Multi-bank multi-asset platform provider 360T looks to expand its institutional business in the US. The CFTC has granted its most recent SEF license to Frankfurt-based trading platform company 360 Trading Networks (known better in the industry as 360T). This is a little different than most of the other SEF application approvals made so far --…
Read moreFaros clients are mainly hedge funds, institutional money managers, corporations, and family offices. Just a few days after acquiring Alpari US's retail assets, global forex leader FXCM has made an acquisition on the institutional side of its business, buying Faros Trading. Faros is a leader in FX intelligence, market coverage, and execution services to the institutional foreign…
Read moreIG joins ETX Capital in making a greymarket in Twitter shares. LeapRate Exclusive... LeapRate has learned that UK spreadbetting leader IG.com has quietly launched greymarket trading in shares of Twitter. Those traders who do not want to wait for Twitter's actual IPO, recently announced and planned for later in Q4, can already take a position…
Read moreVery little money changed hands, for FXCM to acquire Alpari US's $10 million in client assets. As we predicted would happen, all but the largest US retail forex brokers are one by one deciding to exit the US market, and focus their efforts elsewhere. The problem has nothing to do with the true dynamics of…
Read moreForex broker focused on Arab world seems to have scaled back most of its operations since early summer. Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has issued a warning that it has withdrawn the CIF license of Sama Brokers. Sama is a Limassol-based MT4 forex broker, which has traditionally focused on serving the Middle East and Arabic speaking…
Read moreWhat is an SEF exactly? The CFTC has granted two more (temporary) SEF licenses, this time to trueEX and ICE IntercontinentalExchange. trueEX is an interbank exchange for interest rate swaps. And ICE is, of course, the large publicly traded (NYSE:ICE) US commodities exchange, which operates regulated exchanges and clearing houses for energy, agricultural, credit, currency, emissions,…
Read moreCySEC remains one of the few regulators to license binary options brokers. LeapRate Exclusive... LeapRate has learned that Cyprus-based binary options broker Cedar Finance has been granted a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license to binary options broker Cedar Finance. The license was actually issued to Cedar Finance's parent company T.B.S.F. Best Strategy Finance Ltd. Cedar Finance…
Read moreMost major Swaps industry participants have received, or at least applied for, SEF designation. The CFTC has granted three more SEF licenses, this time to Tera Group's TeraExchange, BGC Partners and Javelin Capital Markets. They now join Bloomberg, Tradeweb, State Street, GFI, and MarketAxess, with applications still in process for industry giants CME Group and Thomson…
Read moreUnclear what the CySEC warning against TraderXP. It is interesting comparing the warnings and fines issued by regulators such as the CFTC in the US, and CySEC in Cyprus. The CFTC is always very precise and detailed when it issues a warning, specifying what exactly happened (or is alleged to have happened). CySEC's pronouncements, however,…
Read moreLocal banks asked to close credit card or bank accounts of customers who deposit to foreign retail FX brokers. LeapRate has learned that India's central bank the Reserve Bank of India (or 'RBI') has sent a circular to banks and credit card issuers throughout the country, demanding that they crack down on Indian nationals who…
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