BUX Zero
BUX, an online retail brokerage from the Netherlands, has made headlines multiple times in recent months. Back in June, the investment brokerage revealed that it had collected $12.5 Million in a collection found. Later in the summer, the firm announced their new application BUX Zero. This commission-free equities platform for traders and investors isn’t connected to the contracts-for-difference platform BUX X. This has prompted multiple questions regarding the BUX Zero Application, such as what the payment model will be and what services will be provided. Nick Bortot, the Chief Executive Officer of BUX, spoke with reporters on this platform. He answered all questions regarding the upcoming application. Bortot is the former stockbroker with BlinkBank and Saxo Bank before founding BUX Investments, his reputation in the worldwide market is cemented. The conversation covered everything from their client base to the benefits of using BUX Zero, to the recent acquisition of Avondo and future services from the brokerage.
Q1
Nick was first asked the age of the exchange’s average user, with most analysts proposing that their brokerage is advertising towards a younger audience. He was also asked how the firm begins targeting that demographic. Nick responded, indicating that the rumours are real, and their target audience is younger clientele for BUX Zero. During the interview, he noted that BUX Investments considers these traders digital natives, ranging in the age group of eighteen to thirty-five. Ultimately, BUX has a strong foothold in Europe, and the introduction of their new platform will likely speak to a broad audience of young clientele. The firm will continue its goals of making trading simple and easy to accomplish with many cryptocurrencies. Both platforms available under the BUX Exchange serve similar purposes, with small alterations in the age group and available investing services. Subsequently, analysts anticipate that their new platform will be popular with mobile investors.
Q2
The BUX CEO was then asked where their clientele is located, and if the exchange plans to jump into any new markets shortly. The response was direct, noting that this application is legally enabled in nine countries across the European Union. The jurisdictions comprise of Italy, Sweden, Germany, Denmark France, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Nick noted that the investment firm isn’t opting out the idea of expanding into other European nations, but that new jurisdiction for BUX Zero won’t arrive for several months. This is because they’re focusing on delivering an exceptional experience in test markets before launching European Union-wide.
Q3
MrBortot also spoke about the recent acquisition of Avondo, a cryptocurrency exchange in the United Kingdom that now works as a subsidiary to BUX. His comments came after being asked what the firm’s process was behind this deal. He responded that when BUX became operational five years ago, we wanted to invest with smart money and build a reputation in the market with great apps. At the same time, we didn’t want to worry about the legality issues with digital trading. We choose to purchase Avondo for administration, and since the acquisition, their profits have grown by 65%. He finished the third question with the premise that maturity bread profitability.
The full acquisition of Avondo has enabled for BUX to gain full control on the value chain, licensing regulation, technological improvement and operational capabilities regarding their services in the United Kingdom. BUX Zero can serve customers with legally tendered digital coins while adding new features regularly to improve services. BUX remains a growing exchange, being only operational for five years. This acquisition has guaranteed their presence in the market and accelerated their growth timeline. It won’t be long until BUX is one of the top exchanges in the entirety of Europe.
Q4
The Chief Executive Officer for BUX openly spoke about the product intervention measures from the European Securities and Markets Authority. Nick proposed that these new measures have been suitable for the market and haven’t affected BUX is anyway. He believes that these measures will enable proper behaviour in the market space and push out individuals who act with criminal intentions. Bortot noted that contracts-for-differences have multiple advantages, but prior parties in the industry have given them bad reputations. However, exchanges like BUX will clear those reputations and turn them into positive ventures for clients.
Q5
Nick Bortot was questioned on the commission-free stock trading provided by BUX, as he was asked if the exchange sells order flows. Nick responded that the exchange doesn’t receive any payments from order flowers connected to market players or financial products. He revealed that BUX Orders are processed through SOR’s (Smart Order Routers). These routers enable the exchange to execute trades with the best intentions but cost substantial sums of money to operate. This led to a follow-up question that asked how the exchange will charge for operational or custodial fees.
Nick laid out the market/limit order system that’s been enacted in the BUX Zero Application. Both BUX Zero and BUX X maintain commission-free trading, with three custodial fee options available. The 1st is limit orders, which cost €2.00 and the 2nd is Market Orders, which cost €1.00. The commission-free method is called Basic Order and will remain free to clients to the duration of the exchange’s existence. However, clients can only make one trade per day when using Basic Orders. The market order enables for five trades a day, and limit orders allow for ten trades a day. Nick also noted another option is coming in 2020 to investors.
In the first few months of 2020, BUX Zero plans to enable a subscription-based model that can be paid monthly or quarterly. This allows the firm to have an option for every variation of their clientele. There hasn’t been an official announcement to how much the monthly fee will cost, but Nick noted that the subscription cost would be lower than the industry average. It will also enable clients to have unlimited access to trades for market, limit or first orders. Bortot, in his interview, revealed that the exchange tests with client groups to determine an accurate price for a monthly and quarterly subscription model.
Q6
The chief executive officer then was asked where he sees the future of BUX Zero if it’s a long term business strategy or a standard CFD Platform. Nick guaranteed that this platform is meant to act as a stepping stone for the firm, allowing them to move into nearly every market across the European Union. He mentioned that the BUX Zero app would enable multiple new products over the years and is acting as a long term product for the firm. Immediately, a follow-up question was asked regarding the difficulties with forex contract-for-difference options and equity trading. Nick mentioned that it was a difficult task but one that, if accomplished, would prove to be a revolutionary service. Nick and his associates made sure to go beyond with BUX Zero, ensuring that it’s back-end protected and provided genuine flexibility in how these two styles of trading could be approached. Ultimately, the application created could compete against similar services from eToro.
Tom Arran
