Dubai Operations & Geopolitics
Q: With the current tensions involving Iran, how is ATFX Connect ensuring uninterrupted service in Dubai? Have you seen a shift in how institutional clients view the region's stability?
With the current situation in Middle East, ATFX Connect maintains uninterrupted service in Dubai through our robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP). Our team are fully equipped for remote work, and our global teams across multiple regions—including the UK, Cyprus, Australia, Hong Kong, and LATAM—stand ready to step in seamlessly if needed, ensuring zero downtime for clients.
While institutional clients aren’t voicing major concerns, everyone is closely monitoring developments.
Gold & Silver Volatility
Q: Gold and Silver have seen massive price surges recently. How did your liquidity pool handle the hedging demands and 'gaps' during these record moves, especially when other brokers faced liquidity issues?
Our globally diverse client base provides a natural hedge, allowing us to internalize a significant portion of flow without external impact. This structural advantage was reinforced by deep, long-standing relationships with our liquidity providers and a strong balance sheet, ensuring seamless execution and uninterrupted pricing throughout the recent volatility.
Client Trading Behavior
Q: What are your clients trading most right now to hedge against the Middle East situation? Are you seeing a preference for Energy CFDs, or is the flow moving strictly into traditional safe havens like the USD and Treasuries?
The main increase that we have seen across the platform has been in Oil products which is a natural reaction to the conflict in the Middle East. We already saw a big volumes in haven products such as Gold and FX and the pick up in these products has been directional as well as in terms of volume. The dollar is still dominating flows across FX and metals as US yields have pushed higher on the whole, but we are seeing good intraday diversity in terms of flow as news driven moves dictate direction.
Bitcoin as "Digital Gold" and Prediction Markets
Q: As geopolitical risks rise, is Bitcoin actually behaving as 'Digital Gold' for your institutional partners, or is it still trading like a high-risk tech asset?
We have not seen any signs of Bitcoin behaving as ‘Digital Gold’ at all since the conflict began; in fact, we would probably say that we haven’t seen Gold behaving like Gold either, as the dollar side of that trade has dominated. Bitcoin is now trading purely as a high-risk tech asset.
Q: There is growing interest in 'Event Contracts' and prediction markets regarding global conflicts. Does ATFX Connect plan to provide liquidity for these types of binary outcomes?
The surge in interest surrounding prediction markets has been remarkable, with widespread adoption—particularly in the US—signalling a shift in how audiences engage with global events. The ability for participants to take a definitive view on an almost infinite range of outcomes expands the potential addressable market by an order of magnitude compared to our industry’s traditional core products.
Like many of our peers, we are currently conducting a deep dive into the underlying mechanics of these markets while closely monitoring the evolving regulatory landscape. Given the clear viral growth of this sector, we are evaluating how prediction markets might integrate into our existing suite.
Risk & Weekend Gaps
Q: With major news often breaking over the weekend, how are you helping your broker clients manage the risk of massive price gaps and potential negative balances when markets reopen on Monday?
From a risk management perspective, we take a very proactive approach heading into the weekend. On Fridays, our team works closely with clients to ensure accounts are appropriately funded in anticipation of any volatility that can emerge when markets reopen on Monday.
We also provide additional flexibility through a weekend USDT funding facility, and importantly, we maintain one of the strongest credit offerings in the market.
Conflict Impact & Market Volatility
Q: With the current Iran conflict driving oil prices toward $120 and disrupting the Strait of Hormuz, how are you ensuring pricing stability for your partners when liquidity in the underlying physical markets becomes so thin?
Irrespective of extreme market volatility, we prioritize pricing continuity and reliable liquidity by maintaining a diverse and redundant network of liquidity providers and hedging venues. This diversification helps ensure that no single market, venue, or counterparty becomes a point of failure when conditions deteriorate.
In parallel, we operate under robust, pre-defined risk controls—including dynamic margining, exposure limits, and real-time monitoring—that are designed to adapt as underlying physical markets become thinner or more dislocated.
Industry Outlook for 2026
Q: As geopolitics becomes a primary driver of asset prices this year, do you believe the CFD industry is entering a 'new normal' where high volatility is structural rather than temporary? How is ATFX Connect evolving to meet this?
Geopolitics has been a key driver of markets throughout 2026. While financial markets are inherently adaptive, we do anticipate volatility to remain structurally elevated while geopolitical uncertainty persists, especially since President Trump returned to the White House.
ATFX Connect is evolving through stronger risk management systems, a more diversified client base, and enhanced transparency—delivering stable, reliable service to clients and partners.