Hurricane Sandy causing all sorts of capital markets problems... As we wrote earlier was likely to happen, Gain Capital (Forex.com) formally announced that it will not be releasing its Q3 results today (Tues Oct 30), but rather will come out with Q3 numbers after close of the markets on Thursday (Nov 1). Gain Capital, at…
Read moreFXCM lines down; will Gain report Q3? NYSE still closed.... First of all, we'd like to take this opportunity to wish our best to all those in Sandy's path, in the US northeast and in Canada. Hope you are staying safe. While limited geographically, the storm is having worldwide implications given (especially) the New York…
Read morePlus500 failed to provide accurate transaction reports to the FSA. CFD broker Plus500 was fined £205,128 for failing to provide accurate and timely transaction reports to the FSA in respect of all the reportable transactions they carried out, in the 2010-11 time period. The fine was actually reduced by 30%, from nearly £300,000, as Plus500…
Read moreHas global fiscal stimulus killed the 'carry trade'? Interesting article posted on Bloomberg (with thanks to CMAP's commentary section for bringing it to our attention), positing that central banks' stimulus has effectively killed the 'carry trade' in FX, whereby lower yielding currencies are borrowed to invest in higher yielding ones -- which normally leading to…
Read moreCFTC unveils details of new customer protection rules. As we reported was likely to happen back in July, U.S. financial regulator CFTC has published its detailed suggestions for enhancing customer protections at Futures Commission Merchants ("FCMs"), which include FX brokerage firms in the U.S. such as FXCM. Among the CFTC's proposals are included: daily reporting of…
Read morecTrader receives stringent certification for information security controls. Spotware, developer of the Forex ECN/agency platform cTrader (employed by FxPro and others), announced today that they have been awarded ISO-27001 certification following a one-year process under the guidance of global accounting firm Deloitte. For the full press release from Spotware click here. For more on the…
Read moreTraders return after the summer, but levels still lower than last year. LeapRate's Retail FX Volume Index, sponsored by Leverate, rose by 7% in September to $179 billion per day. While a healthy monthly increase, retail FX trading levels were coming off a low base due to consecutive 10.5% and 5% decreases in the index…
Read moreFirm volumes overall recover nicely following August "glitch". Brokerage firm Knight Capital -- which famously nearly went under in early August after a trading glitch in its equities business caused a $400 million loss -- announced its volumes for September, and in most key categories things seem to have stabilized. In its Forex ECN unit…
Read moreRetail picks up in Sept for FXCM, but not Institutional. Leading retail FX firm FXCM, the world's largest online FX broker, announced its September volumes, with retail volumes coming in at $304 billion for the month, and institutional at $46 billion. Comparatively (see chart below), retail volumes were up 12% as compared with August, but institutional volumes…
Read moreBinary Options market heating up, as brokers look to add new products. Binary options, digital options and financial spreadbetting have been around for a long time. However most Forex brokerage firms have avoided offering such trading to their clients, as win-it-all-or-lose-it-all trading has been (correctly) viewed as closer to gambling than it is to trading…
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