Is your FX firm registed ???

[pipjunky]

Are you new to all of this and you testing out a demo (for atleast 2months), and contemplating opening that real account ?

You should check that the firm you intend to use is registered with the: National Futures Association (“NFA”) is a membership organization comprised of individuals and entities in the business of placing futures and commodity options trades at contract markets on behalf of customers. NFA’s activities are overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the government agency responsible for regulating all aspects of the U.S. commodity futures industry. The CFTC has delegated to NFA the responsibility for processing applications for CFTC registration and granting CFTC registration when appropriate.

A CFTC advisory on foreign currency trading is available on the CFTC’s web site at CFTC Advisory on Foreign Currency. A consumer advisory regarding foreign currency trading fraud is also available on the CFTC’s web site at FOREX Advisory.

The Commodity Exchange Act, as amended in December 2000, makes it clear that the CFTC now has jurisdiction over off-exchange trading of foreign currency futures or options on behalf of retail U.S. customers. Off-exchange trading of foreign currency futures and options contracts on behalf of retail customers is legal only if conducted through CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchants, financial institutions, broker dealers, insurance companies and their affiliates, financial holding companies or investment bank hold companies. Off-exchange trading of foreign currency futures and options with retail customers by organizations other than the above is a violation of the CEA.

You can obtain information about any firm or individual, from NFA’s Background, Affiliation, Status, Information Center (“BASIC”) system at www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/ . BASIC is a user-friendly system that allows customers and member firms to quickly research individuals and firms who are CFTC registrants and NFA members. In BASIC you will find current and historical CFTC registration and NFA membership information and disciplinary actions taken by NFA, the CFTC and U.S. futures exchanges. In addition, you can find CFTC reparations and NFA arbitration cases; which are attempts by customers to resolve futures related disputes.

I use one of the sponsors here and they are NFA registered. They gave and continue to give me awesome service and advice (they also refered me to babypips.com). When i demo'd I used 3 firms from this site(b4 being refered to babypips.com) all offering great service (and they were NFA registered).

[tangara]

I trade with easy-forex Australia. They are registered with the Australian financial services (AFS).

[pipjunky]

Thats cool , i just recommended the USA guys because i think most of the people use American firms.

So maybe what we should do here is as people find out if there firms are registered in their respective countries is perhaps post the respective countries Finance Regulators contacts so others in your country can check that the firms they want to use are cool?

[pipgod]

FX Solutions is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM)

and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA).

(Can you tell I like the center thing?)

[colin]

The general take away point shoud be that you check to make sure that the broker is registered with the offical financial and regulatory agencies in the country where it does business.

In the USA, this is the NFA and CTFC. In the UK it is the FSA. And so on.

Another interesting check that can be done for US based brokers is to see how much capital they currently have. If the broker is registered as a Futures Commission Merchants (FCM) you can perform a check on the Commodity Futures Trading Commision's website for the broker's financial data here. Just download the most recent .pdf or Excel file to see how much capital the broker has reported to the CFTC. Make sure to check out the Adjusted Net Capital, Net Capital Requirement and especially Excess Net Capital figures.

[pipjunky]

I am happy to note that my firm appears to be in good condition . i think i check in every now and then on that 'excess' number.

Thanks Colin.

[vanpelt]

I checked the financial data but I don't know what I am looking for! (very new to this!)