Company’s History

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was … FOREX!

Everything started when a small group of enthusiasts appeared to be as the fate willed at the same time at the same place and decided to run a new business.
So, the time – September 1998: the government has just defaulted on its financial obligations, the rouble’s rate is declining sweepingly, security market is collapsing, the country’s financial life has come to a standstill.
The place: 26a, Ershova street, Kazan. In this building in the centre of Kazan a lot of financial institutions were placed: investment companies, pension fund, Volzhsko-Kamskaya Stock Exchange. They didn’t escape the crisis as well, and it suddenly became quiet here in the place where not long ago the work was in full swing, government bonds and corporate stocks were traded.
But as the saying is, if it weren’t for bad luck have no luck at all … Alpari Founding Fathers had long ago thought of dealing with new more predictable, not vulnerable to defaults markets and primarily with FOREX. But there was no time: stocks trading, daily reports and attempts to analyze the market which later proved to be not subject to analysis. And suddenly when everything seemed to have failed, so much needed time appeared.
We studied literature on markets and trading and at the same time we wrote notes for future lectures, we visited dealing centres in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, adopting experience that was rather poor at the end of 90-s, we were preparing the technical basis, and which was more important ourselves and staff. Until, at last…
On the 24-th of December in 1998 Andrey Vedikhin, Gleb Petrov and Alexandr Sadovnik made a decision that the dealing centre was ready to work. That was the very day that later on we began to celebrate as the birthday of Alpari.

Everyday work of 1999

The new 1999 year began for us from the attempts to acquaint the financial Kazan with our possibilities. In January 1999 the first awareness-raising seminar on Forex was held, where employees of banks and investment companies were invited, as well as private investors, who earlier had worked with us on the Russian security market. Later many of them became our first clients.

• January 1999 — back-office and operators service headed by Olga Rybalkina were created.
• February,8 1999 — the first training group. Two weeks of lectures and two weeks of practice on the course “Theory and practice of working in the international financial markets”. Classes were given by Gleb Petrov and Andrey Vedikhin.
• March, 5 1999 — the first transaction on the FOREX market. After a technical analysis of the market made by Andrey Vedikhin a decision was taken to go short beting on the euro’s rise against the US dollar. The analysis didn’t fail and we won 53 points!
• March, 12 , a week later our first client made his first transaction. Again it was the euro-dollar and again success!

Of course not everything was so unclouded in the first year. Profitable trades alternated with unprofitable, and if we remember the process of perfoming transactions, then the youth will hardly believe it was so: when a trader who was in the clients room took a decision to make a transaction he raised the receiver and connected with our operator. The operator at once got into touch with out London broker (then it was IG Index) and retransmitted the client’s request. And if we remember also that the minimal contract amounted one hundred thousands in basic currency while the spread was 10 pips, you may easily understand that our first clients had some difficulties.
And one more important event:
July 1999 — Having passed the most serious tests Aytugan Khafizov joined our team.

On the way to the Internet-trading

Surely we understood that if we continued to develop in this direction, we would remain a small provincial dealing center known only in narrow financial circles of Kazan. And in order not to remain at the backyards of civilization it was necessary to switch client servicing to Internet-platform. Our partners’ and competitors’ actions spoke of it, the time itself spoke of it. The 2000 year came.

• The key event of the beginning of the 2000 year was the meeting of Alpari with the company MetaQuotes Software represented by its founder and ideologist Renat Fatkhulin. After brief doubts and hesitations a historic decision to follow the path of Internet-trading using the platform MetaQuotes developed by Renat, was taken.
• And in summer if the 2000 year we began: to choose an Internet-provider reliable in every respect, to install and test servers, to train staff, to make a new website.… At the same time one of our clients Andrey Dashin joined our company as a top-manager and partner.
• August, 2000 — the new website was registered and started to work: www.alpari-idc.ru (until that time there was only a web-page at the web-site of our provider).
• November, 2000 — the first deal was made by our client via the platform MetaQuotes. At that time Alpari offered 11 currency pairs with the spread of 5 pips for main currencies.

Further, further, further…

The 2001 year was marked for us by appearing our first clients from outside of Tatarstan. Internet-advertising and as we hope the quality of our services did their part: first accounts registered to livers of Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Kaliningrad, Magadan, St.Petersburg and Moscow appeared. Some of our clients, having taken interest in the business opened filiations under our aegis. Some of the filiations didn’t stand the test of time, some of them are still working.

• March, 2001 — the first contest of Alpari’s traders started
• April, 2001 — the first representation of Alpari opened in Ulyanovsk.
• June, 2001 — in order to improve the quality of connection the trading servers were moved to Moscow.
• September, 2001 — a representation was opened in Samara.
• By autumn 2001 we had understood that Alpari outgrew the regional bounds and more and more clients came from the capital of our motherland. That’s why in october we began to prepare for opening a new office and after technical and organisational arrangements
• on the 19-th of November, 2001 — an Alpari representation was open in Moscow. In a small but comfortable office near Chistye Prudy you could receive training, open an account, get necessary consultations.

The fast growth of the Alpari in 2001 outstripped our capability in personnel. That’s why the 2002 year was marked for us by hiring additional employees and their training. Also it was necessary to put in order many business processes. And, finally, we came to a conclusion that we would be able to provide really qualitative services only if we moved the main business processes in Moscow.

• April 2, 2002 — the English language version of the web-site appeared.
• April 9, 2002 — forum on the questions connecting with the FOREX market, the software for making analysis, trading strategies was opened.
• July 2002 — the spreads for AUD/USD, USD/CAD and their cross rates were reduced.
• September 2002 — it became possible to make a deposit via credit cards.
• September-october 2002 — the central office and the main technical services (technical support and dealers) had moved to Moscow.
• November 2002 — Alpari added to its arsenal the trading platform MetaTrader — a new development by the company MetaQuotes Software.
  At first for demo-accounts.
• Also in December 2002 the old friend of Alpari and George Soros’s acquaintance Boris Shilov joined at last our company.

The 2003 year started for the Alpari with switching our real clients to the new trading platform with more capabilitites — MetaTrader. We tried to use all these capabilitites to create miscellanious “pleasantnesses” for our clients.

• January 20, 2003 — introduction of new trading platform MetaTrader. At the same time cross rates on the mini-FOREX and fractional lots on the FOREX were introduced.
• February, 2003 — a filiation of the Alpari was opened in St. Petersburg.
• March, 2003 — contracts for difference (CFDs) on individual equities, included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index (DJIA) were introduced.
• March 11-12, 2003 — Alpari took an active part in the exhibition “INTERNET TRADING EXPO 2003”. Later on our participation in these exhibitions became traditional.
• April, 2003 — comission on the mini-FOREX was cancelled, the minimal contract on the FOREX was reduced to 0.1 lot.
• May, 2003 — CFDs on index equities were introduced.
• May 2003 — Compliance Department was created disputes@alpari-idc.ru.
• June, 2003 — CFDs on stock index futures and on spot gold .
• July, 2003 — spread for EUR/USD and USD/JPY is reduced to 4 pips.
• August, 2003 — it became possible to deposit and withdraw money via payment system Yandex.Money.
• September, 2003 — CFDs on the following futures contracts: gold, oil, natural gas, wheat, corn, soy beans.
• October 1, 2003 — research and information portal was created viac.ru.
• October 2003 — introduction of the new technology «Instant Execution» for four main currency pairs. With the course of time Alpari introduced this convenient for clients technology (a client makes transactions at the streaming prices of the broker without preliminary request of the price) for more and more instruments. At the present time all the instruments of Alpari are traded with Instant Execution Mechanism.
• As for the internal business processes the technical support department began to work around-the-clock and the branches department was founded in 2003.

Certainly the main event of the 2004 year was the foundation of KROUFR — an organization the main aim of which is to protect interests of traders. As for the inner life of the company the focus was on the bisness processes perfecting in order to improve quality of our clients’ servicing. Perhaps, this year wasn’t so eventful, but it laid foundation for many successes in future.

• March 3, 2004 — during the exhibition «INTERNET TRADING EXPO 2004» press conference (with participation of the representatives of Alpari, Teletrade and Forex-Club), devoted to the foundation of the Comission on Regulation of Financial Markets Participants Relationships (KROUFR) was held. The main objective KROUFR — is to protect interests of private investors in financial markets.
• March 2004 — Alpari was the first in Russia to suggest its clients pocket PC version of MetaTrader free of charge.
• March 16, 2004 — opening of an Alpari branch in Novosibirsk.
• April 2004 — Contest 2004 started. For the first time the contest consisted of several (ten) preliminary rounds in such nominations as FOREX, stocks and futures. The all-round winner was awarded by the main prize — an automobile «Ford-Focus».
• April 19, 2004 — comission for CFD on shares was reduced in half.
• May 12, 2004 — Alpari and Agency of Economic Information «PRIME-TASS» signed an agreement on providing on-line economic data from Dow Jones Newswires for the real clients of Alpari.
• May 26, 2004 — Alpari was a «gold» sponsor of «FOREX FORUM 2004», that took place in Moscow in the hotel «Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya».
• May 28, 2004 — a new clients office was open in Moscow (metro station «Mayakovskaya»).
• June 2004 — a decision was made to create a modular scheme of education and make the process of education a separate structure. With this objective in view «Higher School of Trader» was founded under Alpari.
• August 2004 — opening of an Alpari branch in Rostov-on-Don.
• October 26-27, 2004 — Alpari was the General Sponsor of the Sixth International Ehibition Conference «Investor EXPO 2004».
• November 26, 2004 — opening of an Alpari branch in Kiev.

In 2005 we started to gain recognition. It was very pleasant to win the prize «FINANCIAL ELITE of RUSSIA»! But recognition from clients was even more pleasant for us and appearance of the ten-thousandth clinet in March was an equally significant prize for us.
And also we understood that it was impossible to be happy not noticing what was going on around us. However let’s relate the facts as they actually happened:

• January 3, 2005 — spreads for most of the currency pairs, including EUR/USD and USD/JPY were reduced to 3 pips.
  On the same day a new instrument - CFD on silver futures - was introduced.
• January 4, 2005 — solemn presentation of the main prize of the Traders Contest 2004–the automobile «Ford-Focus» - took place.
• January 31, 2005 — Alpari announced a new cycle of the traders contest. For the first time besides the usual demo-contest the contest for live accounts was held.
• March 26, 2005 — during the exhibibtion «Internet-Trading EXPO 2005» held in the hotel «Radisson SAS Slavyanovskaya» a prize for the ten-thousandth client of Alpari was raffled. The winner of the prize — travel package for two to Canaries — became a citizen of Moscow Bahramov Akhmadjan.
• April 2005 — Alpari was awarded the prize «FINANCIAL ELITE OF RUSSIA» in nomination «The Best Internet-broker of the year 2004 ». Prize presentation cerremony took place on the 14-th of April in the Durbar of the Diplomatic Corps of MFA.
• May 12, 2005 — the presentation of a new office in Kazan was held, where the management of the company and its first Kazan clients were present. In the course of the press-conference the vice presiden of Alpari Andrey Vedikhin spoke about branching out in the international arena and authorisation in FSA as short-term objectives of the company.
• May 2005 — a branch of Alpari was open in Ekaterinburg.
• August 2005 — Alpari introduced a new trading platform MetaTrader 4 .
• September 2005 — the procedures of a live account opening (an account is opened straight after the on-line application form is filled in ) and of deposit/withdrawal funds («Personal Area») were simplified.
• September 26, 2005 — new cross rates EUR/CAD and EUR/AUD are introduced for trading, as well as the dollar index in indicative; spread for Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock was reduced to 3 pips.
• October 2005 — the book «FOREX from the first person» appeared. The book’s authors are the management of Alpari: Andrey Vedikhin, Gleb Petrov and Boris Shilov.
• November 21, 2005 — seven new currency pairs were introduced for trading: NZD/USD, USD/SEK, USD/DKK, USD/NOK, USD/SGD, USD/ZAR and CHF/JPY.
• December 7, 2005 — the contest REAL 2005 is over. The all-round winner is awarded with the main prize — an automobile MAZDA 6!
• December 2005 — as per decision of the Board of Management of Alpari the Charity Fund «ALPARI » was founded. The director of the Fund became Andrey Dashin.
• December 20, 2005 — the license of a broker for perfoming futures and options transactions on the territory of the Russian Federation was obtained (it was given by Commodity Market Comission under FCSM of the Russian Federation).

The year 2006 can be easily named the year of the beginning of the international expansion: participation in the exhibition in China, obtaining a license from FSA, the company’s registration in the USA.
April 2006 — Alpari was rewarded with the Goblet for «The best mount of the exhibition Internet Trading EXPO 2006».

• June 2006 — Alpari participated in the international exhibition «World FOREX EXPO 2006» in Shanghai (China).
• July 31, 2006 — From then on ALL the trading instruments are quoted with Instant Execution Mechanism (streaming prices).
• August 22, 2006 — a branch was open in Permi.
• September 5, 2006 — the 25-thousandth real client of Alpari was registered.
• September 8, 2006 — Financial Services Authority (FSA, UK) issued a licence to Alpari (UK) Limited for providing internet-trading services on the FOREX market and CFD.
• October 2006 — monthly business magazine «RBK» put Alpari on the first place with regard to reliability among the dealing centres of Russia.
• November, 2006 — Alpari (UK) Limited announced the beginning of the work with real clients.
• November 25, 2006 — in the course of the third international exhibition «FOREX EXPO 2006» on the company’s mount the presentation of the book «Elliott’s code: wave analysis of the FOREX market», written by the leading analyst of Alpari Dmitry Voznuy, took place.
• November 2006 — registration of Alpari (US) in the State of New York (USA). The objective — obtaining an FCM licence in NFA for promoting internet-trading services on the FOREX market on the territory of the USA.


• January 2, 2007 — 8 new currency pairs were introduced for trading.
• March 5, 2007 — spreads for most of the currency pairs, were significantly reduced, for EUR/USD and EUR/GBP to TWO pips.
• March 2007 — rebranding was done by the famous design studio of Artemy Lebedev
• April 2007 — at the International exhibition-conference «Internet Trading EXPO-2007» Alpari appeared before visitors in its new image
• June 2007 — all the clients’ accounts were insured by the largest Russian insurance company «Ingosstrah».
• August 2007 — opening of a new contemporary public office in the centre of Moscow nearby “Novokuznetskaya” metro station, where all services consulting the clients are located.
• August 2007— a new type of trading accounts alpari.micro. was added. The main goal of the new service is to give the beginners an opportunity to try hand at trading on the market not risking much money. Consequently to gain necessary experience and decide whether this business suits them.
• September 2007 — the number of traded currency pairs on alpari.classic accounts was increased. Thus since September on the accounts of this type 53 currency pairs are available for trading.
• October 2007 — our clients are offered an opportunity to choose the deposit currency: USD or Euro when they open trading accounts of types alpari.classic and alpari.micro and proceeding from their own estimate of the current macroeconomic trends not to assume additional risk, associated with the weakening of one or another currency.
  
• November 2007 - U.S. National Futures Association (National Futures Association — NFA) at its official web-site reported of approving the registration of Alpari (US), LLC as a Futures Commission merchant (NFA ID: 0379678), as well as of its registration in the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), giving the right for performing broker activity. Thus Alpari has made one more step towards building the Global Axis «Alpari».
• November 2007 — The Charitable Fund «Alpari» was awarded a diploma in the category «Charitable Funds» for active help, support and participation in charity.
• December 2007 — Company Alpari Ltd. was awarded by a national reward in finance and insurance as «The Best Company of Russia — 2007 — The Best Business Reputation in the Financial Sphere».

to be continued…