Before we get to this past week’s top FX and CFD industry news, we’re pleased to report back traffic (and social media following and email newsletter subscribers…) here at FNG in May 2024.
Our traffic growth was once again driven by the explosion of search trafficas Google’s latest search algorithm updates reward exclusive, original and trusted content, while penalizing “copycats” and those who post a lot of paid and promotional articles.
Last month at FNG we published exclusively on:
- the CEO change at TopFX,
- the reasons behind the fall in NAGA share price,
- closure of SurgeTrader support company;
- Trading 212 profit reduction,
- XTX Markets Revenue Reduction,
- 26 degree operator INV Inc is being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange,
- Spotware Hiring New CMO,
plus literally dozens of other senior management moves across the industry.
And on social media, month after month FNG articles often get Engagement just like other “FX News” sites as readers engage with real content that is truly 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 Australian regulator ASIC revoke the license of Retail FX and CFDs broker XTrade?
Former iS Prime (now iSAM Securities) co-founder and CEO Jonathan Brewer joined which company?
What led to multi-year low FX trading volume at Saxo Bank?
Which major crypto exchange did American neobroker Robinhood buy?
What other executive moves were made involving FXSpotStream, B2C2, Trading.com, ADVFN and others?
Some of the most read and commented on FX/CFD industry news that appeared in the last seven days on FNG include:
CFDs broker XTrade loses ASIC license due to ‘unconscionable behaviour’. Australia’s financial regulator ASIC has continued a recent series of actions against Retail FX and CFDs brokers operating in the country by withdrawing the license it granted to XTrade.AU Pty Ltd (XTrade). ASIC said it revoked XTrade’s AFS license after an investigation found that a number of vulnerable customers were encouraged by XTrade to trade CFDs where they could not afford to do so or had limited trading experience resulting in significant losses for some consumers .
Saxo Bank trading volume fell 20% in May as the currency sinks to multi-year lows. After a fairly strong April that saw Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank Retail FX and CFDs post its best month in four years, lower market volatility led to a 20% drop in trading volume at Saxo in May 2024. Overall, multi-asset trading volumes at Saxo Bank totaled $388.1 billion in May, down 20% from $482.7 billion in April. The firm’s underlying forex trading volumes totaled $79.6 billion for the month, the lowest level since the firm began publishing volume statistics in 2016.
Robinhood to acquire Bitstamp for $200 million in cash. Coming off its best quarter ever and following recent international expansion into the UK and EU, US broker Robinhood is betting even bigger 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 reviews Keith Gill’s ban over GameStop meme stock manipulation concerns. US business news sources Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and CNBC are reporting that online brokerage E*Trade is considering banning meme stock trader Keith Gill over recent activity in GameStop (NYSE:GME) shares. Keith Gill was at the center of the meme share craze in 2019 and 2020 goes DeepF****ingValue on Reddit, but he hasn’t been active on the platform since 2021. (He’s still active on Twitter under the moniker @TheRoaringKitty, with more than 1.4 million followers).
Top FX industry executive moves reported on FNG this week included:
❑ Jonathan Brewer joins GCEX as Chief Revenue Officer.
❑ FXSpotStream parent LiquidityMatch names John Ashworth of Caplin Systems as President.
❑ Prop Maven Trading hires Smart Prop Trader CEO Ryan Lepper as CFO.
❑ Exclusive: B2C2 Hires Goldman Sachs Executive Nikolay Karpenko as EMEA Sales Director.
❑ Exclusive: Trading.com hires ZuluTrade alum Theodosis Lapata as head of US marketing.
❑ Shalom Berkovitz joins ADVFN as a non-executive director.