October 04, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

ICAP EBS September forex volume metrics up 3%

... however that was off a weak August base. Year-over-year, EBS volumes are down 27%. Is this an indication of forex industry weakness during September, or indicative of problems specifically at ICAP and its EBS forex ECN unit? Our take? Probably a little bit of both. After August EBS volumes were at their lowest levels…

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October 04, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Monex Group Japan September forex volumes up 18% to $26 billion

Monex volume metrics still well below January-June levels, but more than double last year. Monex Group of Japan, a mid-size Japanese forex broker which also owns TradeStation and IBFX in the US, reported September forex trading volumes which rose nicely from slower summer levels, but which were still well below what Monex saw during a…

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October 03, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Binary options and Forex brokers continue to flock to Cyprus

CySEC issues 10 new CIF licenses during Q3, most all to binary and forex brokers. As we've written before, the EU-Cyprus bailout crisis and subsequent bank account 'haircut' which occurred this spring has not dampened traders' enthusiasm for engaging with Cyprus-based brokerages. And as such we continue to see a number of startup (and existing)…

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October 03, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

AxiTrader appoints new CEO, Alex Mackinnon

Australia's leading retail forex broker hires ex-ODL and FCStone exec to replace Quinn Perrott. LeapRate Exclusive... LeapRate has learned that AxiTrader, the largest retail forex brokerage in Australia, has gone outside the ranks and hired Alex Mackinnon as its new CEO (or in Australia-speak, its new Managing Director). Mackinnon replaces Quinn Perrott, who remains with…

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October 02, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

CME Group September FX volumes up 11% from August

... although CME's volume metrics remain well below last year (-20%). CME Group, which runs the world's largest derivatives marketplace, announced that September FX futures volumes increased by 11% from August, averaging 825,000 contracts per day.On a year-to-year comparison, however, CME is running about 20% behind last year, when last September volumes topped 1 million contracts…

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October 02, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

CySEC warns investors about Forex Place (4XP)

Is this payback for 4XP running "We're not in Cyprus" ads during the EU-Cyprus bailout crisis? Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has sent out a release warning investors against Forex Place Ltd (also known in the industry as 4XP), and their website www.4xp.com, stating that they are not and have never been licensed by CySEC. A…

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October 02, 2013 BY Gerald Segal

Australia's Yieldbroker given one month exception from SEF requirements

CFTC gives Yieldbroker until November 1 to finalize its SEF application. While US financial regulators promised that they were going to be completely rigid and strict with the planned implementation of Dodd-Frank Act requirements such as that of SEFs, the exceptions keep coming. First, we learned that the CFTC is delaying enforcement of many of…

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