Ingmar Mattus, one of the founders of brokerage group Tickmill, announced on Thursday that he has co-founded a US options and futures broker.
The new company, called MetroTrade, will provide futures and options trading to retail clients in the US.
MetroTrade is registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as an introducing broker and is also a National Futures Association (NFA) member.
The company has been co-founded by David Klotz, who was most recently CRO at digital assets group Crypto.com. He also spent close to 8 years in the US entity of Singapore-based broker Phillip Capital.
Options and futures have become increasingly popular among retail clients in the US, particularly in the wake of the pandemic and the rise of Robinhood.
IG Group entered the space in 2021, with the acquisition of options broker tastytrade. eToro is also active in the market, having acquired US options brokerage start-up Gatsby.
The US options market for brokers is basically driven by payment for order flow. Spreads in futures and options trades are wider than they are in equities, meaning the rebates brokers receive are commensurately larger.