It is not just smaller brokers the CFTC is going after when it comes to segregating client funds. The CFTC is making it very clear to brokers large and small that securing and segregating client funds is its priority number one, and that each broker had better be careful to stick to the letter of…
Read moreCySEC allows FX brokers to release client names and data to banks, to allow for release of client funds. LeapRate Exclusive... We reported (exclusively) last week that segregated client fund bank accounts held by Cyprus FX brokers at Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus would NOT be subject to the "haircut" (or more correctly, confiscation)…
Read moreCFTC charges Whileon Shay and 4X Solutions with using client funds to pay personal expenses, luxury resorts, expensive restaurants, exotic car rentals... The CFTC has charged New York based 4X Solutions, Inc. and its principal Whileon Chay with fraud claiming they were running a $4.8 million FX trading Ponzi scheme. The CFTC complaint alleges that Chay and…
Read moreClaimed its software had shown positive returns on every trade it ever made. Did people actually believe that??? The CFTC has fined California-based Victor Yu his company VFRS a total of $3.2 million in a foreign currency fraud action. The order finds that Yu and VFRS misrepresented that they had developed trading software that made forex…
Read moreThe website home pages of several leading Cyprus FX and Binary brokers now lead with "Your Funds Are Safe" ads. As the Cyprus bailout fiasco heads into its fourth day -- and as Cyprus banks remain closed -- the Cyprus-based FX and Binary brokers caught in the middle of all this have been scrambling to reassure…
Read moreWall Street Journal quotes LeapRate research in its article on Cyprus FX brokers and the bailout. First of all, we'd like to say that we're very proud that the Wall Street Journal decided to base its article on the fallout for Cyprus FX brokers on research and comments made by LeapRate Managing Director Gerald Segal.…
Read moreCFTC fines MXBK Group and its MBFX subsidiary for defrauding U.S. Forex customers. The CFTC has handed out one of its largest ever fines -- a $57 million whopper -- to Mexico-based MXBK Group and its FX brokerage subsidiary MBFX. The order found that MXBK and MBFX accepted at least $28 million from more than…
Read moreCFTC sets $3.5 million in fines, Trimble used client money to gamble in Vegas. The CFTC has fined Colorado-based Nicholas Trimble and his two companies Capstone FX Quantitative Analysis Inc. and Beekeepers Fund Capital Management LLC a total of $3.5 million in a foreign currency fraud action. The order also permanently bans Trimble from engaging in any…
Read moreSaxo Bank co-CEO's comments question whether the 10% confiscation of client funds at Cyprus banks will also apply to Cyprus FX brokerages. Before we start (or contribute to an existing) panic among clients of Cyprus-based FX brokerages, we would like to state at the outset that we have been told directly by senior management at…
Read moreCFTC unveils details of new customer protection rules. As we reported was likely to happen back in July, U.S. financial regulator CFTC has published its detailed suggestions for enhancing customer protections at Futures Commission Merchants ("FCMs"), which include FX brokerage firms in the U.S. such as FXCM. Among the CFTC's proposals are included: daily reporting of…
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