Going offshore to escape the CFTC

I just posted — THIS QUESTION — on another thread.

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My question is this…If FXCM will screw their customers here in the US then why wouldn’t they somewhere else? I can’t imagine ANYONE trusting them in any part of the world. I know I sure wouldn’t!

For those who are just now hearing this news,
here are some links to bring you up to speed:

[U]The CFTC’s announcement[/U]:

CFTC Orders Forex Capital Markets, LLC (FXCM), Its Parent Company, FXCM Holdings, LLC
and FXCM’s Founding Partners, Dror Niv and William Ahdout,
to Pay a $7 Million Penalty for FXCM’s Defrauding of Retail Forex Customers

[U]Two articles in [I]Finance Magnates[/I] about the CFTC action[/U]:

Breaking: CFTC Levies $7M Fine on FXCM, Forced to Quit US Market | Finance Magnates

Breaking: FXCM to Sell US Accounts to GAIN Capital | Finance Magnates

[U]Jason Rogers’ statement here on [I]Babypips[/I][/U]:

FXCM US Reaches Settlement with NFA and CFTC

[B][U]Edit (updates)[/U] —[/B]

[U]Additional posts from Jason Rogers:[/U]

http://forums.babypips.com/fxcm/84720-fxcm-going-out-business-post803323.html#post803323

http://forums.babypips.com/fxcm/84720-fxcm-going-out-business-post803325.html#post803325

http://forums.babypips.com/fxcm/84720-fxcm-going-out-business-post803327.html#post803327

http://forums.babypips.com/fxcm/84720-fxcm-going-out-business-post803385.html#post803385

http://forums.babypips.com/forex-brokers/84914-who-going-become-replacement-fxcm-post805097.html#post805097

[U]Additional articles from [I]Finance Magnates[/I][/U]:

Exclusive: NFA Charged FXCM for Using Own LP for No Dealing Desk Execution | Finance Magnates

Breaking: FXCM Restructuring Plan Includes the Termination of 150 Employees | Finance Magnates

Breaking: FXCM’s Share Prices Shed 50% of Market Value at Open | Finance Magnates

Johnson & Weaver to Investigate Whether FXCM Officers’ Practices Breach Law | Finance Magnates

Breaking: GAIN Capital Signs Agreement with FXCM to Buy US Client Base | Finance Magnates

Darwinex Cuts Business Ties with FXCM, Urges Users to Recommend New Venue | Finance Magnates

Breaking: GAIN Capital CEO Comments on FXCM US Clients Acquisition | Finance Magnates

GAIN CEO States Increased Regulation a Long-Term Positive for Industry | Finance Magnates

Breaking: Gain Capital Will Pay Up to $500 Per Each FXCM Transferred Account | Finance Magnates

OANDA CEO Issues Statement on Recent CFTC Action in the US | Finance Magnates

FXCM Details its Expected Savings from Leaving the US Retail Forex Market | Finance Magnates

FXCM Settles Another Regulatory Headache in U.S. Ahead of Departure | Finance Magnates

Breaking: FXCM Group Promotes Brendan Callan to CEO Leucadia Appoints Chairman

FXCM Inc to Be Renamed ‘Global Brokerage Inc’ Following US Upheaval

GAIN Capital’s Shares Surge after Jefferies Forecasts $150 RPM

Global Brokerage Announces Upbeat Q4, Repaid $30 m to Leucadia in March

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Sorry Clint,
I should have known you and baby pips were already all over this important story. I guess this post was my emotional release mechanism. It’s just so shocking to watch regulators target the destruction of an entire industry. I’ve been relying on FOREX for extra retirement income. This is not fair.

Newbie–So who are the two which remain standing? Currently doing paper trading/demo and had hoped to one day go live—

Thanks!

[B]Gain Capital[/B] will be the 600-pound gorilla, with something like 58% of the U.S. retail forex market.

[B]Oanda[/B] will be the other large player, but less than half the size of Gain.

Two minor players will fight over the remaining 16%.

[U]Edit / correction[/U]:

Based on data released by the CFTC in early April –

Gain Capital has a 53.5% market share, Oanda has a 29.1% market share,

and the remaining 17.4% is split between Interactive Brokers and TDAmeritrade.

Those numbers (the latest available) were calculated as of the end of February 2017.

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It seems pretty obvious what the ultimate goal of the CFTC is…

the CME already offers much higher leverage for day trading currency futures (100-150:1) compared to 50:1 for the US Forex brokers. If they eliminate the competition, they can force all retail Forex volume on exchange.

s19h02t3f,

I apologize for the delay in replying to your post. I’ve been distracted over the past few days, first by the discussion regarding possible repeal of the Dodd-Frank law, and then by the surprising news that the largest forex broker in the U.S. has been banned forever from the business.

Anyway, I want to thank you – belatedly – for getting back to us with an update on your efforts to open an account with Renesource Capital.

I’ve never had direct contact with Renesource, and I don’t know anyone (other than yourself) who has. So, I can’t comment or advise on how you might proceed in getting over the paperwork hurdles you described.

I was looking forward to a Renesource success story, in your case. Maybe such a story is still possible.

If anything further develops, I hope you will revisit our thread and update us again.

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Hello all,
Thanks Clint for an excellent informative thread for the people looking for a good broker. I opened my account with Tradersway few months ago and I like the broker a lot as everything is going well.
I have been using FXJunction for stats. Today I was unable to connect my TW account to FXJunction. I received the following email when I contacted their support:
[I][B]Dear Member,

Thanks for your information. Sorry to inform you, but we have blacklisted this company as they are not regulated. You are free to choose any broker which is regulated and link that account to your FX Junction profile.

Best Regards,

FX Junction Support[/B][/I]

FYI

I know next to nothing about FXJunction (I’m not into social trading).

I took a look at the FXJunction website, and was surprised to see that they claim to support 880 brokers.

I seriously doubt that there are 880 [I][B]regulated[/B][/I] brokers in the world.

As for the offshore brokers on our List, you have probably noticed that two-thirds of them are unregulated, including Trader’s Way, one of our [I]Trusted Brokers[/I].

I won’t get into a debate about the virtues (or not) of regulated brokers, except to say that I disagree with those people who take for granted that regulated brokers are sound and trustworthy, while unregulated brokers are shifty and untrustworthy. People who believe that are naive, in my opinion.

Anyway, I guess you will have to choose whether to stick with FXJunction, or with Trader’s Way.

I wish you success, whichever you choose.

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Clint Thanks for the reply.
Ofcourse I am sticking to Tradersway. I was just wondering if there is any way to influence FXJunction’s decision. Anyways it doesn’t matter as there are other sites similar to it.

Clint…I was just over at FF reading through the chatter going on about FXCM and I noticed two different people had posted they tried to open an account with FX Choice today and the U.S. was not listed as option and they were not able to open an account.

I have an account there that I opened months ago. I have never even funded it but just wanted to have as a backup in case something ever changes with my current broker. I guess it is still open because I can log in and it appears I can still fund it.

Just thought you might want to be aware of this and check it out.

I have an account with FXChoice, but just went through the motions of opening a new one. After asking for me email, was a drop-down list, which includes United States (the). Furthermore, I verified with chat, and they said none the rumors are true. FXChoice continues to welcome new U.S. based traders with open arms.

As we would expect from a [B]TRUSTED BROKER[/B]

Shepherd, thanks for stepping up to answer J’s question.

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For those interested in following the [B]FXCM[/B] story, I have posted LINKS to news from [I]Finance Magnates[/I] (and other sources), as it appears on the internet or on this forum.

I will continue to update these links, as news continues to break.

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Clint,

So where does the potential repealing of Dodd-Frank stand ? Just curious.

Don’t hold your breath.

In an ARTICLE posted today on the [I][B]Finance Magnates[/B][/I] website, Jeff Patterson (writing about GAIN Capital and their agreement to buy FXCM’s client book) concluded his article with this paragraph:

In light of this, the Trump administration has shown a willingness to dismantle Dodd-Frank, which could [B]eventually[/B] have major consequences for brokers operating domestically. However, this process will be difficult to undertake logistically, and so [B]it is unlikely to foster any other dramatic shakeups in the FX market in the foreseeable future.[/B]

(I added the bold type for emphasis.)

I have a somewhat different take on the issue of Dodd-Frank, and whether it even matters.

As I have written extensively in this thread, it is my opinion that the Dodd-Frank law is [B]not[/B] the cause of our problems in retail forex.

If the Dodd-Frank law were repealed completely, we would still be stuck with:

• a decimated retail forex industry, in which only 2 significant retail brokers are left standing

• the ongoing efforts of the CFTC to [I]abolish off-exchange retail currency trading[/I] in the U.S.

• the leverage restriction, the FIFO requirement, the hedging prohibition, and

• the ongoing CFTC [I]harassment of offshore brokers who deal with U.S. residents.[/I]

The cause of our current problems, in my opinion, is [I]the out-of-control CFTC,[/I] which is intent on:

• forcing U.S. retail forex trading onto a [I]CFTC- controlled forex exchange,[/I] and

• making it impossible for U.S. residents to access a [I]free market for retail fx trading[/I] offshore.

A model for [I]exchange-traded retail spot forex[/I] already exists in Japan.

If you’re interested, do some research on “Click365”, which is part of the Tokyo Financial Exchange Inc. Click365 is the world’s first [I]margin spot forex exchange.[/I]

The CFTC wants to impose a Japanese-style “margin spot foreign currency exchange” on the U.S.

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Clint, what do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of the Click365-type of exchange?

Thanks for this great thread.

Clint,

It’s going to be interesting. That’s the nicest thing I can think of to say. After 7 years of work / study, I’m finally beginning to recover my losses… I just hope the CFTC doesn’t close the door completely before I’ve at least had a chance to do that.

I am too looking for a new broker due to FXCM. I have been looking at tradersway and so far I have one complaint. The swap rates are super high. I trade setups based off the weekly and monthly moves so these could really take a hold after a a few Wednesday triple swaps.

Tradersway swap rate for the EURJPY is Long -11.85 Short -14.45 “calculated from the live account feed not demo”
FX Choice swap rate for the EURJPY is Long -0.56 Short 0.33
Oanda swap rate for the EURJPY is Long 0.75 Short -1.55
Gain Capital swap rate for the EURJPY is Long -0.17 Short 0.01

So far for an offshore broker Fx Choice seems to be a clear winner in this regard. As they’re not taking large amounts of profit from their client via swap rates.