RealTick customers can trade spot foreign exchange on Hotspot FX's ECN-structured marketplaces with the same trading functionality and depth-of-market and real-time market data that RealTick provides for listed and over-the-counter securities. Customers can trade all Hotspot FX's currency pairs, including currency pairs related to the international equity, futures and options markets throughout North America and Europe to which RealTick provides access.

"Integrating Hotspot FX within the RealTick platform provides customers with a highly efficient way to access our foreign exchange marketplace," said John H. Eley, President and CEO, Hotspot FX Inc. "We expect RealTick customers will see tremendous benefits from their ability to execute foreign exchange trading and risk management strategies on the platform."

Hotspot FX provides customers with direct trading access to live, executable spot foreign exchange prices supplied by banks and other financial institutions as well as the ability to enter their own bids and offers-all anonymously. Hotspot FX's participating banks are among the top-rated global financial institutions. They are fully integrated into the Hotspot FX marketplace, providing ongoing liquidity and a virtual clearinghouse network.

With daily transaction volumes exceeding $1.2 trillion, the foreign exchange market is by far the largest and most liquid market in the world. According to Greenwich Associates' recent research, electronic FX trading is booming--almost 40% of all institutions globally traded FX electronically last year, and traders executed 47% of all tickets electronically.

But according to Michael Kurze, Manager of European Operations for RealTick and Townsend Analytics, the FX market has been fragmented and lacking centralized price discovery, with most transactions occurring directly between a bank and its customer. "Because most electronic trading has been done through a bank quoting system, customers have never been sure of what all was available and at what price," he states.

"Hotspot FX lets customers see exactly what's in the market, and gives them the ability to bid and offer inside, outside or at the existing dealing spread. Like all our offerings, Hotspot FX provides RealTick customers with equal access to market information and the ability to trade instantly and to make markets," Kurze adds.

RealTick delivers a wide range of North American and European market data for multiple asset classes, unlimited depth of book, advanced research and analytical tools, risk and account management tools, as well as direct trading connectivity to major pools of liquidity such as listed exchanges in the U.S. and overseas, ECNs and broker specific destinations. Customers include hedge funds, CTAs, FCMs, buy-side institutions, and futures professional and retail traders.