Prime Of Prime - PoP

A “Prime of Prime,” or PoP for short, is a middleman between big banks and the retail brokers who want access to their liquidity.

Why do retail brokers need a PoP? Because big tier-one banks are picky, and they won’t do trading business with just anyone who walks in off the street. They strictly vet firms before giving them access to their trading liquidity. But those tier-two firms (PoPs) can then turn around and sell their access services to smaller firms, which can then leverage that access to make more money for their individual investors.

We’ll most commonly see PoPs in the forex trading world, where small profit margins can make it hard for itty-bitty retail brokers to execute the trades they need to execute. Having a PoP-sponsored relationship with a big bank can make it easier and more economical to manage—and profit from—their business.