Forex trade volumes in Turkey top $18 billion on a daily basis, though little has yet been done by way of protecting the investors, and until now, there has been little recourse for traders who have been wronged by a Forex broker within Turkey's borders. The country's capital market regulator, however, has ruled that in the coming days, only regulated brokers will be permitted to offer Forex trading services within the country's borders. Vedat Akgiray, Persident of Turkey's Capital Markets Board, has noted publicly that with no regulations, traders in search of high returns for low investments often lose their money quickly and entirely. Regulations for Forex brokers in Turkey will prevent these widespread losses and protect the thousands of Turkish traders.
The Turkish Banking Association, a consortium of non-Islamic banks, which also engage in billions of dollars of currency trading daily, have requested permission to be included in the group of companies that are permitted to execute web-based Forex transactions.
Among the proposed regulations include:
- Accepting and executing orders as expressly requested by the client. Although this would be obvious in many countries, in Turkey, with no regulation, brokers often change the prices for their own advantage.
- Serving as a proper IB (white label) company, which would require companies to maintain a minimum equity capital and to reign in the leverage to protect traders.
As a secondary (though some would argue equally important) goal, the Capital Markets Board aims to use the regulations as a means to entice even more traders into the Forex markets, once they feel more comfortable with the offerings of the operational Forex brokers in Turkey. As of now, most brokerages which are regulated elsewhere are halting their acceptance of Turkish traders as of September 1, until they can earn Turkish regulations.