April 11, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

U.S. Retail FX client assets continue to slip in February

Biggest drop was at Interactive Brokers, which dropped 22%. U.S. Retail Forex client asset data for the month of February is now out, and there weren't really any big surprises: Overall, U.S. Retail Forex assets dropped 2% from January to $641.6 million, and are down 15% from last year as the U.S. retail FX sector…

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April 11, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Bitcoin bubble bursts, Bitcoin prices crash back to earth

Bit4X on MetaTrader; Coinsetter raises $500K; but when will the Bitcoin hit the "mainstream" retail FX world? The online virtual currency Bitcoin went on a wild roller coaster ride the past 24 hours, rising to hit a value of $266 then falling to a low of $105, before settling (at the time of this writing)…

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April 10, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Gain Capital adopts 'poison pill' defense against FXCM hostile takeover

The Gain Capital (Forex.com) board puts in place a controversial "Shareholder Rights Plan". Well this certainly didn't take long -- and should confirm to our readers what we wrote yesterday, namely that FXCM-Gain Capital friendly discussions had been going on behind the scenes for quite some time between FXCM and Gain Capital management, before breaking down,…

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April 10, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

CFTC fines Interactive Brokers $225K for segregated client fund failures

Amounts to a small slap on the wrist for Interactive Brokers, but shows the CFTC is cracking down on safety-of-client-fund issues. The CFTC has assessed a $225,000 fine against Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq:IBKR), a leading U.S.-based online brokerage which also is the #5 retail FX brokerage in the U.S. The CFTC cited Interactive Brokers for: failing to…

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April 09, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

LeapRate FX Fraud Watch – Forex Global Solutions, Barry Sendach, and Joshua Kershner

CFTC orders those named to pay $750,000, and imposes permanent trading and registration bans. The CFTC has ordered Barry Sendach of Boca Raton, FL and Joshua Kershner of Boynton Beach, FL, and their Boca Raton-based company Forex Global Solutions to pay a $750,000 fine for fraudulently soliciting customers to trade FX, and for violating CFTC registration requirements.…

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April 09, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Cyprus FX brokers allowed to skirt customer privacy laws

CySEC allows FX brokers to release client names and data to banks, to allow for release of client funds. LeapRate Exclusive... We reported (exclusively) last week that segregated client fund bank accounts held by Cyprus FX brokers at Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus would NOT be subject to the "haircut" (or more correctly, confiscation)…

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April 08, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

FXall and Thomson Reuters post flat/lower volumes in March

...although Thomson Reuters retakes the #1 Forex ECN title back from ICAP EBS. Continuing the mixed-results FX volumes trend for March we've seen so far at the CME Group and at ICAP EBS, Thomson Reuters and its FXall unit each reported ho-hum FX volumes results in March. Thomson Reuters was actually down 4% from February…

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April 08, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Dukascopy signs yet another Japan white label client – AFT FX

Dukascopy's JForex platform becoming more popular for smaller no-dealing-desk brokers. It seems as though Dukascopy is fast becoming a Forex ECN unto itself. After recently announcing white label deals for its JForex platform in Australia (Forex FS) and Turkey (Integral Menkul Değerler), now comes word that Dukascopy has signed a similar deal with Japan's AFT FX,…

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