dangers they face when inserting bets on these platforms. The Wall Road Journal reported that, in late March, White Home employees have been warned by way of e mail to not use private info obtained via their work to guess on occasion outcomes.
Responding to the report, Trump administration spokesman Davis Ingle instructed the BBC that any suggestion officers have been concerned in such exercise with out proof was “baseless and irresponsible reporting.”
Government strikes of the week: Scope Markets, BMLL, and Buying and selling
Applied sciences
Within the govt strikes of the week, former Scope MarketsRegional Head Kubra Caglar joined Tattvam Markets as Head of Industrial within the
United Arab Emirates. She took up the function in April 2026 after practically 9
years with Scope Markets, the place she held a senior regional place.
BMLL Applied sciences appointed 9 new workers throughout partnerships, gross sales, income operations, finance, and engineering. The hires
are a part of the London-based market knowledge agency’s ongoing industrial and
technical enlargement following its acquisition by Nordic Capital in October final
yr.
Lastly, Buying and selling Applied sciences has reorganized its senior
administration workforce, creating a brand new Chief Technique Officer function for present ChiefRevenue Officer Nick Garrow and appointing Josh Monroe as the brand new CRO.