Going offshore to escape the CFTC

[dragofx]

dukascopy is not going to accept US clients, from what I was told. If you have any information to the contrary please let me know.

[sandpipper]

Not sure if they are continuing to accept us clients, as I didn't ask.


I am already a client and they told me my account would cont. uninterrupted.

[dragofx]

Thanks for the info. I approached them a few days ago, and they said the wouldnt accept us clients. Maybe I was speaking to someone uninformed over there. I am going to call them again.

It seems as though most of the AUS firms will continue to accept us clients, vantage, gomarkets, forex fs. Plus the two from panama forex-metal, and eforex.

Do we know of any other quality international firms that will be accepting US clients.

Additionally, while I understand the issue with us based companies with international affiliates having to comply with the CFTC. What is the primary issue for non CFTC regulated firms refusing to accept us clients? If the CFTC has no jurisdiction, what could they possibly do? Thanks.

[Shr1k]

Does anyone know anything about liteforex I could not find any US locations listed on the website. I am interested in liteforex because of the small trade size allowed.

Clint I totally agree with your sentiment and frustration with our government making regulations under the pretense of protecting ourselves from ourselves. Its BS!!
In reality a 50:1 leverage cap should not affect a trader that uses any sort of risk management and has a few bucks in the account. 50:1 leverage does limit how you can trade a micro account if your balance is micro $500 or less if the minimum trade size is $1000.
The new regs as they are now will probably not affect my trading much. Its that dam slippery slope that has lower margin limits, higher minimum balances, limits on trade frequency, fees on transactions(trades), and the big one even higher taxes at the bottom of the slope that has me worried and considering finding a way to move offshore. I know it won't matter where my broker is the tax man will send the bill to me living in the USA

[nicklang]

Epic post Clint! Agree 100%! Im a US resident and im moving out by FOREX account, due to NFA being a puppet!

Edit: I would also like to ask:
As a US citizen, is my capital covered by EU, FSA, FINMA regulations if the broker I choose is regulated with one of these institutions?

[Clint]

I've spent some time this weekend on the Forex Broker Guide site, sifting through their listing of forex brokers ---

Forex Broker Guide | Rate, Review & Compare Online Forex Brokers | Forex | Forex Brokers.

I was using this particular site mainly because it has a longer list of brokers (over 300) than any other site that I am aware of. At the end of this post, I'll explain a little about how this site gathers data, and how their Advanced Search feature works (or doesn't work).

I used this site to compile lists of "trusted" offshore forex brokers, sorted by country. For this post, I'm listing only brokers domiciled in Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. More on what "trusted" means, or doesn't mean, at the end of this post.

These lists have to be taken as raw data, at this point. The brokers listed here may or may not meet your particular criteria for a forex broker. For example, these lists have not been filtered for any of the following criteria: (1) are U.S. clients accepted?, (2) minimum deposit to open an account, (3) payment methods allowed, (4) platform type, (5) available leverage, (6) pip spreads, etc. In other words, there's a lot of due diligence yet to be done.

U.K. Brokers

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CMS Forex --- Forex - Forex Trading - FX - FX Trading - CMS Forex UK

Activ Trades --- Activtrades - Forex, CFD, Futures. New MT4.Low or Zero Commission

Alpari UK --- Forex trading (FX) with Alpari UK - Online currency trading

Finotec --- Forex, Forex Trading, Online Forex Trading Platform - Finotec UK Trading

HY Markets --- HY Markets Home

MF Global --- Stock Trading, Shares & Currency Market Trading System | MF Global

One Financial --- One Financial Markets | Trading Broker –Regulated by FSA | London, UK

ODL Markets --- Forex Trading, Broker & Software provider for FX, Spead betting, CFDs- ODL Markets (Powered by FXCM)

Swiss Brokers

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ACM --- Online Forex Trading | Currency Trading | ACM

C.I.M. Banque --- CIM Swiss Forex Bank - Private Banking Geneva, forex broker

Dukascopy --- Dukascopy Bank SA | Swiss Forex Bank | ECN Broker | Managed accounts | Swiss FX trading platform

MIG Bank --- Home - MIG BANK

Tadawul FX --- Online forex trading with leading online forex broker Tadawul FX

German Brokers

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Finexo Global Investments --- Online Forex & CFD Trading|Trade Currencies, Gold, Oil and Major Indices

Forex Web Trader --- Online Forex & CFD Trading|Trade Currencies, Gold, Oil and Major Indices

dbFX --- Forex Trading | Online Currency Trading Rates | FX Research | dbFX

Varengold --- Successful Forex Trading with Varengold Bank FX

Australian Brokers

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Axi Trader --- Forex Trading | Forex Broker | Forex Brokers | Forex Trading Platform

GO Markets --- Online Forex Trading | MetaTrader 4 Brokers - GO Markets

IG Markets - Australia --- CFD Trading Account | CFD Account

Latitude FX --- Trade foreign exchange online - Live currency trading

New Zealand Brokers

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Latitude FX --- Trade foreign exchange online - Live currency trading

WSD --- WSD Global Markets Ltd : The online trading provider matching highest standards in integrity and safety

Danish Broker

__________________________________________________

Saxo Bank --- Forex Trading Online | Trade FX, CFDs, FX Options at Saxo Bank

The Forex Broker Guide site is owned and operated by a New Zealand company, and it seems to work this way: the website lists every forex broker they have ever heard of, and then those brokers are invited to furnish and maintain the information which is displayed in their own listings. In most cases, the brokers have furnished enough information that you can decide whether you want to take a closer look at them.

However, some brokers (for whatever reason) apparently do not furnish information about themselves, and this results in a number of bare-bones listings which don't tell you much. In most of these cases, it's not possible to tell from the listings even where those brokers are domiciled, or how they are regulated.

This site has an elaborate filter/search mechanism, called Advanced Search, which turns out to be a big disappointment. It supposedly allows you to search for brokers based on almost any criteria you can think of: country, language, regulation, type of platform, pip spreads, etc. However, the search feature seems to search only the minimal data which has been displayed by the brokers themselves in their respective listings, and this leads to search results that can be bizarre.

For example, I filtered the entire list of over 300 brokers with just two criteria: (1) brokers in the United States, and (2) brokers who accept U.S. clients. Obviously, every broker in the U.S. accepts U.S. clients, but that's not what the Advanced Search feature told me. The search feature returned exactly 6 results, and you've probably never heard of 4 of them. When I removed the "U.S. client" search criterion, and just asked for U.S. brokers, the search feature returned 51 broker names.

Obviously, the Advanced Search feature is a work-in-progress. It does seem to work accurately when you search by country, and/or when you search for "trusted" brokers. So, those are the search criteria I used to compile the lists shown above.

Which brings us to the question: What is a "trusted" broker? I can't answer that question, and the website does not reveal how they made the determination to award some brokers the "trusted" badge, and not others. I applied the "trusted" filter purely as a matter of expediency, to cut the lists down --- not because I can vouch for the trustworthiness of any broker.

If you filter the entire list of 300+ brokers, to include just the 6 countries I have listed above, you will end up with 6 lists totaling 66 brokers altogether. That's a formidable list of brokers to phone and chat with. Applying the "trusted" filter reduces 66 brokers down to the 24 brokers listed above.

____________________________________

Is it just me, or do the Swiss have "girl's banks" and "boy's banks"?

C.I.M. Banque sure looks like a girl's bank to me.

And MIG Bank is obviously a boy's bank --- they've got the Michael Schumacher Formula One race-car thing going on. Too cool.

[vosterfxandy]

Fxopen for me all the way.

[Shr1k]

Is it just me, or do the Swiss have "girl's banks" and "boy's banks"?

C.I.M. Banque sure looks like a girl's bank to me.

And MIG Bank is obviously a boy's bank --- they've got the Michael Schumacher Formula One race-car thing going on. Too cool

Clint I just had a look at those banks you are not mistaken in your observation. to funny

[dragofx]

Varengold, does not, or is not currently accepting US clients

[dragofx]

Thank you for the list Clint. I am going to talk to as many as I can today, and get answers regarding US clients for anyone that is interested.