GAIN Capital have just announced in a press release that:
It has reached an agreement to acquire the US-based retail forex business of GFT Forex ("GFT"), pending regulatory approval. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Filed under Brokers by 
Fresh from prosecuting and fining a range of foreign exchange brokers the CFTC have now started to fry some bigger fish. Referring to a by now familiar misuse of supposedly segregated funds, and using a by now familiar form of words, they just announced that they have:
Filed under Regulation by
We've previously discussed a variety of academic and political views on the costs and/or benefits of high frequency trading here on the Trading Gurus blog. If that type of thing is of interest to you as well then you might want to wander over to The Economist, where a "virtual debate" is currently taking place on the topic of "This house believes that high-frequency trading contributes to the overall quality of markets".
Filed under Regulation by
We reported at the beginning of November on the abrupt downfall of Jon Corzine. If you recall Mr. Corzine is an ex "Democratic" governor and senator, and now ex CEO of MF Global Inc. as well as an ex CEO of Goldman Sachs. He has just presided over the seventh largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, one of the regulators supposedly keeping an eye on dodgy dealings on Wall Street on behalf of U.S. taxpayers, has released a long statement about the affair. Amongst other things CFTC Commisioner Scott D. O’Malia has this to say:
More on The CFTC Finally Realize That MF Global "Has Shaken Public Confidence"!
Filed under Regulation by
In a press release yesterday Saxo Bank announced that their ForexTrading.com web site not only provides some forex trading education. It now also allows you to trade spot forex and CFDs:
Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, today announced the launch of ForexTrading.com which will offer retail investors a select range of FX crosses and CFDs with variable spreads – as low as 0.8 pips.
Those spreads are not only variable, they are also significantly smaller than the spreads available to Saxo's existing retail clients through the SaxoTrader and WebTrader platforms. Here's a quick comparison between two demo accounts, with the new ForexTrading.com first:
More on Saxo Bank Relaunch ForexTrading.com as a Retail Forex Broker
Filed under Brokers by
MSN Trader is now live! According to the web site it's "The Investor Platform of the Future". Despite the slightly confusing initial publicity, from 12:00 GMT today there have been over 160 currency pairs available for trading on MSN Trader, as long as you are a UK resident.
Filed under Brokers by
According to Computer Weekly Microsoft will be launching MSN Trader for the benefit of retail traders here in the UK on Wednesday, pasting a white label version of Saxo Bank's WebTrader platform into MSN Money:
More on Microsoft Enters Retail Forex. Launches MSN Trader with Saxo Bank
Filed under Brokers by
The National Futures Association has just issued additional guidance to it's members about the CFTC's Final Forex Regulations. In its latest notice to members the NFA says that:
NFA staff has received a number of inquiries from Members seeking further guidance and clarification on certain requirements. Based on further consultation with CFTC staff on Friday, October 8th, this Notice provides additional guidance on the following areas:
Filed under Regulation by
The CFTC releases details of actions it has taken against a variety of miscreants in the retail forex industry on a fairly regular basis. They have just released another one, which caught my eye because the sums of money involved are somewhat larger than usual, and also somewhat unusually:
Filed under Regulation by
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced earlier in the summer that following the expiry of the September 2010 contracts, e-micro currency futures contracts would change to being physically delivered:
CME FX will be migrating the E-micro Forex futures contracts from being cash settled to physically delivered. The December contract will be listed for trading on Sunday, July 25 (trade date Monday, July 26). This will enable active traders to carry larger positions in the E-micros and easily offset them with our standard size FX contracts – potentially generating more liquidity and tighter spreads in the E-micro Forex futures contracts.
Most of those September contracts expire today (USD/CAD does so tomorrow), and so from now on all e-micro currency futures contracts will involve physical delivery instead of cash settlement. CME explain the difference between cash settlement and physical delivery as follows:
More on CME E-micro Currency Futures Now Physically Delivered
Filed under Futures by
Recent Comments