It was another week of exclusive Forex Industry News stories on LeapRate, as we once again brought to light all of the big industry-changing stories before anyone else.
Change was the order of the week in the Forex sector. LeapRate broke the news of a major restructuring and layoffs at forex platform stalwart Leverate, CySEC’s new directive to ban Broker pay linked to volumes or deposits or client P&L, and longtime FX industry executive Ashraf Ebid resurfacing as CEO of an FCA regulated retail forex brokerage.
Our coverage of course included a lot of Brexit related issues. Most of it, of course, was on Forex brokers limiting leverage and raising margin requirements leading up to this Thursday’s pivotal vote. However not all brokers were going there. One in particular, easyMarkets went out of its way to go against the trend and guarantee 200:1 leverage and stop losses through the Brexit referendum. And FxPro reversed course, restoring allowed leverage back up to 200x (depending on position size) for most Forex pairs including GBP, up from 50x based on an earlier announcement.
Our most popular guest post of the week Top 10 Forex Trading Mistakes was courtesy of Yael Warman, Content Manager at Leverate.
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Some of the most popular, shared and commented-on posts this past week on LeapRate included:
Leverate restructuring amid layoffs and employee reassignments. LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned that trading platform and technologies provider Leverate is undergoing a series of internal changes, including a number of layoffs and reassignment of employees to different roles and departments. How many people have been laid off at Leverate? What has led to the current changes? Is Leverate changing its focus? Get all the details now, only at LeapRate.
FXCM is doing great… and is in big trouble
. Retail forex broker FXCM continues to report some of the highest FX trading volumes in the industry month by month, with May 2016 coming in at $280 billion. It has done so despite FXCM having to jettison some divisions and businesses in order to start paying down its loan from Leucadia, such as FXCM Japan and FXCM Hong Kong. The company has been able to start regrowing its business, with FXCM Q1-2016 Revenues up 9% QoQ to $71.5 million. And FXCM is in big trouble. We explain, and also have an exclusive quote from FXCM CEO Drew Niv on the matter, exclusively now at LeapRate.
CySEC warns on linking Broker pay to volumes, deposits or client P&L. Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has issued a directive regarding remuneration policies and practices at CIF licensed companies, which include the many regulated retail forex and binary options brokers on the island. While not directing an outright ban on such practices, CySEC stated that certain types of remuneration seem to create a conflict of interest with clients, and as such are not in line with the conduct of CySEC’s stated business rules. These include pay as a percentage of the total volume of transactions, or the value of transactions, or the value of clients’ deposits.
X Open Hub liquidity integrated into PFSOFT’s Protrader brokerage solution. LeapRate Exclusive… A major Forex platform partnership was in the works today, with X Open Hub and PFSOFT joining to integrate XOH’s multi-asset liquidity and market data into PFSOFT’s Protrader brokerage solution. The agreement seems to mark a strategy shift for XOH, part of the now-public XTB.com group of companies. What does this mean for X Open Hub’s brokerage solution?
Ashraf Ebid joins FCA regulated broker as CEO. LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned that longtime Forex industry executive Ashraf Ebid has joined an FCA regulated retail forex broker as its new CEO. The broker, with roots in Asia, is looking to expand in the UK and Europe. Before joining GMI, Mr. Ebid served as CEO of GKFX and as President of FXdirekt Bank. However most of his time in the FX industry was spent at GFT, where Mr. Ebid was one of the main architects behind the success of the company establishing GFT’s sales offices in the US, UK, Australia, Japan, and other locations. So which broker is Ashraf Ebid joining? And what of his own company Finstek, and its JV with platform provider ActTrader?
Japan forex giant GMO Click’s Z.com furthers UK expansion with launch of Affiliate Program. Z.com, the FCA regulated brokerage arm of Japan’s largest retail forex broker GMO Click, has taken the next step in growing its UK operations by launching an Affiliate Program.
Duma amendments may limit Russia Forex trading to wealthy clients only. Russia’s Forex law, originally enacted in late 2014 and meant to protect Retail Forex traders in the country, might become tougher. However the latest amendment being discussed in the Duma is to require traders to have a certain minimum of capital to trade, among other requirements.