Hi Jason,
I’d like to know more about the comission scheme that you offer and in what type of accounts.
Thanks.
Hi o990l6mh,
Thanks for the question and I’ll share as many details as I’m able to.
If the leverage proposal is passed, we’ll continue allowing US traders to move over to FXCM UK. I know the question has been asked whether the CFTC will prohibit US traders from opening with overseas brokers. Here’s the response I received from our compliance department to try to get some clarification on it:
the CFTC has not placed any restriction on a US citizen’s FX trading outside of the US. FXCM Ltd has accepted, and will continue to accept US clients based on FXCM Ltd’s entitlement to do so as a financial institution under Section 2©(2)(B)(i)(aa) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and as a regulated entity by the Financial Services Authority.
So from our standpoint, there’s nothing in place at the moment restricting traders from moving to FXCM UK. We did have a large number of traders move over to FXCM UK when the previous proposals went into effect for hedging and the FIFO rules, but those were seen by many traders as mere inconveniences. A change in leverage is going to be more substantial because it involves depositing 10 times more into the account to trade the same amount.
Are you considering leaving the US retail forex market altogether? Are you considering opening more offices abroad?
At the moment, no. But if 90% of traders go offshore, then it may come to a point where it’s no longer makes business sense to run a US operation with higher regulatory costs and reduced trading volume. I think the number of brokers will reduce even further if 10:1 leverage goes into effect.
The answer to your second question is Yes! We’ve been very busy opening new branch offices and affiliates. In the past couple of months, we’ve opened offices and affiliates in Athens, Greece (FXCMHellas.com); Milan, Italy (FXCM.it); Beirut, Lebanon (FXCMMena.com); Santiago, Chile (FXCMChile.com), and more to be announced. This adds to our current presence in London, New York, Sydney, Dubai, Paris, San Francisco, Dallas, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.
I imagine that the customer base for retail forex in the US would shrink dramatically if 10:1 leverage was to be enforced.
If 10 to 1 leverage were enforced, it would certainly raise the barriers to entry for US traders into the forex market. Of course, this is assuming the traders will actually setup with a US broker. FXCM, and many of the brokers in the FXDC, are making the argument that if the proposal passes many forex traders will simply go overseas where the CFTC and NFA have no oversight. The proposal hasn’t even passed yet, and we’ve seen an increase in the number of requests to move to FXCM UK.
Will the proposal pass? I think the number of comments submitted by traders (over 5,600 last time I counted!!) is creating pressure for the CFTC to re-think their position. The number of comments submitted is unprecedented if you compare to past years. And it’s also brought the issue to the attention of Congress if you read this article in EasyBourse.com House Lawmakers Concerned On CFTC Retail Forex Leverage Proposal
I imagine I’m asking about business secrets, but I’m curious so I ask anyway.
Feel free to ask anything, and I’ll share whatever information I’m able to. That’s what I’m here for 
-Jason
Hi wrtm_19,
Sure, I’ll give an overview of the commission based accounts and how they compare to the regular standard 10k accounts.
To lay everything out, the majority of FXCM’s accounts include the trading cost in the spread. So there is a fixed pip mark-up on the spread. For example, if the spread being offered on GBP/USD by the bank is 1 pip, FXCM may mark-up the bid and ask prices by 1 pip so that you see a 3 pip spread on the platform. So FXCM’s compensation is built into the spread, and no additional commission is being charged. I can go into a more detailed explanation in another post of the spread variability and how it works with 10 banks quoting on No Dealing Desk execution.
It is possible to see the raw spreads and instead pay a commission if your account is setup through our Active Trader program. The Active Trader program is designed as an incentive program for high volume traders. The larger the volume you trade, the lower the commission you can pay so that your overall trading cost is lower. Our revenue on No Dealing Desk execution is correlated with volume. The more volume being transacted, the more pip mark-ups being payed off of the spread. So we’re willing to give reductions in trading costs if the total trading volume will make up for it. Sort of like the Wal-Mart philosophy. If you sell a huge amount of volume, you can give discounted prices because you’re making up for it by selling huge amounts of volume.
For example, on the Active Trader setup, instead of seeing a 3 pip spread on GBP/USD, you may see the 1 pip spread, and pay a $10 commission per 100k round turn trade so that the overall cost is 2 pips. This setup can be applied to any of our platforms whether you are using the FX Trading Station II, MT4, or the dedicated Active Trader Platform.
To request inclusion into the Active Trader program, your account balance needs to be at least $25,000 or your trading volume needs to be at least 10 million in notional volume per month. If you’re trading with a competitor and can show your trading volume meets the requirement or exceeds it, we can use it to determine a commission when starting the account.
Let me know if you have any additional questions,
-Jason
Excellent answer! Thank you.
Who knows - maybe there’s a Stockholm office in the works 
Hi, Jason
Congratulations on the launch of this excellent thread!
Well we have a Scandi sales/customer support desk setup in London at the moment, so you never know
BTW, on the topic of the 10 to 1 leverage proposal, found another article on WSJ.com this morning. Not sure I missed this one last week. Foes Take On Debt Curbs From CFTC - WSJ.com
Couple of interesting quotes:
Since the proposal was posted on the agency’s Web site in mid-January, the CFTC has received an avalanche of comments—more than 6,000 and counting—from individual traders and brokers. By comparison, the Securities and Exchange Commission last year received 4,000 comments to its proposal to restrict short selling.
And this was a good one (bold emphasis added by me):
He said the comments from the public—largely centering on the leverage proposal—have come down on the agency “like a winter blizzard,” noting that it was more than at any time in the agency’s history.
Enjoy!
-Jason
Thanks Clint! It’s good to have you around.
-Jason
Hi Skushno,
Don’t mind at all and thanks for posting in my thread. I can see this being a highly discussed topic so I’ve created a separate thread on No Dealing Desk execution if you don’t mind. Here’s the thread with your original question quoted 301 Moved Permanently .
- Jason
BTW, if anyone makes a post asking for a response, my response will probably be made anywhere from 8am-5pm EST since I work out of our NYC office.
I’ll try to get to any posts ASAP!
Cheers,
-Jason
A friendly reminder that this upcoming Monday, March 22nd, is the deadline for submitting comments to the CFTC regarding the 10:1 leverage. Over 8,000 comments have been submitted thus far!!
If you wish to submit your comments either for or against, you can do so by email. Instructions below compliment of Clint’s post from another thread.
Send your comments directly to the CFTC at: <[email protected]>.
Include ‘Regulation of Retail Forex’ in the subject line of your message and the identification number RIN 3038-AC61 in the body of the message.
You can also submit your comments by either of the following methods (include above ID number):
Fax:
(202) 418-5521
Mail:
Mr. David Stawick, Secretary
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
1155 21st Street, N.W.,
Washington, DC 20581
Well; Hello Mr. Rogers,
Please welcome me to your neighborhood
I have one very simple question to which there is only one answer
(either YES or NO)
Did your company, FXCM, sponsor and endorse the Forex Robot World Cup ?
Please give me the courtesy of your reply at your earliest convenience.
Kind Regards,
TradeRunner
Hi TradeRunner,
Welcome to the neighborhood
Yes, we sponsored the competition as the official MT4 platform used for the contest.
-Jason
Hi TraderRunner,
Just connecting the dots…
In case your question has to do with the recent discussion on BabyPips about EA users having difficulty getting refunds from FRWC, I was contacted this morning by a trader on another forum alerting me to this and just read the thread on BabyPips.
I am monitoring the situation at the moment, and have notified the rep responsible for our relationship with the FRWC.
-Jason
Thank you kindly for your reply. I think it is
possible that the refunds are being handled
more efficiently already.
Good to hear!
Hi Everyone,
Exciting news today. FXCM announced the opening of its newest branch office in Berlin. FXCM Germany, an affiliate of FXCM LTD (UK), is co-regulated by BaFin and the FSA. We look forward to offering local service and support to our German clients!
This is the sixth new FXCM office opened since January 2009, following new offices in Paris, Sydney, Dubai, Milan and Santiago. FXCM has big plans in store for 2010, so stay tuned for more announcements…
FYI: FXCM’s trading hours Friday through Monday for the Easter Holiday period will remain the same. So trading closes on Friday April 2nd at 4:00pm EDT and will resume on Sunday April 4th at 5:15pm EDT.
Also, tomorrow is NFP. As if NFP were not volatile enough, tomorrow is also Good Friday, a public holiday in many countries. So liquidity could also be lower than normal causing more volatility.
-Jason
Does anyone have problems using the FX Trading Station II because you use an Apple Mac computer, are restricted from downloading the platform onto your computer or maybe the FXTS is blocked due to a personal or corporate firewall?
Hi Everyone,
An end of the week update for things happening at FXCM and what to look for next week:
[B]FXCM UK[/B] will be adding new CFD’s this weekend for Brent Crude Oil (UK OIL), the Swiss stock index (SUI30) and the Swedish stock index (SWE30). Disclaimer: CFD’s are not available for US residents. I may also have more details next week on a new currency pair being added.
[B]FXCM US[/B]. Monday and Tuesday is the FXCM currency trading expo in Las Vegas. We look forward to meeting those of you that attend, and I will be there as well. I will also be live tweeting from many of the workshops using the hashtag #FXCMexpo. Please feel free to stop by and say hello.
I will be out of the office until next Wednesday due to the expo, so any posts after today will be answered next Wednesday.
Cheers,
Jason