Crypto prime broker OVEX spreads its wings

Crypto prime broker OVEX spent much of the past year building out a network of offices in Africa and the Middle East, and in the process CEO Jon Ovadia has learned some valuable insights into why interest in crypto is booming in those countries, despite their legendary volatility.

Demand comes from a variety of market segments, from high-net-worth individuals to family offices and institutions, especially those looking for large volumes of crypto with tight spreads.

“We have been able to replicate the business that we originally developed in South Africa in several other countries, which is to offer our prime broking service – which is mainly aimed at high net worth individuals, family offices and institutions looking for large crypto volumes – to customers across multiple countries in Africa and the Middle East. We are able to offer large volumes and immediate execution at very low costs, which is not something you will find on your typical crypto exchange.”

Ovadia adds that interest in crypto has exploded in these countries over the past two years for a number of reasons: “High net worth individuals and family offices are beginning to understand the potential benefits of crypto and the risks. We’ve seen massive price drops in crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past year, but investors also understand the potential upside.

“Demand has also increased proportionally with the use cases for crypto. For example, stablecoins backed by US dollars, euros, Swiss francs or other fiat currencies.

“Stablecoins can be sent worldwide in seconds, unlike traditional bank transfers that can take days,” he adds.

“Crypto is also used as a means of payment, and we have seen a huge evolution of payment gateways in the last year or two, which allow funds to be transferred instantly at very low costs compared to legacy financial institutions.”

Instant buy-and-sell function

OVEX recently launched an instant buy-sell trading tool that should be of interest to traders and investors looking to get the best prices, considering that all exchanges operate closed markets with different prices.

Apart from competitive prices, another advantage of OVEX’s Instant Buy and Sell feature is that there are zero trading fees, wafer-thin spreads and instant access to more than 60 crypto pairs.

Clients also get access to OVEX’s post-trade settlement facility, which means they can open large lines of credit to enable immediate trade with delayed settlement. Essentially, you can trade now and deposit money later.

An important advantage of using a prime broker like OVEX is the ability to place a large order and have it executed immediately without slippage. Most exchanges lack the liquidity to handle large orders, which means that customers’ orders are filled at different prices over a longer period of time. This creates inefficiencies known in financial markets as slippage.

In addition to OTC (over-the-counter) crypto-fiat trading, the OVEX OTC desk supports fiat and crypto-to-crypto pairing on all digital assets listed on the exchange.

Ovadia encourages high net worth individuals and others looking for large volume trades to use the instant buy and sell feature on the website and compare prices and spreads with other exchanges.

“It’s a fun tool to use to check prices and then compare them to other exchanges,” says Ovadia.

“We’re confident that once people start using this, they will [will] become comfortable with it and will trade with OVEX.

“The crypto trading tool is easy to use compared to trading on an open order book (which is a list of all open orders currently available on an exchange for a specific trading pair). This new feature allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrency by pressing a button More importantly, the tool itself gives OVEX users access to the best prices for buying and selling cryptocurrency in South Africa.

The tool is not only available in SA. Ovadia says this is OVEX’s response to the growing demand for fair access to better prices when it comes to buying and selling cryptocurrency in Africa at large.

Brought to you by OVEX.

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