Following the formal announcement yesterday of FXCM's takeover of ODL I've been chatting to both companies about what to expect from the new larger group, which must now be vying for the position of largest retail forex broker on the planet. As we pointed out previously, the enlarged FXCM is still a long way from being the largest retail broker in the world per se, but the likes of Interactive Brokers deal in an awful lot more than just spot forex.
Filed under Brokers by 
Last night The Daily Telegraph reported that British forex broker ODL Group Ltd. has "agreed on terms to be acquired" by FXCM Holdings LLC. It looks as though the new brand of the combined organization in Europe is going to be "ODL Powered by FXCM – Bigger, Better, Stronger"
Filed under Brokers by
Recently FXCM UK started allowing users of their proprietary Trading Station II platform to trade contracts for difference (CFDs) in a range of non forex instruments. Maybe they should change their name to CFDFXCM? The now misleading name aside, this allowed UK customers of FXCM to start trading gold, silver, oil and a range of stock indices from around the world.
More on FXCM Introduce Spread Betting on Indices, Metals and Oil
Filed under Brokers by
In response to the proposed legislation to reduce forex leverage to 10 to 1, beleaguered US brokers have banded together to form the Forex Dealers Coalition to fight a common enemy; the CFTC! The Coalition have just launched their website, which urges their readers to:
Filed under Brokers by
You are probably aware by now that the latest regulatory changes proposed by the CFTC, and in particular the reduction of retail forex leverage to 10 to 1, have caused a lot of consternation in the forex industry, to say the least! I anticipate that one side effect of the new rule will be that even more money will very soon be winging it's way from the United States over the Atlantic to the United Kingdom. If you are, or hope soon to be, a profitable forex trader then you really do need to start considering whether to send your hard earned moolah in this direction too.
Filed under Brokers by
Here at the Trading Gurus we are constantly monitoring the quotes from a wide range of brokers. Yesterday alarm bells started ringing to tell us that the spreads on one of our MetaTrader 4 demo accounts at Alpari UK had suddenly reduced to previously unheard of levels. Spreads as low as 0.4 pips on GBP/USD for example, and once (briefly!) even zero on EUR/USD.
Filed under Brokers by
Last week Swiss forex broker Dukascopy announced that they are reducing the minimum lot size for their ECN retail accounts. According to the news section of their website:
Dukascopy (Suisse) SA announces the reduction of minimal lot size. Starting from 8th of January 2010, traders can use mini lots from 0.001 equal to 1000 units of a primary currency amount.
Filed under Brokers by
London Capital Group Holdings plc are behind a considerable number of UK spread betting brokers, including Capital Spreads, ProSpreads, Dealing Desk and even Saxo Bank Financial Spreads. At the beginning of this week they issued their third profit warning. According to the Financial Times:
Filed under Brokers by
As we reported back at the beginning of August forex broker GFT published on their website a document entitled "Get the Facts" which pointed out that their DealBook platform didn't require changing to comply with the recently introduced NFA hedging and FIFO rules. Amongst other things they stated then that:
Filed under Brokers by
Following on from its "no hedging" and first-in first-out rule changes, the National Futures Association in the United States will shortly impose further restrictions on the activities of its Forex Dealer Members (FDMs). In notice Notice I-09-18 dated September 24, 2009 the NFA informed brokers that:
Filed under Brokers by
