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Common thinking suggests that investment markets are against you. 

This includes stocks, mutual funds and, of course, cryptocurrency. It’s in these sectors where unfair market advantages such as investors with better access to information and high-frequency trading are among the barriers that the average everyday trader is facing. This is why over half of investors lose money during their first year of investing. 

But one project believes there is a better way forward. ZFX Token, created by ZeroSumMarkets — a purveyor of peer trading foreign exchange (FX) competitions — aims to do that by revolutionizing the retail trading experience. In balancing the playing field by giving users a way to learn, test and compete against other traders, ZeroSum mitigates many of the trading fee barriers and market forces that hinder retail trader success. 

This innovative model is predicated on rewarding participants for their inherent skills as traders. It does this by eliminating trading fees and access to unfair advantages commonly seen in the FX world. In reducing costs, unfair algorithms, risks of trust and preferential access to information, ZeroSum opens up windows of possibility for retail traders to learn, experiment and compete against peers — and earn while doing it. 

In short, ZeroSum is a live ecosystem where FX traders compete head-to-head in skill-based competitions. No trading fees. No high-frequency traders. No algorithmic trading.

The ZFX Token fuels the ecosystem by serving as the conduit for exchanging and extracting monetary value from these fantasy competitions.  

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the tokens are designed to be highly transferable. It’s here where the ZeroSum platform aims to be the platform for all blockchain prediction markets competing against the likes of Augur and others in this nascent niche. Through the enabling of third-party application programming interface (API) support, a sentiment engine and the opportunity to create competitions tied to a data feed, the opportunities are immense. 

This ZFX tokenized model was seeded by a number of Wall Street traders who together brainstormed ideas about how to teach retail trading investors the tricks of the trade. They applied the concept of fantasy football to the world of trading so that both new and experienced traders could practice, learn and compete against one another. It’s designed to function as a peer-versus-peer platform, where winners of each competition take home real money. (ZFX tokens can be sold on the market for USD or other currencies.)

This concept, which has been in development since 2016, currently has thousands of active users who have tested it in beta. Over $300,000 of seed capital was initially raised for platform development and the beta launch. 

ZeroSum fantasy trading is experiential in the sense that users can participate without risking a ton of capital for FX trading or for cryptocurrency. By way of example, an otherwise reluctant newbie may see it as a way to test new investment strategies or try new options. For these reasons, it’s a great way to get started for those unfamiliar with the deeper nuances of the industry. 

The Road Forward

The ZeroSum fantasy trading target market consists of FX, stock, cryptocurrency and retail investors in the U.S., primarily in Chicago and on the East and West Coasts. Three emerging trends are informing this path ahead: 

1. FX markets continue to move the most amount of money per day.
2. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and will get more so as institutional investors pour into the space (through futures trading, options trading and more).
3. Educating investors through a hands-on approach, where they can test, try and learn — without having to invest a lot of money or spend huge amounts on FX or cryptocurrency trading fees.

ZFX aims to become the fundamental means of exchange for fantasy competitions of any type that have a reliable data feed. Think FX competitions, stock trading competitions, weather prediction competitions, traffic prediction competitions — literally anything that has a reliable and accurate data feed will be possible.

The ZFX token sale is scheduled to begin January 3, 2018. This will allow further development to take place in terms of the platform, including more trading competitions as well as a sentiment data feed to find alpha signals. It is expected that the token will be listed on exchanges shortly thereafter. 

Included is a token bounty program where participants can earn up to 75 million ZFX tokens. It allows users to participate interactively and earn entries for every new participant they bring into the program.

Click here for more information and to sign up.

Note: Trading and investing in digital assets is speculative and can be high-risk. Based on the shifting business and regulatory environment of such a new industry, this content should not be considered investment or legal advice.