It's not the industry which has let the little guy in, far from it, if they had we'd all be able to trade at UBS and Fimat with our $500! No, the interbank market is still very much a closed shop to the private speculator with limited capital. Bucketshops are a separate industry altogether, a new breed of bookmakers if you will, taking bets on currencies instead of horse races.
The problems being experienced now are the result of allowing bucketshops to spring up and offer off-exchange trading which only vaguely reflects the underlying market, more or less unregulated and with a free rein to do exactly what they want with impunity. They make up their own rules and prices to suit themselves and it's become a free-for-all for firms which lack any sort of integrity, it's an open invitation to steal money from the gullible and some shops have taken full advantage of the opportunity!
As far as strict regulation for bucketshops goes it would be extremely welcome and long overdue, in fact it may already be in the pipeline if it's included in this task force's remit, let's just hope they bite as well as they bark!
