The futures prop trading sector faced renewed questions over its business model, with exchange data costs and low-priced challenges putting pressure on firms operating without recurring subscriptions. Meanwhile, established industry figures returned with new businesses, while brokers continued to expand their regulatory and corporate structures.

London's trading industry is coming home!

The week also brought developments in brokerage technology, corporate governance and retail trading activity. IG Group advanced its planned move to Jersey, CFI secured preliminary approval for a crypto brokerage operation in Dubai, and eToro reported weaker crypto trading activity despite account growth.

Artificial intelligence, prediction markets and technology disruptions also featured among the week’s developments.

Futures Prop Firms Face Rising CME Data Costs Under One-Time Pricing Models

Several futures proprietary trading firms have moved away from monthly subscriptions towards one-time challenge fees, raising questions about the sustainability of their pricing models. Apex, Tradeify, Bulenox and My Funded Futures made the shift in 2026, while exchange data costs continue to recur monthly for active users.

CME’s real-time annual licence fee is $29,280 per exchange, although many firms access data through platform vendors rather than licensing it directly. TradersYard’s co-founder Manuel Sonnleithner said a prop-specific simulation licence requires all four exchanges, bringing the base fee to $117,120 annually, before additional monthly data charges.

The mismatch between recurring operating costs and one-off customer payments remains a central challenge.

Futures Prop Firms See Margins Squeezed by $49 Challenges and Rising Costs

The pressure on futures prop firms extends beyond exchange data fees, with lower challenge prices and higher operating costs reducing profitability. TradersYard CEO Manuel Sonnleithner, citing internal industry data, estimated that net margins have fallen from 25-30% to 10-15%. Platform expenses, including monthly charges per user, make low-priced challenges harder to sustain.

Ruben Abitbol of RUBIK said futures firms generally face higher operating costs than CFD prop firms, partly because of platform and market-data expenses. Payout ratios also differ, with futures firms typically paying out 70-80% compared with 40-50% for CFD firms, according to Abitbol’s broad benchmark.

Several operators, including FundingTicks, Rev One and FundedSeat, closed during 2026, and Alpha closed its Premium Plan.

Former iS Prime Founders Launch New Liquidity Business for Brokers

Three former iS Prime executives have launched JT Prime, a prime-of-prime liquidity provider targeting brokers, funds, family offices and proprietary trading firms.

Raj Sitlani and Jonathan Brewer, who co-founded iS Prime in 2014, established the business alongside Jeff Wilkins, who previously led iS Prime’s risk analytics operation.

JT Prime will offer aggregated Tier 1 bank and non-bank liquidity across foreign exchange, precious metals and index CFDs, with FIX API connectivity.

The business operates as the institutional arm of retail broker JT Markets. JT Markets currently holds a Seychelles licence, while an application in an unnamed Western market remains pending. The founders also plan to expand into digital assets.

CFI Receives Preliminary VARA Approval for Dubai Crypto Brokerage

CFI Financial Group has received in-principle approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, known as VARA, for its crypto brokerage subsidiary, CFIX. The approval covers broker-dealer services, but the company cannot begin offering virtual asset services until it receives a full licence.

According to CFI, VARA requires the subsidiary to finalise its leadership appointments, operational infrastructure, governance arrangements and regulatory controls before granting final authorisation. CFI said CFIX would operate as a separate legal entity with its own governance structure.

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The development adds another regulatory step to the group’s international expansion. CFI also holds authorisations in several jurisdictions, including Brazil, where it received approval for a securities brokerage earlier this year.

IG Group Advances Jersey Redomiciliation Ahead of November Listing Switch

IG Group secured court approval for its proposed move from England and Wales to Jersey, bringing the restructuring closer to completion. The transition will establish a new Jersey-incorporated holding company, Jenkins Topco, which will be renamed IG Group Holdings.

The move is scheduled to take effect on 13 November, subject to delivery of the court order to the Registrar of Companies. Existing shares will be cancelled, with new shares issued through the Jersey entity.

The current shares are scheduled to be delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 16 November, when the new shares are expected to begin trading. The group expects restructuring costs of £30 million in 2026.

CFI Chairman Says Independent Board Must Challenge Management Decisions

CFI Financial Group’s independent chairman, Federico Cirulli, outlined how the board oversees management as the broker expands its operations and regulatory footprint. Cirulli said independent directors should pressure-test management proposals rather than routinely block decisions.

The board sets strategic direction, establishes risk appetite and holds executives accountable, while Chief Executive Ziad Melhem manages daily operations. Cirulli also said founder-led structures are effective in the early stages, but that more stakeholders, a more complex offering and heavier regulation can call for a different structure.

CFI reported $3.45 trillion in trading volume during the third quarter, up 123% year-on-year, while nine-month volume reached $8.8 trillion, figures that are company-reported. Cirulli said governance and internal controls must keep pace with that expansion.

eToro Reports 62% Drop in Crypto Trades Despite Funded Account Growth

eToro’s clients placed 2 million cryptocurrency trades in October, down 62% from a year earlier, despite an 18% increase in funded accounts to 4.42 million. The average amount invested per crypto trade fell 29% to $228.

The figures followed a weaker third quarter, when net income dropped 74% year-on-year to $15 million and net contribution declined 13% to $186 million. Adjusted EBITDA fell 56% to $34.2 million.

Net trading income from equities, commodities and currencies increased 21% to $88.5 million, although it declined from the previous quarter. Chief Financial Officer Meron Shani said crypto activity had recovered sequentially compared with the second quarter.

eToro Targets $100 Million Latin American Revenue After Argentine Acquisition

eToro plans to generate $100 million in Latin American revenue within two to three years, using its proposed acquisition of Argentine fintech LB Finanzas as a regional base. The company agreed to acquire the investing and payments app for less than $20 million.

Chief Executive Yoni Assia gave analysts the target, and the article noted that eToro already has a larger online audience in the region than most retail brokers, according to FM Intelligence data.

The acquisition marks the company’s fourth deal announced in 2026, following purchases involving Zengo and Bit2C and an agreement to acquire US broker TradeZero. Assia said eToro would slow its acquisition activity to focus on integrating the businesses.

AI Trading Agents Create New Monitoring Challenges for Forex Brokers

Artificial intelligence agents are increasingly able to interact directly with retail trading accounts, creating new monitoring challenges for forex and CFD brokers, according to an op-ed by Marios Kyriakou, Head of FX Dealer Academy by Your Bourse.

Connections through platforms such as MetaTrader and cTrader allow AI tools to access trading functions through Model Context Protocol, or MCP, servers. These integrations can make it difficult for dealing desks to distinguish automated orders from trades placed manually by clients.

Remote setups may also involve access tokens held by third-party AI tools, limiting brokers’ visibility. While some official integrations offer read-only access and approval requirements before trades are executed, open-source and custom-built alternatives may lack similar safeguards. The development raises questions about client profiling, exposure management and operational risk.

AI Voice Agents Raise Questions About Client Trust in Forex Brokerage

Forex brokers are increasingly considering AI voice agents to handle customer acquisition and routine communications. The technology can contact prospective clients, chase account-opening documents through a secure upload link, follow up on incomplete applications and schedule calls with human representatives.

However, its use in client-facing conversations raises concerns about mis-selling and the boundaries of automated communication. Anish Lal, Chief Business Development Officer at BlackBull Markets, argued that voice agents should support administrative tasks rather than provide trading advice or encourage additional deposits, and that documents and card details should never be taken over the phone.

He also highlighted the importance of transparency, including informing customers when they are speaking to AI. Brokers must balance efficiency gains with appropriate controls and maintain human involvement where financial decisions and client trust are concerned.

Prediction Markets Seek Broker Partnerships to Sustain Trading Activity

Prediction market operators are increasingly turning to brokerage partnerships and wider product offerings to attract customers beyond major sporting and political events, according to a column by Paul Golden. The World Cup generated a significant increase in activity, but platforms now face the challenge of maintaining user engagement between major events.

Women are less than 25% of the user base on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket… but are the largest consumers on Instagram and Facebook. I think Meta’s prediction market product will actually be a huge hit due to this untapped audience and the social/cultural topics they are interested in. Count me in for predicting who gets voted out next on Love Island. 🏝️

— Brit Morin 🦞 (@brit) July 7, 2026

Kalshi has expanded its distribution through partnerships with Alpaca and Public, allowing event contracts to reach customers through existing brokerage platforms. It has also introduced products beyond conventional event contracts, including a stock index perpetual future.

The expansion brings prediction markets closer to traditional financial products. However, regulatory uncertainty, particularly around sports-related contracts in the US, remains a challenge for operators seeking broader distribution.

Nvidia Shares Fall More Than 6% Following Jensen Huang’s Resignation

Nvidia shares fell more than 6% in trading after the announcement that co-founder Jensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive and board member after 33 years leading the company, although the sell-off had begun before the announcement.

Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO while retaining her CFO responsibilities, and the board is considering internal and external candidates for a permanent successor. Former Synopsys chief executive Harvey Jones was appointed as Nvidia’s first board chairman.

The company did not state a reason for the departure, which followed an independent investigation announced by the board, which appointed former acting US Attorney Joon Kim and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the review. Jones said operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap would continue without interruption.

We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas. More details can be found in the Microsoft 365 admin center under EX1550543.

— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) November 12, 2026

Microsoft 365 Outage Disrupts Financial Markets and Broker Operations

A global Microsoft 365 outage disrupted financial firms across several markets, forcing trading desks and brokerages to rely on manual workarounds. The disruption, which had lasted 12 hours at the time of reporting, affected Exchange Online, with Downdetector recording more than 130,000 reports in the US at its peak.

Brokerages in Singapore and India reported delays in customer support, while CMC Markets in Singapore used phone calls and WhatsApp to bypass affected systems. Japanese financial firms also turned to manual processes as email authentication failures disrupted trade confirmations and settlements, and a Kalshi post joked that Japanese markets had switched to fax machines.

The outage highlighted the industry’s dependence on cloud-based services, with retail FX brokers also reporting difficulties involving customer logins and operational processes.