In a week in which Forex Industry News at LeapRate was dominated by extremely weak August FX volume reports, we were pleased to bring our readers a number of exclusive stories about Playtech PLC (LON:PTEC) and its plans for its binary options unit, the shutdown of brokers SkyFX and Capital Option, the new structure of the loan agreement between FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) and Leucadia National Corp (NYSE:LUK), and the Bank of Russia’s granting of a new Forex broker license while rejecting another application.
Our most popular guest posts this week were:
- Are Binary Options brokers running out of options? by Leverate’s Yael Warman, and
- What is Breakout Trading? courtesy of LCG analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya
Some of our most popular, shared and commented-on posts this week at LeapRate included:
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Playtech exits Binary Options business, TopOption brand sold to OptionsClick. LeapRate Exclusive… For the second week in a row, we are pleased to bring LeapRate readers exclusive news about a major online brand exiting the Binary Options sector. Last week, it was Leverate putting its BX8 platform up for sale. Now, LeapRate has learned that online gaming giant Playtech PLC has made a decision to exit the binary options brokerage business. The company’s binary options brand, TopOption, was sold effective August 7 to Leadtrade Ltd which operates several other binary options brokerage brands including OptionsClick. What was behind the move? How much money changed hands?
SkyFX and Capital Option shut down, CySEC appoints liquidator. LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned that Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has arranged for the appointment of a provisional liquidator for Trademarker (Cyprus) Ltd. Trademarker was an Israel-owned and operated CySEC-regulated brokerage group, which operated a number of Retail Forex and Binary Options brokerage brands, primarily SkyFX (at skyfx.com) and Capital Option (at capitaloption.com).
Leucadia takes a direct interest in FXCM Inc operating units as loan deal reworked. Retail forex broker FXCM and investment company Leucadia National Corphave announced a renegotiation of their loan and ‘letter’ agreements, which will see Leucadia take a direct 49.9% interest in FXCM’s operating companies. FXCM will retain the other 50.1%. The other major changes to the original deal (which was renegotiated once already, to cut in a bigger stake for FXCM management) include giving FXCM one extra year to repay the $300 million loan to Leucadia (of which about $193 million remains outstanding), and giving FXCM management even more incentive to eventually sell FXCM at a high price.
VTB receives just the fourth Bank of Russia Forex license; 24option parent Rodeler rejected. LeapRate has learned that the Bank of Russia has ended a fairly quiet summer on the Forex front, issuing a license to operate a retail forex brokerage serving Russian traders to Russian banking giant VTB. Russia’s central banking authority also decided to reject a Forex license application by Rodeler RU, the Russian subsidiary of Rodeler Limited which operates 24option and 24FX. This marks the second international setback for Rodeler and its brands over the past month, after being banned in France.
Why would a Trading Education firm sponsor a Chinese female chess player?
FXCM Pro added as new institutional liquidity provider for MetaTrader 5.
Invast promotes Jon Leung and James Alexander to boost its PurePrime FX institutional services.