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He will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer of CLS Group and President and CEO of CLS Bank International, effective 30 June 2010 on the retirement of Rob Close after nine years with CLS. This executive change is part of the group’s planned succession strategy.

In announcing the appointment of Alan as Rob’s planned successor, Gerard Hartsink, Chairman of CLS Group and CLS Bank International said: “Alan brings a wealth of experience to lead the continued growth and development of CLS. Going forward, there is an enormous opportunity for CLS to further deliver collaborative initiatives for the benefit of the FX industry. We are delighted that Alan has accepted this position to lead the Group in meeting these challenges. Alan has significant experience within the financial services sector. His strategic leadership ability together with his capital markets product and technology experience will be invaluable to CLS in its continued growth and evolution.”

Today CLS is settling an average daily volume of 719,000 instructions with an average daily value of $3.9 trillion. In February, it settled a new record for average daily volume of 1,733,262 sides. Continued growth in participation has resulted in the bank now settling in excess of 75% of the available eligible market trades. In 2009, participation in CLS increased by 70% and now comprises over 7,000 participants. CLS currently settles in 17 major currencies, which account for 95% of the daily value traded.

On November 17, 2009, NFA issued a Complaint charging IKON with failure to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade; and failure to adopt enhanced supervisory procedures.

ANSWER:

On December 21, 2009, IKON filed an Answer to the Complaint in which it denied the material allegations contained therein.

Decision:

On March 4, 2010, an NFA Hearing Panel issued a Decision finding that IKON violated NFA Compliance Rule 2-36(c), as alleged in Count I of the Complaint, and ordered the firm to pay a $20,000 fine by April 18, 2010. The Panel dismissed Count II of the Complaint.

It’s quite amazing to read the details of the Complaint NFA filed against IKON – sometimes it’s very surprising how customers money is handled by brokers. Citing from the Complaint:

6. CFS Capital Management LLC (‘CFS’) is a commodity trading advisor, which directed customer accounts held at IKON. As a result of trading losses that occurred between approximately October 3 and 8, 2008, a number of CFS’s customer accounts went into deficit. Specifically, as of October 13, 2008, 63 CFS customer accounts at IKON had deficit balances totaling approximately $111,000.

7 . Pursuant to an agreement between CFS and IKON, if a customer did not satisfy a deficit balance in its account at IKON, CFS was liable for the deficit.

8. On October 20, 2008, IKON, at the direction of CFS, reallocated approximately $350,000 of customer funds across customer accounts, debiting some accounts and crediting those accounts in deficit, so that no account was in deficit any longer.

9. IKON made the reallocation requested by CFS without undertaking any inquiry of its own to determine whether such a “reallocation” was appropriate or reasonable.

10. By its acts and omissions, IKON facilitated the misuse of its customer funds by CFS, acted in a manner that was grossly contrary to the interest of its customers, and failed to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade.

11. By reason of the foregoing acts and omissions, IKON is charged with violations of NFA Compliance Rule 2-36(c): FAILURE TO OBSERVE HIGH STANDARDS OF COMMERCIAL HONOR AND JUST AND EQUITABLE PRINCIPLES OF TRADE.

New websites:

• Forexkills.com – a new blog by mataf.net’s Arnaud Jeulin. In his humble words: “This is my first post here. I’m Arnaud Jeulin, the owner of Mataf.net. I live in France.I don’t think I will publish more than one or two post per month. I won’t speak about trading here, only about forex industry and my technical and administrative work on Mataf.net.”
• Forexpop.net – a new News scrapper, in a way similar to Oanda’s ATNABTU. This site is by Jakob Dupont Knudsen – who also owns http://www.tradeprofits.net/ and http://www.forexhacking.com/ – which is a new ebook for the intermediate forex trader recommended by many.
• Forexstrip.com – an interesting new forex portal with news, calendar, charts and all kinds of data traders might need.

Other updates:

• myfxbook releases more updates: releases the highly requested and anticipated analysis capability – analysis by symbol. In their words: You can now analyze your trading system and see an exact representation of your trading per each symbol.This is yet another powerful tool you can use to enhance your trading – take your time and learn the new charts, you will quickly discover how to maximize your system’s profitability by focusing on the symbols your system is most successful trading on.

It also goes multilingual and traders now can help translate the platform.

• CFTC law makers upset with the 1:10 leverage proposal – Looks like finally forex brokers’ lobbying bears fruits: Dow Jones reports that several lawmakers at a House Agriculture farm commodities subcommittee hearing Wednesday grilled CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler about a provision in the commission’s proposal that would restrict retail forex investors to a 10 to 1 leverage ratio, thereby forcing them to post much higher collateral. ”I don’t get what we are trying to accomplish here by lowering this to 10 to 1,” said House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D., Minn), saying the proposal appears to put investors’ money even more at risk. “Who are you trying to protect here?” Can we answer that and say: why, the Futures industry of course.

• More problems at ACM? Following many speculative reports about an internal rift at ACM which became evident after the founding CEO Lloyd La Marca has ‘disappeared‘ from ACM’s website fxstreet’s Francesc now reports that Lloyd wasn’t the only partner to go: Alexandre Axarlis seems to have left his post as a director as well. It seems that out of the three founding partners only Nicholas Bang has remained.
• On a positive note though ACM just launched a Russian Ruble as a USDRUB pair which makes an interesting   trading instrument though I’m curious how exactly they liquidate this uncommon and not very traded pair.

This is one of those questions that I get asked a lot.

I was reading Raghees’ interesting post, and I had a few thoughts of my own I wanted to share…

At the end of the day, the main issue is the kind of person you are. If by nature, you’re a risky type of person, then it’s going to be hard for you to a) set a stop loss, and b) even if you do set a SL, adhere to it.

What’s the point of a stop loss when you the trader will exercise your power to alter it? Or even worse, remove it? Some people always use a fixed SL, others will use a varying one. To be honest it doesn’t really matter – but what matters is that you stick to the rules that you initially intended from you outset – USUALLY.

You see, another thing is this – sometimes even if you have a fixed stop loss, at times it does actually make sense to exit a trade, even before it hits your Stop Loss. Yes, I know this might seem like going against the very notion that we should always stick to our guns, come rain or shine, but there are cases where it’s actually a folly to stick to such a gun.

For example, sometimes when you’re in a trade, what happens is that, either technically or fundamentally, the pattern you were trading, just doesn’t seem to hold up. This is also known as the point validity. This means that a buy or sell trade is no longer a trade worth holding because there has been a significant reason or reasons which makes your trade invalid. It has nothing to do with your SL being hit or not. It’s to with the tables being turned.

So overall, whilst setting a SL is definitely the right thing to do (shame on those who don’t have a SL or even a mental stop!), then it doesn’t necessitate that we now have to always stick to that SL whatever comes our way. Circumstances change, unexpected global events occur, a stronger Technical Analysis setup may occur in the opposite direction before your SL hit – it doesn’t make sense to hold on to our stop loss in that case. I have been guilty of this myself, so let this be a reminder for me and all those who can be as stubborn as me!

For further information on SL, point of validiy and more, visit:

http://www.ibfx.com/Corporate/post/2010/03/04/Q-A-with-Raghee.aspx

Those who are a few years in this market should remember One World Capital Group which was even registered with the NFA at the time but was shut down as under-capitalized and following numerous complaints.

One World owned the 1world-forex.com domain and was barred by the NFA in early 2009 for failing to cooperate with an investigation for a Complaint launched in 2007 which amongst other things charged One World and its principal John E. Walsh with failing to meet minimum adjusted net capital requirements or maintain current books and records, using misleading promotional material, and failing to adopt and enforce written procedures to supervise the use of promotional material.

Although in 2007 One World settled the Complaint by agreeing to pay a fine of $100,000 and an additional fine of $50,000 unless certain conditions were met, One World has not made any payments till it was barred in 2009.

Today this saga comes close to an end: CFTC today announced that it obtained an order against defendants One World Capital Group, LLC of Winnetka, Ill. and John Edward Walsh, of Lake Forest, Ill., requiring each to pay a $260,000 civil monetary penalty for failing to demonstrate compliance with CFTC net capital requirements.

The Honorable Joan H. Lefkow of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered the consent order of permanent injunction on February 25, 2010. The order resolves a complaint brought by the CFTC on December 13, 2007 . The complaint charged One World, a registered futures commission merchant and forex dealer member, and its president Walsh, with inability to demonstrate compliance with capitalization requirements and with failure to maintain required books and records as required by federal commodity laws.

According to the order, Walsh admitted that he could not make the required net capital calculation because he was unable to determine One World’s current liabilities to forex customers or One World’s ability to pay its customer liabilities. The known financial accounts held in the name of One World on December 13, 2007, contained a total of only $639,815, which was at least $9 million short of the claimed liabilities to customers who maintained accounts with One World for the purpose of trading foreign currency contracts. The order also states that One World and Walsh failed to maintain books and records as required by CFTC regulations.

If there’s one thing the CFTC and an NFA are really good at it is monitoring member wrong doing and making sure clients do get paid even if a few years late.

Tomorrow’s Friday’s Non-Farm Payroll (NFP) countdown has started with yesterday’s ADP (Automatic Data Processing) Non-Farm Employment Change release at 8:15am EST. Most people regard this as the main starting point to the congestion which always happens as traders across the globe lay in wait for the NFP result. Identifying the range of the squeeze across the lower timeframes such as the M5, M15, M30, H1 charts is a useful method in trying to determine the market sentiment prior to 8:30am EST tomorrow morning.

The Greek Austerity plan could be a factor in this congestion. The Greek Austerity plan is the wildcard. With reports that Germany is kind of luke-warmish to this (saying they welcome it but still not interested in any bailout), it may well keep the EUR/USD within a particular range and not let prices breakout much higher as positive news of a bailout for Greece was widely expected to create. The highs of the range are probably also indicative of the positive discounting of good news out of Europe. The price to watch will be the range high at 1.3735.

CFD Trading company, IG Markets is happy to launch an extensive upgrade to its advanced charting package that provides clients access to an array of new professional-grade charting tools and enhanced CFD & forex trading functionality.

Key Facts

• New advanced charts include a huge range of professional features
• Enhanced features include new indicators, dynamic colour zones and more
• Open and close trades through charts, and attach and amend stops and limits

Advanced charts offer a powerful range of features which CFD traders can customise to fit their needs. Clients can easily open and close CFD trades through charts, and attach and amend stops and limits to their existing CFD positions. New features include additional indicators, alerts, dynamic colour zones, drawing objects, and a drag ‘n’ drop functionality, as well as improved graphic interface and tick data management.

Our charting software is an integral part of our product offering. Our commitment to enhancements and new features in areas that our clients value most, we believe, allows us to maintain leadership in innovation and thus greater value to our clients. Mr Tamas Szabo, Chief Executive Officer, IG Markets says “Our charting software is an integral part of our product offering. Our commitment to enhancements and new features in areas that our clients value most, we believe, allows us to maintain leadership in innovation and thus ongoing greater value to our clients. Our free no obligation demo allows clients to trial the software for a period of two weeks, once a client signs up for a full CFD account the advanced charts are available free of charge*, on our award-winning PureDeal platform”.

Read the rest here.

Interbank FX, is a major US broker, and it is lately growing very nicely outside of the US as well. What I find in particularly appealing in this broker is its emphasis on transparency and social elements in Forex – such as the performance page which shows Interbank FX’s real time performance allowing traders to see actual spreads and many other parameters. This finally brings transparency to the market which is dominated by banners stating that this or that broker has very low spreads or spreads “as low as” but when you actually check the numbers over time you get a completely different picture.

Interbank FX is also putting a big emphasis on a social aspect of forex trading and recently launched a Facebook app which I believe is an amazing method to expose yourself to a very large potential client base and get people more involved with forex trading and with learning what forex is.

With this, as well as the new CFTC leverage and IB proposed rules, in mind I took the opportunity to interview Todd Crossland, Chairman and President of Interbank FX. I divided the interview into three sections: the new CFTC rules, IBFX related questions and general questions about the market. I would like to thank Todd for taking the time to answer these questions which I’m sure many traders are keen on asking and understanding themselves.

CFTC Proposed Leverage Limitations

Question: Do you think the proposed CFTC regulations would make US brokers uncompetitive?

Answer: We at Interbank FX stand behind the belief that Forex traders should be given the freedom and right to choose the amount of leverage that is appropriate for their individual desired risk, and that this basic principle of ‘choice’ is in jeopardy by the proposed CFTC regulations.

We have always supported regulation and consider proper regulation one of the original three pillars that have permitted the development of the off-exchange retail foreign currency (Forex) industry, the others being trading software and the internet. We want to make it clear that we support the intention of the original 2008 farm bill. Where we disagree is in regards to the CFTC proposed increased margin required from 1% to 10% of the notional value of the trade.

We believe in a level playing field for the trading markets and the importance of customer choice. These proposed changes deny the customer the ability and you might say the right to manage their own money and assume risk as they see fit.

The off-exchange retail foreign currency (Forex) industry has been tremendously successful throughout its history and in our case, primarily customer driven under the CFTC and NFA ensuring a safe and secure trading environment. We believe in customer choice and the growth of Interbank FX has, we feel, demonstrated the fairness of our approach. If we did not provide a service that our customer both desired and felt was fair we would not be seeing the success we see today.

If this leverage rule were to pass, the FXDC believes up to 90% of US based business will move overseas.

Q: What is the most harmful part of the regulations – leverage or the IB backing?

A: The most harmful part of the regulations is certainly the proposed leverage limitation. This limitation, if passed, will drive most US retail customers to overseas brokers and could ultimately lead to the demise of every US Forex broker brought on by their inability to compete in the global marketplace. This demise of US brokers has the potential to result in the loss of thousands of US jobs, the loss of more than 1 billion US revenue dollars generated for the economy, and the endangerment of all of US retail traders. US retail traders would potentially move their accounts offshore, and in some cases, be trading through unregulated brokers where there may be no capital requirements, no registration requirements, and no oversight by any regulatory authority. These unregulated dealers usually aren’t concerned with marketing ethics, dealing practices and many times don’t have the customer’s best interest at heart. Alternatively, if any US brokers do survive the passing of the leverage limitation, the portion of US retail traders who might choose to stay with a US based broker will have to add 10 times the amount of capital to continue trading the same amounts. Many US retail traders simply do not have the resources to trade at these levels, and ultimately, the majority of smaller retail traders will be forced out of the industry.

Q: Why is the reaction to these proposed rules is much stronger than to the FIFO rule which was almost as harmful to the US forex industry?

A: The FIFO rule implementation, which limited the manner in which customers could open and close positions, in many ways brought about a mere inconvenience for customers. While it did most likely lead to a small portion of US customers taking their accounts abroad, the amount of customers which left US brokers due to the FIFO rule will pale in comparison to the amount that will leave if the proposed leverage limitation is accepted. Because the affect of this rule could potentially collapse an entire US industry, the reaction and pushback we’re seeing from the American public is much larger than the one we saw with FIFO.

Q: Why do you think the Forex Dealers Coalition (FXDC) does not include ALL US Forex brokers?

A: No firms were excluded from the FXDC.

Q: How can the average Joe the trader help oppose these rules?

A: Interbank FX, along with all other FXDC members encourages Forex traders to voice your concern for or against the proposal. Individuals can submit a comment to the CFTC by sending an email to secretary@cftc.gov with “Regulation of Retail Forex” in the subject line. Remember: you must provide your address and contact information in the email in order for it to be considered by the CFTC. Also, individuals should be aware that the CFTC has the right to publish comments, and will publish your email on a public page on their website. The deadline for comments is March 13, 2010.

Also, with the identification number RIN 3038-AC61, you can submit your comments by any of the following methods:

• Fax: (202) 418-5521.

• Mail: Send to David Stawick, Secretary, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1155 21st Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20581.

• Courier: Same as Mail above.

Q:  What do you think the US Forex industry will look like 5 years from now?

A: If the proposed leverage limitation is accepted, the US Forex industry will most likely be very different 5 years from now.

Interbank FX related questions:

Q: Where do you envision Interbank FX 5 years from now?

A: As mentioned, a lot of this depends on the leverage limitation outcome. However, we are hopeful this will not pass. We are on a fast moving train right now, and don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. We’re currently in the process of opening up our UK and Australian sister companies, which will allow our traders more flexibility if in fact these leverage changes do go into effect. We also have the Middle East and Asia on our radar, and will continue to expand and open new offices around the globe as we see fit.

Our customer experience is constantly improving, allowing traders a greater share of voice. We strive for transparency, which will continue to thrive in the years to come.

Q: We sometimes see news of your US competitors acquiring overseas brokers, are you planning on doing the same? If so, on which geographies would you put your emphasis?

A: Interbank FX has filed an FSA application in the UK and we plan to open our office in the upcoming months. In addition, we’re also hoping to open an office in Australia in 2010 and in the future look to expand our business into Asia, the Middle East and beyond. Our customers are at the center of every decision we make, and we will allow them to continue to guide us in providing the best trading solutions for their needs.

Q: How is IBFX better than its competition and/ or how does it differentiate itself?

A: Our continued growth and success can primarily be attributed to the high regard in which we hold our clients. Our entire business model was designed around our customers, and we believe that this is the reason why they choose to come back to us again and again. If Interbank FX clients are not receiving market leading trade execution, risk management tools, world-class customer service and price transparency when they use our services, then we are not accomplishing what we set out to do in this industry. We believe we will continue to have a profitable company if we’re able to provide our customers with the tools, education and knowledge to facilitate successful trading.

General Forex market questions:

Q: Will the online retail Forex market keep growing at double digits in the coming years as well?

A: There are usually two conditions for one sector of the financial markets to maintain dominant: innovation and plenty of volatility. Forex trading has both. We believe that the market will continue to expand as traders become more familiar with this asset class. There is a segment of serious investors that are interested in international economics. These investors get involved in the Forex market as a way to trade as well as indulge their interests.

Q: Where do you think the center (geographically) of Forex will be in the medium-long term future?

A: Because of the dispersed nature of the market, it is hard to determine a geographical center. However, as countries like China and India start to open up to off-exchange retail foreign currency trading it is likely that there will be a substantial increase in the number of traders in those areas.

* Off exchange retail foreign currency trading is one of the riskiest forms of investment available and may not be suitable for all traders. Read the full risk disclaimer and privacy policy on trading Forex online.

Currensee, Inc., the first Forex trading social network connecting traders from around the world based on real-time trades, today announced the first of its kind, real-time support for OANDA utilizing the OANDA API. This secure, automatic connection enables OANDA traders from around the world to join Currensee for free and link their live, OANDA brokerage account.

“OANDA provides a transparent and very innovative service to their traders and we are happy to have them as a partner,” said Asaf Yigal, Co-founder Currensee. “We have had hundreds of OANDA traders request to join Currensee and access their real-time trade information and we knew OANDA would be a great broker for our network. There are several companies out there using back door approaches to get the data from the OANDA platform but it’s not scalable and, most importantly, it’s not real-time. We worked closely with the OANDA team to bring the power of the OANDA data together with real-time trade collaboration.”

Read more: http://www.currensee.com/about-us/news-events/currensee-connects-to-oanda-traders

Looks like FXCM doesn’t stop even for a second. Less than a month since launching another East European client with Czech Patria Direct using its Trading Station platform FXCM now expands into the Mediterranean and opens a local office in Greece which until now wasn’t a very known Forex hub. With the exception of Zulutrade and small AK Forex, Forex market was relatively underdeveloped in the region. Looks like this is going to change.

Athens, 2, March 2010 – Forex Capital Markets Ltd. today announces the opening of FXCM Hellas, its newest branch office in Athens, Greece (http://www.fxcm.gr). Intent on becoming the premier Forex and CFD provider to the growing Greek trading community, FXCM Hellas will allow traders to access the benefits of FXCM’s No Re-quote execution.

Athens marks the 6th new FXCM office opened since January 2009, following new offices in Paris, Sydney, Dubai, Milan, and Santiago.

Due to FXCM’s access to highly competitive prices from some of the world’s largest banks, FXCM offers Forex trading with no dealer intervention and tight spreads as low as 1 pip. FXCM’s commitment to excellent client service, fair execution, and tight bid/ask spreads are the guiding values it brings to the Greek market.

“Many traders in Europe are not yet aware they can trade FX without order restrictions, without re-quotes, and without interference in their trading strategies,” said Drew Niv, CEO of Forex Capital Markets, “the opening of our Athens branch marks another step towards our goal of reaching every corner of the European trading community with this simple message.”

Clients of FXCM Hellas will be provided with the award winning FXCM Trading Station (named Best Retail FX Platform by FX Week’s 2009 e-FX Awards), a user-friendly and flexible software package which allows traders to access currencies, stock indices, gold, silver and oil, all from one platform. FXCM Hellas will further provide client service, education, seminars, and daily market news and analysis tailored for Greek traders.

“As online trading becomes more popular in Greece, there is a clear demand for an FX provider with FXCM’s strong principals and dedication to excellent service” said Harry Coundouris, Managing Director of FXCM Hellas. “We are fully confident Greek traders will quickly appreciate the advantages of FXCM’s No Re-quote execution”.

Come Visit Us! Make an appointment to see the new office and learn about the advantages of trading with one of the world’s largest and most financially strong retail forex and CFD provider.

FXCM Hellas

98 Vouliagmenis Ave

Glyfada-Athens, 16674

Phone: +30 2109690406

Fax: +30 2109690395

E-mail: sales@fxcm.gr

Web site: www.fxcm.gr

Sign up at http://www.fxcm.gr/ free-seminar.asp for a free in-person seminar with FXCM Hellas in Athens. Learn about the FX market and its advantages, and gain an understanding of the major principals of technical analysis and money management.

FXCM Ltd is regulated by the FSA (Financial Services Authority) one of the world’s most respected regulators. FXCM Hellas also complies with the rules and code of conduct of the Hellenic Capital Markets Commission (HCMC).

FXCM Holdings LLC Facts

As of September 2009

• FXCM Holdings LLC has over $100 million in capital

• More than 150,000 live accounts are traded through platforms offered by FXCM

• An average of $365 billion in notional volume is traded each month on platforms offered by FXCM

• More than $600 million in customer funds trading on platforms offered by FXCM

Trading foreign exchange and CFD’s on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors.