Exclusive: Exness Deputy CEO Igor Desyatov on Why AI Can’t Replicate Trader Mindset
In an exclusive sit-down at Exness’s headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus, FinanceFeeds Editor-in-Chief Nikolai Isayev interviewed Deputy CEO and Chief Trading Officer Igor Desyatov. The discussion opened the doors to how one of the industry’s largest retail brokers approaches execution, spreads, liquidity, and trader trust at a time when markets remain volatile and competition among brokers is fierce. It also touched on transaction costs, withdrawals, platform performance, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in trading.
What emerged was more than a conversation—it was a rare inside look at how Exness views the brokerage business end-to-end. From spreads and slippage to server architecture and ethics, Desyatov mapped out the industry’s pressure points while explaining why scale, transparency, and engineering discipline now define which firms can lead in today’s market.
What truly defines “excellent execution” in trading?
Execution speed matters, but it isn’t the destination. As Desyatov puts it, “The fundamental stuff here is not the speed. The fundamental stuff is transaction cost.” Spreads are the direct cost; speed is an indirect driver because lags become expensive when the market is moving. “We named it last mile execution,” he adds, noting that some issues come from the client’s connectivity—an element brokers cannot fully control.
During low-volatility periods, a few milliseconds seldom change outcomes. During high-impact events, every link in the chain—client device, ISP, broker infrastructure, LPs—can widen the effective cost of entry/exit. That’s why Exness focuses on the parts it can control: data center layout, proximity and failover design, matching logic, and risk models tuned for turbulent order flow.
Takeaway
How low can transaction costs realistically go?
The retail landscape has viewn secular tightening in spreads across majors, gold, and even some crypto pairs. “For the last year, we decreased the spread for gold twice,” says Desyatov, arguing that optimization and scale let Exness keep improving even as background liquidity thins around macro shocks. But he stresses the flip side: sustaining ultra-tight conditions is a risk-absorbing exercise. “To absorb this risk, you need to be very large… To have a very sophisticated infrastructure and risk management.” This is where many brokers diverge: smaller firms may widen spreads quicker or throttle features around news. Larger, well-capitalized players with deep risk tooling can compress costs further and keep them stable through volatility. That stability becomes a magnet for active traders.
Takeaway
Why do instant withdrawals matter so much for trust?
Trust is the brokerage moat. Desyatov points to an ahead Exness principle from founder Petr Valov: “We always try to be very ethical with our traders. We launched instant withdrawals many years ago. Even now, we have 98% of our payment transactions executed instantly.”1 It’s simple for clients to verify and compounding in credibility—yet operationally hard: real-time fraud detection, compliance checks, payment-rail redundancy, and 24/7 monitoring all have to click.
“By setting these principles, you create lots of challenges inside the company,” he notes—but that is precisely the point. Building for instant, reliable payouts forces discipline upstream. For clients, quick access to funds is the ultimate proof that profits are real and friction is minimized.
Takeaway
How does Exness keep platforms responsive at global scale?
Most trading now happens on phones. Regions differ in bandwidth quality, device capabilities, and reliability. Exness approaches UX as a spectrum: “We need to provide some flexible model… some clients with fragile internet can use simple charts, while others demand advanced tools,” says Desyatov.
On the server side, Exness rebuilt execution and queuing around news to keep conditions stable. “Our spreads and conditions during the news [are] almost the identical as for regular markets,”2 he notes, crediting instrumentation and pre-emptive scaling during event windows. The firm also tunes slippage and pending-order handling so that “the majority of our trades [are] executed by the requested price,”3 enabled by its market-making model and real-time risk views.
Takeaway
Is retention more significant than lifetime value?
“We are much more focused on retention of the clients, even not on the lifetime value,” Desyatov says. Retention is the outcome of doing hard things consistently: predictable costs, fair execution, quick payouts, reliable platforms, and ethical boundaries. It also shapes daily risk choices—sometimes favoring client experience over marginal P&L because long-term trust pays more.
Takeaway
How will AI change trader behavior—and brokerage operations?
Desyatov is bullish on AI’s macro impact: “AI technology will provide lots of benefits for the world, maybe even more than the internet.” But he tempers expectations for trading psychology: “Nothing significant will happen in our industry… traders… will still trade,” because people want to make their own decisions.
For traders, AI removes barriers to automation. “You just need to have the trading API… ask ChatGPT… the Python code to run the strategy,” he says. For brokers, AI is a force multiplier across support triage, anomaly detection in risk/compliance, and analytics—pursued with ethical guardrails that avoid nudging clients to trade based on model outputs.
Takeaway
What’s next for Exness—and the broader retail market structure?
Beyond better-than-market conditions on flagship symbols, Exness is preparing a broader product canvas. “We want to significantly improve our offerings in terms of… [trading] instruments,” Desyatov notes—a move toward a true all-asset experience where FX, commodities, indices, and more live in a unified workflow.
As costs compress and UX expectations rise, markets reward firms that deliver breadth with reliability. Those unable to keep conditions stable during stress will struggle to retain sophisticated flow.
Takeaway
1 At Exness, over 98% of withdrawals are processed automatically. Processing times may vary depending on the chosen payment method.
2 Spreads may fluctuate and widen due to factors including market volatility and liquidity, news releases, economic events, when markets open or close, and the type of instruments being traded.
3 Delays and slippage may occur. No guarantee of execution speed or precision is provided.
