Going offshore to escape the CFTC

Broker Discussion Forex Brokers
2
— 2 —

Group 2

Vetted Brokers That Will Not Accept New U.S. Clients

— 178 Brokers —

Activ Trades (UK)

Advanced Markets - AMIFX (UK)

Alpari (UK)

City Credit Capital (UK)

City Index (UK)

Citypoint Trading (UK)

CMS Forex (UK)

Darwinex (UK)

ETX Capital (UK)

Finotec (UK)

Forex Ltd (UK)

FxPro UK Ltd (UK)

FXVan (UK) — new name of FX Company (Mauritius)

Hantec Markets (UK)

HY Markets (UK)

Liquid Markets - LQD Markets (UK) — formerly Tadawul FX — bankrupt

MF Global (UK)

ODL Markets (UK)

One Financial (UK)

TradeOrbitz (UK)

Uni FX (UK)

AvaTradeEU Ltd (Ireland)

C.I.M. Banque (Switzerland)

Dukascopy (Switzerland)

Forex .CH (Switzerland) — do not confuse with FXCH (Dominica)

MIG Bank (Switzerland) — see Swissquote (Switzerland)

PrimeTradeFX (Switzerland)

Swissquote (Switzerland)

Universal FX (Switzerland)

dbFX (Germany)

FXM Financial Services GmbH (Germany)

Varengold (Germany)

Saxo Bank (Denmark)

Nord Markets (Sweden)

Assets FX (Finland)

FinFX (Finland)

HMS LUX (Luxembourg)

Internaxx (Luxembourg)

Strato Markets (Netherlands)

Broco Forex (Russia)

Insta Forex (Russia/BVI)

MasterForex (Russia)

Tradefort (Russia)

Maximus Capital Markets (Latvia)

Renesource Capital (Latvia) — recently removed from Group 1

Admiral Markets (Estonia)

AnnexFX (Estonia)

FXTradeweb (Estonia)

ForexCENT (Czech Republic)

X-Trade Brokers (XTB) (Poland)

Atlantic FX (Bulgaria)

Bulbrokers (Bulgaria)

Deltastock (Bulgaria)

Varchev Financial (Bulgaria)

AGEA (Montenegro) — formerly Marketiva (Montenegro)

LMFX (Macedonia)

AAA FX (Greece)

Investors Europe (Gibraltar)

ACFX (Cyprus)

AFX Capital (Cyprus)

Ask-o-Bid (Cyprus)

EasyForex (Cyprus)

eToro (Cyprus)

Exness Ltd (Cyprus)

FIBO Group Holdings Ltd (Cyprus)

Finexo (Cyprus)

Forex Web Trader (Cyprus)

Forex Yard (Cyprus)

FXCC (Cyprus)

FXGM (Cyprus)

FxNet Ltd (Cyprus)

FxPro (Cyprus)

FXTM (Cyprus)

IronFX (Cyprus)

Markets .com (Cyprus)

Traders Trust - a.k.a TradingForex .com (Cyprus)

Trading Point (Cyprus)

United World Capital (Cyprus)

Windsor Brokers (Cyprus)

xCFD (Cyprus / New Zealand)

XGlobal Markets (Cyprus)

RTFX - Realtime Forex (Malta)

Sensus Capital Markets (Malta)

Swiss International (Kuwait) — trading name of BMFN (Australia)

Royal Forex Trading - RFXT (Lebanon)

GTL Forex (United Arab Emirates)

ACM Gold (Mauritius)

FBS (Mauritius)

FX Cast (Mauritius)

FX Open (Mauritius)

FX Primus (Mauritius)

HotForex (Mauritius)

Nord FX (Mauritius)

You Trade FX (Mauritius)

Accent Forex (Seychelles)

ProfiForex (Seychelles)

Tickmill Ltd (Seychelles)

UpFX (Seychelles)

xChief (formerly ForexChief) (Mwali) — recently removed from Group 1

ACM Gold and Forex Trading PTY Ltd (South Africa)

Ava Capital Markets Australia PTY Ltd (Australia)

Axi Trader (Australia)

Berndale Capital (Australia)

BMFN (Australia)

CLM - Core Liquidity Markets (Australia)

Direct FX Trading PTY LTD (Australia)

ForexCT PTY Ltd (Australia)

Forex FS (Australia)

Forex Nation (Australia)

Global Prime (Australia)

GO Markets (Australia)

Got Money FX (Australia)

Halifax Investment Services (Australia)

IBFX (Australia)

IC Markets (Australia)

IG Markets (Australia)

Kinetic Securities (Australia)

MXT Global PTY Ltd (Australia) — see Vantage FX PTY Ltd (Australia)

Pepperstone (Australia)

RubixFX (Australia)

SynergyFX (Australia)

Vantage FX PTY Ltd (Australia)

FXPIG (New Zealand)

IntelFX (New Zealand)

Latitude FX (New Zealand)

Lucror FX (New Zealand)

OMFinancial (New Zealand)

PrimeFX (New Zealand)

Robo Forex (New Zealand)

Tenko FX (New Zealand)

UMOfx (New Zealand)

XM .com (Cyprus / New Zealand) — see Trading Point (Cyprus)

Forex Broker Inc (The Marshall Islands)

Lite Forex (The Marshall Islands)

MMCIS (The Marshall Islands)

IKON Group (Hong Kong) — do not confuse with IKON Global Markets (US)

SHK Direct (Hong Kong)

Phillip Futures (Singapore)

XE Markets (Malaysia) — see Trading Point (Cyprus)

VertiFX (Canada)

FXDD Global (Bermuda)

eFOREX (Panama)

IamFX (Panama)

InovaTrade (Panama)

PipFixed (Panama)

FX Choice (Belize)

IV Brokers (Belize)

UFX Markets (Belize)

AL Trade Inc (British Virgin Islands)

Ava FX (British Virgin Islands)

BForex (British Virgin Islands)

E-Global/Forex4You (British Virgin Islands)

Forex4You (British Virgin Islands)

Forex Club Ltd (British Virgin Islands ?)

Forex Place - 4xP (British Virgin Islands)

FXCBS (British Virgin Islands)

Gallant Capital Markets (British Virgin Islands) — see Yadix (British Virgin Islands)

IKOFX (British Virgin Islands / New Zealand)

iTrade Capital Markets (British Virgin Islands)

Real Trade - Real Trade Group (British Virgin Islands)

RVD Markets Ltd (British Virgin Islands)

Sterling Gent Trading Ltd (British Virgin Islands)

Think Forex (British Virgin Islands)

WFX Markets (British Virgin Islands ?)

Yadix (British Virgin Islands)

2pipsForex (Dominica) — a.k.a. FXCH (Dominica)

EagleFX (Dominica) — recently removed from Group 1

EvenForex (Dominica)

Trader’s Way (Dominica)

CedarFX (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) — recently removed from Group 1

CryptoRocket (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Evolve Markets (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Gainsy Inc (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

PaxForex (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Sage FX (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Tallinex (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

TradeWiseFX (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Turnkey Forex (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

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The Alphabetical List of Brokers, formerly included in this thread.
has become out-of-date and has been removed.

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The two-page Offshore Broker List (above), compiled by members of this Forum over the past 14 years, has been placed at the beginning of this thread, where it will remain.

What follows (below) was originally the first post in this thread, back in September 2010.

September 24, 2010

Going Offshore to Escape the CFTC

On the Broker Aid Station forum, a discussion got started about trading through foreign brokers who are outside the jurisdiction of the CFTC. That particular topic really doesn’t belong on that forum. So, I’m opening this thread, as a place where that topic can be continued.

I’ll start this thread with a rant about the CFTC (because I have some ranting to get off my chest). Then, in subsequent posts, we can talk about specific foreign brokers, and whether there are advantages to trading with them.

But, first things first. Here’s my rant:

Getting free of the CFTC, the NFA, and the rest of the Nanny State

We’ve been conned — by Gary Gensler, the head of the CFTC. On another thread, I called Gensler “a sneaky, little weasel”, and I stand by that description.

Gensler set up a straw-man — the 10:1 leverage limit — and we all bravely attacked and destroyed the straw-man, thinking it was the enemy. In 9,000 public comments to the CFTC, we battled against that 10:1 straw-man, and we tore it to shreds; and we said, “If you ram this 10:1 thing down our throats, we’ll take our business offshore.”

All the while, Gary Gensler and his crew were saying, “Gotcha — you’ll take 50:1, and you’ll thank us for it. And, by the way, like hell you’ll take your trading business offshore!”

The CFTC never intended to impose a 10:1 leverage limit on retail forex in the U.S. From the very beginning, their objective was 50:1; and they achieved their objective completely.

The phony 10:1 proposed limit was so extreme that we were relieved when the CFTC “relented”, when they “listened to the voice of the forex community”, when they set the leverage limit at 50:1, instead.

Gensler wrote the sheet-music, and we sang the song. Have we been had, or what?

Many reasonable folks, including several on this forum, have pointed out the hazards of using too much leverage, and have endorsed the new CFTC limit. Which misses the point entirely.

It is not the proper business of government to regulate the way we live our lives. It is not the proper business of government to tell us how many calories we may consume, or how much we may drink, or how much of our paychecks we may spend on lottery tickets, or HOW MUCH FOREX LEVERAGE WE MAY USE.

And it’s not the proper business of government to tell U.S. residents where they may do their banking, or where they may do their trading.

Finally, it’s not the proper business of government to tell U.S. forex brokers where they may set up foreign branches, or whom they may accept as customers in those foreign branches.

It is appropriate for the government to require brokers to furnish full and honest disclosure of the risks involved in forex trading, and to furnish full and honest disclosure of the terms and conditions of the trading accounts which they offer.

And it is appropriate for the government to prosecute fraud wherever and whenever it occurs in any of the financial markets.

Beyond that, the government has no legitimate role, and they should butt out.

The CFTC has U.S. forex brokers by the throat: By threatening their ability to do business in the U.S., the CFTC can interfere with the rights of those brokers to do business outside the U.S.

But, the CFTC has no authority over foreign brokers who operate entirely outside the U.S. (See the Note, below). And under current law, the CFTC has no authority over individual traders who trade through foreign brokers that are beyond the reach of U.S regulation.

The U.S. government claims the authority, through the IRS, to require U.S. residents to report foreign accounts which we hold — bank accounts, brokerage accounts, etc. But, they cannot (yet) prevent us from having those accounts.

The CFTC, and their sock-puppet the NFA, are behaving like the rest of the Nanny State: They are acting like our rulers, rather than our public servants. These people seem to believe they have the right and the power to do anything they want to do.

They’ve never had that right, and they never will have it.

They may have the power — but, not for long.

——— end of rant ———

Note (Edit - 8/26/13) — The statement noted above, is not entirely correct.

Soon after we began this search for offshore forex brokers, we discovered that the CFTC (and other U.S. regulatory agencies) have their tentacles deep inside many foreign governments, through a series of nasty, little agreements known as Memoranda of Understanding. These agreements have effectively extended U.S. regulation to cover U.S. residents doing business in countries which have signed the agreements.

There still are countries where these agreements do not (yet) exist — and we are eager to find reliable brokers within those countries who will do business with us. And there are a few offshore brokers, in Memorandum countries, who have the courage to defy the over-reaching U.S. regulatory authorities, and welcome U.S. residents as clients — and we are eager to identify these brokers, and to consider client relationships with them.

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September 24, 2010

Some things I learned this week about ACM and dbFX

Earlier this week, I called ACM in Switzerland, and dbFX in New York, and specifically asked whether they are subject to CFTC regulation in any way, and whether they accept U.S. residents as clients. Here’s what I was told:

ACM (Advanced Currency Markets, Geneva, Switzerland) is completely beyond the reach of the CFTC. They have canceled their plans to open a U.S. subsidiary (it was to be called ACM-US), and they now have no U.S. presence. ACM is regulated by FINMA in Switzerland; they have an application pending with the Swiss banking authorities to become a Swiss bank; and they welcome U.S. customers. Minimum deposit to open an account is $2,000.

Here is the ACM website — Online Forex Trading | Currency Trading | ACM

dbFX is the retail forex brokerage division of Deutsche Bank. As a bank, Deutsche Bank is domiciled and regulated in Germany. But, their forex operation, dbFX, is domiciled in the U.K., and regulated by the FSA. dbFX’s relationship to the CFTC is less clear-cut than ACM’s. Deutsche Bank (the German-domiciled bank) has a large presence in the U.S., and some of their operations (other than forex) are regulated by the CFTC. dbFX (the U.K.-domiciled forex broker) is awaiting legal opinions on whether they fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC in any way. I have placed my name on a list of people to be notified when that determination is made, and I will pass that info on to you, when I get it.

Here is the dbFX website — Forex Trading | Online Currency Trading Rates | FX Research | dbFX

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Have you looked at Dukascopy at all? They’re one of the largest, if not the largest, Swiss brokers as I understand it.

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Hello Magnus,

I’ve gathered some information from their website — Forex trading, ECN Broker, Managed accounts, Swiss FX trading platform — but I haven’t yet spoken personally with anyone at Dukascopy.

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I currently use DukC and like em as a broker. I spoke with them yesterday to make sure that the CFTC NFA crap would not affect my account.

Due to the fact that they are a bank, there should be no problems, according to them.

I would recommend them.

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Hello, sandpipper

Long time no see. I wondered where you’d been hiding out.

Thanks for the update on Dukascopy.

.

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Hello Clint,

Hope all is well with you. I have pretty much deforumed (if thats the word) due to the fact that I have a fulltime job, as well as try to trade as much as possible, so something has to go.

I do check in now and then but nothing like 6 or 8 months ago when I spent hours a week reading and commenting. Glad to see you still over here.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:rolleyes:

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

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?

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I’ve spent some time this weekend on the [B]Forex Broker Guide[/B] 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 [I]Advanced Search[/I] 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

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

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

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

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

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 [I]Forex Broker Guide[/I] 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 [I]Advanced Search[/I], 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 [I]Advanced Search[/I] 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 [I]Advanced Search[/I] 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.

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Fxopen for me all the way.

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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.:smiley: to funny

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

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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.

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ODL Markets, since powered by FXCM, absolutely no help.

CIM, they say only under certain circumstances, but it seems like a no, unless you have a couple million to trade. Also if you are a professional trader, they feel there is MORE risk, than if you are a novice, great bank.

Finexo does not accept us clients. They say they do not have a us client license?

Forex Web Trader is not accepting US clients, they say they are EU licensed only