Before we get to this past week’s top FX and CFDs industry news stories, we’re pleased yet again to report record traffic (and social media following, and email newsletter subscribers…) here at FNG in the month of May 2024.
Our traffic growth was led once again by exploding search traffic, as Google’s latest search algo updates are rewarding exclusive, original, and credible content, while punishing “the copiers” and those who post lots of paid-for and promotional articles.
Over the past month at FNG we’ve posted exclusively on:
- the CEO change at TopFX,
- the reasons behind NAGA’s share price pop,
- prop firm SurgeTrader closing,
- Trading 212’s profit decline,
- XTX Markets’ revenue decline,
- 26 Degrees operator INV Inc getting delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange,
- Spotware hiring a new CMO,
plus literally dozens of other senior executive moves across the sector.
On social media as well, month after month FNG articles get several times the Engagement as the other “FX News” sites, as readers engage with real content that’s actually informative and meaningful to them.
Do you want your brand and content to reach hundreds of thousands of HNW traders, FX/CFD industry decision-makers, and everyone else who matters, every day? Come talk to us.
And now, on to this week’s news highlights…
Why did Australia regulator ASIC cancel the license of Retail FX and CFDs broker XTrade?
Which company did former iS Prime (now iSAM Securities) co-founder and CEO Jonathan Brewer join?
What led to a multi-year low in FX trading volumes at Saxo Bank?
Which major crypto exchange did US neobroker Robinhood buy?
What other executive moves occurred involving FXSpotStream, B2C2, Trading.com, ADVFN, and more?
Some of the most read and commented-on FX/CFD industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:
CFDs broker XTrade loses ASIC license over “unconscionable conduct”. Australia financial regulator ASIC has continued a recent spate of actions taken against Retail FX and CFDs brokers operating in the country, pulling the license it granted to XTrade.AU Pty Ltd (XTrade). ASIC said that it cancelled XTrade’s AFS license after an investigation found that several vulnerable clients were encouraged by XTrade to trade in CFDs in circumstances where they could not afford to do so, or had limited trading experience resulting in significant losses to some consumers.
Saxo Bank trading volumes decline 20% in May as FX drops to multi-year low. Following a fairly robust April which saw Copenhagen based Retail FX and CFDs broker Saxo Bank post its best month in over four years, lower market volatility led to a 20% decline in trading volumes at Saxo in May 2024. Overall, multi-asset trading volumes at Saxo Bank totaled $388.1 billion in May, down 20% from April’s $482.7 billion. The company’s core FX trading volumes came in at $79.6 billion for the month, the lowest level they have been at since the company started publishing volume stats back in 2016.
Robinhood to acquire Bitstamp for $200M in cash. Fresh off its best-ever quarter and on the heels of recent international expansion in the UK and EU, US neobroker Robinhood is making an even bigger bet on crypto, paying big bucks to buy a leading cryptocurrency exchange, Bitstamp. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the first half of 2025. Bitstamp was founded in 2011 and has offices in Luxembourg, the UK, Slovenia, Singapore, and the US.
E*Trade considering Keith Gill ban on GameStop meme stock manipulation concerns. US business news sources Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and CNBC are reporting that online brokerage E*Trade is considering a ban of meme stock trader Keith Gill, over recent activity in shares of GameStop (NYSE:GME). Keith Gill was at the center of the meme stock craze in 2019 and 2020 goes by DeepF****ingValue on Reddit, but had not been active on the platform since 2021. (He still posts actively on Twitter under the moniker @TheRoaringKitty, with more than 1.4 million Followers).
Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:
❑ Jonathan Brewer joins GCEX as Chief Revenue Officer.
❑ FXSpotStream parent LiquidityMatch names Caplin Systems’ John Ashworth as Chair.
❑ Prop firm Maven Trading hires Smart Prop Trader exec Ryan Lepper as CFO.
❑ Exclusive: B2C2 hires Goldman Sachs exec Nikolay Karpenko as Director EMEA Sales.
❑ Exclusive: Trading.com hires ZuluTrade alum Theodosis Lapatas as US Head of Marketing.
❑ Shalom Berkovitz joins ADVFN as non-exec director.
