Last week on LeapRate, we featured an interview with powerhouse Forex broker OANDA founder and former Chairman Richard Olsen as he discussed his new company Lykke – and how it will use Bitcoin technology to change the way FX is traded. Also featured for those curious and keen on the Russian FX market – an op-ed which asks “What will change?” now that the Russian Forex law has come into force on the first day of October 2015.
Volumes for September also started to roll in with BATS Hotspot ECN seeing a drop off of 7.8% from August’s figures. Moreover, Tokyo Financial Exchange volume of Exchange FX Margin contracts for September was 9.8% lower than in August 2015. Generally, September has shown a mixed bag of results from August, which was a very solid month across-the-board for Forex volumes…Two exceptions being CME Group which saw FX volumes up 6.4% MoM and Moscow Exchange which saw a a 9.2% rise MoM, is more trading from retailers moving into futures?
More September volume reports are still to come, you can see all released reports so far in the rundown below. With summer officially over, stay tuned to LeapRate as Fall kicks into high gear and markets head into Q4.
Be sure to check out last week’s featured stories as well as a complete run down of the week below:
Forex Industry Rundown for the Week of September 28th, 2015
Features
Richard Olsen of OANDA fame on his new startup Lykke – LeapRate Interview
Op Ed: How will Russia’s Forex industry change from October 1, 2015?
Broker Updates
Monex launches tradable apps for iOS, Android devices
Interactive Brokers gives TWS users chance to invest with Portfolio Builder
eToro extends unleveraged trading to indices
DirectFX launches Binary Options on MT4
RoboForex releases updated WebTrader with new indicators, German language support
Z.com enhances client onboarding services via AU10TIX partnership
Arab market focused retail FX broker One Financial Markets expands London presence
Divisa Capital buys prime broker FinLab in Armenia, eyes Eurasian expansion
FXCM comments on incident involving unauthorized access to customer information
OANDA admits to platform outage caused by ‘internal network issue’
PrivateFX emerges, engulfing clients of notorious Forex Trend
Online trading hacks continue, Scottrade admits to client info breach
Service Provider/Vendor News
FXStreet adds signal-based news feed based on Qubitia Solutions’ Qcaid platform
Myfxbook launches first ever live account trading contest sponsored by Fidelis Capital Markets
Latest MT4 build enables direct payments for virtual hosting, signals
Emerging markets platform R5FX goes live with LATAM Forex trading
Institutional Offerings/Services
Fidessa introduces new Sentinel Trading Compliance system
TFX extends Euroyen futures discount program till March 2016
CBOE Holdings to add new options on FTSE Russell Indexes
Institutional FX trading mostly algo-based following 4pm fix scandal investigation – WSJ
Interactive Data introduces Liquidity Indicators Service
Northern Trust launches CompleteFX for investment managers
Financials
FX broker Forex-Market halts operations, cites Swiss franc losses
Caribbean Association of Banks endorses SWIFT’s KYC Registry
First Derivatives has 15,600 new ordinary shares admitted to AIM
BGC Partners provides update on Q3 2015 financial forecast
IG Group’s CFO Christopher Hill takes stake in company to 48,395 ordinary shares
FXCM announces effectiveness of reverse stock split
London Capital Group finalises acquisition of Surecom from Spotware
TRADOLOGIC reports strong performance in Q3 of 2015
Markit finalizes acquisition of CoreOne Technologies
FXCM shares drop 8% on first day after reverse split (and account hack)
Volumes
Hotspot sees 7.8% MoM drop in Forex volumes in September 2015
TFX registers 9.8% MoM drop in Forex volumes in September 2015
Interactive Brokers sees slowdown in trading activity in Sep 2015, DARTs drop 10%
CBOE Holdings’ trading volumes drop 17% MoM in September 2015
EXNESS registers FX volumes of $194.5B in Sep 2015, client accounts rise
Moscow Exchange boasts derivatives market records
Warnings/Fines/Fraud Watch
CySEC warns of binary options broker 500option (aka Fundsaver Services)
Swiss competition watchdog probes seven major banks over metals market manipulation
Spain’s regulator warns against binary options brokers GTOPTIONS, B4OPTION
South Africa’s FSB warns the public against Capital Management Private Wealth
CFTC orders Georgia man to refund monies in fine of over $500K for Forex pool con
CFTC charges Todd Marshall and three companies over illegal, off-exchange precious metals trading
New Zealand’s FMA issues warning against binary options broker Options Rider
British Columbia’s regulator warns against binary options broker OptiCrown
Legal
UAE regulator introduces rules for dormant customer accounts at securities brokers
Optimal Payments’ shareholders approve proposed company name change
Excelsior Markets takes NZ regulator to court over deregistration from FSP list
ESMA issues final technical standards in preparation for MiFID II implementation
CFTC to issue Whistleblower award of approximately $290,000
LFSA Malaysia is gaining its footage in Asia as a leading FX regulatory authority
Dubai regulator stops accepting applications for FX companies’ representative offices
CFTC extends time-limited “No-Action Relief” to Eurex Clearing
ESMA agrees to emergency short selling ban on shares in five Greek banks
Britain’s new Consumer Rights Act sets race for FX rigging class action lawsuits in the UK
New Zealand’s FMA voices concerns over growth in complaints about Forex companies
Executive Moves
ESMA names new chairs of Standing Committees
ADS Securities appoints Dr Ryan Lemand as Head of Managed Solutions and Business Development
Sucden Financial appoints Ayhan Gurcuoglu as Regional Manager for Turkey
ETX Capital replaces its CFO – Andrew Woolley hired from Moneycorp
Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency News
Bitpay releases update to Copay wallet
Coinsetter announces maker-taker pricing with industry’s first full 0.1% trading rebate
Blockchain tech firm BTCS seeks to cut costs via equipment financing deal with CSC
Bitcoin and the Gartner Hype Cycle
Coinbase takes Bitcoin buy/sell functionality to Liechtenstein and Slovenia