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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January 31, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

CySEC recalls UFX Markets letter

Do regulators have to also pay fines themselves for making administrative errors? In a fairly quick and somewhat bizarre about-face to the story we broke earlier today (that CySEC and UFX Markets had "compromised on" an €100,000 fine for UFX Markets' regulated parent company Reliantco, for undisclosed actions), CySEC has now issued a new letter recalling…

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January 31, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

CySEC fines UFX Markets €100,000

Although the fine remains shrouded in mystery as to what UFX was actually charged with doing. Cyprus' financial regulator CySEC disclosed today it had fined UFX Markets (or more specifically, its regulated parent holding company Reliantco Investments Ltd) the sum of €100,000, The fine followed a CySEC investigation "for reasonable suspicion of committing possible violations" of Cyprus'…

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January 31, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Fallout from the NFA's credit card ban

NFA's plan to ban credit card or PayPal-type deposits to retail Forex and futures accounts looks likely to go ahead. Our article posted last week breaking the news that the NFA plans to ban the use of credit cards and "alternative funding mechanisms" such as PayPal to fund retail customer accounts has generated a tremendous…

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January 30, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

ICAP under investigation by FSA for Libor setting

ICAP being investigated for possible role in helping banks in their efforts to rig interest rates. Interbroker dealer ICAP, which also operates EBS, one of the leading Forex ECNs, acknowledged that it has been asked to provide information to regulators regarding the setting of Libor, and that one of its subsidiaries is the subject of an…

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January 25, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Hotspot FX volumes down 9% in December

Will Hotspot FX soon have a new owner? Hotspot FX reported that volumes in its Forex ECN system fell in December to average $19.6 billion daily, down 9% from November's $21.6 billion -- but up 2% from last-year December's $19.2 billion. The numbers basically match what we already reported for the overall FX industry, with our Retail…

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