Russia’s public opinion seems to support the Forex law but many think some of its provisions need changes, including leverage restrictions and the rule that prohibits from offering retail Forex trading. These are some of the findings of an online poll conducted by Bankir.Ru, Finarty.Ru and journal “Banks and Business World”, between March 16, 2015, and April 1, 2015.
Russia’s Forex law, which was signed by president Vladimir Putin in the end of December 2014, will allow only Forex dealers to offer retail Forex trading, with the banks and other financial companies to be prohibited from doing so. The new rule will come into force in the fall of 2015.
Most of the poll participants (59.1%) disagree with this provision of the law, whereas the number of supporters of this clause is two times smaller (25.9%).
The restrictions on leverage are not welcome either. You may recall that the Russian law will introduce a maximum leverage for Forex trading of 1:50, with the central bank to be able to lift that to 1:100 when it sees fit. The poll shows the biggest proportion of respondents – nearly 20%, saying that there need to be no restrictions at all on the leverage. Interestingly, less than 6% of the respondents support excessive leverage of 1:500. You can compare these findings with those from a previous poll of Russian Forex traders conducted by self-regulatory organization CRFIN.
The biggest problem that the Forex industry in Russia is experiencing, according to 56% of the respondents, is the high number of scam companies. Next (according to 40% of the poll participants) is the lack of a mechanism for protection of traders’ rights.
The respondents were also asked about whether they know any Forex companies operating in Russia. The brands most often mentioned were Forex Club, Alpari and TeleTrade. You can view the results in the table below.
To view the full results of the Forex poll, click here.