February 07, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

ESMA tells EU brokers to crack down on sales practices to retail investors

ESMA particularly notes selling practices of complex financial products to retail clients. ESMA is continuing to throw its weight around, and establish itself as a to-be-taken-seriously pan-European rule setter in financial markets. What exactly is ESMA's role? While not technically a regulator -- each EU country has its own financial regulator (e.g. FCA in the UK,…

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February 07, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

Monex brings TradeStation to Korea via Shinhan partnership

Monex had recently launched TradeStation in Japan, its first deployment outside the US and Europe. It seems as though the braintrust at Monex has big Far East plans for TradeStation, which it purchased in 2011 for more than $400 million. The Japanese forex broker has announced that its TradeStation platform will soon be available to Korean…

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February 07, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

4XP shut down? Sure seems so

BVI cease trading order, funds frozen, kicked out of FMRRC, phones go unanswered.... LeapRate Exclusive... It seems as though retail forex broker 4XP is no longer operating, at least as far as money-in money-out is concerned. LeapRate has been contacted by (former) 4XP clients who have been unable to withdraw funds, a theme which we've…

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February 07, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

Moscow Exchange looks east – launches China ETF

Russia's leading exchange has been focusing on increasing its business with Far East traders and investors. Moscow Exchange has announced the launch of trading in the FinEx MSCI China UCITS ETF (ticker FXCN). The FXCN tracks the MSCI China Index, which comprises 138 Chinese securities. The fund's shares will be traded on Moscow Exchange's securities…

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February 06, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

AvaTrade launches PowerOption regulated binary options brand

PowerOption will be regulated by both CySEC (Cyprus) and ASIC (Australia). Ireland based retail forex broker AvaTrade has just launched its own Binary Options brand, called PowerOption. PowerOption will be based on the MarketPulse platform. AvaTrade had previously worked with Marketpulse on its Japanese binary platform, although that business had to be halted when the…

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February 06, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

Oanda launches Oanda Marketplace forex appstore

Oanda also engages BeeksFX VPS solution to lower latency. Retail forex broker Oanda has launched its own version of an appstore, called Oanda Marketplace. Oanda Marketplace includes a directory of tools, software, and products for Oanda traders, and will also act as a distribution channel for developers building their products on the Oanda API. Historically strong…

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February 05, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

ICAP volumes rise 23% from December levels

Still markedly lower by more than a third from a year ago levels, best number since July According to data released by ICAP, volumes on their EBS platform have risen substantially from December marking the first substantial increase we have seen in a while. Traded forex volumes have reached $87.5 billion from $71 billion a…

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February 05, 2014 BY Gerald Segal

Volumes at GMO Click skyrocket 40% higher in January

Carry trade unwinding leads to a substantial increase in volumes at the leading Japanese brokerage The leading Japanese forex trading brand GMO Click has announced its volumes numbers for the month of January and we are seeing a dramatic increase in trading volumes. The firm announced that monthly FX volumes have totaled almost ¥83 ($820 bln)…

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