Compensations, New Investments and Technology - Best of the Week

During the passing week the most interesting stories from the online trading world included brand new tools and financial instruments for trading as well as how a watchdog is working to help clients of a defunct brokerage. During the week we also continuously covered how financial services firms are preparing for extreme volatility around the US elections.

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CySEC CySEC The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision Read this Term

On Monday the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) confirmed that the multi-asset brokerage Starfish FX renounced its Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) License, as of September 30, 2016. Although CySEC didn’t clearly state why Starfish FX decided to say goodbye to its license, the Cypriot watchdog already warned against the company earlier this year after it received information and complaints that Starfish Markets had unlawfully begun providing financial services.

CySEC also issued an announcement inviting clients of the failed brokerage company Falcon Brokers, which was regulated on the island until March 2016, to submit compensation applications. Clients of brokerages that are put into liquidation are entitled to compensation of up to €20,000 of their account values.

Innovations

On Tuesday we reported that FC- regulated multi-asset brokerage ThinkMarkets has expanded into social trading by adding access to the SwipeStox application for its clients. With the simple to learn solution that SwipeStox has brought to the market, ThinkMarkets is aiming to deliver to its clients a more engaging tool for social trading.

We also reported that clients of AxiTrader have gained access to over 10 new exotic margin FX contracts focusing on emerging markets currencies that have not been widely available on an MT4 solution before. The pairs add trading opportunities in Brazilian reals, Chilean pesos, Columbian pesos, Chinese yuan, Indonesian rupiahs, Indian rupees, South Korean wons, Malaysian ringgits, Philippine pesos and Taiwanese dollars.

State of the markets

On Wednesday we reported that total retail forex funds in the US declined marginally MoM in September, though American brokers yielded checkered performances. This was gathered from the CFTC's monthly composite of key figures and data for Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs).

Meanwhile across the pond, we learned that the Brexit Brexit Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades.The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minis Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades.The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minis Read this Term has caused interest in margin trading to spike substantially higher in UK. The number of British traders shot up in the aftermath of the vote with a total of 124,000 traders estimated to have placed a bet on the markets. The figure is a record for the past five years and stands higher by 14% when compared to July last year.

GKFX secured new capital

On Thursday we reported that UK-based FCA-regulated broker, GKFX Financial Services Limited, has raised £3.5 million in a third fundraising round, as it may seek to expand its business and attract more customers.

GKFX’s CEO Serkan Arli and Kasim Garipoglu, the second controlling shareholder, co-led the round, bringing the post-money aggregate nominal value of the company to £27.852 million. In return, GKFX has allotted 3,500,000 ordinary stocks for Kasim and Serkan.

GCAP

On Friday we reported GAIN Capital's October trading metrics, showing a decline when compared to the previous month and to the same month last year. The average daily retail trading volume transacted by clients of GAIN Capital decreased 3.8% month-on-month and by a more substantial 31.7% year-on-year to $9.1 billion per day. The trading metrics on the institutional side of GAIN Capital’s business have remained buoyant. The firm registered a modest month-on-month decline of 2% to $182.6 billion.

The company also revealed its third quarter results, announced a $30 million buy back program coupled with a 20% increase in dividends. Additionally, GAIN is introducing a new charting tool next month, and will be delivering to its clients new web and native mobile trading platforms that are going to be deployed in 2017.