Monex Group Japan sees lowest forex volumes of the year in October, at $22 billion LeapRate

November 06, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Monex Group Japan sees lowest forex volumes of the year in October, at $22 billion

After revenues drop 27% in Q3 at Monex, things are even slower in October. Monex Group of Japan, a mid-size Japanese forex broker which also owns TradeStation and IBFX in the US, reported October average daily forex trading volumes of ¥99.856 billion, down 25% from September. The ¥99.856 billion figure translates into total monthly volumes of $22…

November 05, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Forex brokers begin to launch 'Trade Twitter' campaigns

AvaTrade offering free Twitter shares, IG pushes Twitter trading The buzz surrounding Twitter’s IPO is helping some forex brokers break new ground in their marketing campaigns. Dublin based AvaTrade is running a 25 Free Twitter Shares campaign, offering new traders who register for an account a what essentially equates to a free 50 USD/EUR sign up bonus.…

November 05, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Big banks may face a flood of lawsuits for 4 pm FX fix manipulation

After reporting its Q3 interim management statement, HSBC joins the ranks of alleged FX manipulators. In a fresh batch of events, it seems that major bank troubles related to the 4pm fix manipulation investigation are just about to start. As we have reported during the past couple of weeks, major banks around the globe are being investigated…

November 05, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

GMO Click October forex volume dip below $600 billion for first time in 2013

October volume metrics of $597 billion at Japan's largest retail forex broker are down 6% from September. Japanese retail forex traders' enthusiastic return to trading in 2013 seems to have waned somewhat in the second half of the year... GMO Click, Japan's largest retail forex broker, has reported October trading volumes of ¥59.1 trillion, or about…

November 05, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Cyprus advisor Map S.Platis consulted on 7 of 12 CySEC CIF licenses granted in Q3

As we previously reported, Binary Options and Forex brokers continue to flock to Cyprus. The EU-Cyprus bailout crisis and subsequent bank account 'haircut' which occurred this spring has not dampened traders' enthusiasm for engaging with Cyprus-based brokerages. And as such we continue to see a number of startup (and existing) binary options and forex brokers…

November 05, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Swissquote acquisition of MIG Bank – $70 million

MIG Bank brand will disappear, as Swissquote (SWX:SQN) Q3 report provides more insight into the acquisition of its Swiss rival. Leading Swiss online broker Swissquote has reported its Q3 financials, which showed a relatively slow but profitable Q3 (more on that later). However the interesting part of the report shed more light on Swissquote's acquisition of…

November 04, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Saxo Bank October forex volumes creep up 8% to $238 billion

...but remain well below first half of the year metrics. We asked last month 'What is wrong with Saxo Bank' when the Denmark-based retail forex broker reported its fifth consecutive month of declining volumes, at $220 billion. Well things improved somewhat in October, but not that much. Saxo Bank October forex volumes came in at…

November 04, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Ouch! CME Group and EBS see lowest FX volume metrics in years in October

Government shutdown leads to slow institutional trading month. Forex ECN EBS and derivatives marketplace CME Group each released October volume figures today, and they were scary low (from their perspective, of course). CME Group FX futures volumes decreased by 22% from September, and 9% from last year October, averaging 644,000 contracts per day --…

November 04, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Bitcoin prices continue to rise, approaching April bubble levels

Nevada based company Robocoin has installed its first Bitcoin ATM machine in Vancouver. Prices for the digital currency Bitcoin keep on steadily rising, as it did not seem to lose its luster after the Silk Road debacle and kept marking new recent highs at the end of October helped in part by a Chinese major…

November 04, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Twitter greymarket valuation and volumes rise as IPO pricing nears

Twitter is expected to price its IPO later this week, greymarket pegs $22-$23 billion valuation. After much anticipation, social networking icon Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) is finally expected to price its IPO later this week (November 7), barring any last minute change in plans. And while the latest version of Twitter's IPO prospectus still shows a $10-$11…