Broker News

FXCM, one of the largest U.S. retail foreign-exchange broker, lost more than $200 million after the Swiss central bank's Jan. 15 decision to lift the peg on the Swiss franc. Within days, they received a $300 million bailout from Leucadia National Corp., owner of investment bank Jefferies Group LLC, which helped prevent FXCM from violating capital requirements.

Following its announcement last week that it would raise the minimum security deposits for transactions involving the Norwegian krone, the Swedish krona and the Swiss franc, the US regulatory body announced that it will also be changing the margin for Forex brokers offering five other currency pairs. Although US brokers can currently offer leverage up to 50:1 (2% margin) on major currency pairs, the NFA announced its intention to raise the margin on two popular currencies, the Japanese yen and the Australian dollar, to 3%. The NFA also increased the margins on the Russian ruble, the Mexican peso and Brazilian real. The changes for these exotic pairs were increased to 20% for the ruble, 9% for the real and 6% for the peso. All increased margins will be valid until further notice. Though such limits may restrict profits on these pairs they also prevent extreme losses which, after last week's challenging volatility, may be some form of relief for traders.

Early this morning, the U.S. National Futures Association announced new limits upon the maximum leverage that U.S. Forex brokerages may offer clients in trading certain currencies. The new limits will apply from 5pm CST today, Thursday 22ns January. Concurrently, the troubled FXCM which dominates the U.S. Retail Forex market announced even heavier limitations.

OctaFX, a Forex broker out of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, has always been the top of the line when it came to bonuses and promotions. Their latest promo does not disappoint. The OctaFX Supercharged contest was developed by the same team that brought you the celebrated King of the Road contest and is as electrifying as all their past promotions. Like the others, the current contest is not just a way to make money but is a test of your skills at Forex trading.

Squeaking in right under the wire, OptionsXO.

FX Retail Forex broker time (FXTM) has launched the FXTM Web Trader, a new browser-based trading platform that is suitable for traders of all levels.

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The crisis revolving around the Russian ruble and the rout in oil prices is sending shockwaves throughout the financial marketplace. Investors are looking for a way to cover their bonds as yields on British, German and Japan sovereign debt hit record lows and long-dated U.S. and Australian yields reached their lowest since 2012.