Earlier this week Robert Lande, chief financial officer of US broker FXCM Inc, was interviewed on Bloomberg about the prospects for FXCM following their recent IPO. Robert also talked about the prospects for retail forex in general. Here's that interview:
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Now that yesterday's excitement has died down a bit I had a chance this morning to chat to LMAX in greater detail about their new retail trading platform, recently christened LMAX Trader.
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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:
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At long last the CFTC have revealed what changes they have in store for US retail forex traders. Their new regulations will come into effect on October 18th, and according to CFTC chairman Gary Gensler they:
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Is sounds as though some US congressmen have been reading some of the thousands of complaints the CFTC has received about its proposals to reduce leverage on spot forex from 100 to 1 down to 10 to 1.
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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:
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It has been brought to our attention that the original link we published to the page on the CFTC website that allowed you to download the 193 page document detailing its newly released proposals to limit leverage in the retail forex industry in the United States to 10 to 1 now simply says:
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The CFTC has now published details of how to comment on its new ten to one leverage proposals for retail forex accounts. If you click the link at the bottom of that page you can also read the initial comments that the CFTC has received.
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When I started writing this blog in the Spring of 2009 I put forward the proposition that thanks to the advent of the internet and online retail forex brokers it had become possible for anyone possessing an entrepreneurial spirit, and prepared to put in the required effort over a number of years, to learn how to turn $1000 that they were willing and able to lose into a business that could support their family and themselves. I didn't say it was easy, but I did suggest it was possible. All that is about to change. It never was easy, and it looks like it's going to get ten times more difficult, for US citizens at least.
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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:
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