Last week on LeapRate the forex world learned Ireland’s financial regulator, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), stated its opposition to the acquisition of retail forex broker AvaTrade by online gaming and trading giant-in-making Playtech PLC (LON:PTEC). So will the Playtech acquisition get through this hurdle? LeapRate reported some interesting takes on the development, all of the links of which you can find in the rundown below.
Volumes for September also continued to roll in last week showing further mixed results, while most venues and brokers have reported down MoM results, last week Alpari registered Forex turnover of $92.4B in September 2015, up 5.6% MoM, bucking the down-month trend. Moreover in volumes, oil interest perked up as last week saw three consecutive open interest records set for ICE Brent futures, with a high of 2,080,368 contracts on October 6th. Stay tuned to LeapRate as we see what volumes bring this upcoming week, as FXCM and GAIN Capital are still to report.
Noteworthy as well last week, USA Retail Forex deposit assets saw a major drop off of 7.4% MoM for August reporting, a disappointment after a boost in July assets. A feature from last week also includes a guest post courtesy of Anya Aratovskaya, VP of Institutional Sales at Fortex, which will be informative for any company that is considering the purchase of an MT4 Server license.
Be sure to check out last week’s featured stories as well as a complete run down of the week below:
Forex Industry Rundown for the Week of October 5th, 2015
Features
Hosting your MetaTrader 4 Server 101 (Part 1)
Irish regulator’s issue with the Playtech-AvaTrade acquisition – the real story
Plus500 shareholders now betting that acquisition by Playtech might not go ahead – LeapRate Exclusive
MahiFX still looking to take down clone site Great Trade, as it targets FCA regulation – LeapRate Exclusive
Broker Updates
Swissquote adds Deutsche Bank as new issuer on Swiss DOTS
Nadex launches free trading incentive program
Monex announces full-scale launch of wealth manager Nippon Wealth in Hong Kong
CMC Markets launches creative press advertising campaign, focusing on major breaking news
Monex cuts spreads on 13 currency pairs on tradable platform
TFX’s Forex service Click 365 sets record for deposit amount
TradeStation releases updated mobile applications for iOS, Android devices
Interactive Brokers beefs up FYI notifications feature in TWS platform
GCM Prime launches advanced trading services for institutional market in the UK and abroad
Service Provider/Vendor News
Market EarlyBird cloud service brings Twitter to financial institutions
MetaTrader 5 officially launches on Borsa Istanbul (BIST)
FXSpotStream signs up Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as liquidity provider
Barchart releases version 3.0 of mobile app
FIX Flyer and MathWorks integrate access to FIX-enabled trading systems
Gold-i set to open Shanghai office in 2016
Binary platform provider O-SYSTEMS opens Limassol office
Thomson Reuters adds App Studio to Eikon
MetaQuotes enhances MT4 web platform
Bernstein goes live with Pairs Trading Application on the Bloomberg App Portal
Institutional Offerings/Services
SGX releases SGX Index Edge to build regional index business in Asia
LME to implement measures to spur options trading on exchange
ICE Clear Singapore gets recognition as third-country CCP under EMIR
KfW to deploy Markit’s enterprise data management solution
EBS BrokerTec acquires Forex technology provider Molten Markets
Levante Capital chooses Orc for NFX connectivity
ICAP introduces Euro Interest Rate Swap Index
Interactive Data expands 7ticks global connectivity with access to Warsaw Stock Exchange
Deutsche Bank becomes a direct participating bank of China’s newly launched CIPS
Acuity Trading to further technology with Barcelona University
Financials
Chinese yuan overtakes Japanese yen as #4 world payment currency: SWIFT
U.S. Retail Forex Broker assets decline 7.4% MoM in August
Big banks suffering big losses look to raise big money to shore up capital levels
Invast Securities registers 12% MoM drop in revenues in September 2015
eToro UK reports results for FY 2014, total assets reach $1.03M
Franklin Templeton confirms 13.5% stake in FXCM Inc
Volumes
Monex sees global Forex volumes drop 8.5% MoM in September 2015
ICAP’s EBS daily volumes drop 11% MoM in September 2015
GMO Click sees OTC Forex volumes surpass $1 trillion in September 2015
Saxo Bank registers trading volumes of $216B in September, down 2% MoM
ICE registers 7% MoM decrease in Forex volumes in September 2015
DGCX posts 36% QoQ jump in trading volumes in Q3 2015
Forex futures on Warsaw Stock Exchange rebound 30% MoM in September
Thomson Reuters’ FXall sees daily Forex volumes drop 8.4% MoM in September
ASX registers 30.5% MoM jump in futures trading volumes in September
Taiwan Futures Exchange registers 24% MoM drop in trading volumes in September
Nadex registers 70% jump in trading volumes in Q3 2015
SGX sees 9.7% MoM drop in Forex volumes in September 2015
ICE sets three Brent futures records in early October
Alpari registers Forex turnover of $92.4B in September 2015, up 5.6% MoM
Warnings/Fines/Fraud Watch
CySEC issues third warning against Fundsaver Services, this time – regarding EveryOption.com
CySEC warns against unauthorized binary options broker Option500
Russia’s CRFIN blacklists Unity Finance Group for promising high guaranteed profits
California man ordered to pay monetary penalty and restitution totaling more than $3.9M in connection with commodity pool fraud
Canadian regulator OSC issues warnings against binary options operators TNT Options and EveryOption
Legal
Central Bank of Ireland opposes acquisition of AvaTrade by Playtech
Russia’s CRFIN seeks official status of Forex self-regulatory organization
South Africa’s financial regulator FSB to reach out personally to local communities
Russia’s NSD posts first results of mandatory derivatives transactions reporting
Playtech to formally challenge Central Bank of Ireland’s decision on AvaTrade deal
FCA follows US regulator’s lead in reforming whistleblower rules
Scottrade sends letter to clients affected by hacker breach
IG Group announces outcome of client case at UK FOS over “Black Thursday” events
Bank of Russia to check binary options brokers – sources
Executive Moves
Hong Kong’s SFC re-appoints Carlson Tong as Chairman
Royal Bank of Canada hires new London MD for global Forex execution
Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency News
New York DFS grants charter to Bitcoin exchange Gemini
Top Bitcoin Myths – #1: Bitcoin is a tool for criminals to purchase drugs, launder money, and finance terrorism