Australia’s ASIC issues retail FX warning in wake of GTL TradeUp collapse

GTL TradeUp’s director, Pakistani businessman Mahmood Riaz, is also allegedly linked to another $36M forex fraud case in Italy.

Australia’s financial regulator ASIC has been busy lately in the forex sphere. After warning investors yesterday about Aussie Rob and his supposed magic trading software, ASIC today issued a more general warning to retail traders about the pitfalls of forex trading and the (over-)use of leverage in trading.

Other than Aussie Rob, ASIC decided to also mention the recent liquidation of local forex broker GTL TradeUp, which abruptly shut its doors at the end of September with clients still owed millions of dollars. ASIC is still investigating GTL and the circumstances around its collapse.

We think that ASIC has mixed up their message somewhat to consumers, as there are two, separate issues at play which they confused:

  1. Choosing a proper forex broker, and
  2. Trading responsibly.

One can choose a reliable, honest broker, yet still trade irresponsibly. And conversely, a trader can have a very disciplined and successful approach to trading yet get shafted by a dodgy broker. GTL’s blowup and Aussie Rob’s false claims have nothing to do with trading responsibly.

For those who trade, we strongly recommend one of the regulated brokers on our Approved List of forex brokers, which include Australia’s largest forex broker AxiTrader.

To see the ASIC warning on forex trading click here.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report. 

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