Going offshore to escape the CFTC

I was wondering, has anyone from the United States successfully created an offshore entity to trade forex with offshore brokers? And if so, which brokers did you end up using? I recently got kicked out of Trading-Point because of being a U.S resident, and now have to start from scratch in looking a broker. I went with ATC Brokers, but the margin requirements and leverage are not what I’m looking for. Thanks again!

Clint’s great work in initiating and maintaining this thread is the resource you are looking for. Review the first post – he has carefully vetted many traders’ input and added to his own. It’s right there for you, for free.

Personally I’ve found an easy way to sort the many offshore providers:

(1) Scan their websites for typos and language bloopers. Why? Because they claim they can prepare documents for you which they will file with foreign governments. Words matter, never doubt it – words matter most of all when making averments and declarations in these circumstances. If an offshore services company leave obvious errors all over their webpages (their public face and marketing tool), imagine what their documents will look like.

(2) If the site looks well-written, get in touch with them and ask if they will permit you to review the filings before they submit them. The barrel-bottom outfits will not. Surprisingly, there are rather high-flight firms who hem & haw and discourage or outright deny the client these review rights. This places your new corporation in hazard’s way. There’s plenty to learn about local law; you don’t want to have to ride herd on the firm you contract to do the paperwork. If however they seem capable but still refuse you any right of review before filing, then ask what percentage of the purchase price will be refunded if it is found that their documents are not error-free? ;-D That separates the men from the boys - no offence to non-males. It is IMPORTANT, please do not underestimate its importance.

Enjoy your journeys through the money-system! :smiley:

[edited to add:] Oh, and please contribute by posting details you’ve gleaned about ATC. Basic data format is in Post #1, and additional info is always appreciated – thank you for joining this thread, theresan.

Thanks for your help. ATC is not an offshore broker. It is actually a U.S based broker, which is why the margin requirements and leverage are not as attractive. But I will still post the details I have on them in case it is helpful to anyone else.

• ATC Broker
Platform: MT4/Trading Station – Min. initial deposit: 5000 USD. – Max. leverage: 50:1. – Spreads: EUR/USD 1 pips plus commission,
website: ATC Brokers | Forex Broker | Institutional Broker | STP Execution | MetaTrader 4 | Trading Station | MT4 Institutional Pricing | Forex Non-Dealing
Email: [email protected]

I’ve only been trading with them for a couple of days. Customer support is pretty solid. They respond to my email inquiries in a timely manner. I use the MT4 platform and the execution is good. My complaint is mainly the leverage is 50:1 and the margin requirement is 320 on 10,000. I’ve never withdrew from them, so I don’t know how quickly it is. Depositing took about 5 business days to verify through ACH deposit. They said credit card deposit would have been verified more quickly. They charge commission and spreads, but somehow it still ended up being cheaper than what I paid at Trading Point. Hope that helps

Hey Clint,

I just wanted to give you an update on Hotforex. I opened my account with them last month, and I just recieved this email from them today. It looks like as of June they are no longer going to service US customers.

Dear Client

According to our internal records, you have been identified as being a resident of the United States of America.

HotForex has always been committed to being transparent and supportive of our clients. We monitor situations and make strategic decisions that we hope act in favor of our clients and we always look to provide the best service we can given the environment and constraints that we have to work in. Unfortunately sometimes these decisions are taken out of our hands. It is for this reason that we are contacting you with an update about a strategic business decision we have made about the provision of our services to US clients.

Even though HotForex does not have any offices and/or operations in the U.S. and does not engage in the solicitation of clients it was communicated to us that the CFTC does not allow us to offer our services on a cross-border basis to U.S. clients. Therefore, it is with great regret to inform you that HotForex will no longer be offering its services to new or existing U.S. clients.

We recognise the importance of this decision to you and we apologise for any inconvenience this development may cause you, regrettably it is a decision that we have no choice but to roll out.

In light of the above. by the 5th of June, 2012 and no later than 12 midnight server time (5pm Eastern Time) all open positions and pending orders in your trading account with HotForex will need to be closed. Any positions left open will be closed at the prevailing market price at that time and all pending orders will be deleted.

Please note that the deadline may change if it is necessitated by our regulators, the Financial Services Commission in Mauritius.

Any accounts that have a zero balance and accounts with balances but no open trades as of this email being sent will be closed with immediate effect.

Once the accounts are closed, the funds will be cleared of any outstanding bonus and sent to the original source of funds - in line with our anti-money laundering policy.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at support

Best Regards,

The HotForex Management Team

Sad. The Almighty CFTC [B]will not allow[/B] a private company, in a sovereign nation, to do what?

Maybe the Girl Scouts of America should [B]forbid[/B] HotForex from charging a spread larger than 1 pip on any currency pair.

Apparently, HotForex would obediently comply with the demands of the Girl Scouts.

HotForex should change their name to
EunuchFX.

I will move HotForex to the “disabled” roster.

And, it’s about time to clean all the red ink off the List of Offshore Brokers, and start fresh.

I’ll get to that chore in the next day, or two.

In the meantime, if anyone has any other updates to the List, speak up now, please.

I came across Paxforex don’t have all the information on them right now but will call them and update you guys since i am looking for a forex broker myself

HotForex will close my account :17:
But i found 1 Bulgari broker accepted U.S resident: Bulbrokers.com :smiley: , funding by PayPal also.

  • FXVV accepted U.S resident.

The following quote is from September 14, 2011:

This was posted by the Commodity Futures Trading Gestapo on May 1, 2012:

— DATE ----------------- ENFORCEMENT PRESS RELEASES

05/01/2012 ----- Federal Court in Illinois Orders Trading Point of Financial Instruments Ltd. to Pay $140,000 Penalty for Acting as Unregistered Retail Forex Dealer, 6248-12

Here is a list of all CFTG Enforcement Press Releases for this year — Enforcement Press Releases - CFTC

Well, I had never heard of Bulbrokers, so I went looking.

Here is their English-language website — FOREX, Online Trading,Hedging, Free Demo Accounts | Bulbrokers.com

This broker is headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, and regulated by the FSC (the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission), and by the FSA (the U.K. Financial Services Authority).

I don’t know anything about Bulgarian brokers, or the Bulgarian FSC. But, here is a point of comparison: DeltaStock, the Bulgarian broker which Dale Paterson represents here on Babypips, is also headquartered in Sofia, and is similarly regulated by the Bulgarian FSC. DeltaStock does not accept U.S. clients for forex trading; however, they seem to be reputable, stable and well-regulated. I’m not aware of scandals or controversies involving DeltaStock or their regulator. So, maybe FSC-regulated Bulgarian brokers, like Bulbrokers, who will accept U.S. clients, are worth a hard look.

I’d like to hear more, before adding Bulbrokers to our List.

I took a quick look at [B]FXVV.[/B] They have an informative, user-friendly website — Home | FXVV Capital Markets Ltd, which you guys should check out. This broker represents itself as a New Zealand broker, but their back-office is in the United Arab Emirates, so I suspect that this is really a UAE company. This needs some looking into.

They offer three “sizes” of MT4 STP account, with very high leverage (1000:1) on very small accounts (up to $1,000). Transaction costs are spread-plus-commission (spreads are low, and commission is $8 per standard lot).

I’d like those of you who are interested to dig into this broker, and report back. I’ll wait for more information, before putting FXVV on the List of Offshore Brokers.

I have been trading with FXVV, so far so good.
I will open new account with Bulbrokers.com, will be back after i go thru this guy.

Thank you, sir. I will make the necessary adjustment to the List.

Trading point no longer allows usa traders thanks to CFTC

they returned my funds promptly

they also advised me that if i get an offshore business they will still not allow me to trade becuase i have an ip address based in usa.

i think they are blowing smoke but just FYI.

There are plenty of non-US VPS services. Do everything for your account using the non-US vps.

Correct. Trading Point was removed from our List in early February.

BulBrokers.com is not allowed to accept U.S clients

That’s a surprise. I didn’t see anything on their website to indicate that.

I went as far as starting the online application process to open a live account. Their website accepted my “United States” nationality. I guess they need to amend their little drop-down menu to remove “United States” from the list of choices.

Here’s a screen-shot.

However, if you have been told that they will not accept you, then that’s that.

I’ll put them on the List in Group 2 (brokers who will not accept U.S. clients).

Are you comfortable with FXVV? In your opinion, should they be added to Group 1?

BulBrokers.com: yea… i registered live acc. went thru, but within 24hrs. got denied US clients from them.

FXVV: I have been trading live mini account leverage 1:1000, fast execute, spread under 1pip, commission charge 0.08 (under 1pip). All accounts are ECN (no non-ECN). Anyway, i’m happy with FXVV.

Thanks.

I will add FXVV to the “good guys” list, and I’ll put Bulbrokers on the “bad guys” list.

Look for an update to the List in the next 24 hours.

I recently joined FinFX only to find that their Micro account spreads are horrendous, and the ECN account, which has better spreads, has a minimum lot size of 0.1 lots, which is not useful for my trading style (I require a 0.01 minimum lot size). They were not willing to work with me at all in either lowering the spreads in my Micro account, or changing the minimum lot size if I were to upgrade to an ECN account. I was also unhappy with their 2.9% fee for credit card deposits.

Can someone recommend a decent broker that might be able to accommodate the type of account I’m looking for? HotForex was great while it lasted.