Going offshore to escape the CFTC

— 4 —

IamFX (Panama)

IBFX Australia, Pty Ltd (Australia) — owned by TradeStation (division of Monex Group - Japan) — being sold to Oanda (Aus)

IBFX (US) — forex brokerage division of TradeStation (US) — currently being sold to Oanda (US)

icetrader .com — domain name of Glistentree Holdings (Cyprus) — no longer authorized by CySEC — defunct, out of business

IC Markets (Australia)

iCFD (Cyprus) — one of the companies of iForex Group (Cyprus?) — re-branded (Jun 2018) as Vestle (Cyprus) in order to become an ESMA-compliant EU broker

ICM Capital Ltd (UK) — rebranded in August 2018 as ICM .com (UK) — no U.S. clients

ICM .com (UK) — new name of ICM Capital Ltd (UK) and other ICM entities worldwide — no U.S. clients

ICM Capital Markets (Belgium?) — do not confuse with ICM Capital Ltd (UK) — see iTrade Capital Markets

IFC Markets (British Virgin Islands) — no U.S. clients

iForex Group (Cyprus?) — parent of ICFD (Cyprus) online forex broker serving the EU, and currently (Jun 2018) being re-branded as Vestle (see below) — also parent of Formula Investment House Ltd (BVI) serving non-EU clients

IFX Markets (Australia) — subsidiary of City Index (UK) / Gain Capital (US)

IG Markets (Australia)

IG Markets (UK) — forex, CFD, and spread-betting broker — applying for CFTC/NFA registration as retail forex broker (RFED) in the U.S. (application dated November 2017)

IGM Forex Ltd (Cyprus) — license temporarily suspended by CySEC (July 2018) for capital adequacy issues — CySEC suspension lifted (Nov 2019), but IGM remains offline.

IKOFX (British Virgin Islands / New Zealand) — no longer accepts U.S. residents

IKON Finance Ltd (UK) — exited the retail forex business in 2017, selling their client base to Hantec (UK) — do not confuse with IKON Global Markets (US) or IKON Markets Ltd (Belize/Bulgaria)

IKON Global Markets (US) — apparently not out of business (as reported here previously) — a U.S. court in Illinois entered a $23M fraud judgement against this broker in August 2017

IKON Markets Ltd (Belize/Bulgaria)) — boiler-room scam operating under various names: IKON Markets Ltd, Iconics PS Ltd, Hedgestone Group. Belize IFSC has issued a warning that these entities are unauthorized in Belize.

Infinox Capital (UK) — new name of GO Markets (UK), former subsidiary of GO Markets (Australia)

InovaTrade (Panama)

Insta Forex (Russia/BVI)

Institutional Liquidity - ILQ (Australia) — CFTC regulated, NFA member

Integral Forex (Turkey) — div. of Integral Menkul Degerler (Turkey) — partner of Dukascopy (CH)

IntelFX (New Zealand)

Interactive Brokers (US) — large, Connecticut-based multi-asset broker, physically located and regulated in 10 countries: US, Canada, UK, Luxembourg, Hungary, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia.

Interbank FX - IBFX (US) — owned by TradeStation (US) which is a subsidiary of Monex (Japan)

Internaxx (Luxembourg) — acquired by Swissquote (Switzerland) in March 2019

InterTrader .com (UK) — spread-betting

Invast Financial Services Pty Ltd (Australia) - subsidiary of Invast (Japan) — institutional and prime brokerage services

Invest100 (SVG) — parent of Growth Capital LLC (Belarus) — no U.S. clients

Investors Europe (Gibraltar)

IQ Option (Cyprus) — formerly options-only broker, now offering leveraged FX and CFD’s — no U.S. clients

IronFX Global Ltd (Cyprus) — CySEC-regulated — see 8Safe UK Ltd (UK) and GVS AU Pty Ltd (Australia)

iTrade Capital Markets (Belgium?) — do not confuse with iTraderFX (Israel) or with iTradeFX LLC (British Virgin Islands?)

iTraderFX (Israel) — binary options dealer now entering the FX market

iTradeFX LLC (British Virgin Islands?) — out of business

IV Brokers (Belize)


JAFX Ltd (SVG) — call-centers in U.K. and Australia — no U.S. clients

JFD Brokers (Cyprus)

JFX - Jiffix Markets Ltd (Cyprus) — out of business — clients transferred to Traders Trust (Cyprus)

JP Markets (South Africa) — largest forex broker in Africa — FSCA-regulated
— currently (June 2020) suspended by FSCA for client withdrawal issues

Juno Markets (New Zealand) — very new — mainly focused on the Asian FX market — no U.S. clients

JustForex (Belize) - trading name of IPCTrade Inc (Belize) — FX and crypto trading — no U.S. clients


KAB Strategy Ltd (Cyprus) — no U.S. clients

Kabu .com — Kabu .com Securities Co. Ltd (Japan) — subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
— a TFX Click365 broker

Kinetic Securities (Australia)

KOT4X (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

KVB Kunlun (Hong Kong) — acquired by CITIC Securities (China) in 2015
— parent of FCA-regulated KVB Prime (UK) — name changed to CLSA Premium (Sept 2019)


LandFX UK Ltd (UK) — subsidiary of LandFX (New Zealand) — FCA license granted June 2016

Larson and Holz IT Ltd (Hong Kong) — no U.S. clients

Latitude FX (New Zealand)

LCG .com (UK) — see London Capital Group Ltd (UK) — no U.S. clients

LCM-FX (New Zealand) — see Lucror FX (New Zealand)

LeadCapital Group (Cyprus) - parent of LeadCapital Markets Ltd — also parent of LeadCapital Partners (Seychelles) which operates newly-formed FINQ .com in the Asian market

LeadCapital Markets Ltd (Cyprus) — operates as Trade .com (Cyprus) in the European market

LegacyFX (Cyprus) — founded in 2015, owned by technology company Leverate (Cyprus) — operation suspended

Leverate (Cyprus) — liquidity provider — see CWM FX

Libertex - Indication Investments Ltd (Cyprus) — multi-asset broker, online platform

Libra FX (Anguilla) — out of business

Lionstone Investment Services (Russia) — binary options broker — reportedly going out of business

LiteForex (Marshall Islands) — unregulated subsidiary of LiteForex Ltd (Cyprus)

LiteForex Ltd (Cyprus) — CySEC-regulated broker — parent of LiteForex (Marshall Islands)

Liquid Markets - LQD Markets (UK) — bankrupt — seeking buyer

LMAX Exchange Group (UK) — FCA-regulated multi-lateral trading facility (MTF)

LMAX Global (UK) — new brokerage name, spun off from LMAX Exchange to meet new MiFID II requirements

LMFX (Macedonia) — a former Trusted Broker, recently removed from Group 1 — no longer accepts new U.S. clients

London Capital Group Holdings plc - LCG Group (UK) — currently facing bankruptcy — financially troubled parent of London Capital Group Ltd (UK) (currently being spun off), and London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd.

London Capital Group Ltd (UK) — FCA-regulated broker (forex, CFDs, spread betting) owned (and currently being spun off) by LCG Group (UK)

London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd (Cyprus) — CySEC-regulated broker owned by LCG Group (UK)

London Spreads (UK) — see London Capital Group Ltd (UK)

Loyal Forex (British Virgin Islands) — (and parent company FX Systems) — out of business

LQDFX (St. Lucia) — Trusted Broker

LQD Markets (UK) — see Liquid Markets — do not confuse with LQDFX (The Marshall Islands)

Lucror FX - Lucror Capital Markets (New Zealand) — aka LCM-FX


Magna FX - Magna Trust Securities and Investment Services, S.A. (Greece) — no U.S. clients

MahiFX (New Zealand) — retail fx broker and b2b fintech provider licensed in New Zealand, Australia and U.K. — exiting retail fx business (Dec 2019) — new b2b enterprise to be rebranded HFTrading.

Marketiva (Montenegro) — see AGEA (Montenegro)

Markets Capital Ltd (UK) — trading as FX Markets Capital (UK) — currently under scrutiny by the FCA

Markets .com (Cyprus) — owned by TradeFX Ltd - UK (recently acquired by gaming company PlayTech)

MasterForex (Russia/Georgia/Belize) — see Master Services (Russia/Belize), MFX Broker (Georgia), and MFX Broker (Belize)

Master Services Inc (Russia/Belize) — operating as MFX Broker Belize, and MFX Broker Georgia

Matador Prime (Bulgaria) — de-listed by Bulgarian FSC (October 2018) which results in de-listing by MiFID

MaximusFX (Ukraine / Russia / Nigeria) — trading name of Maximus Markets Ltd (SVG)

Mayzus Investment Company Ltd (Cyprus)

MB Trading (US) — acquired by TradeKing (US) — MB Trading exited the forex market October 2015

MCM FX - Miffs Capital Management Ltd (UK) — no U.S. clients

Mercor Index (UK) — former name of TigerWit Ltd (UK) prior to acquisition by TigerWit (Bahamas)

Merex Markets (Republic of Georgia) — scam

MEX Group Worldwide Ltd (domicile?) — parent of MultiBank Forex Exchange Corp (US), and MultiBank FX International Corp (BVI)

MF Financial (Belize) — see MFFX (Belize) — out of business

MFFX (Belize) — out of business

MF Global (UK) — in reorganization — formerly a subsidiary of MF Global Holdings Ltd (UK)

MF Global Finance USA Inc. (US) — bankrupt — subsidiary of MF Global Holdings Ltd (UK)

MF Global Holdings Ltd (UK) — bankrupt

MFX Broker Belize (Belize) — see Master Services Inc (Russia/Belize) — do not confuse with MFFX (Belize)

MFX Broker Georgia (Republic of Georgia) — see Master Services Inc (Russia/Belize)

MFX Trade (Australia) — retail trading platform of MahiFX (Australia) — do not confuse with MFX Broker (Belize / Georgia)

MidasFX (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

MIG Bank (Switzerland) — see Swissquote (Switzerland)

Milltrade Ltd (Marshall Islands) — scam — bankrupt — merged with MMCIS (see below)

MMA Forex (Dubai) — brokerage arm of MMA Group (Dubai) — SCAM — ponzi-scheme, shut down by Dubai authorities

MMA Bank GT (Dubai) — new name of reorganized MMA Forex — warnings issued in Sweden, Ireland, and Switzerland

MMCIS (Ukraine / Marshall Islands) — scam — bankrupt — merged with Milltrade Ltd (Marshall Islands)

Monex (Japan) — parent of TradeStation (US) — do not confuse with Monex Deposit Co. (US). or Monex Credit Co. (US), both charged with fraud by the CFTC in Sept '17.

Money Partners FX - Money Partners Group Co. Ltd. (Japan) — Japanese customers only

MRC Markets (Russia) — scam

MTrading (SVG) — trading name of ServiceComSvgLtd — no U.S. clients

MultiBank Forex Exchange Corp (US) —

MultiBank FX International Corp (BVI) — online broker with branches throughout Asia, UAE, Cyprus, and western Europe

MXT Global Pty Ltd (Australia) — renamed Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd (Australia)

MXTrade - Lau Global Services Corp (Belize) — KROUFR blacklisted — scam — do not confuse with MXT Global (Australia)


Nanshan Jinchuang Co. (China/Taiwan?) — has applied to NFA/CFTC for membership and registration as RFED in the U.S.

NatureForex (Belize) — no U.S. clients

NinjaTrader (US) — IB for FXCM (US)

NordFX (Vanuatu) — subsidiary of NFX Capital VU Inc (Vanuatu)

Nord Markets (Sweden)

NPBFX (Belize) — Russian-owned (subsidiary of Nefteprombank), offices in London and Belize — no U.S. or EU clients

NSFX (Malta) — no U.S. clients

Number One Capital Markets (Vanuatu)


Oanda (US) — second-largest U.S. forex broker (after Gain Capital) — controlling interest (98.5%) in this broker purchased (June '18) by CVC Partners Asia Fund (private)

Oasis Global FX (Belize) — scam, Ponzi scheme (per CFTC), license revoked by Belize IFSC.

OctaFX (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) — no U.S. clients — FCA-licensed (UK) — focused on the APAC region — re-focused on the E.U. with newly-acquired (Feb 2019) CySEC license.

ODL Markets (UK)

Olsson Capital (Bulgaria) — forex, CFD’s and cryptocurrencies — targeting UK clients, currently blacklisted by FCA

OlympTrade (Seychelles / Cyprus) — binary options dealer owned by Smartex International Ltd (Seychelles) and Frandom Holding Ltd (Cyprus) reported to be Russian companies

OMFinancial (New Zealand)

Onasis IBC (Seychelles)

One Financial Markets (UK) — FSA (UK) and FSB (SA) regulated broker, focused on Middle East and s. Asian markets — being acquired by AxiCorp (Australia) as of August 2018

OneTrade (UK) — new STP broker with social- and copy-trading focus — owned by FxStat (UK)

Orbex Ltd (Cyprus)

OSG Forex - Optimum Standard International Group Ltd (domicile?) — claims to be Hong Kong domiciled and registered — but, in Oct 2017, Hong Kong SFC said those claims are fraudulent

OspreyFX (SVG)


Pacific Financial Derivatives Ltd (New Zealand) — no U.S. clients

Panteon Finance (Ukraine) — scam — bankrupt

ParFX (UK)

PaxForex (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) — no longer accepts U.S. clients

Pellucid FX (Anguilla) — out of business

Pepperstone (Australia) — no U.S. or Canadian clients

Peregrine Financial Group - PFG Best (US) — out of business

PhillipCapital (Singapore) — exchange-traded equities, options and futures (including currency futures) — no OTC spot forex

PhillipCapital (UK) — FX, CFD indices and commodities — subsidiary of PhillipCapital (Singapore)

PipFixed (Panama)

Plus500 (UK) — trading name of Plus500UK Ltd (UK)

Prime CFD’s - TLC Consulting Ltd (Marshall Islands) — multi-asset broker

PrimeFX (New Zealand)

PrimeTradeFX (Switzerland) — no U.S. clients — accepts Canadian clients

Primus Capital Markets (UK) — FCA-regulated fx broker — acquired by crypto exchange Trade .io — will be re-branded TIO Markets (UK) — do not confuse with Primus Global Ltd (Cyprus)

Primus Global Ltd (Cyprus) — new name of FX Primus Europe Ltd (Cyprus) — do not confuse with Primus Capital Markets (UK)

ProbusFX (Cyprus) — CySEC-regulated (since 2017) retail broker — re-branded (Nov. 2018) to SquaredDirect (Cyprus)

ProfiForex (Seychelles) — does not accept U.S. clients

ProsperityFX (SVG) – merged with EnviFX, removed from Group 1 (February 2024)


Q8 Trade - Q8 Securities Co (Kuwait) — multi-asset broker

Quaestor Zrt (Hungary) — bankrupt — business suspended by Hungarian National Bank

Questrade (Canada) — accepts Canadian citizens and permanent residents only


Rakuten Securities, Inc. (Japan) — has acquired FXCM Japan Securities Co. Ltd. — no U.S. clients

Real Forex (Belize)

Real Trade (British Virgin Islands) — out of business — removed from Group 1

Renesource Capital (Latvia) — recently removed from Group 1 — this former broker has exited the brokerage business

RJ O’Brien (US) — institutional forex broker

RoboForex Ltd (Cyprus) – name will be changed to RoboMarkets in 2018

RoboMarkets (Cyprus) — see RoboForex

RoboTrade Ltd (Belize) — M/M subsidiary (for cent accounts) of STP broker RoboForex Ltd (Cyprus)

Royal Forex Trading - RFXT (Lebanon) — licensed by CySEC (Cyprus), Sep 2016, providing access to the European market

RTFX - Realtime Forex (Malta) — out of business as of 29 May 2015 — do not confuse with RFXT

RubixFX (Australia) — rebranded as FXTrading .com

RV Markets (Hong Kong) — out of business — see UPME Group Ltd (British Virgin Islands)

RVD Markets Ltd (British Virgin Islands) — bankrupt

Sage FX (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) — no longer hosts new U.S. clients

SamtradeFX (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) — trading name of Samtrade UK Int’l Ltd (UK) — FCA-regulated in UK, ASIC-regulated in Australia — offices in s.e. Asia and Shanghai China — retail trading in FX, CFDs, oil and gas

Saxo Bank (Denmark)

Scope Markets (Belize)

Sensus Capital Markets (Malta) — a.k.a. GBE Brokers (Malta) — license to operate in Malta suspended by MFSA (Mar '16) — SCAM

SGT Markets - Sterling Gent Trading Ltd (British Virgin Islands) — no U.S. clients

SHK Direct (Hong Kong)

SimpleFX Ltd (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Skilling Ltd (Cyprus) — formerly Finovel Cyprus Ltd — CySEC-regulated — branch offices in Spain, Malta, Seychelles, and (later in 2020) the U.K.

SkyFX (Cyprus) — subsidiary of Trademarker (Cyprus) — suspended by CySEC (May 2016)

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

Solidity Brokers (Cyprus) — out of business

Spreadex (UK) — spread betting dealer

SquaredDirect (Cyprus) — new name of ProbusFX (Cyprus)

StarfishFX - Starfish Markets Ltd (Vanuatu) — forex, CFD’s, commodities and binary options — offices in New Zealand — expelled from Financial Commission (Nov. 2018) for non-compliance

Sterling Gent Trading Ltd (British Virgin Islands) — see SGT Markets (BVI)

STForex (Russia)

STP Markets (UK) — directional options broker — not regulated (FCA warning in effect) — £1000 minimum deposit

Strategem FX (Belize) — out of business

Strato Markets (Netherlands)

SVSFX - SVS Securities Plc (UK) — bankrupt broker, under Special Administration — assets purchased by ITI Capital (UK) in June 2020.

Swiss International (Kuwait)

Swissquote (Switzerland) — acquired MIG Bank (Switzerland) in 2013 — acquisition of Internaxx (Luxembourg) completed March 2019

SynergyFX - Synergy Financial Markets (Australia) — recently (Sept 2018) acquired by ACY Capital Group (Australia)


Tadawul FX — see Liquid Markets (UK)

Tallinex (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) — no longer accepts new U.S. clients as of October 2016

Tbilisi Traders Club LLC (Rep. of Georgia) — trading name of HDForex (Georgia)

TD Ameritrade (US) — multi-asset broker with about 11% share of the U,S. forex market (as of May 2020) — acquired by Charles Schwab (US) in 2020

TD Markets Ltd (UK) — owned by TDM Holdings Inc (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) — fx and binary options

TeleTrade - DJ International Consulting Ltd (Cyprus) – no U.S. client

Templer FX (SVG) — no clients from US, Canada, UK, EU, Japan, Israel, or Turkey

TempletonFX (UK) — one of the trading names of Templeton Securities Ltd (UK) — IB for ACM Group plc (UK)

Templeton Securities Ltd (UK) — parent of TempletonFX (UK) — not affiliated with Franklin Templeton Investments

Tenko FX (New Zealand)

TeraFX (UK) — FCA-regulated CFD broker — has a branch in Poland, and one planned for Dubai — focus is shifting away from retail clients, and toward professional and institutional clients

TFI Markets Ltd - TFIFX (Cyprus) — no U.S. clients

The Collective FX Global (Belize) — see BDG Financial Services Ltd — out of business

TheTradersDomain (SVG) — hybrid MM/ECN broker — U.S. clients must register country of residence as “crypto” and deposit funds via cryptocurrency — after conversion, U.S. accounts are denominated in USD

Think Forex (UK and Australia) — see ThinkMarkets (UK)

ThinkMarkets (UK) — TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd, and TF Global Markets (Australia) Pty Ltd — formerly ThinkForex — entering South Africa market in 2019

ThinkOrSwim (US) — division of TD Ameritrade (US) — acquired by Charles Schwab (US) in 2020 along with the acquisition of TD Ameritrade (US)

Tickmill Ltd (UK) — no U.S. clients — Canadian clients are accepted — Tickmill has acquired Vipro Markets (Cyprus) as of Sep 2017

TigerWit Financial Services Ltd (Bahamas) — fx (and copy-trading) broker — parent of TigerWit Ltd (UK)

TigerWit Ltd (UK) — FCA-regulated broker — formerly Mercor Index, prior to acquisition by TigerWit (Bahamas)

TIO Markets (UK) — new name of FCA-regulated fx broker Primus Capital Markets (UK) after acquisition by Trade .io (Nov. 2018)

TMFX (Cyprus) - trading name of Topic Markets, Ltd (Cyprus) — TMFX voluntarily renounced their CySEC license 5/5/17

TMS Brokers (Poland) — will buy the FX unit of Noble Securities (Poland) in Nov 2019

Tokyo Financial Exchange Inc - TFX (Japan) — Japanese futures exchange; also Click365 margin-fx trading exchange (see above)

Topic Markets Ltd (Cyprus) — see TMFX (Cyprus)

Trade 12 (Marshall Islands) — KROUFR blacklisted — operated out of Ukraine — shut down by Ukrainian authorities (Dec 2018) — classified as criminal enterprise — see also HQBrokers

Trade-24 (UK) — unlicensed/unregistered broker, sanctioned by FCA (UK) and OSC (Ontario, Canada) for illegal operations

Trade .com (Cyprus) — trading name of Leadcapital Markets Ltd (Cyprus) — FX broker became multi-asset broker Nov 2019 — regulated in Cyprus, UK, and S. Africa.

Tradefort (Russia)

TradeFred - MagicPath Capital Ltd (Cyprus) — multi-asset broker licensed in Cyprus, Australia, and Vanuatu — no U.S. clients

TradeInvest90 (Montenegro ?) — trading name of Celestial Trading Ltd, which claims to be regulated in Montenegro — warning against this broker issued by Austrian regulator FMA (Feb 2019)

TradeKing Forex (US) — IB for Gain Capital (US) — acquired MB Trading, Aug 2015 — TradeKing is for sale as of Jan 2016

Trademarker (Cyprus) — parent company of SkyFX (Cyprus) — suspended by CySEC (May 2016)

TradeNext Ltd (UK) — no U.S. clients — facing reorganization — currently terminating some clients

Tradeo (Cyprus) - brand name of UR Trade Fix Ltd (Cyprus) — social trading platform for FX and CFD’s

TradeOrbitz (UK)

TradePulseFX (Seychelles) — registered and regulated in Seychelles, offices in Dubai UAE

Traders Choice FX (US) — IB for various brokers

Traders Trust Capital Markets Ltd - TTCM (Cyprus)

Trader’s Way (Dominica) — no new U.S. clients as of October 2020

TradeStation Forex (US) — subsidiary of Monex Group (Japan) — parent of IBFX (US and Australia) being sold to Oanda

Tradeview Ltd (Cayman Islands)

TradeWiseFX (SVG) — recently removed from Group 1, and moved to Group 2

Trading 212 (UK) — FCA-regulated broker — trading name of Trading 212 UK Ltd.

Trading 212 (Bulgaria) — Bulgarian FSC-regulated broker — trading name of Trading 212 Ltd.

Trading .com Markets Inc (US) — new U.S. subsidiary of Cyprus broker XM’s parent, Trading Point — currently has applications pending with NFA and CFTC for membership and registration as U.S. RFED

Trading .com (UK) — new name (effective Jul 2019) of Trading Point’s FCA-regulated retail broker, formerly known as Trading Point of Financial Instruments (UK) Ltd

TradingForex .com (Cyprus) — domain name of Traders Trust Capital Markets Ltd (Cyprus)

Trading Point (Cyprus) — no U.S. clients — also see XM .com (Cyprus)

Tradomart Ltd (Cyprus) — see ForexMart (Cyprus)

Trust Capital S.A.L. (Lebanon) — multi-asset broker regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (Lebanon) — recently (Nov. 2018) also licensed by CySEC (Cyprus)

Turnkey Forex (SVG) — out of business

TurnkeyFX (UK) — fintech company providing technical services and white-label trading platforms to brokers — partner to Finpro Trading


UB4Trade (UK) - Finatex Ltd (UK) — this broker has been placed on a Warning list by New Zealand regulator

UBFS Invest (Cyprus) — suspended by CySEC (May 2016)

UFX .com - United Global Ventures LP (UK) — may be UFX Markets Global / ufxmarkets .com / UFX Bank, rebranded — SCAM

UFX Bank (UK) — out of business

UFX Markets Global Inc (British Anguilla) — Israeli company — no U.S. clients

U Markets (Belize / UAE) — registered in Belize, office in UAE, also UK phone number

UMOfx (New Zealand)

Uni FX (UK)

United World Capital - UWCFX (Cyprus)

Universal FX (Switzerland)

UpFX (Seychelles)

UPME Group Ltd - FXUP ME (British Virgin Islands) — formerly RV Markets (Hong Kong)

USG Capital (Israel) — subs. of Int’l USG Capital Ltd, owned by Atlantic Brokers (Bulgaria) — suspended by ISA — no longer brokering forex — do not confuse with USGFX (Australia)

USG AU (Australia) - a.k.a. USGFX - Union Standard Int’l Group Pty Ltd (Australia) — broker previously licensed and regulated by ASIC — license suspended (July 2020) — corp. offices relocated to UK (see USG UK, below) — broker put into liquidation (August 2020) — ASIC license revoked (October 2020) — brokerage operations relocated to South Africa (October 2020)

USG Global (Vanuatu) - Union Standard Int’l Group Ltd — broker licensed and regulated by VFSC

USG UK (U.K.) - Union Standard Int’l Group Ltd — broker licensed and regulated by FCA

UTMarkets - United Trading Markets (Bulgaria?) — trade-name of T-Marketing Services Ltd (Bulgaria?) — warning from FSC

UTrade Premium Ltd (Israel) — algo-trading brokerage, banned by Israeli Securities Authority (ISA) — scam — CEO and other executives face fraud and racketeering charges in Israel

UWCFX — see United World Capital (Cyprus)


Valbury Capital (UK) — no U.S. clients

Valutrades (UK)

Valutrades Ltd (Seychelles) – subs. of UK parent

Vantage FX Pty Ltd (Australia) — retail partner of Vantage Global Prime (Australia) — FX (ECN) only — no longer offers trading in binary options — no U.S. clients

Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd (Australia) — institutional partner of Vantage FX (Australia)

Varchev Financial (Bulgaria)

Varengold (Germany) — will cease operation as a retail FX broker by May 2016

Varianse - trading name of Vibhs Financial Limited (UK) — FCA-regulated — no U.S. clients

Venbey Yatirim (Turkey) — scam

VertiFX (Canada)

Vestle (Cyprus) — new name of broker iCFD (Cyprus), one of the companies of iForex Group (Cyprus?) — ESMA-compliant broker serving EU clients

Victory International Futures (Indonesia) — Indonesian clients only

Vinson Financials Ltd (Cyprus)

VIPRO Markets (Cyprus) — no U.S. or Canadian clients — Vipro has been acquired by Tickmill (UK)

VIPTRADE - Trade Holding Ltd (Rep. of Georgia) — MT5 broker — FX, metals, indices, oil

VistaBrokers (Cyprus) — no U.S. clients


WFX Markets (British Virgin Islands)

Windsor Brokers (Cyprus) — licensed and regulated in Cyprus, and (as Seldon Investments Ltd) in Jordan.

WSD Global Markets (New Zealand) — out of business


xCFD Ltd (Cyprus / New Zealand)

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

XForex - XFR Financial Ltd (Cyprus) — currently being dissolved — clients are being transferred to Xtrade (Cyprus)

XGlobal Markets (Cyprus)

XM .com (Cyprus / New Zealand) — see Trading Point (Cyprus) — no U.S. clients

XoomForex (Cyprus) — out of business

Xtrade (Cyprus) - XFR Financial Ltd (Cyprus) — no U.S. clients — do not confuse with X-Trade Brokers (Poland)

X-Trade Brokers (XTB) (Poland) — expanding into South America and Belize — fined $2.5M by Polish FSA — separately, Polish police are investigating possible fraud by XTB (potentially $23M)


Yadix (British Virgin Islands)

YJFX (Japan) — subsidiary of Yahoo Japan Corp — FX and binary options broker — no U.S. clients
— will be re-branded as PayPal FX in fall 2020

You Trade FX (Mauritius) — scam — do not confuse with scam broker UTrade Premium (Israel)


Z .com (GMO-Z .com Trade UK Ltd) (U.K.) — subs. of GMO Click (Japan) — no U.S. or Japanese clients

Zecco Forex Inc (US) — merged with TradeKing (US)

Zinfinex Limited (UK) — new FCA-regulated (effective Mar 2019) FX and CFD broker

ZuluTrade (Greece) — copy-trading partner of fx/cfd broker BlackBull Markets (New Zealand)



– end of the Alphabetical List –

5 Likes
— 5 —

The 4-page Offshore Broker List (above), compiled by members of this Forum over the past 13½ 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.




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

6 Likes

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

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.

1 Like

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.

1 Like

Hello, sandpipper

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

Thanks for the update on Dukascopy.

.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

2 Likes

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?

1 Like

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.

4 Likes

Fxopen for me all the way.

1 Like

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

2 Likes

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

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.

1 Like

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

Clint can you contact some of the others so we can get a nice list. I havent been able to reach saxo bank. They would be a nice option.

WSD appears to accept US clients. The operation doesnt seem that great.