Bitcoin Trading: The Next Big Thing

With the world gradually warming to Bitcoin, Ingot Brokers’ Director Iman Mutlaq believes the cryptocurrency will become a key growth area for her company.

Set up in 2007 and with offices in Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, Ingot Brokers offers its clients the possibility to trade Contracts for Difference (CFDs), currencies, stock indices, as well as precious metals, futures and other commodities. The entrepreneur shares her view on the key trends, challenges and opportunities in the global trading industry.

Innovation is a must in the financial trading industry. How has your company developed, and what steps are you taking to attract new traders and open new markets?

From the very beginning, we focused our efforts on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We are leading the market through the financial engineering of unique CFDs. We introduced CFDs especially designed for the MENA region and are now offering clients the opportunity to trade more than 200 stock CFDs for the main MENA countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait and Lebanon. Thus far, CFDs are our main business in addition to commodity trading. Our commodity contracts include agricultural products such as wheat, coffee, cocoa and sugar in addition to energy and metals. Commodities also play a key role in the future growth of Ingot Brokers, as this sector still has great potential. In fact, we offer forex trading only as a complementary service to our clients, and forex trading volumes represent less than 10 per cent of our total trades. From June 2015 onwards, we will also be offering our clients the opportunity of trading Bitcoin and indices priced by gold.

What are the main advantages of Bitcoin trading, and do you believe it will become central to the world of commerce?

Bitcoin is a radically new kind of money that operates without governments or banks. This means no one can control or manipulate it. I think Bitcoin has the potential to become more important than any other currency. The fact that a number of countries, for instance Australia, are looking into Bitcoin legislation is setting the stage for wider adoption.

Increased market volatility and the failure of some prominent firms mean clients today are also more focused on the financial standing of a broker. Could you comment on your risk management strategy?

It is all about transparency and security in this industry. We are a regulated entity, holding a licence from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Naturally, we also follow our own policies and procedures that help us navigate in troubled waters and stay solvent. For instance, Ingot Brokers did not experience significant losses after the discontinuation of the CHF peg by the Swiss National Bank in January 2015. There were many indicators for unpegging the Swiss Franc to the Euro. From August 2014 onwards, when the Euro hit the strongest levels in 20 months, it was just a matter of time before the decision of unpegging the Swiss Franc to the Euro was taken. We expected this move, and our risk management department took all necessary precautionary measures.

Financial trading is very exciting and can be very profitable when sticking to a certain strategy. What guidelines and tips would you give to any individual trading currencies?

I would love to see more women in our field. While some people continue to think that it is a challenge to be a woman in the financial brokerage field, I do not see why it would be any different to be a successful entrepreneur as a woman. I do encourage all women who are in finance not to quit, but to stay in our field.