Clean & Sophisticated Logo for Global Financial Trading Broker

HFX Markets

HFX Markets is the new brand for our old company ODL Markets (Canada). http://www.odlcanada.ca

We're a global financial trading broker that offers our clients Foreign Exchange (FX), Contracts For Difference (CFDs), Gold/Silver, and Energy Online Trading to Accredited Investors in Canada.

We're a Canadian based firm so our key markets will be in Canada. Though we have a global market of clients who will be trading a diverse range of financial products, from foreign currencies to oil and gold.

Our clients are financial institutions, businesses of all sizes and the general public. Our clients will be doing all of their trading online if that fits into the logo somehow.

STYLE & CONTENT
- Modern, clean, crisp, and sophisticated. It should stand out.
- The X is easy to play with, though please don't single it out. The FX should be visually grouped together since they stand for Forex. The H should stand on it's own, either in size, color or position. See some of the top rated designs for examples.
- An iconic graphic would be great to go along with "HFX Markets" though please play with the text as well. We don't require the icon. Also check out the attached samples. Here are some ideas of what the icon could contain:
- A globe with arrows around it.
- A globe like a stock ticker.
- 4 stock arrows of varying colours or shades of grey to show the many markets that we deal in.
- Arrows, graphs, something stylized
- Anything else to portray finance, trading, global financial markets, profits, etc.
- The iconized version of the HFX letters. Though if it's hard to see that it's an HFX I would need HFX small and beside the "Markets" text.
- We're definitely open to your ideas here.
- We're canadian, though this definitely doesn't have to be part of the logo.
- Please do not use any stock images or clip art in the logo. And no cartoons please.

COLORS
- Red, Grey, Black and White. Please no red on black though. (I have included a sample gif of the colors we're looking for, though please don't take these as set in stone. We have received some submissions with orange reds or brown reds, which we don't want.)
- We're open to alternate colors if you think it'll fit better. Maybe a nice blue/green combo.

USES
- Should look good on a white and dark background.
- If the logo looks 3D it should also have a 2D version
- Should look good in both color and black & white, and should be faxable. On the web the logo will be on white, so that's the primary focus. Please don't put red on black.
- Should be clear if it's both large or small

FILE FORMATS
- Print file format: .ai (CMYK)
- Web file format: .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)

We will be keeping a close eye on the contest, so please post questions in the comments. For any private questions please email martin@coastalextreme.com.