Traders should take multi-asset stance to tackle risks: Saxo

INVESTORS should take a multi-asset approach to diversify risks, said Kim Fournais, co-founder and chief executive of Saxo Bank.

Although Denmark's Saxo Bank began in the 1990s as a foreign exchange (FX) online trading broker, its platform now offers a myriad of assets for traders. As its website says, 30,000 popular global assets "at your fingertips" from a single provider. Products range from FX to equities to futures contracts of commodities like precious metals or orange juice, and bonds.

Mr Fournais said that the firm's trading platform offers investors more choices, leverage and flexibility that they won't find anywhere else. For instance, banks have many constraints and are pretty rigid in the way they operate; they can't offer a comprehensive range of products because of high costs and regulations, he said in an interview. Most banks also demand high minimum sums before letting clients trade on their platforms. A Saxo trader requires only S$10,000 to start.