Clint, yes I established a live account with them (after the date you previously removed them from the list). I didn’t speak with a rep in advance about my status though, just followed the on-line account application & funding process. Within 48 hours received an email my account was ready to trade. Withdrawal was no problem.
You are correct. My mistake.
After reading your post, I attempted to open an account with them. As soon as I clicked “United States” in their drop-down menu, this popped up in red letters: “US Residents are NOT able to open an account with Pepperstone…”
[B]I will add Pepperstone to Group 2 in our List.[/B]
Great. I applaud the way HotForex is getting around the CFTC’s bullsh!t. I hope they continue their current policy.
[B]I will move HotForex back into Group 1.[/B]
I’ll consider adding a note to their listing, referencing the discussion in posts #1284, #1288, #1394 and #1401.
Many traders when they decide which broker to chose always want his broker to be under CFTC. But they don’t have any connection with forex market they only regulate futures.
You are stunningly uninformed.
This thread — 140 pages and 1,400 posts — is all about CFTC regulation of [B]the retail spot forex market.[/B]
Have you done any reading, at all?
If reading this entire thread is too much of a burden for you, at least read this brief history of CFTC regulation of forex.
The Offshore Broker List has been updated.
Not at all, no problem! Likely you were doing something rare and wonderful like TRADING for a change, lol!
I do have a few more notes, will gather them up and post today/tonight.
I explored [B]FX Choice[/B] briefly; they do accept U.S. clients at the moment.
Platforms: MT4, ECN, lots of mobile apps, Web.
Minimum deposit: $10
Spreads: These are minimums: E/U .5-1.5, G/J 2.0-5.0.
Max Leverage: 1:200 for MT4, 1:100 for ECN
Max lots per ticket is as low as 1 for the ‘start’ type of account. For all, .01 min size, .01 step.
[B]FXCC[/B] was mentioned. They do not accept U.S. clients, but Legal informed me that U.S. directors/officers of an offshore-from-U.S. corporation are perfectly acceptable, as is a U.S.-resident trader with such an entity. They are Cypriot and brand-new in 2010; one of their officers previously worked for Inland Revenue so you can imagine whether they cross t’s & dot i’s.
Platforms: MT4, MT4 Multi-account, Currenex, Mobile, Web. Also managed accounts.
Minimum deposit: $1,000.00
Spreads: vary by platform, account type, and time of day. For low-figure MT4 accounts a good estimate is 1.3 on EU, 4.3 on GJ.
Max Leverage: 1:500 available up to $50,000.00 balance; the exceptional Support crew inform me leverage is negotiable somewhat thereafter, case-by-case. Max lots per ticket is 40, but also negotiable. Minimum is .01, step is .01.
[B] IRON FX[/B] is on the same roster: no “U.S. clients,” but U.S.-resident traders and directors/officers of an offshore entity pass muster no problem.
In fact, if you like “hmmm” moments, they have nearly the identical terms and conditions of FXCC.
They’re in Cyprus with offices in a building I personally know exists, and they’re regulated out the yin-yang by the various Cypriot and European agencies, etc.
Platforms: MT4, MT4 Multi-account, Mobile, Web. Many account types, including "STP/ECN."
Minimum deposit: $2500.00
Spreads: EU 1.2, GJ 4.5.
Max Leverage: 1:500 (with no balance-based scale according to the able Support ops), and again 40 lots max per ticket. Minimum is .01, step is .01.
When the Australian broker GoMarkets ceased to accept the US customers, they stated they were doing this because of Australia and the US both being signatories to the IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding
Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and the Exchange Of Information: IOSCO Library Section
On the other hand, the country of Belize (where FX Choice is domiciled) is not a signatory to the aforesaid Memorandum. The US CFTC therefore has no legal grounds for suing FX Choice for continuing to accept and service the US individual customers. :59:
Follow-up on some mentioned and unmentionable brokerages:
[B] REAL TRADE[/B]: Tried many avenues to contact with two simple questions. On 25th March made last valiant effort via email to prompt a response; no reply. One question regarded their live account registration page where they refer to something called the “Public Offerta agreement” to which one must agree in order to continue. However, it’s nowhere on their site and nowhere linked. Have a look: Contract Real Trade Group LTD. More Russian hijinks! lol! I’m in no doubt it’s a consortium given the franchise! 
[B] TRADEFORT[/B] - Learnt via email from “Anna Onischenko” that if you are a U.S. resident you must fund via Liberty Reserve or WebMoney or other costly anonymous “service” of that ilk. No wires, no credit cards, no debit cards – and no corporate accounts. No thanks.
[B] XOOM FOREX[/B] - [remember it’s .co, not .com, I stumbled on that one] We had REAL trouble trying to navigate their webpage; that’s a long topic which I’ll set aside for the moment. Sent email anyway on Tues 27th March and subsequent three days; no reply.
[B] UNIVERSAL FX[/B] - also never a reply to questions no matter which route (several!) I tried.
[B] FOREX METAL[/B] - It’s only fair to report that the withdrawal was indeed received.
[U] History[/U]:
(1) Funding: Wired to them via SWIFT and account funded in 8 hours. [I]Cost[/I]: $45 fee by our bank.
(2) Withdrawal:
– A. Requested withdrawal via SWIFT and the money sat right where it was in trading account for Four Full Business Days (Six calendar days).
– B. We received the wire SEVEN full business days AFTER they finally scooted the cash from account, making a total of Eleven Business days (over two weeks all told) and I will reveal that there was a deal of prodding and prying involved along the way just to get the thing done. [I]
Cost[/I]: $100, of which $15 was receiving fee by our bank.
[edited to correct facts: our acct mgr Madeleine has told me cost was $180, not $100, of which $15 receiving fee is correct.]
The phrase “good riddance to bad rubbish” comes unbidden to mind.
I have some info on PaxForex coming along soon, will make supreme effort LOL to get it posted asap.
It is a Russian firm indeed. Some time last year I briefly visited Vilnius, the capital city of the ex-Soviet republic of Lithuania which is now an EU member state. In the city’s central business district, I stumbled upon the local Real Trade branch and couldn’t resist taking a photo of it:
Lovely pic, thanks BHS! Yes, they have several physical offices, no quibble there. It’s prising a reply out of the b@stards which has tasked me so much. I see everything’s curtained-off in there… LOL! 
[B]PAX FOREX[/B]: Been testing this one, and have several things to report.
U.S.-resident clients whether individual or corporate are Welcome.
Platform: MT4
Max leverage: 1:500
Minimum deposit is $10 USD or equivalent for mini account, $400 for a standard account (they call it “standart” and there’s a pun in there I’m sure)
Spreads: For reference’ sake: E/U 1.3-5. G/U 4.9-10.0.
[In standard acct live trading E/U avg is 1.4-5.0, mean figure 2.9 - it tends to cling at 2.9 if the market moves at all during normal trading hours in EU & US sessions outside of major news/events/releases. The charts on their site mislead somewhat both as to minimums and maximums. Never seen .5, and 5.0 only occurs sporadically in the opening half-hour just after the week-end. During data releases it’s still in the immediate vicinity of 2.9, so for news traders it’s not awful. G/J tends to meander along with 4.7-6.0 pip spreads, although they say it may go to 10.0 max; 8.4 seems the popular level during week-opening half-hour.]
Max lot size - None (since it’s MT4 I imagine they meant to say 999). Min. trade size .1, step .1.
Little details that make the big picture:
You can w/d without closing all open positions; you’d be (possibly) surprised how many of these small start-up brokers require squaring all trades beforehand, no matter how small the w/d relative to free equity.
Support is prompt, knowledgeable, courteous and English-enabled.
Wire funding is again exceptionally fast; less than 6 hours. But of course they want 3-5 business days to ‘process’ a withdrawal, and then expect the usual wait & wondering when or whether it will hit one’s bank.
Hedge retains first leg margin, other leg 0 margin; better than those who still take it both ways.
Now to the dark side: One tweak they’ve done, it’s an oldie but goodie: If price approaches within X pips of your stoploss, with X being the Stop Level range for that instrument, your stop is locked immovable unless price moves away out of the StopLevel range or s/l is hit. You can’t modify it, whether to shift it 1000 pips away or remove it altogether - can’t be done. Support confirmed this as policy. Wasn’t easy to get that admission, sad to say.
This applies also to a takeprofit. So take heed. That’s not the end of it though.
You cannot even CLOSE the trade if price is within the Stop Level range of your s/l or t/p. This too was confirmed by Support, most grudgingly.
Many of their less-traded pairs and crosses are on non-fractional pricing and you will find this ‘can’t modify, can’t close’ effect operates one pip both ways (in effect, 2 pips) beyond the stops levels advertised. Small wonder, but there you have it.
This is the kind of tomfoolery we saw so many years back it’s a shock to see it again. The brokers who had attracted some sizeable deposits were successfully pressurised to change their ways, whilst the minor players continued on with minor accounts and were marginalised. How times change, eh? [Temporary end of rant.]
Their London office is an accommodation address (mail/phone forwarding); the “Head Office” is in Tortola, BVI and likely it’s another maildrop sort of place but can’t yet say for certain; they bank in Cyprus and… so it goes.
Back to the meaty bits. They offer a bonus program, chart’s on their site. Bonus becomes withdrawable cash if within 2 months of its posting to the account, trades totalling a number of standard lots equal to or greater than the bonus divided by 5 are executed and closed. So if $1000 is the bonus, it’s minimum total trade volume of 200 standard lots required within 2 months to turn the bonus into capital.
Stops levels are reasonable at 5 for E/U, 8 for G/J.
Stopout begins at 10%.
Execution is quite decent, no more than 2 seconds so far.
Clock keeps up tolerably well with our NIST-sync’d PC time.
There are platform downtimes for 30 seconds-1 minute several times daily, appear random but I’m sure they’re not.
[edited to add: Today during NY session there were a half-dozen downtimes, two of which lasted 4+ minutes.]
There is a term in the Agreement stating leverage will be reduced to 1:100 on trades opened less than three hours prior to Friday close of trading; haven’t yet tested that one!
Depending on your trading style, this one might not be so bad. It’s in the lowest echelon, sort of tops of the bottom, but sometimes that’s where the strawberries grow so it’s worth a look.
You may have noticed a broker called AXITrader advertising here on the Babypips Forum. And you may recall that, many months ago, they were placed in Group 2 on our List of Offshore Brokers.
I decided to take another look at AXITrader, and I was struck by the following statement on their website:
[B]To understand what the CFTC has done to retail forex trading in the U.S., look no further than this list.[/B]
The U.S. is now ranked with North Korea, Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, and a number of other third-world countries.
Thank you, Commodity Futures Trading Gestapo.
FIJI?? Crap!!! I have two trader friends in Fiji, who are well padded if you take my meaning! Just spoke with one of them who trades through a European corp so he’s laughing. Can’t reach the other, she’s just visiting/possibly settling in there but likely now bathed in sweat and reading this thread! Xenos if you’re around, check in with me babe.
Well, the rest of what I have to say I’ve either already said or it’s unprintable. That never stops me from saying more. Does anyone miss what’s really going on now? Has Clint made it abundantly clear for you all, do you need more info?
Clint I want to sincerely thank you for opening this thread, and moreso for keeping it updated with crucial info like this.
No wonder you’re an honored “FX-Man” here. I owe you mate.
Knowledge is power only if you use it. I’m thinking of adding a sigline, “I have U.S.-Resident breath,” just to warn “clean” people of my potential contagion. GACK.
promise to add something useful in next post. :-/
I realize this forum already has enough to deal with regarding the regulatory restrictions on currency trading, but here’s an article published last week in Forbes questioning the on-going CFD ban for US residents:
Another Market Not Available to U.S. Citizens - Forbes
As the writer states, “Regulating these emerging markets in the U.S. under the guise of “it’s for your own protection” doesn’t fly and it’s offensive” …thought that was a great line.
Standart is a common mistake made by Russians. I am sure they are related to Sergey Mayzus’s empire (Instaforex/Liteforex/UWC/Corsa Capital and many more) due to the fact that they have Mayzus’s own ecurrency, OKPay as an option. Also that they are safely ensconced in a virtual office in BVI.
ROFL. Thanks for breaking me out of my audit funk. I lol’ed
Nowadays many brokers are covered by CFTC license but are not honest with their traders meanwhile brokers that are not governed by CFTC much more honest and reliable with their customers. I’m telling this from my own experience.
True, and the CFTC is now trying hard to prevent those non-CFTC brokers from opening accounts for the US customers.
That’s true. My friend is an American and he is not able to trade with brokers who have really good conditions for trading. People say,if a broker is regulated by somebody my money is in safe. But they are not in safe for a trader but for a broker who is goverend by smb(for ex, CFTC).
Tell him to set up a company over the Internet in another country (for example, in Australia via Company Registration - Register a company in Australia - Incorporate Online Limited Company Formation Business Incorporation). He will then be able to open a trading account with a foreign broker on his company’s name.