(Update Nov 28 – after the publishing of this post on
Nov 9, Eikon for Retail Traders was renamed MetaStock XENITH. The post
below reflects the product with its original name and branding)
After years of being targeted towards professional traders, Thomson
Reuters announced recently that it has begun to offer its
Eikon platform for retail traders. For a platform aimed at the retail
segment it is very robust and includes real-time news, fundamentals,
economic reporting, and analytics. The charting package is based on the
MetaStock system, a staple of Thomson Reuters financial platforms. They have
also created apps for users to connect to their workplaces from mobile apps.
Currently, Thomson Reuters is working on creating partnerships with
retail brokers to promote the platform to their clients with the referring
firm receiving a portion of the monthly subscription charge. On its part,
Thomson Reuters will market its partnering brokers and financial firms on
its email and webinar series campaigns about the new retail platform.
Costs begin at $99/month for the basic package which includes FX pricing.
Adding more data requires additional subscriptions that are purchased from
the desired exchanges. However, as the platform is being sold only to
non-professionals, users of the Eikon Retail edition are charged much tinier
rates from exchanges than a normal professional subscription. Overall, at
$99/month, the platform isn’t aimed at your typical small sized FX clients,
but at the larger semi-pro traders who are searching for an edge in the
market, above what the widely available free systems provide.
Xenith Platform
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Platform Review
Having worked with several different versions of Thomson Reuters products in
the past, I was eager to take it for a test drive and see where it stands.
The first thing one needs to know is that this isn’t a trading platform.
It is simply a cross market analytics product. Therefore, although traders
can use the system to scan the markets and find opportunities, a separate
trading platform for executing trades is needed. According to Derek McKusick,
Business Development at Thomson Reuters, integrating trading capabilities
via their partnering brokers is an area they are working on, but they have
no definitive plans.
Onto the review…
If I had to use an adjective to describe the platform, ‘robust’ comes to
mind. This is first seen when downloading the software, as it is a heavy
system and isn’t like the 123 installations of your typical MT4 or
comparable trading platforms. Eikon comes packed with numerous pre-existing
templates and cross asset workpages. For Excel junkies, the platform also
has preset integration to perform real time spreadsheet analysis. This all
leads to a rather long installation process.
When it is finally ready to go, new users will experience a learning
curve using the product as it is very wide encompassing. For previous
Thomson Reuters users of platforms like the Eikon Proffssional and 3000 XTRA
products, the layouts will be very familiar. Like those other products,
Eikon for retail evolves around creating tabs (also called Flex pages) and
workspaces. Users can customize each of their tabs for specific assets or
information such as real time streaming news, economic events, pricing, and
charts.
As mentioned before, for a retail offering, the platform was very robust
in its features. Specifically, the news and research sections were similar
to what is offered in the $1000+/month products.
Eikon Real Time News Page
Creating a news stream for specific currencies, general forex news, or
filtered for a country or region was similar to the pro-versions. Also, like
the more expensive versions, the economic news calendar updates in real time
without the need of refreshing the screen. In addition, the platform
contains many pre-existing news queries for users to watch.
The charting package from MetaStock is also fully packed with all the
usual indicators as well as the very useful ‘correlation’ feature for
measuring beta of various currencies over different time frames. The charts
also allow for customizing time data and aren’t limited to the usual 1, 5,
15, 30 minute etc time frames.
One area though where the platform does fall short, at least for
currencies is the real time pricing. First of all, quotes are based on a
free feed that Thomson Reuters has with some participating banks. As such,
these appear to be indicative rates with rather wide spreads compared to
what broker’s are offering (for example, the EURUSD and GBPUSD are typically
at 3 and 4 pips respectively). Therefore, using the system for tick by tick
tape reading is ineffective. Another issue I noticed was slight delays of
price changes during active periods of trading. For chart reading, the
spreads and slight latency isn’t much of an issue, but Forex traders will be
best off basing their actual executions off of their broker’s spreads. (The
Eikon platform I reviewed was limited to real time data for FX only.
Therefore, I am not sure if users of exchange traded data will experience
the same issues in regards to their real time data.)
Overall, where the system really excels is with its news and research
abilities. For serious traders that want up to second headlines of what is
occurring in the market and breaking news, this platform offers a similar
look to what the professionals are using. (Example: I saw the headlines for
Disney buying the Star Wars franchise on the platform before seeing
headlines on mainstream news sources. For equity traders, filtering for
halted stocks and those poised to gap on the open is easily done ) Also,
while there are cheaper alternatives to MetaStock’s charting capabilities,
the Eikon retail edition isn’t lacking in functions.
So is it worth $100/month? That really depends on what a trader is using
it for. Experienced traders that have traded professionally in the past and
are now working with retail brokers will find this Eikon product to deliver
similar features that they were accustomed to in their previous professional
environment. Also, for traders seeking for more information versus what the
free retail offerings provide, this platform will easily fit their needs.
While perhaps not a larger segment, demand for paid analysis and news
products is growing steadily as the forex trading industry matures. Forex research
sites will also find the platform useful as it will allow writers to gain
access to real time financial news for a relatively cheap price. As such,
while the price of the Eikon retail edition may deter the vast majority of
retail forex clients from purchasing it, the sheer size of the platforms
abilities will create interest for the product.
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(real time)
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(end of day)
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Trial