Hello, guys
I’d like to ask your opinion on a new broker — Forex Nation — and specifically on whether we should include this broker (and others of the same type) in our List of Offshore Brokers. Here are the details:
About two weeks ago, a representative of Forex Nation posted for the first time on this forum. Here’s a link to their thread.
Forex Nation is different from the other brokers we have vetted on this thread, in two ways:
B[/B] they are domiciled offshore (in Australia), but they are registered with the CFTC and the NFA (here in the U.S.), and they are fully CFTC/NFA compliant regarding leverage restrictions, the FIFO requirement, and the prohibition against hedging; and
B[/B] they are a not-for-profit business — donating all profits to charity.
You might like Forex Nation for their charitable work; however, that aspect of their business model has no bearing on whether they belong on our List. Their CFTC/NFA compliance, on the other hand, is something we should talk about.
Three years ago, when we launched this thread, and started looking for “offshore” brokers, we sort of defined “offshore” as “outside U.S. territory, and beyond the reach of U.S. regulators”. Forex Nation clearly is not beyond the reach of U.S. regulators, and is not a place where we can “escape the CFTC”.
So, should we consider Forex Nation for our List, or not?
Apparently, AxiTrader (with whom Forex Nation is affilitated) is now in the same posture vis-a-vis the CFTC and NFA, as is Forex Nation. You may recall that AxiTrader (Australia) was originally in Group 1 of our List. Then they stopped doing business with U.S. residents, and we moved them to Group 2. Now, they once again welcome U.S. residents in CFTC/NFA compliant accounts through a subsidiary called AxiTraderUSA.
So, whatever decision we make regarding Forex Nation will logically apply to AxiTraderUSA, as well.
Please post your comments on this issue. I will not take any action to add Forex Nation or AxiTraderUSA to our List, unless a majority of the participants on this thread are in favor of doing so. I await your feedback.