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In order to figure out the most successful forex broker IPO of the year, SMN Weekly keeps a close eye on stock price performance of CMC Markets, XTB, Hirose and owner of institutional forex trading platform HotSpot FX – Bats Global Markets, all of them gone public in 2016. As it turns out, US-based Bats Global Markets Inc. (BATS:BATS) has taken the lead in the third post-IPO month. The stock prices of the US company have increased by 12.8% over the three months after its listing on its own BZX exchange in mid-April this year.
| Company name | IPO Date | 1-Day | 90-Day | Change % | Market Cap, June 7 ($ billion) | Market cap, Aug 8 ($ billion) | Change % |
| XTB | May 6 | PLN 12.05 | PLN 13.55 | 12.4 | 0.43 | 0.41 | -4.7 |
| BATS Global Markets | April 15 | USD 23.00 | USD 25.94 | 12.8 | 2.58 | 2.66 | 3.1 |
| CMC Markets | Feb 05 | GBX 238.27 | GBX 254.50 | 6.8 | 1.15 | 1.04 | -9.6 |
| Hirose | Mar 18 | JPY 845.00 | JPY 646.00 | -23.5 | 0.04 | 0.05 | 25 |
As we can see from the table above, X Trade Brokers Dom Maklerski SA (WSE:XTB), a.k.a. XTB, is breathing right down the neck of BATS, registering an increase of 12.4% in its stock price in the first three months after floating on the WSE. In fact, XTB was the best performer in the first and second post-IPO months. What is more, XTB was the only one among the four companies that came out of the Brexit turmoil with a positive price change in its stocks.
Furthermore, we also keep track of the market capitalizations of the four forex brokers that have gone public in 2016. According to the data on Google Finance, BATS Global Markets` market cap has increased by a little over 3 % as compared to two months ago, when we initiated this IPO analysis. CMC Markets PLC (LON:CMCX) and XTB both register a decrease in their market caps, while Hirose Tusyo Inc. (TYO:7185) stages an impressive rise of 25%. In fact, since August, the shares of the Japanese company have boosted: on July 29 Hirose closed at JPY 705.00, while on the next day, August 1, its stock traded for JPY 855.00 apiece, 21.3% higher, and continue their upward trend.
Earlier in August, US-based operator of exchanges and financial market services BATS Global Markets announced solid financial results for the second quarter of 2016. According to the Q2 report, the company’s net revenues came in $109.9 million, making a jump of 1.0% YoY. What is more, In July Bats announced it is creating the Bats Community Policing Program for its US equities and options exchanges, which aims to enhance security and the company’s monitoring of the markets for unethical behavior, dodgy practices and unwanted trading.
BATS Global Markets is headquartered in Kansas City and has offices in New York, London, Chicago and Singapore. The company owns four US equities exchanges – BZX, BYX, EDGX, EDGA, one European equities exchange – Bats Europe, one US options exchange – Bats Options, and one institutional forex trading platform – HotSpot FX, which it acquired in January 2015. In May this year BATS Global Markets was included in the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM (Wilshire 5000).
