Proposed NFA Capital Requirement

Under current laws CFTC Hands are tied to a maximum of 5m cap and 100k in penalties, if CFTC had the power to increases cap level up to 20m they would have, , that’s the point of this new bill to give CFTC more prower to enforce a market that is currently under enforced and out of control.

Although I don’t have a crystal ball I highly doubt this new bill will lessen the numbers of retail firms participants, What’s likely to happen is the industry will sprout a new crop of retail firms but this time they will meet qualifications, theirs more then enough (Fully qualified, under new laws) banks and futures firms that are already entering this market to keep the competitiveness emplace.
 
I don't see where you get your information that Olsen / Oanda has always been a 'huge financial company'. Especially a marketing page without concrete numbers with a message about their position today does not help.

edit: I checked the CFTC archives and the first report Oanda shows up, they only had 2 mil in capital: http://www.cftc.gov/files/tm/fcm/tmfcmdata0303.pdf
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Were do you get your info from!!! Wow, talk about greenhorns,,

OANDA was a creation of Richard Olsen (OANDA's Chairman) it started out as a play game and as soon as the US legalized FX in 2000 Olsen began offering live trading


" Richard Olsen a hedge fund manager https://www.olseninvest.com and leading provider of e-finance technology and services, http://www.olsen.ch/about/ and the company is loaded, no underdog visionaries here..

Know the facts before you speak;
 
I get my facts from the CFTC, you on the other hand show no numbers at all. A hedge fund manager does not hold any meaning without concrete numbers. He could have been managing a couple of million back in the day when Oanda started out and even then that does not reflect his wealth at that time (the funds under management do not have to be his). I'm sure Olsen has money, but that does not rebute the fact that Oanda started with 2 mil in net capital.

In other words, OANDA would have been 20 mil (20 + 10 percent extra) short of meeting the min capital requirement you want to impose on the industry.

I'm not going to discuss this any further as my knowledge about the numbers is not sufficient. I'm just saying this new limit will be bad for everybody. Competition is not only pressure to keep spreads down, other areas matter as well. For example Oanda introduced continues interest payment, I believe InterbankFX introduced a debit card associated with your account, etc, etc. Incumbents from other financial markets are not likely to do such things, they just bring the old to a new market.

And to repeat, if you put more value on a well funded broker, you are free to choose the broker that best fits your need!
 
Updated Capital Numbers

The CFTC has finally released the December 2007 net capital numbers. This is our first look at the forex industry after the increase in capital requirements to $5 million in the United States.

I'm amazed that firms like Advanced Markets and Bacera made the cut, although judging from their paltry capital numbers they are barely treading water. In light of the One World and FXLQ fiascos I would view those cap numbers with extreme skepticism. These are not safe firms in my opinion.

An interesting piece of data as well is the number InterbankFX is now reporting. Their cap number has dropped dramatically from $30 million to $19.2 million in one month. Often times cap increases and decreases can be written off as being part of the forex business cycle. But the fact is over that same period of time the FXLQ scandal ruptured and it turns out Interbank had some $10 million stashed away at FXLQ. Something to keep an eye on here people. http://www.robbevans.com/pdf/forexlqreport01.pdf

Here is the full run down of net capital per firm. Remember the Congress is close to passing a law which would require firms to have a minimum of $20 million to stay in business. Should it pass the industry may only have about a dozen firms left.

The Big Six (Above $20 Million)
1. Oanda $156 million
2. RJ O'Brien $92 million
3. FXCM $75 million
4. GFT $69 million
5. Gain Capital $50 million
6. I Trade FX $34 million

Below $20 Million
7. PFG $19.7 million
8. Interbank FX $19.2 million
9. FX Solutions $17.9 million
10. IFX $15.5 million
11. CMS $13.8 million
12. GFS Futures & Forex $10.2 million
13. CMC $8.7 million
14. Alpari $8 million
15. Ikon $7.9 million
16. Easy Forex $7.6 million
17. Friedberg Mercantile $7.5 million
18. Forex Club $7.4 million
19. MB Trading $7 million
20. ODL $6.9 million
21. Hotspot $6.1 million
22. Money Garden $6 million
23. Bacera $5.4 million
24. Advanced Markets $5.2 million
 
Quote from MrAngry:

FX Solutions and IFX both owned by City Index, so I gues they make the cut?
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I'll have to call the firm "IFX Solutions" and give them a $33 million net cap number in the next report.
 
FX I have been following your comments with great interest. It is my opinion that you work for one of the BIG 3, I base this on how hard you slammed EFX/MBT for no good reason, it is obvious that the BIG 3 do not want ANYONE who does not add a phoney spread to succeed.
However I do believe that on the whole you posting does serve the public interest and I personally thank you for this. Knowing the buisiness and having certain contacts I am very sure that the following firms will be around in retail spot currency even if the minimum is 20 Mio.

PFG, Interbank, FX Sol, Alpari, Ikon, MBT, ODL, Hots, Bacera, IFX, you also forgot IB.

As you said Interbank is going to get interesting, but I think they have the backing to pull out of the mess with FXLQ.

As far as the comments regarding competition, really all of the small firms did nothing to help the small retail trader get involved in the Spot Currency market, in fact rather than providing "competition" they just ripped people off. The two firms that are facilitating the small trader in Spot are Oanda and EFX/MBT. They allow smaller sizes, and the rookie can learn as they go, of course this is just my opinion.

Now to revisit my experiance with FXCM. While I was setting up a Spot Currency investment plan for a certain investment group I knew, I needed CurreneX access, and since this group did not have the $$$ to have a direct relationship with a couple of Prime Brokers, I knew we would need a retail/pro CurreneX relationship with a spot currency broker. So I tried a few demos with the sales persons and each one had the same pricing EXCEPT FXCM.
FXCM was 3 wide on the EUR/USD and wider on other pairs. So here is the way the convesation went.

TV: so and so I need to ask you about your pricing

Sales: go right ahead

TV: I was looking at your pricing on the CurreneX demo and I was wondering why there was at least a 3 wide spread on all of the pairs.

Sales: well Sir that is the real market price

TV: if that is the real market price why do other CurreneX platforms go to choice with no fixed spread?

Sales: well Sir, that is because other brokers are creating an artificial market, and we cannot help it if other brokers are creating an artificial market, what we show on our CurreneX platform is the real market and not artificial.

TV: ok thanks I will call back if we decide to use you Bye.

So there you have a real life FXCM experiance

The Ever Watching Out VIPER
 
Quote from TradeViper:

FX I have been following your comments with great interest. It is my opinion that you work for one of the BIG 3, I base this on how hard you slammed EFX/MBT for no good reason, it is obvious that the BIG 3 do not want ANYONE who does not add a phoney spread to succeed.
However I do believe that on the whole you posting does serve the public interest and I personally thank you for this. Knowing the buisiness and having certain contacts I am very sure that the following firms will be around in retail spot currency even if the minimum is 20 Mio.

PFG, Interbank, FX Sol, Alpari, Ikon, MBT, ODL, Hots, Bacera, IFX, you also forgot IB.

As you said Interbank is going to get interesting, but I think they have the backing to pull out of the mess with FXLQ.

As far as the comments regarding competition, really all of the small firms did nothing to help the small retail trader get involved in the Spot Currency market, in fact rather than providing "competition" they just ripped people off. The two firms that are facilitating the small trader in Spot are Oanda and EFX/MBT. They allow smaller sizes, and the rookie can learn as they go, of course this is just my opinion.

Now to revisit my experiance with FXCM. While I was setting up a Spot Currency investment plan for a certain investment group I knew, I needed CurreneX access, and since this group did not have the $$$ to have a direct relationship with a couple of Prime Brokers, I knew we would need a retail/pro CurreneX relationship with a spot currency broker. So I tried a few demos with the sales persons and each one had the same pricing EXCEPT FXCM.
FXCM was 3 wide on the EUR/USD and wider on other pairs. So here is the way the convesation went.

TV: so and so I need to ask you about your pricing

Sales: go right ahead

TV: I was looking at your pricing on the CurreneX demo and I was wondering why there was at least a 3 wide spread on all of the pairs.

Sales: well Sir that is the real market price

TV: if that is the real market price why do other CurreneX platforms go to choice with no fixed spread?

Sales: well Sir, that is because other brokers are creating an artificial market, and we cannot help it if other brokers are creating an artificial market, what we show on our CurreneX platform is the real market and not artificial.

TV: ok thanks I will call back if we decide to use you Bye.

So there you have a real life FXCM experiance

The Ever Watching Out VIPER
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Thanks for posting Viper. Good to see you again.

So you reckon MB is in for long term? Regardless of proposed 20 mil cap?
 
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