On February 6, 2017 leading Forex broker FXCM announced a settlement with the National Futures Association (NFA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in which the company agreed to withdraw from all activities and services in the United States and transfer all of its existing accounts to GAIN Capital Holdings, the parent company of Forex.com, pending the confirmation of a final agreement. FXCM will also pay a $7 million fine to the CFTC for engaging in false and misleading solicitation of clients, an accusation which FXCM neither confirms or denies despite its agreement to the proposed settlement and fines.
Until now, FXCM was considered the largest retail Forex broker in the U.S., enjoying approximately 34% of the market share. Withdrawal from the U.S. market will liquidate approximately $52 million for FXCM, which will use the money to repay part of the loan that it took from Leucadia National Corporation following the Swiss National Bank crisis in 2015. FXCM is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ and its stock price is expected to fall sharply with Tuesday's New York open, falling further from the lows it's been struggling with in recent months.
FXCM will continue to service its U.S. clients until a formal agreement is reached with GAIN Capital, and it has stated in a press release that the decision to withdraw from the U.S. Forex industry will have no bearing on its ability to continue providing top notch service to traders in other parts of the world.