NFA has made it impossible for all but largest of online brokers to survive. GFT, one of the five largest US-based retail FX brokerage firms, has decided to close shop in its own home market (as well as in Japan). GFT posted a notice on its home page stating that it had "made a business…
Read moreCompetition for MT4 bridges heats up between market leaders Gold-i, Leverate, BT, CMAP... UK-based GKFX, a relative newcomer to the FX brokerage business, has selected Gold-i's MT4 bridge. An MT4 bridge enables banks and brokers (offering trading on the MT4 or MT5 platforms for clients) to connect MetaTrader to external or internal liquidity providers, such…
Read moreFirst foreign info provider to be allowed to deliver onshore CNY prices. As global interest in China's currency has grown, there has been increasing dialogue about the divergence of China's internal "onshore" Renminbi market (CNY), and the trading of the currency outside China in the "offshore" market (CNH). While the offshore CNH market has grown…
Read moreEither way, likely that Hotspot FX finds a new home. Things sure can move fast on Wall Street. Just several hours after we blogged about (likely) potential bids emerging for the entirety of market-maker Knight Capital -- not just for one of its divisions, which was the topic of a weekend Wall Street Journal article…
Read more266 Saxo Bank employees gathered at 9:30am, told to leave. Managing growth is always difficult, but it is also a lot more enjoyable than managing in a time of austerity. And with a prolonged downturn in Forex trading volumes worldwide, some of the world's leading FX firms are feeling the pinch and need to deal with…
Read moreAcquisition rumors swirl around Knight Capital after weekend WSJ article. The parent company of Forex ECN Hotspot FX, Knight Capital (NYSE: KCG), has seen its shares spike by about 20% the past two trading days, since a Wall Street Journal weekend article stated that Knight was weighing the sale of its main equity market-market business…
Read moreEBS Direct to provide relationship-based, disclosed liquidity. ICAP-EBS, trying to play catch-up to competitors Thomson Reuters and FXall, has announced today the introduction of a new service called EBS Direct, to launch next month. Until now, all of EBS's services have been provided as an anonymous ECN matching platform. EBS claims to already have more…
Read moreInvestment Trends report blames increased regulation. The number of traders in the Singapore FX market has declined this year to 20,000 from 25,000 in 2011, a decrease of 20%, according to a new report by Australia-based financial research firm Investment Trends (to download the report summary click here). Singapore market share: Despite the decrease, Singapore remains…
Read moreGTX to provide technology and liquidity services for ICDX's new currency contracts. U.S. based Forex broker Gain Capital (Forex.com) announced that its institutional arm GTX has signed an agreement with the Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (ICDX), the leading futures exchange in Indonesia, to provide trading technology and liquidity services for ICDX's new currency contracts. ICDX…
Read moreNew management in the UK and the US for Alpari. Retail FX broker Alpari has made some changes in its senior management ranks, as it has seen volumes fall by about 40% in 2012. The major changes include: OUT - David Stuart, COO of Alpari UK in London, has left the company. Trading volumes in…
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