2009...We now have 100,000 Live Accounts, thanks to 10 years of hard work. We have also added Premium Accounts for our VIP clients, launched the FX+ project, presented an automated web platform and have secured a partnership with Currenex.

• February 2009 — Alpari arrives in Kazakhstan. The new “Premium” account is launched, an exclusive offer for both new and current clients.
• March 2009 — Alpari introduces floating leverage for all account types. A new partnership program for PAMM accounts is developed. Silver (spot), a new trading instrument, is added to every account's portfolio. The 80,000th live account is registered.
• April 2009 — Alpari breaks the record for number of open accounts. We are recognized in the RBC Financial Olympics as having the “Most Innovative Technology on the Forex market”. Boris Shilov and Dmitry Rannev enlarge the company library with their new book, “Forex Trading”.
• May 2009 — Alpari launches the FX+ Project. The Moscow office hosts a meeting with representatives from Trading Central. The website is redesigned.
• June 2009 — Alpari was honored in the national “Russian Financial Elite” awards for the second time, receiving the nomination of “Grand Prix: Forex Company of the Year”. We also received the public award “Financial Pearl of Russia” for the nomination of “Best Capital Management Programs”. Two new offices opened in Penza and Omsk.
• July 2009 — The international Alpari brand announces our partnership with Currenex. We launch the "Alpari Life" project. Alpari opens in Nigeria. We introduce the automated web-platform Systematic and add new alpari.systematic trading accounts. The electronic payment system Moneybookers is added as another option for withdrawing funds. On July 29th, the 100,000th live account is opened and we set up the “100,000” contest, where clients can enter creative works on the theme "Alpari and Me", the winning entry receiving 100,000 rubles.
• August 2009 — Clients are now able to open alpari.systematic accounts in three different currencies: USD, EUR, and RUR. The results of the “100,000” contest are announced; the winner is Timur Ulmasov.
• September 2009 — Alpari lowers the fee down to 1% on fund deposit through bank wire transfer. Floating spread is introduced on all currency pairs in Classic, Micro, PAMM and Systematic accounts. Alpari is a Gold Sponsor of the 2009 Derivatives World Russia Conference.
• October 2009 — Alpari opens a new office in downtown St. Petersburg. A branch is also opened in Dnepropetrovsk. We begin using the “MasterCard SecureCode” system in order to protect our clients' credit and debit cards from fraud. We introduce pamm.systematic accounts that combine convenient ready-to-use trading strategies of the Systematic platform and the opportunity PAMM affords for collective investment. On October 21st, Alpari became the first in Russia to provide access to live trading via the major electronic communication network (ECN) Currenex. Currenex is available on the Alpari Direct and Alpari Direct Pro platforms.

2010. Alpari expands its horizons

• January — Alpari opens a representative office in Astana, Kazakhstan and a branch in Voronezh. The new generation of Alpari contests is introduced, with bigger prizes and better terms and conditions.
• February — Alpari continues to widen its global presence by opening a representative office in Latvia.
• March — Offices are now open in Izhevsk, Cheboksary, Yerevan, Khabarovsk and Ryazan. Alpari expands its services by introducing two new trading accounts with direct access to bank liquidity: classic.ndd.mt4 and pro.ecn.mt4. These new accounts provide traders with instant order execution, high liquidity and no requotes.
• March 12, 2010 — Alpari's management decides to support one of the most successful football clubs in Russia by becoming the official sponsor of FC Spartak.
• April — Alpari reduces Limit & Stop levels. The Alpari Client Office working hours are extended. Our corporate magazine “Alpari,” is awarded Bronze at the 2010 ADCR Awards, a great show of respect from advertising industry professionals.
• April 30, 2010 — myAlpari is introduced. The new personal workspace (previously named Personal Area) now consolidates a number of functions into one place, from working with partners to opening a new account.
• May — Offices are opened in Kaliningrad, Estonia, Stavropol and Tyumen. Market Watch for Forex instruments is now available in MetaTrader 5. We now offer clients the following new swap-free accounts: classic.mt4.swapfree and classic.systematic.swapfree. Another step is taken towards making our clients’ work as convenient as possible with the redesign of the Alpari forum. The new design features an intuitive interface that helps you quickly find information you need.
• June — Alpari launches its website in Turkish. We unify the “IB Representative” and the “Web Representative” partnership programs. The new partnership program is called “Introducing Broker” and combines all the advantages of the previous programs. A new service, Alpari Sqawk, and a new contest, “Gold Rush,” are launched. A new office opens in Moldova.
• June 10, 2010 — Alpari is honored with the national “Russian Financial Elite 2005-2010” award and wins in the nomination “5 Year Grand Prix: Best Broker on the FOREX Market.”
  

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  The Beginning

  September, 1998. The government has just defaulted on all their financial obligations, the ruble's value is falling swiftly, the stock market is collapsing, and the country's financial sector has come to a standstill.

  26a Ershova St., Kazan. This building in downtown Kazan was the city's financial stronghold: investment firms, the pension fund, the Volzhsko-Kamskaya Stock Exchange. The crisis chose not to pass over: the once bustling, hectic workplace became eerily silent , where corporate stocks and government bonds were flying across the floor not long ago.

  But we always have to remember that every cloud has a silver lining. The Alpari founding fathers had already begun to think about entering more predictable markets, insusceptible to defaults, particularly Forex. However, they had no time with their current work: trading stocks, daily reports, and market analyses that later proved useless. Then suddenly, when it seemed like everything had burned to the ground, out of the ashes rose that time they needed. And they were off running!

  They studied the market and trading, while taking notes for future lectures. They visited existing dealing centers in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, and Volgograd. By the end, they had gathered what was considered a small amount of knowledge for the end of the 90s, but they had prepared a technical base and, more importantly, themselves and their staff and they were ready to achieve great heights.

  On December 24th, 1998, Andrey Vedikhin, Gleb Petrov, and Alexander Sadovnik decided that their dealing center was ready to get to work. To this day, we celebrate Alpari's birthday on December 24th.

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  Everyday Work of 1999: Our First Students and First Transaction on FOREX

  1999 began with introducing ourselves and our capabilities to financial Kazan. We held our first Forex awareness-raising seminar in January 1999. We invited employees of banks and investment companies, as well as private investors, whom we had worked with earlier on the Russian Stock Market. Many of these attendees later became our first clients.

  • January 1999 — The Back Office system and Operators service are created, and headed up by Olga Rybalkina.
  • February 8, 1999 — The first class starts, led by Gleb Petrov and Andrey Vedikhin. The class consists of two weeks of lectures and two weeks of practice on the topic "Theory and Practice of Work on International Financial Markets".
  • March 5, 1999 — We complete our first transaction on the FOREX market. After a technical analysis of the market, Andrey Vedikhin made the decision to go short, betting on the Euro’s rise against the US dollar. The analysis held up and 53 pips were ours!
  • March 12, 1999 — One week later, our first client makes his first transaction. He also bet on the Euro and met success!

  Of course, the skies were not always cloudless in Alpari's first year. Profitable trades alternated with unprofitable, and looking back, the process you had to go through to make a transaction was unbelievable: when a trader, located on the customer floor at a terminal decided to make a transaction, he had to call our operator, who then would connect with our London broker (at that time, IG Index) and retransmit the client’s request. Added to the fact that the minimum contract was 100,000 units of a base currency with a spread of 10 pips, you can start to understand that it wasn't exactly smooth sailing for our first clients.

  Another important event was in July 1999, when Aytugan Khafizov joined our team after passing a very thorough examination process.

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  2000: On the Road to Online Trading: Trading Platform Implementation

  We understood that if we didn't get on an online trading platform, we would remain a provincial dealing center known only in small financial circles of Kazan. The activity of our partners and competitors told us that in 2000, it was by far time to go online.

  The key event at the beginning of 2000 was Alpari's meeting with MetaQuotes Software, who was represented by its founder and ideologist Renat Fatkhulin. With little doubt or hesitation, we made the historic decision to go online using the MetaQuotes platform Renat had developed.

  • In summer 2000, we chose a reliable internet-provider, began to install and test servers, train staff, create a new website… At this time, one of our clients, Andrey Dashin, joins Alpari as a top-manager and partner.
  • August, 2000 — Alpari's new website is registered and launched: www.alpari-idc.ru (up to this moment, we only had a page on our provider's website).
  • November, 2000 — Our client makes the first deal through the MetaQuotes platform. At this time, Alpari offered 11 currency pairs with a spread of 5 pips for main currencies.
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  2001-2002. Move to Moscow Comes with Rampant Development: Forum and Trader's Contest Launched…

  Alpari's quick growth in 2001 made it necessary to hire more professionals for our team. That’s why 2002 was marked by hiring and training additional employees. It also became necessary to streamline several business processes. We finally came to the conclusion that we would only be able to provide high-quality services if we moved our headquarters to Moscow.

  • April 2, 2002 — The English language version of the website appears.
  • April 9, 2002 — Forum opens for discussion of the Forex market, analytical software, and trading strategies.
  • July 2002 — Spreads on AUD/USD, USD/CAD and their cross rates are reduced.
  • September 2002 — Deposit with credit cards is now possible.
  • September - October 2002 — Alpari's headquarters and main technical departments (Technical Support and Dealing) move to Moscow.
  • November 2002 — Alpari begins using the MetaTrader trading platform, a new release from MetaQuotes Software. For now, only available for demo accounts.
  • December 2002 — Boris Shilov, an old friend of Alpari and acquaintance of George Soros, joins the company.

  In 2001, we welcomed our first clients outside of Tatarstan. Internet advertising and our high-quality services did their part: accounts were opened by residents of Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Kaliningrad, Magadan, St.Petersburg and Moscow. Some of our clients who took interest in the business opened affiliate branches under our patronage. Some of the affiliate branches did not stand the test of time, but others are still working.

  By autumn 2001, we had come to understand that Alpari had outgrown its regional framework; more and more clients came from the capital of our motherland. Thus, in October we began preparations to open a new office and make new technical and organisational arrangements.

  • March 2001 — The first Alpari Trader's Contest begins.
  • April 2001 — The first Alpari branch opens in Ulyanovsk.
  • June 2001 — Trading servers are moved to Moscow to improve connection quality.
  • September 2001 — A branch opens in Samara.
  • November 19, 2001 — An Alpari branch opens in Moscow, offering training, account opening, and consultation in a small but cozy office near Chistye Prudy.
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  2003. MetaTrader: A New Dawn for Online Trading. Instant Execution, Contracts For Difference (CFD). Conquest of the Russian Northern Capital. Participation in an International Exhibition

  2003 began with transferring our clients to the new, more capable MetaTrader trading platform. We like to put all the latest market innovations into use in order for our clients to have access to new opportunities.

  • January 20, 2003 — The new MetaTrader trading platform is introduced. Cross rates on Mini Forex and fractional lots on Forex also make their appearance.
  • February, 2003 — A new Alpari office opens in St. Petersburg.
  • March 2003 — Contracts for Difference (CFDs) on individual equities included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index (DJIA) are introduced.
  • March 11-12, 2003 — Alpari takes an active role in the "2003 INTERNET TRADING EXPO". This has now become a yearly commitment.
  • April 2003 — Commission on Mini Forex is removed, and the minimum contract on Forex is reduced to 0.1 lot.
  • May 2003 — Index Equity CFDs are introduced. We create our Disputes Department.
  • June 2003 — Stock Index, Futures, and Gold (Spot) CFDs enter the market. Spread on EUR/USD and USD/JPY is reduced to 4 pips.
  • August 2003 — Deposit and withdrawal through the Yandex.Money payment system is now possible.
  • September 2003 — CFDs are introduced on the following futures contracts: gold, oil, natural gas, wheat, corn, and soy beans.
  • October 1, 2003 — The viac.ru research and information portal is created.
  • October 2003 — The new "Instant Execution" technology is introduced for the four main currency pairs. With time, Alpari introduced this convenient technology (a client makes transactions at the streaming prices of the broker without preliminary request of the price) for more and more instruments. Today, all Alpari instruments are traded using Instant Execution.

  As for intracompany affairs, the Technical Support Department moved onto a 24-hour working schedule and the Branches department was created in 2003.

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  2004. The 10,000th Client. A New Way to Trade: Free MetaTrader for PDAs. Foundation of KROUFR and Alpari Trading School.

  The main event of 2004 was the foundation of KROUFR, an organization that aims to protect traders' interests. Within the company, the focus was on perfecting business processes to improve the quality of our customer service. Though this year wasn’t very eventful, it laid the foundation for many future successes.

  • March 2004 — Alpari is the first in Russia to offer the PDA version of MetaTrader, free of charge.
  • March 3, 2004 — A press conference was held at the "2004 INTERNET TRADING EXPO" (with representatives from Alpari, Teletrade and Forex-Club) on the foundation of the Commission on the Regulation of Relationships between Participants on Financial Markets (KROUFR). The main objective of KROUFR is to protect the interests of private investors in financial markets.
  • March 16, 2004 — An Alpari branch opens in Novosibirsk.
  • April 2004 — The 2004 Trader's Contest starts. This year, the contest consisted of several (ten) preliminary rounds in categories such as Forex, stocks and futures. The overall winner won the grand prize, a "Ford Focus".
  • April 19, 2004 — Commission for Share CFDs cut in half.
  • May 12, 2004 — Alpari and the "PRIME-TASS" Agency of Economic Information sign an agreement to provide online economic data from Dow Jones Newswires for Alpari clients.
  • May 26, 2004 — Alpari acts as Gold Sponsor of the "2004 FOREX FORUM", held in Moscow at the "Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya" hotel.
  • May 28, 2004 — A new client office opens in Moscow (at "Mayakovskaya" metro station).
  • June 2004 — Alpari decides to create a modular scheme of education, and move it to a separate structure. With this in mind, "Alpari Trading School" is founded.
  • August 2004 — An Alpari branch opens in Rostov-on-Don.
  • October 26-27, 2004 — Alpari acts as General Sponsor for the Sixth International "2004 Investor EXPO".
  • November 26, 2004 — An Alpari branch opens in Kiev.
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  2005. "Financial Elite" Award. First Book Published. Alpari Charitable Fund Established.

  We began to gain more recognition in 2005. It was great to win the "RUSSIAN FINANCIAL ELITE" award, but the appearance of the 10,000th client in March was an equally significant event for the company.

  This year, we also understood that we couldn't be happy or a valuable part of society without paying attention to those around us and thus, the Alpari Charitable Fund was created.

  • January 3, 2005 — Spreads for most currency pairs, including EUR/USD and USD/JPY, are reduced to 3 pips.
    A new instrument, CFD on silver futures, is introduced the same day.
  • January 4, 2005 — The presentation of the 2004 Trader's Contest grand prize (a "Ford Focus") takes place.
  • January 31, 2005 — Alpari announces a new cycle of the Trader's Contest. This new cycle, besides the usual demo-contest, includes a contest for live accounts.
  • March 26, 2005 — A prize in honour of our 10,000th client is raffled off during the "2005 INTERNET TRADING EXPO", held at the "Radisson SAS Slavyanovskaya" hotel. Akhmadjan Bahramov of Moscow wins a trip for two to the Canary Islands.
  • April 2005 — Alpari wins a "RUSSIAN FINANCIAL ELITE" award in the nomination of "The 2004 Internet Broker of the Year". The award presentation ceremony was on April 14th in the Reception Hall of the Diplomatic Corps of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • May 12, 2005 — The opening ceremony of a new office in Kazan takes place, in the presence of company management and our original Kazan clients. At the press-conference, Alpari Vice President, Andrey Vedikhin, discusses our short-term objectives: entering the international arena and receiving FSA authorisation.
  • May 2005 — An Alpari branch opens in Ekaterinburg.
  • August 2005 — Alpari introduces the new MetaTrader 4 trading platform.
  • September 2005 — The procedures to open a live account (an account is opened as soon as you complete the online application form) and to deposit/withdraw funds ("Personal Area") are simplified.
  • September 26, 2005 — New cross rates EUR/CAD and EUR/AUD are introduced in trading, as well as the dollar index in the indicative; spread for the NASDAQ-100 Index Tracking Stock is reduced to 3 pips.
  • October 2005 — "FOREX: An Inside View" is published, authored by Alpari management: Andrey Vedikhin, Gleb Petrov and Boris Shilov.
  • November 21, 2005 — Seven new currency pairs are introduced for trading: NZD/USD, USD/SEK, USD/DKK, USD/NOK, USD/SGD, USD/ZAR and CHF/JPY.
  • December 2005 — The Alpari Charitable Fund is founded, based on a decision by the Alpari Board of Management. Andrey Dashin is appointed as Fund Director. The contest REAL 2005 ends. The overall winner is awarded the grand prize, a MAZDA 6.
  • December 20, 2005 — We obtain a broker's license for perfoming futures and options transactions within the Russian Federation (issued by the Commodity Exchange Comission under the Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFM) of the Russian Federation).
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  2006. Alpari's International Expansion: Great Britain, USA, China. The 25,000th live account is opened.

  2006 was the beginning of our international expansion: we participated in an exhibition in China, obtained a license from the FSA, and registered Alpari in the USA.

  • April 2006 — Alpari receives a trophy for "The Best Exhibition Display at the 2006 Internet Trading EXPO".
  • June 2006 — Alpari participates in the international "2006 World FOREX EXPO" in Shanghai, China.
  • July 31, 2006 — From this date, ALL trading instruments are quoted using Instant Execution (streaming prices).
  • August 22, 2006 — A branch opens in Perm.
  • September 5, 2006 — Alpari's 25,000th real client registers.
  • September 8, 2006 — The Financial Services Authority (FSA, UK) issues a license to Alpari (UK) Limited to provide online trading services on the Forex market and CFD.
  • October 2006 — The monthly business magazine "RBC" puts Alpari in first place regarding reliability among Russian dealing centres.
  • November 2006 — Alpari (US) is registered in New York State (USA). The objective is to obtain an Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) license from the National Futures Association (NFA) to promote Forex online trading services within the USA.
  • November 1, 2006 — Alpari (UK) Limited announces the start of work with real clients.
  • November 25, 2006 — We present the book "Elliott’s Code: Wave Analysis of the FOREX market" at the Third International "2006 FOREX EXPO". The book was written by Dmitry Voznuy, a lead analyst at Alpari.
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  Three Victories in 2007: National "Financial Russia 2007" Award, "Philanthropist of the Year" Certificate and New Achievements of Alpari (US), LLC. New Account Type for Novices: alpari.micro

  • January 2, 2007 — 8 new currency pairs are introduced for trading.
  • March 5, 2007 — Spreads for most currency pairs are significantly reduced; EUR/USD and EUR/GBP move to TWO pips.
  • April 2007 — Alpari appears for the first time after rebranding by the famous Artemy Lebedev design studio at the International "2007 Internet Trading EXPO".
  • June 2007 — All client accounts are insured by "Ingosstrah", Russia's largest insurance company.
  • August 2007 — A new, modern Alpari office opens in the center of Moscow, near "Novokuznetskaya" metro station. The entire Customer Service Department is relocated to the new location. A new trading account type, alpari.micro, is added to our selection. The main goal of these accounts is to give beginners an opportunity to try their hand at trading on the market without risking too much money. It also gives clients the opportunity to gain necessary experience and decide whether Forex is right for them.
  • September 2007 — The number of traded currency pairs on alpari.classic accounts is increased. 53 currency pairs are now available for trading on alpari.classic.
  • October 2007 — Clients are offered the choice of USD or EUR for their deposit currency when opening alpari.classic and alpari.micro trading accounts. Consequently, dependent on their own estimate of current macroeconomic trends, this allows a client to avoid additional risk associated with the weakening of a particular currency.
  • November 2007 — The Alpari Charitable Fund was awarded with a certificate as "Philanthropist of the Year" for its proactive contribution to, support of, and participation in charitable activity. The US National Futures Association (National Futures Association — NFA) reports on their official website recognition of Alpari (US), LLC as a Futures Commission Merchant (NFA ID: 0379678), as well as Alpari's registration in the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), licensing Alpari to practice brokerage. With this, we take another step towards the formation of the Alpari Global Axis.
  • December 2007 — Alpari is honored in the National Finance and Insurance Awards "Financial Russia — 2007" with the award of "Best Russian Company of Russia — 2007 — Best Reputation in the Financial Sphere".
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  2008: Our 10th Anniversary. Alpari Gains Momentum. Introduction of the "PAMM-ACCOUNT", a Unique Investment Tool. Heading East: Alpari Emirates. 2 New Books from Alpari
• January 2008 — Alpari moves under the command of our new President, Andrey Dashin.
• February 2008 — A book on the development of philanthropy in Tatarstan, "From the Heart and to the Heart", is published and spearheaded by Alpari Charitable Fund founder, Andrey Dashin.
• June 2008 — The Deposit Liability Limit is raised to 15,000,000 USD.
• July 2008 — Alpari participates in the "Seliger 2008" youth forum, and holds the first trade show in Russia with live online trading.
• August 2008 — Another company is born under the "Alpari" brand. The Dubai Department of Economic Development issues licence #615466 and Alpari Emirates is authorised to conduct business.
• September 2008 — We widen the range of accounts with the development of alpari.pamm for Managers and Investors and alpari.partner for Company Partners.
• November 2008 — Alpari acts as Platinum Sponsor for the "MOSCOW FOREX EXPO" and begins offering technical analysis reports from international bureau Trading Central. "Stock History" is published, a new book by Boris Shilov and Sergey Semenov.
• December 24, 2008 — Alpari celebrates its 10th Anniversary!!!