Exness CBDO Artem Seledtsov Talks on $2T Milestone, Strategy and Challenges

The broker ended March with a total monthly volume of $2.48 trillion.

It is also expanding aggressively in emerging markets.

It was a massive achievement not only for the broker but also for the retail trading industry. But how did it achieve the milestone in such a short period？ What were its strategies？ What challenges did it face？

Finance Magnates recently had an elaborate chat with Artem Seledtsov, the brokers newly-promoted Chief Business Development Officer. He joined Exness in mid-2020, bringing extensive experience from the industry.

Here is the text of the full interview:

1. Exness has become one of the very few brokers to handle more than $2 trillion in monthly volume. How did you achieve this milestone？

The answer revolves around three of our key business principles. The first is the painstaking focus on product development and liquidity. Our unbending attention to product quality and user experience means our team of engineers strive to continuously improve our platform‘s algorithmic-led frameworks and provide a frictionless trading environment. This consists of low and stable spreads (even at times of volatility and roll-overs), instant executions and withdrawals as well as a range of features that are designed to protect clients’ interests.

The second parameter is our people-centric approach to doing business. Not only do we value our clients and utilize our expertise in data science and technology to provide a close-to-ideal experience for our clients, but we also concentrate on our team. We are currently 1200+ professionals who work by the same principles of ethics, integrity, and continuous growth that Exness was founded upon. This is why every single one of us aims for top quality in their line of work and why we all work together to deliver the best results - first and foremost for our clients.

The last and most important is our founding values that I touch upon above: ethics, integrity, and our science-driven approach. These reflect our efforts to never compromise the quality of our end product and to always remember the experience of our end-user. And with 250,000+ active clients trusting us every day, I believe that we achieved that.

2. Where do you think the market is going with this？ Are we going to see other brokers hit such milestones in the near future？

I cant speak for other brokers, but I can definitely speak for Exness when I say that reaching new milestones is something we endlessly strive for and expect. It was just 6 months ago that we achieved our monumental $1 trillion trading volume. If we managed to double that within half a year, then we can only aim even higher from now on and expect amazing results to come. As I mentioned earlier, Exness did not achieve these industry records by chance. Our focus is on building excellent products, using mathematical models to be the best in price discovery and execution. The numbers are a testament to this.

3. Rising volume is always good. But did you face any challenges with it？ What about infrastructure and support to handle the new clients？

This is true. With rising demand and volume come challenges. The main one being to not compromise our reliability and quality. Our platform and servers need to be able to handle the rising number of trade requests to be executed as promised: instantly and with stable and low spreads, even at times of high volume and volatility.

To achieve this we utilized our expertise in science and technology. We are the only broker that has achieved automation in withdrawals, executing every request in under a few seconds. We incorporated automation and advanced algorithmic procedures in many components of our trading environment to be able to provide the promised frictionless trading experience, including trading features that protect both our and our clients' interests.

Additionally, we are in the process of decentralizing our servers. While the project is still in progress, we have recently launched a new server site in Singapore, something that allows us to offer our uninterrupted services in the various APAC countries. Decentralization of our servers has the power to give us faster and more efficient executions and, as a result, a more reliable and secure way of delivering our offering to our clients. Our team plans to continue server decentralization with more server sites launching soon.

Last but not least, more volume requires more liquidity to counter every open trade of any size on our platform. From the very beginning, our aim has always been to have the liquidity required to handle large volumes of transactions - even if the monthly trading volume exceeds the $2 trillion mark consistently - and we are proud to say we have managed that.

4. Exness is headquartered in Cyprus, but it has a massive presence outside Europe. What is your strategy in emerging markets？

There is an influx of brokers that are expanding into emerging markets. The main reason is that its uncharted territory with massive room for growth. A large number of brokers however have very aggressive acquisition strategies that aim at attracting people to fund. Exness approach has been and continues to be the exact opposite.

Exness has always been an honest broker. We follow a very balanced approach to entering and expanding in new markets. On one end of the spectrum, we invest in attracting new clients and on the other in retaining them. There is no churn and burn with Exness. Our philosophy is to grow with our clients and not against them.

Our mission to provide the best services for our clients across the globe has also led us to explore the option of opening offices across the continents we have a presence. These offices are not intended to be client-facing offices, but of course, all our clients from all over the world are always welcome to visit us in the office closest to them. To fortify this strategy, we are in the process of obtaining new licenses, ensuring that we maintain the highest level of transparency when it comes to regulation. Recent examples are South Africa, Kenya and Uruguay.

5. The regulatory scene changed significantly over the years. How did that affect brokers and traders？

Having a solid and structured regulatory framework that brokers and traders need to adhere to is vital. They are laid down to protect the interests of both parties. It is also important for financial authorities to take extra steps to improve their processes and regulations to ensure the healthy transactional relationships of brokers and traders.

At Exness, we consider that it is not just the job of regulators to protect clients‘ safety and security, but our own duty towards our clients. Acting in the clients’ best interests is something that is integrated into our promise for a frictionless trading experience and it is founded on our core values of ethics and integrity. This, after all, is what our reputation was built on.

6. Marketing is very important for brand awareness and also client acquisition. How did you market Exness？ And, what, according to you, are the best marketing channels in 2022？

There are a million acquisition funnels to be used for new clients. And while we successfully utilize a number of those, we believe that the best method is reputation. We let our clients “advertise” us.

We are proud to have a very high retention rate which speaks volumes for the trust traders put in us and, as a result, in the quality of our product. Our brand [and brand awareness] focuses on that and the respect we show to every single one that holds an account with us. And for us, this is the best way to market a/our brand.

As a 100% online business, we rely heavily on digital channels for communicating with our clients, as well as on digital marketing. But, we never miss the chance to participate in offline discussions and events - these give us the opportunity to meet our clients and partners in real life and connect with them in a more human way. Of course, choosing the right channels and the right approach to communicate with new and existing clients is important, but at Exness we shift some of the weight to what happens after the acquisition - in customer support and satisfaction.

7. Before closing, whats next for Exness？ What are the areas the focus of Exness will be in the future？

Our focus remains on our founding principles of ethics, integrity, and a science-driven approach. We will continue to concentrate our efforts on developing our algorithmic-led frameworks to provide ideal conditions, instant executions, and withdrawals as well as mechanisms that protect our clients interests.

We believe in excellence through balance and this is an approach we will continue to adopt in all our plans going forward. On the horizon for the next 3-5 years are big plans to strengthen our presence across emerging markets. We are already the biggest broker in the industry (by trading volume), so we will continue to introduce new and improved products to our varying client segments. Blockchain technology is also something that definitely interests us.