February 11, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

MarkitSERV and Misys to offer joint FX clearing

Misys CMS customers to use MarkitSERV's SWIFT interface. MarkitSERV, which provides electronic trade processing services, and financial software company Misys announced a joint effort to provide enhanced FX clearing capabilities. The partnership is driven by new regulations requiring central clearing included in Dodd-Frank -- other jurisdictions are also expected to make it mandatory to clear FX. The partnership will…

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February 08, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

FXall and Thomson Reuters report growth in January volumes

January was a very strong month across the board in the FX world. After a 2012 which many FX brokers want to forget, as low market volatility kept trading volumes low, 2013 has clearly begun with a bang. After healthy January volume reports from Forex ECN ICAP EBS and from the CME Group (FX futures)…

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February 07, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

AxiTrader launches in the U.S.

Going against the trend, Australia's AxiTrader enters the U.S. Retail FX market. At a time when we are seeing a number of foreign FX brokerages abandon the heavily-regulated U.S. market (e.g. Forex Club), and even U.S.-based firms close shop domestically to focus on foreign markets (e.g. GFT), along comes AxiTrader going the other way. Australia's…

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February 07, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Australia minimum capital for FX brokers rises to AUD$500K

Australia's ASIC requiring more capital, but only for market makers. Australia's financial regulator ASIC has put into effect (as of January 31, 2013) its new minimum capital requirements for retail brokers, including FX firms. Minimum capital is now AUD$ 500,000 (about USD$ 515,000), up ten-fold from just AUD$ 50,000, which was the lowest minimum capital…

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February 07, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

IG Group and ICAP see shares soar

Investors seem to be betting that increased trading volumes are here to stay. With no other news out there as the catalyst, it seems as if ICAP's healthy January trading volumes reported earlier this week have triggered a buying frenzy of both its shares, and those of leading UK spreadbetting firm IG Group. Over the…

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February 06, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

GMO Click Japan FX volumes soar to set records in January

Assuming data is to be believed, GMO Click did $756 billion of spot FX volume in January. We have often been (and remain) somewhat skeptical of volume and related data we see coming out of Japan. However, even if somewhat exaggerated, GMO Click's January is one for the books. The company (which is publicly traded…

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February 06, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

CorrSight and Knowsis launch new FX apps on tradable

Includes the first Forex-focused real-time Social Sentiment Indicator. Two leading financial products companies have announced that they're joining the list of those developing FX apps for tradable's trading app platform. After Dow Jones announced last month the launch of an FX Select news app on tradable's app store, we now see: CorrSight, a leading provider of…

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February 05, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

CFTC sues Australia's Halifax Investment Services

Claims Halifax has taken U.S. retail FX traders – the CFTC wants penalties, and wants trades undone. The CFTC has filed a complaint (in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois) against Australia's Halifax Investment Services, claiming that the Australian broker has solicited U.S. retail FX clients, and has taken on U.S. clients.  The CFTC wants monetary…

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February 05, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

January FX volumes look robust

ICAP EBS volumes soar 22%; CME Group's FX futures volumes up 21%. Two leading FX aggregators, ICAP's EBS division (spot FX ECN) and the CME Group (FX futures), reported very healthy January trading volumes. CME Group's FX futures volumes were up by 21% over last January (but just 9% over a surprisingly strong December) to average…

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February 01, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Tradition prepares for launch of Forex ECN, now called ParFX

Adds Mitsubishi UFJ and Nomura as liquidity banks. France's Tradition S.A. announced that two leading Japanese banking groups, Mitsubishi UFJ and Nomura, are joining nine other banks (Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, SEB, Standard Chartered, State Street and UBS) in backing Tradition's yet-to-be-launched spot Forex ECN, to be called ParFX. Tradition had previously…

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