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RoboMarkets Adds New Features to Its Trading Platform

RoboMarkets is a trusted investment plus brokerage company that runs on CySEC rules and recently, they have revealed to make latest additions to the features of R Trader Platform. As a side note, RoboMarkets is a of brand of RFG Holding which owns another forex brand – RoboForex. Click to see my RoboForex review.

Here are the new features that have been included:

1. Improvements in strategy builder

Now, one has the liberty to compare indicators that have equal parameters on varied bars. You can opt for this amazing feature from the strategy editor.

2. Depth of Market (DoM)

You can track even the minimum changes that occur in price with Level 2 market depth. Thus, the traders have the advantage of having an improved understanding of the current condition of the existing market. If you are planning on entering or existing the long-term strategies, then this tool proves to be a blessing to you.

3. Trailing Stop

With the new features being added to the R-Trader platform, you will now be able to add a trailing stop or a stop order which will be designed to follow the price. This feature will help you to reduce the chance of losses without tampering with profitability. The feature allows you to place a number of pips to place the stop order. Once mentioned the trailing stop will follow the price and once the price reaches the number of pips specified, the trailing stop will be placed automatically.

4. Time & Sales

It is definitely a useful tool not only for the stock investors but also the cryptocurrency investors as it provides you with details direction, the times transactions have been made on the stock or cryptocurrency, the direction and of course the price. So, you will have a full knowledge of the total number of buyers as well as sellers present in the current market. Plus, you also get a clear view of the prices or how large their trading amounts are.

5. Keyboards will help to manage Watchlists

This feature allows you to include unlimited instruments to your Watchlist so that you can keep a check on multiple assets simultaneously.  Hence, no need of wasting time by checking them individually.

IMF Warns Marshall Islands For State-Backed Cryptocurrency

Petro is a state-backed cryptocurrency that has been introduced by Venezuela. To save the falling economy from further downfall and to help its people, Petro was invented.

But the idea of making a cryptocurrency, an official currency of a country appears to be vague as a maximum number of countries fail to have regulatory power over the number of digital money.

With 1000 small islands that are situated in the Pacific Ocean, the Marshall Islands thought to come up with a state-backed cryptocurrency.

IMF to Warn Versus State-Backed Cryptocurrency

But according to International Monetary Funds, they must reject the idea of releasing its very own cryptocurrency. Back in February, the law that has been adopted clearly said that Sovereign will be their state-backed cryptocurrency.

However, here lies the problem. The ICO is expected to occur at any point of time of this year but the IMF is firm with their suggestions that Marshall Islands must cancel their plans of proceeding with it in future. As the relation between the Island’s commercial bank and one of US’s bank is not good, it may pose as an issue in this process.

The tokens being liquid and not so regulated, it may be used for various illegal purposes apart from numerous other activities. Thus, these issues may distress the US banks from whom the Marshall Islands take services.

Further, as the press claims, the introduction of this state-backed digital currency will cause serious harm to the relationship and will do no good for the future. Located in the Pacific region, the natural disasters are very common in this area. Thus, a second currency can affect the economy greatly.

Plus, IMF thinks that the costs involving the introduction of the Sovereign will be much high when compared to the benefits of its release.

RoboForex Raises Leverage for Cryptocurrency Trading

The Belize based Retail FX brokerage group, Roboforex has recently announced their decision to raise the leverage for trading cryptocurrencies. As per the news available, the clients that are trading cryptocurrencies through the Roboforex platform will be able to carry out their trading operations with leverage as high as 1:50 from the start of September 2018.

The company has been very dedicated to rapidly improving the trading conditions for the clients while increasing the service offerings of the company. So, they are allowing the clients having ECN-Pro, Pro-Standard and Prime account to trade in all cryptocurrencies with a leverage of 1:50.

The change in the leverage offered will have a profound effect on the positions that are opening in the cryptocurrency market as the previous leverage ratios available were between the ranges of 1:1 to 1:10. The clients will be able to avail this new leverage on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as well as R Trader for different cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and EOS.

We were able to get a comment from the Chief Marketing Officer of Roboforex, Denis Golomedov. He said:

“Many of our clients trade cryptocurrencies. It’s really important for them to cooperate with the broker, which provides the most comfortable trading conditions and highest security level when they trade these instruments. The increased leverage will allow our clients to implement a wider range of trading strategies and significantly increase their trading volume”.

Providing their services across the globe and having an IFSC brokerage license, Roboforex provides the traders with access to their highly advanced trading platforms along with different trading tools.

So, what are your thoughts on it?

Flexible Lifestyle: The Biggest Motivation for Traders

A Zurich-based firm for investments, Ayondo has recently found out in a recent survey that the thing that motivates the UK residents to invest in equities is a flexible lifestyle. The results that were gathered from the survey were published recently and it was found out that the UK residents mainly invest in equities to achieve an alternative source of income thereby providing their work life with enhanced flexibility.

It was also found out that most of the men i.e. approximately 35% of the men invest their money in the excitement that they get from it. Whereas, it is only 18% of the women are driven by the excitement factor to invest. Actually, it was found out that women have logical reasons for investing their money.

Whether it is to have an extra source of income or to earn money without putting any actual effort, these are the main reasons that attract most women for investing their money. On the other hand, only 19% of the men that were surveyed had shown interest in questioning their investment efforts for rational reasons.

The British Investors were questioned during the survey about what they consider as the most crucial reason behind becoming a successful investor. While 30% of the investors attributed the success to having a cool head, 28% of the people argued that it is good timing that brings success and only 13 percent of people said that it is a commitment that makes an investor successful.

After getting the results, the Chief Business Development Officer at Ayondo, Mita Natrajan said;

“We are seeing an increasing number of people look for ways in which they can supplement their income to allow for more flexible working hours and a greater amount of leisure time. One way of making this transition easier is through Social Trading. This allows retail investors to follow Top Traders’ investment moves or signal providers to earn additional income in publishing their trading strategies.”

Conducted in February 2018, the survey was made on 500 adults from the UK who have either invested or traded in the share market. The research house, OnePoll executed the survey to understand the habits of UK investors.

I should say that the motivation is not very different for forex traders. Financial freedom and flexible lifestyle are two major reasons that attract investors to online forex trading.

$5.5 Million Fine Imposed on Interactive Brokers by FINRA

It has recently been announced by FINRA that they have decided to fine Interactive Brokers LLC with an amount of $5.5 million for violating the SHO regulations as well as the lack of supervision for a period of three years.

The firms need to deliver the settlement date or take necessary actions to put an end to the “failure to deliver” by borrowing or buying the securities after the completion of a short transaction as per regulation SHO of SEC.

If the firm fails to close the issue of failure to deliver, then they cannot participate in short transactions without making arrangements for procuring the securities.

It has also been prohibited by the regulation SHO to carry out or offer a short sale at a price that is either less or equal to the national best bid if the security of the price has fallen at least by 10 percent in a single day.

It has been found by FINRA that for the period between July 2012 to June 2015, the supervisory systems of Interactive along with its supervisory procedures were not on par with the requirements of Regulation SHO.

Furthermore, the broker LLC also ignored several red flags from its compliance and clearing personnel, FINRA, risk assessments, given in the form of internal audits and warnings.

Failure to Close More Than 2300 Transactions

These warnings clearly showed that its system for Regulation SHO supervision was impractical. Despite knowing the incapability of its supervisory system, Interactive did not take any action up until mid-2015.

Thus, it failed to close more than 2300 fail-to-delivers and carried out short transactions without preparing to procure securities for over 28,000 times. Moreover, Interactive displayed more 4,700 short sale orders in covered securities at a price that was less than the best national bid.

Susan Schroeder, the Executive Vice President of FINRA said

“Firms that are aware of deficiencies in their supervisory systems must promptly remediate them. In this case, the firm internally identified the problems, yet did not revise its supervisory systems for more than three years, creating the potential for negative impact on the markets and investor harm.”

Interactive did not admit but also did not deny the charges against them to settle the matter rather they consented to the findings of FINRA.

FINRA is a non-profit organization that works to protect the investors and maintain the integrity of the market. Based in the US and controlled by SEC, FINRA creates rules and regulations apart from enforcing the compliance with the FINRA rules as well as federal laws.

FINRA also protects the integrity of the equity and the options market while maintaining a forum to resolve the disputes of investors, brokerage firms as well as their employees.

FXCM Adds New Tools to ‘Clients Only’ Plus Portal

It has been recently announced by the FXCM group that they are going to update their free client trading portal FXCM Plus. Equipped with a plethora of features and tools, the website has been designed in such a way that they can help the traders to get detailed information on different markets as well as their positions.

The company is also offering complete access to every individual who holds an account in the website. However, it is better to say that most improvements have been made to the existing Trading Analytics 4 suite. After the update, the suite now offers better content, a percentage of daily returns and account statistics for improved analysis. Furthermore, the FXCM Plus portal comes with trading analytics suite, trading signals and trading analyzer.

While the brokers are striving hard to get a competitive edge over others, the large firms keep adding interesting features to improve the rate of conversion and retention of clients. So, it can be considered as an intelligent business plan to gain a great advantage over others by offering great features when clients are looking for new brokers.

FXCM to Attempt to Gain Access to the US Clients

Reportedly, FXCM has sold off its education portal named DailyFX to the renowned IG group. Moreover, the UK brokerage sealed a deal by signing a contract which allowed FXCM to gain access to the US clients. However, the broker is not using the portal properly since the IG group exited the US.

The companies are also putting pressure to enhance their educational efforts in order to ensure maximum success in the long term for their clients as well as the business. Inspection of regulations on the industry over the last few months has proven one thing that the forex exchange or forex brokers need to give prime focus to the interest of the clients.

With the recent boost in the number of unregulated brokers as well as the increase in the foul practices amongst the brokers who are regulated, it has resulted in different updates as well as reviews of practices in the industry. Moreover, the ESMA or the European Securities Markets Authority has also updated its requirements thereby urging the retail brokers to stop the foul practices across the EU.

Middle East based Retail FX Broker One Financial gets acquired by AxiCorp

Australia based retail forex broker as well as CFD brokerage group, AxiCorp has announced that it is going to take the acquisition of the One Financial Markets (OFM) brand. Though the AxiCorp basically manages the AxiTrader brand, it has decided to acquire the FCA regulated CB Financial Services Ltd which is primarily based in the Middle East. It has been revealed that the deal will be basically based on cash. So, it will be subjected to several custom regulations.

With this deal, the roads will be paved for Khalifa Butti Bin Omeir, the prime shareholder, founder of OFM and the chairman of the KBBO group circumscribe equity in the AxiCorp.

Once the deal is finalized, AxiCorp will take charge of all the operations, employees and licenses of OFM. As a result, OFM will exist under AxiCorp as a brand thereby maintaining its strong presence in the Middle East, Europe, South America as well as southeast and central Asia.

Both organizations have notified the public that the merger of these two companies is the result of a year worth of negotiations. And this merger did not come as surprise as the consolidation streak continues in the FX and CFD market due to various regulatory changes that are due to happen.

As far as the profit of One Financial is concerned, it saw a net profit of $240,000 from the generated revenue of $28.4 million in the last financial year.

AxiCorp to Consolidate Presence in Middle East

The CEO of AxiCorp, Rajesh Yohannan stated:

“We established AxiCorp a decade ago to provide Australian FX and CFD traders with a home-grown option. Our clients now span the globe, so we see the acquisition of a London-based competitor as a milestone both for us and the industry as a whole.”

As the deal happens, the presence of AxiCorp in key markets such as Central and Southeast Asia, UK and Middle East will further be solidified. This joint operation between AxiCorp and OFM will result in $2 trillion estimated trading volume thus it will cement the position of the company in top 10 global FX and CFD providers.

The CEO of OFM, Ashley Clarke commented that:

“After building the OFM brand and network in several key markets, this (acquisition) is a great opportunity to get to the next level of growth. And it’s a privilege that we will be part of the global AxiCorp family as we pursue other markets. Given AxiCorp’s focus on continued growth and expansion, we look forward to a stronger presence in the FX and CFD markets.”

With its headquarters in Sydney, AxiCorp has been working hard to establish itself globally since Rajesh Yohannan took the responsibility of Chief Executive Officer of the company almost two years ago. AxiCorp has also been successful in confirming crucial investments from RGT Capital, a private equity firm.

“We have laid a solid and strategic foundation for global growth in recent years and we’re now delivering against this plan. Expansion will be fuelled by a combination of product development and acquisitions across the industry”

Rajesh Yohannan stated and continued to say:

“Overall demand for forex products is still rising, helped by market volatility and popularity of the product in emerging markets. But with new regulations coming into force this year, we believe consolidation will remain a key theme and expect to have the opportunity to make further strategic acquisition in due course.”

CySEC Fines InstaForex and ForexMart Parent for €130000

CySEC has issued a notice recently making everyone aware of their decision to impose a €130,000 fine on the Instant Trading EU Ltd, a regulated CIF broker that operates the InstaForex, InvestCity and ForexMart.

CySEC went out of its way this time to provide a clear explanation by dividing the fine into two different parts unlike what this regulatory organization does in similar cases.

The regulatory organisation fined the company €90,000 for not acting justly, professionally and honestly to work in order to benefit their clients. Furthermore, CySEC has stated that the company has been totally non-compliant while providing trading bonuses or benefits to the clients, using the leverage properly and safeguarding the clients against a negative balance.

The company was also fined €40,000 for not asking the clients to provide all the information required in proper details that show the experience as well as knowledge the clients have in investing money. CySEC stated that complying with this regulation is necessary since it helps a company to understand the products or services that are in the best interest of the clients.

However, the regulatory authority, CySEC also stated in their notice that the company has taken corrective measures after being warned and they do not have any track record of committing similar atrocities in the past.

The complete notice that CySEC issued is given down below:

02 August 2018

CYSEC Board Decision

Announcement date: 02.08.2018;  Board decision date: 11.06.2018

Regarding: Instant Trading EU Ltd

Legislation: The Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law, Directive DI144-2007-02 of 2012

Subject: Total Fine €130.000

The Board of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’) would like to inform the public that, at the meeting held on June 11, 2018, it has decided to impose a total administrative fine of €130.000 to CIF Instant Trading EU Ltd (‘the Company’) for non compliance with the following:

  1. the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2007, L.144(I)/2007 (‘the Law’), and
  2. CySEC Directive DI144-2007-02 of 2012 for the Professional Competence of Investment Firms and the Natural Persons Employed by them (‘Directive’).

In detail, the CySEC imposed an administrative fine:

A. of €90.000 for non-compliance with article 36(1) of the Law, as it did not act fairly, honestly and professionally in accordance with the best interests of its clients.

B. of €40.000 for non-compliance with article 36(1)(d) of the Law and paragraphs 15 and 16 of the Directive, as it failed to ask clients to provide the necessary information regarding their knowledge and experience, to assess whether the investment service or product is appropriate is appropriate for them.

In reaching its decision, the CySEC has taken into consideration the following:

(i) The importance attributed by the legislator to violations of this kind, which is reflected by the maximum administrative sanction provided for violations of article 36(1) of the Law, in article 42(3) of the Law, i.e. €350.000.

(ii) The importance attributed to the need to ensure that the persons subject to the supervision of CySEC comply fully with the provisions of the Law and the relevant Directives.

(iii) The importance attributed to the obligation of the CIFs for acting fairly, honestly and professionally in accordance with the best interests of its clients.

While in particular, the CySEC has taken into consideration the following factors –

1. For the Company’s non-compliance with article 36(1) of the Law,

(i) The importance attributed to protecting the interests of CIFs’ clients.

(ii) The fact that the Company’s non-compliance relates to the use of leverage, to the granting of bonuses/trading benefits to clients and to the clients’ negative balance protection, for which guidance was provided in CySEC Circulars C168 and C192, to ensure compliance with article 36(1) of the Law.

(iii) As moderating factors, the fact that:

– as stated in its representations, the Company has taken corrective actions in relation to the use/offer of leverage, the improvement of its mechanisms for the protection of customers from negative balance as well as the termination of the granting of bonuses/trading benefits to its clients,

– the Company did not commit a similar violation in the past.

2. For the Company’s non-compliance with article 36(1)(d) of the Law and paragraphs 15 and 16 of the Directive,

(i) The importance attributed to the protection of the interests of CIFs’ clients and more specifically the need to collect information on the clients’ experience and knowledge, which enables the CIF to better assess whether an investment service is appropriate for a client.

(ii) As moderating factors, the fact that:

– as stated in its representations, the Company has taken corrective actions and more specifically it has updated the procedure for the assessment of clients’ appropriateness as well as the relevant questionnaire,

– the Company did not commit a similar violation in the past.

IGM Forex License Suspended by CySEC

In a new notice, CySEC, the financial watchdog of Cyprus has notified everyone about their decision to suspend the CIF license for the trading of FX Broker based in Limassol, IGM Forex Ltd. In the notice, the regulating body has stated that they have undertaken the decision to suspend the company was based on the inadequacy that they found in the capital and funds requirements that the IGM Forex has shown.

As per the notice published, it was informed that the CySEC or Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission has taken the action against the IGM Forex under the violation of rules and regulations by the company stated under section 71(6) (c) of the Τhe Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017 (L.87(I)/2017) in coalition with the rules stated in the Section 10(1)  of Directive DI87-05 for The Withdrawal and Suspension of Authorisation.

The financial regulating body has taken actions under the light of different suspicions that have been raised against IGM Forex. CySEC has allegedly charged the company under the violation of certain clauses that are mentioned below:

  1. Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) 575/2013
  2. Section 10(1) of The Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Laws of 2007 to 2016 (L.144(I)/2007) and Article 93(1) of Regulation (EU) 575/2013

The allegations that CySEC has brought against the IGM Forex are very serious. If these allegations are true, then it jeopardizes the safety of the investors and clients of the company. Furthermore, it disrupts the integrity of the Forex and securities market completely. CySEC has also provided the company with a deadline of 15 days to clear the allegations brought against them by complying with provisions that are mentioned above.

However, as long as the suspension is in action, IGM Forex has to follow the following regulations under the directives of section 9 of DI87-05:

  • The company will not have the permission to offer investment services; carry out any new transaction with any client or individual and promote itself as a Forex broker.
  • However, the company is allowed to finish the transactions of the clients or its own initiated before the suspension came into force. Furthermore, IGM will also have to return the funds as well as any other financial tool that belong to the clients.
French Regulator AMF Updates its General Regulations

In a new notice, the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers or AMF has stated that they have decided to amend its General Regulations. They have also published a new set of instructions in order to regulate the entry as per the latest Prospectus Regulations.

As per this new set of regulations, the threshold limit for offering Securities that needs a prospectus is increased to EUR 8 million. With this new regulation being put into effect from 21st July 2018, it has now also been made mandatory to prepare an information indenture if the public offerings of the uncharted securities fail to match the threshold limit.

The provisions for the PR3 or the European Prospectus Regulations for providing securities requiring a prospectus has also been annexed with this new set of regulation. Furthermore, a new notice numbered 2018-07 will also be published to establish this new rule. The following points will be covered in the new notice:

  • The threshold limit for the public offering of financial securities for which a prospectus will have to be published after being reviewed by AMF has been increased to EUR 8 million.
  • If the securities fail to meet the threshold limit, an information regime has to be published without carrying out an initial review from AMF has to be published for the case of securities that are not enlisted in any crowdfunding website.
  • In the case of Initial Public Offerings or IPOs on a fully organized multifaceted trading facility that is open to any individual, an information indenture has to be issued as per the market rules as well as reviewed by the operator stuff of the market when the securities fall under the threshold limit of EUR 8 million.

These new outlines have been preparing to consider the decisions made during the Initial Public Consultation which was organized at the time period between 24th January 2018 to 21st February 2018 along with reviews received during the second consultation that was held between 6th June 2018 to 29th June 2018.