Forex Industry News this week at LeapRate was dominated by three main themes: Brexit, Brexit and Brexit. It was a week which will reshape not just the political landscape in Europe, but the financial markets as well, with the FX sector at the head of the pack.
We’re pleased to report that some of our unique coverage of the Brexit vote fallout went viral on social media. For example, our pre-referendum post Traders predict 81% chance of Remain win as markets surprisingly calm on Brexit Day received several thousand Facebook likes.
We’ve listed below some of our more popular and unique post-Brexit coverage articles. But there were actually other things going on in the FX sector this past week. And also, mainly in the UK.
Our most popular guest posts this week were on the topics of The 3 most overlooked pitfalls in Risk Management at Forex Brokers (very timely, given the events of the past few days), and How to choose a Retail Forex broker.
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Some of our most popular, shared and commented-on posts on what was certainly a week to remember at LeapRate included:
Why the oddsmakers were wrong in predicting the #VoteLeave Brexit victory. In predicting the outcome of yesterday’s UK Brexit referendum,the market wasn’t right at all. In fact it was way off. We’re not talking about the polls taken by various media and professional pollsters, most of which did predict a very close vote. Polls are often wrong. What we do mean are the bookmakers and oddsmaker venues where traders and bettors were able to put down real money in betting on the outcome of the Brexit vote. Even as late as the night of the referendum, most oddsmakers were giving 4:1 odds against Leave. IG’s Brexit Barometer based on its political binary market was calling for an 81% chance of a Remain victory. So what went wrong here? And whom do oddsmakers now have as their #1 favourite to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister?
CySEC demands all Forex Brokers report Brexit effects. Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has issued a note to all regulated entities on the island, asking them to report the effect of post-Brexit vote trading. The note, signed by CySEC Chairman Demetra Kalogerou, asks all CIF regulated entities to report the amount of their own funds, and their capital adequacy ratio to CySEC. It appears as if CySEC wants to find out right away if there are any brokers out there with a ‘negative client balances’ problem, as happened to several brokers last year in the aftermath of the Swiss Franc spike.
Fidelity Investments takes big stake in CMC Markets. LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned, via filings made to the London Stock Exchange, that investment and mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments has built up a large position in FCA regulated online brokerage firm CMC Markets Plc. Fidelity’s purchases makes it the second largest shareholder in CMC Markets after controlling shareholder and CEO Peter Cruddas, overtaking longtime investor Goldman Sachs. So how big is Fidelity’s stake in CMC? What is Fidelity’s stake in CMC worth? And why did Fidelity start buying CMC Markets shares recently?
London Capital Group £10 million recapitalization – and what the filing didn’t say. LeapRate once again broke the news earlier today of the proposed recapitalization at FCA regulated online trading firm LCG, which will see CEO Charles-Henri Sabet and his partners inject £10 million into the company. We referenced in our coverage a filing which the company made with the London Stock Exchange giving details of the recap, as well as some insight into what has been happening at LCG the past few months. However there were quite a number of issues the filing did not address – growth strategy, debt relief, platform migration, personnel changes at LCG… So who in senior management has recently left LCG? Where will LCG be looking to spend its new money? (New offices…)