Our History

From the first days of FXStreet back in 2000 until today, our website and company have expanded in size, content, services and languages. We are now around 30 people in the Barcelona office. Outside of Barcelona and all around the world, approximately 30 collaborators work with us as news editors, trading session leaders, advisers, translators and content assistants. FXStreet is a website visited by over 1 million users nowadays, traders who look for insightful information to make the best decisions in their daily activities.

The FXStreet success story begins in Barcelona, back in 2000, in a man’s mind who, in the first years of his professional career, was working in an emerging and promising market, Forex, producing information for a Spanish website. He lived in a country where, especially in those days, FX trading was practically unknown, but he gave birth to an adventurous project: creating an international FX website in English, the first of its kind, with information and tools for currencies traders.

His name is Francesc Riverola. He puts the idea together with his partners and companions – Miriam Pinatell (his wife) and Sergi Fernández – and the three of them build the prehistorical version of FXStreet. Miriam is the web designer, Francesc is in charge of advertisement and content and Setxi is the web  developer. They are still the partners (“socios”) of the company nowadays.

---

Let’s review the main milestones of our history.

The Early Years: 2000 – 2003

The FXStreet story begins in Barcelona, back in 2000, in a man’s mind who, in the first years of his professional career, was working in an emerging and promising market, Forex, producing information for a Spanish website. He lived in a country where, specially in those days, FX trading was practically unknown -it’s still the case-, but he gave birth to an adventurous project: creating an international FX website in English, the first of its kind, with information and tools for currencies traders.

 

His name is Francesc Riverola. He puts the idea together with his partners and companions – Miriam Pinatell (his wife) and Sergi Fernández – and the three of them build the prehistorical version of FXStreet. Miriam is the web designer, Francesc is in charge of advertisement and content and Setxi is the web  developer. They are still the partners (“socios”) of the company nowadays.
The first version of the website already has some of the most popular sections that it contains nowadays: Charts, News and Quotes (Rates in the current version). The web segment for FX brokers is also there, in its primitive form, as well as some of the content you can also find in today’s site, like reports from banks and brokers.

The Family Grows: 2003 – 2004

In 2003, the company hires its first employee.
They all move to an office in Barcelona’s “Gracia” neighbourhood and more people join the team. The first website staff is made of 7 workers.

The website changes its format and updates its design, structure and content; the Spanish and Chinese versions are launched.

The 2005 Expansion

That year we launch sections of the website that today are very well known and broadly used as the “Q&A Sessions” – now webinars –  or the “Upcoming Economic Events” – now Economic Calendar. We also refresh the design and content structure of the Spanish and Chinese versions of FXStreet.
At the end of 2005 we create the Premium Service, the exclusive content website offering Reuters news, Premium webinars, banks reports and charting software. Nowadays, this website does not exist anymore. The only part that has survived from that service are the Premium webinars.

2006: The Year of Living Dangerously

During the summer of 2006, the 2.0 version of our website is released. We spend the first half of the year rethinking the whole web structure. In those days we create the subhomes structure with new sections as Fundamental, Technical and Live (that all disappeared in July 2013).

In 2006, we move to a new office, the one where we still are today, in Carrer Portaferrisa, near Las Ramblas, in the very center of the Catalan capital. The team grows and counts around 20 people back then.

2007 – 2010: The Consolidation Years

In 2007, the “Currencies-at-a-Glance” tool is launched: Technical studies for more than 50 Currency Pairs, with Timeframes from 1 minutes to 1 week for supports, resistances, Trend Index… This tool is now part of our Technical Studies.

The first International Traders Conference (“ITC”) is organized in Barcelona in October 2007, with guest speakers and traders from around the world. Between 2007 and 2012, we host 5 editions of this event.

At the beginning of 2009, a big step is taken: we decide to create our own feed of news, in real-time, 24 hours, dedicated to Forex only. At that time, these news are produced in English, Spanish and Chinese. In July of that year, our first B2B Product is launched: the Forex News Feed is offered to third party companies. It will be followed by the Economic Calendar, and along the years, a series of other white-label products.

The Real Time Economic Calendar is renewed and improved in 2009: more data from more countries (12 back then), real time alerts, new design, etc.
Later that year, we start the languages expansion with the Japanese website. Throughout 2009 we open the French and Russian versions and in April, 2010 the Arabic and Indonesian sites. Nowadays, our website exists in 17 languages.
In 2010, the Learning Center comes to life. It’s a self-learning program that provides a strong knowledge of Forex and helps traders develop trading strategies.

2010 – 2014: Adapt or die

In December 2010, our website is getting a new layout: cleaner design and improved readability. The left menus are moved to the top of the pages, darker text and more spacing, new navigation scheme…

We also release the first version of our Currencies Forecast Poll. First as a still image, then in 2011 it becomes a table whose data are saved for historical record.

In February 2011, we initiate our “Forex Best Awards” that highlights the best analysis and contributors on our website during the previous year, awards that still exist nowadays. In January 2012, FXStreet names its “Forex Person of the Year” for the first time. This title is now given every year to a person or a team of people and a project that might not have been in the big headlines but that positively contributed to make the Forex world better, more respected and more transparent.

In September 2012, our company experiences a profound change in its structure: Carolina May (previously Head of Marketing and Member of the Board of Directors) is named CEO of the company. Francesc Riverola assumes the role of President. In the next months, other internal changes affect the team and organization in order to redynamize the company and better face the challenges of a sector that is more competitive than in the past.

New free services and tools are created on our website in 2013: the Live Analysis Room, hosted by Dale Pinkert; the “Current Trading Positions” table or the FXBeat news and commentary feed led by Jamie Coleman, to name the most important ones.

In terms of social events, FXStreet hosts its first “Forex MeetUp” in the Barcelona office in February 2013. Other cities have followed since then: London and New York first, then many more cities in the world: Sydney, Los Angeles, Toronto,…

At the beginning of 2014, FXStreet sees its logo renewed to reflect the changes in our company, make our brand evolve and create a stronger cohesion between our sites in all the languages.

2014 – 2016: Creating the New FXstreet – Version 3.0

In February 2014, after long brainstormings about how FXStreet should evolve, we came to the conclusion that our website needed a profound reset by using a completely new backend and frontend structure: we needed to be more flexible and our systems were not offering this necessary freedom for our team to innovate, run continuous tests and swiftly adapt to new challenges. That would be the 3.0 version of FXStreet. It took several months to define all players’ needs, survey users, explore solutions and prioritize opportunities.. and then create it all from zero and in-house. The final switch to the new website took place in May 2016.

The new website is accessible from all screen sizes and devices. By providing a faster and mobile-optimized experience, FXStreet meets the needs of its growing mobile audience. The new look and feel of FXStreet is guided by an emphasis on visuals and presents a clearer, more elegant and engaging blend of images, video and text. Thanks to a streamlined menu and navigation, it’s easier for readers to find the content they are looking for, with less clicks. FXStreet has simplified its Rates and Charts section: users can access all the technical information and rates for each currency pair at a glance, on one page. Video and live coverages also get more relevance through a modernized and more user-friendly streaming Live Video channel.

Time doesn’t stop…

Our company history is short, but at the same time long, in a so quickly evolving environment as internet. To follow our evolution and what will be history tomorrow, you can read our Corporate blog, where we publish news and information abour what our company and website are up to.