SAVVY WEB USERS FIND TOOLS TO MAKE LIFE MORE CONVENIENT: Consumers turning to RSS, customized web panels and mobile applications to simplify and save time

In today’s fast-paced society, with time at a premium, companies offering ways to customize virtual desktops have found a way to reach time-crunched consumers. Personalized news, local weather forecasts, traffic alerts, market updates and more can all be sent directly to a computer desktop, ready to be viewed as a snapshot, when the end user is ready.

To combat sorting through email boxes cluttered with spam and too many news sites to keep track of, more than 5 percent of all internet users have turned to RSS. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is an XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based format for easily amassing and distributing web content and data. News and information is sent to a news aggregator or reader, which displays the headline and a synopsis of the article. Users can quickly determine if they want to link to the rest of the article on the publisher’s website, saving valuable time.

GFT, a world-leading online foreign currency dealer, is quickly adopting this technology to offer RSS news and foreign exchange market data to its customers and the general public. Since political and economic news can quickly affect foreign exchange rates, GFT is offering more than five RSS news feeds, including recent foreign exchange news headlines, daily currencies commentary, weekly currencies commentary, foreign currency market recaps and GFT interday news alerts. These feeds allow currency traders to stay up-to-date on the latest market news and analysis that can affect daily trading outcomes.

RSS links can be found on an increasing number of websites, and are often indicated by an orange RSS or XML button. Auto-retrieving readers are available as web-based applications that can be accessed from any Internet-ready computer, or as downloadable desktop software. Popular readers are offered by Yahoo, Google, Mozilla Firefox and Opera.

GFT has also leveraged a delivery method for streaming foreign currency prices and data directly to the popular Google Desktop application. This personalization tool offers a “sidebar,” which contains at-a-glance information panels that can be added or removed, based on the consumer’s preference. Offering more than 100 customizable and interchangeable panels – from daily horoscopes to airfare trackers to stock pricing - the data-capturing panels host a digestible amount of information for users.

“Our customers are savvy, especially when it comes to leveraging information they need to track the 24-hour global currency markets,” said Muhammad Rasoul, COO and executive vice president, GFT. “Adding RSS for a more customized solution allows online currency traders to tailor their news and information from our 24-hour dealing desk and have it delivered directly to their PC desktop.”

GFT’s Currency Quotes application for Google’s sidebar helps active traders monitor foreign currency prices 24 hours a day. Up to eight currency pairs can be monitored at one time, with the ability to choose from about 60 currency pairs. The pricing data is automatically refreshed as often as every 10 seconds, based on the user’s preference. Professionals and traders with “day jobs” are now able to keep up with current currency prices as the markets move.

These are the latest applications GFT has developed for simple syndication. Another advantage of this type of syndication technology is that it can be easily viewed on cellular telephones and wireless devices, providing consumers with information wherever they are. GFT plans to develop additional RSS applications in the future to complement its online trading software for personal digital assistants. Since 2001, GFT has offered DealBook® FX Mobile, which allows customers to access the 24-hour currency markets and place trades through wireless devices such as pocket PCs, cellular telephones and RIM devices.

Founded in 1997, Global Forex Trading (GFT) is a world–leader in online currency trading. Serving a global customer–base in more than 120 countries through its DealBook® FX 2 trading software and 24–hour dealing operation, GFT’s world headquarters are in Ada, Michigan, with sales offices located in New York, Chicago, Tokyo and Sydney, Australia.

Global Forex Trading (GFT), Division of Global Futures and Forex, Ltd., is a registered futures commission merchant with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a registered broker–dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a member of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

For each successive year between 2001 and 2004, GFT’s year–over–year volume increased an average of 85 percent. More information about GFT can be found at www.gftforex.com.

For more information on GFT’s RSS feeds, visit http://www.gftforex.com/resources/rss.asp. To download the GFT Currency Quotes application, visit http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/currencyquotes.html.
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