BVI cease trading order, funds frozen, kicked out of FMRRC, phones go unanswered….
LeapRate Exclusive… It seems as though retail forex broker 4XP is no longer operating, at least as far as money-in money-out is concerned.
LeapRate has been contacted by (former) 4XP clients who have been unable to withdraw funds, a theme which we’ve seen repeated on other websites. Phone calls to the company’s listed contact numbers go unanswered. And a web request for information was replied to by a third party which is giving ‘support to 4XP clients till license issues are resolved’, and only by email.
We believe that most if not all 4XP employees have been laid off.
4XP has distributed a notice to clients (click here to see) claiming that the Company has received an order issued by the BVI FSC, ordering the Company to cease its trading services operation. While 4XP claims it has applied to the FSC against the order, due to the order banks and other financial institutions have frozen the Company’s accounts. As such, 4XP is currently unable to process deposit and withdrawal requests. (Or so it claims).
If this is the end, barring a comeback and/or re-regulation of 4XP, it marks a sad ending for one of the early pioneers in the retail forex sector. Born at a time when many smaller forex brokers were able to operate ‘unregulated’, 4XP never took the steps to rectify things and ‘get regulated’ by a recognized national securities regulator (e.g CySEC, FCA, ASIC, BaFIN…) choosing instead to remain ‘in the shadows’. 4XP did get a ‘Certificate’ from Russia based independent ‘regulator’ FMRRC, the Financial Market Relations Regulation Center, but even that was revoked back in October due to “poor provision of its brokerage services and improper performance of its obligations”, according to the FMRRC.
In early October we reported that Cyprus’ CySEC issued a warning to clients about 4XP. We wondered at the time why they would do so, since 4XP never claimed to be based or regulated in Cyprus. We posited that perhaps it was payback for 4XP running ads last spring during the Cyprus bank crisis claiming ‘Your Money is Safe With Us – We’re Not in Cyprus’. Well not long after it seems that client money wasn’t so safe with 4XP, while as far as we can tell Cyprus forex brokers came out unscathed from that episode. As they say in the theater world, irony can be ironic.
As far as those 4XP clients who have contacted us, we are afraid that you are unlikely to see your money back soon, if ever. The lesson? Always trade with a broker regulated by a recognized national regulator, which typically have customer fund protection plans in place.
We will bring you more on this story as it unfolds.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.