Volatility and activist central banks have attracted institutions to FX trading in 2013. Business news outlet CNBC ran an interesting piece, on why mainstream institutional traders are taking up active currency trading in 2013. It seems as though the increased volatility which has brought back retail traders to FX trading -- with January being one…
Read moreAnd it does appear that Alpari Russia does more than half the Group's volumes. As we estimated in our post last week once we saw Alpari Russia volume figures for January, the Alpari Group confirmed that it did globally, in total, more than $200 billion in volume for the month (more than $210 billion actually,…
Read moreThe competitors in the Forex ECN business will jointly provide FX rate fixings in major currencies. In what seems like a move meant to fend off upstart bank-backed competitors such as ParFX and FastMatch, Thomson Reuters and ICAP's EBS unit have announced that they will jointly release 30-minute FX rate fixings. Currently, Thomson Reuters and…
Read moreChanges within the Alpari Group are bearing fruit. Alpari Russia has reported that Jaunary FX trading volumes came in at a record $110 billion, which the company attributed to "a well-thought-out marketing strategy, ... new technological solutions ... and a favorable situation in the market." Based on the figures reported, we estimate that Alpari has…
Read moreFX Volumes make a big comeback in January, led by Japan, as a global "risk-on" trade brings back volatility. LeapRate's Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, spiked up 18% in January from December levels to $201 billion per day. January's index figure was the highest we've seen since August 2011, and represented one of the busiest…
Read moreCySEC issues press release asserting its "authority to reach settlements". Well it seems as if we've ruffled some feathers at Cyprus' financial regulator CySEC. In an apparent response to our article Wednesday in which we claimed that CySEC is shaking down a number of FX brokers, CySEC issued a press release yesterday (full wording included below,…
Read moreGood timing for Knight Capital's soon-to-be new owners, who will soon likely put Hotspot FX on the sale block. Hotspot FX reported that volumes in its Forex ECN system rose by 38% in January over December levels, to average $27.1 billion daily. January 2013 was also 10% above January 2012's averages. The numbers from Hotspot…
Read moreIntegral reveals what management of Retail FX brokers are really thinking. Broker solutions provider Integral has released what's becoming an annual survey of management of Retail FX brokers around the world. The survey asks senior decision makers at retail brokers what they thought their biggest opportunities and challenges would be in the new year. This…
Read moreCySEC threatening FX brokers if they don't settle quietly and pay large fines. LeapRate Exclusive -- Some very strange pronouncements have been coming lately from Cyprus' financial regulator CySEC relating to FX brokers. For example yesterday we see CySEC announce a €50,000 fine against eToro, with no real explanation given. (The press release mentioned a very vague…
Read moreCantor Fitzgerald, Gain Capital (Forex.com), and City Index have made "preliminary approaches" to LCG. Well, looks like we were right. After we reported this morning that the recent rise in London Capital Group's share price is likely attributable to M&A activity surrounding the company, London Capital Group itself confirmed in a press release just moments…
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