NFA levies $2 million fine against FXCM

FXCM’s inclusion in LeapRate’s Approved List under review

The U.S. National Futures Association (or “NFA”) has issued a $2,000,000 monetary sanction against FXCM. The fine was in settlement of a complaint issued by the NFA’s Business Conduct Committee relating to price slippage, failing to treat all customers equally when giving price adjustments, failing to adequately investigate suspicious activity in several customer accounts, and – together with its principal Dror Niv – failing to supervise.

In addition to the $2 million fine, FXCM must credit the accounts of its customers the amount of slippage which they experienced on their trades from and after June 18, 2008. FXCM estimates these client restitution payments to be about $8 million.

LeapRate has now decided to review FXCM’s inclusion in our Approved List of Forex brokerage firms, due in part to:

  • this fine, one of the largest ever levied against a major Forex firm in this context, although as part of the settlement FXCM neither admitted to nor denied any of the allegations,
  • another $140,000 fine levied against FXCM by the CFTC earlier this month relating to repatriation of accounts held by US residents at FXCM UK, and
  • FXCM’s continued low rankings among US firms in client profitability, as reported by Forex Magnates (by our calculations, just 24% of US clients at FXCM were profitable over the past year, versus a 28% industry average).

A final decision in this regard will be made in the coming weeks.

For further information and original documents please see:
– The NFA’s announcement of the $2 million fine.
– The NFA’s complete text of the Complaint and Decision.
– FXCM’s press release regarding the settlement.

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