April 23, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

LeapRate Retail FX Volume Index retreats 5% in March

FX trading volumes still strong in March, but take a bit of a breather after a rapid start to the year. LeapRate's Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, fell back somewhat to $196 billion per day in March, down 5% from February's record $206 billion. The drop was not unexpected, following a very hot start to…

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April 22, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Saxo MT4 joins Leverate's FXPN affiliate network

FXPN provides affiliate marketers with tools, across a variety of brokers. Leverate's FXPN affiliate marketer network has added Saxo Capital Markets -- Saxo Bank's Cyprus based MT4 broker, formerly known as ForexTrading.com -- to its list of brokers supporting FXPN. FXPN (FX Partners Network) gives affiliates such as IBs a wide variety of brands to promote using…

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April 22, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

AvaTrade brand to replace AvaFX

Leading Ireland-based FX broker undergoes major rebranding as it branches out from FX. AvaFX, a member of LeapRate's Approved List of global regulated FX brokers, has announced a major rebranding, and will now operate as AvaTrade. The rebranding includes a new website at www.avatrade.com. AvaTrade also released its trading volumes for the year 2012, coming…

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April 22, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

China expected to further relax Yuan currency trading rules

Expansion of Yuan trading range band should increase Yuan volatility, and bring out more Chinese retail FX traders. China is a hot and much-sought after market for retail FX brokers (part of the reason we posited for the FXCM-Gain acquisition) -- and it is likely to heat up even more. Bloomberg News has reported, quoting UBS…

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April 22, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Cyprus details how FX brokers can avoid the 'haircut'

CySEC details disclosure rules required to prove funds in segregated bank accounts in fact belong to individual investors. As we reported earlier, the Central Bank of Cyprus has agreed to NOT apply the dreaded 'haircut' to bank balances above €100,000 at Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus, for bank accounts where the ultimate beneficiaries are smaller…

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April 19, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Gold prices fall but volumes blast off setting records at the CME

CME Group reports Gold Options and Gold Futures volumes annihilated all previous records on Monday. As we first reported earlier this week, Monday was one of the best-ever days for Retail FX brokers, as Gold's plunge from the $1500s to the $1300s precipitated general volatility in all financial markets. Well, it seems that data from…

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April 19, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

LeapRate FX Fraud Watch – InovaTrade and Michael Alcocer

CFTC fines Alcocer and InovaTrade more than $38 million and permanently bans them. The CFTC has received a federal court order requiring Michael Alcocer and his company InovaTrade to pay a fine of more than $38 million. Alcocer (as well as his company) was also permanently banned from trading or registration with the CFTC. Not much is…

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April 18, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

City Index Australia required to have independent expert 'babysit' and report to ASIC

Follows ASIC review of City Index Australia involving weaknesses in handling client money. Australia's financial regulator ASIC has announced that it is requiring City Index Australia to appoint an independent expert to review its business and develop a plan to rectify certain deficiencies. The independent expert will report regularly directly to ASIC for the next 18…

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April 18, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Tradition's ParFX goes live as a new Forex ECN

First major (planned) competitor to FXall, EBS, Hotspot FX et al to actually launch. France's Tradition S.A. today announced the formal launch of ParFX, its new spot FX ECN. The launch follows a period of testing with many global banks and independent software vendors. The platform is now open to all banks able to settle via…

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