Author: David Kimberley

Maggie Lighezzolo oversaw changes to the IG Group website and market research tools, including the integration of tech provider TipRanks.

The FCA’s recent ‘Dear CEO’ letter got some negative feedback from industry execs. But does the regulator really want to kill CFDs?

Brokers that use cTrader can now use the Brokeree product as a plug in and be up and running with copy trading within a few hours.

Aston Martin released a new video, featuring driver Fernando Alonso and Pepperstone branding, to promote the new partnership.

Coinbase has hired a former XTB exec as local CEO. The company appears to be launching perpetual futures trading via its Cypriot entity.

Owen has been Head of Trading for BUX – who APM acquired in July – since 2020. He was previously a senior trader at rival broker Ayondo.

ATFX hit lots of key milestones in 2024, from new licences and offices to record trading volume numbers. We look at 9 key moments for the firm.

Crypto.com plans on adding CFDs. Bybit already has them. Others could do the same. Should regular FX/CFD brokers be worried?

Dubai is becoming a major hub for the online trading industry, something Devexperts said was behind its decision to open the office.

MetaQuotes has forced brokers to link their prop arm with the broker arm. Hantec Trader has thus changed the URL for its homepage.

Vladimir Syrov has launched a new brand called Zetradex, alongside a prop firm named Zefundex, and a broker technology provider.

Scope Markets appears to be making more of an effort to expand in Asia. The company has focused heavily on Africa in the last couple of years.

Deriv is already one of the largest broker businesses – by headcount – in the world, with 20 offices globally an more than 1,400 employees.

Swissquote now offers payments, banking, trading, investing, and investment plans all in one mobile application, something many firms want to do.

XTB will sponsor Fury for his fight in Saudi Arabia later this week. XTB has already partnered with a boxing organisation in the UAE.

The cTrader Store lets users sell their algo bots, signals, and other plugins to any of the 8m traders using the cTrader trading platform.

Brokers can find it hard to access certain markets due to regulatory restrictions. So how do you work around those pesky regulators?

APAC Premier is a new service from ATFX Connect. The new service will give pro traders access to range of exclusive insights.

Vladimir Shmidt is working as Marketing Director at Shares.com – a new brand by Capital.com that is targeting emerging markets.

Turkey has blocked the URLs for several leading crypto and prop trading firms, including HTX, Storm Gain, and BrightFunded.

Michael Healy has been Commercial Director at Ryanair for almost five years. He previously worked with IG CEO Breon Corcoran at Paddy Power.

Demosthenous joined the broker operator in the middle of last year. She has held senior marketing roles at XM, LCG, and easyMarkets.

BITA makes custom indices, where the exposure can be hedged. The company already has partnerships with XM and other firms.

Onyx Markets is owned by Onyx Capital, an oil broking business. The company has hired execs from several rivals, including IG and CMC Markets.

Brief was with IG Group for almost 25 years and was the company’s Head of UK. Several long-time execs have left over the last 12 months.

Capital.com has owned the Shares.com URL for years. The company seems to be using it now to target faster growing emerging markets.

FundedNext will set up operational hubs for its brokerage offering in Malaysia and Cyprus, with a view to acquiring multiple licenses.

Eryk Kopan will work as Chief Revenue Officer at Finyard. He has held senior sales roles previously at Exness, XTB, and ThinkMarkets.

Vassiliou joins Colmex Pro from FINVASIA, the company that owns Zulutrade and AAAfx. He has held senior roles at other brokers.

Sotiriou was previously at IC Markets for over three years in dealing and risk roles. He joins the firm from liquidity provider 26 Degrees.

The agreement between the firms means that Nullpoint clients can now access copy trading and PAMM solutions offered by Brokeree.

This is the third major partnership that Centroid Solutions has made over the last few months, looking to tap into the Gulf region.

Exness and XM are smashing North Africa. But so too are other players in the region – most notably Olymptrade and ExpertOption.

Malaysian brokers regularly get raided by police. This time seems more unusual as one local broker was targeted by authorities.

Click injections, URL hijacking, ad copying, and more. Brokers regularly get hit by affiliate fraud. What can they do to combat it?

The agreement between the two companies means brokers using DXtrade can now easily access Track360’s marketing tools.

ATFX saw the largest increase in trading volume in indices in Q3. Trading volume also rose across FX pairs, cryptos, and commodities.

Snir Ahiel has launched Fund Your FX. Ahiel was one of the two co-founders of The 5%ers back in 2016. He left the firm in August of 2022.

We speak to Dana Massey – Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Capital.com – to learn about why the company is looking to grow so much.

The integration means that brokers using Centroid Solutions’ technology will be able to offer FMP’s range of data to their end clients.

The Category Five license allows Taurex to market its services in the UAE and introduce new clients to onboard with its other entities.

ATFX Connect is the institutional arm of brokerage group ATFX. The company has a margin account and agency brokerage offering.

Kearabilwe Nonyana is the latest in a series of executives to have joined Scope Prime. He will work from the company’s Johannesburg office.

Panayi joins XTB from Klips, a rival broker, where he was Head of Compliance. Previously he was Head of Legal Compliance at TopFX.

BDSwiss was onboarding lots of clients from Europe offshore. Then it couldn’t. Now the broker is struggling and not paying withdrawals.

The highly anticipated cTrader 5.0 is rolled out to all brokers and prop firms allowing their users to host and run algos for free staying off your desktop and VPS services.

Daman Markets is already sponsoring the Dubai Racing Club. The two partnerships are attempts to grow the new broker’s brand in the UAE.

The new products allow Deriv clients to access different trading strategies in a more simplified form and with less need for trading activity.

Scope Prime said in a statement that the new pairs were added to its liquidity offering in response to demand from existing clients.

FOREX.com ranks highly in Poland for organic searches. The brand is more of a mass market, FX-focused offering for StoneX.

Tickmill is one of several large brokerages looking to target clients in the region. XM and Exness are both seeing success in the country.

NAGA is tapping into growing demand for local stocks in the Gulf region, with several firms now looking to cater to the needs of local traders.

Capital.com has previously focused on a smaller pool of clients. The broker is competing with other firms by doing large scale marketing.

We spoke to Eightcap CEO Alex Howard about what the broker has planned, with the launch of its new partnership with tech firm TradingView.

Exante received approvals from the local regulator last month. The company has opened a representative office in the DIFC since then.

Markets.com is the latest in a string of firms to stop onboarding UK retail clients, due to the increasingly high regulatory burden.

FXStreet claims that it is the first mainstream FX news and educational provider to have reached the milestone on Telegram.

Magic Compass is based in Hong Kong and will sponsor the games, which are being held locally. The broker is the event’s main sponsor.

Easier payments mean the potential for losing business. Hard payments mean a bigger risk of reputation risk. So what do you do?

Lightyear was previously operating in the UK via an appointed representative agreement. The broker will launch ISAs next year too.

Version 5.0 of the trading platform gives brokers and traders access to a wide range of new products, including synced algo trading strategies.

The new integration with Arqaam Capital means clients will be able to access trading across the different exchanges in the Gulf region.

FTMO has been slowly attempting to expand into the brokerage sector, with ex-FXCM and Skilling executive Michael Kamerman.

We speak to Steve Sanders from Interactive Brokers about what the US broker’s plans to expand its events contracts offering.

YourPropFirm provides the full technology stack needed to launched a prop firm. This deal means clients can now access DXtrade.

IG Group set up Spectrum Markets in 2019, with the firm regulated in Germany as a multilateral trading facility, mainly for trading ETDs.

Revolut was already offering some investment products to UK clients but that was done via an appointed representative agreement.

European regulators will probably ban event contracts, allowing US firms to dominate another market. Also we look at the Axi stockbroker deal.

Pepperstone will sponsor the UFC and become their Official Partner for Asia. The UFC claims to have over 400m fans across the continent.

Acuity Trading will provide its full suite of trading, news flow, and analytics products to OneRoyal.

ATFX Connect will provides its pricing and liquidity to brokers globally, who are using Centroid Solutions to manage their risk.

Gao joins Axi from Pepperstone, where he was also Regional Director. He has two decades of experience and has worked at Exness and GAIN Capital.

Doo Financial has approval from CySEC and the broker also said it has entered the Indonesian market by acquiring a local company.

ACY Securities will acquire INGOT Brokers’ South Africa license. This will require upgrades for the firm to be able to offer CFDs.

Biggs has been with Finalto since 2018, working in trading roles. He was previously the company’s Group Head of Risk and Trading.

The bid probably has two aims – to allow Axi to more easily add stockbroking and, secondly, to acquire a huge number of clients at low cost.

Crypto.com has said it wants to add other investment products over the next 12 months across the US, Australia and the European Union.

FunderPro already has a CFD offering. Several props have added futures, possibly to cater to US clients and also to satisfy client demand.

Monaxa is the latest in a string of brokers to offer prop trading. The company already offers a standard CFD product, as well as copy trading.

Exinity – which owns Alpari and FXTM – will use TraderEvolution technology and its trading engine to power its backend systems.

Discover World-Class Solutions for Brokers and Prop Firms. Meet the cTrader team in London next week and see what the platform can do for you.

Khatib and Melhem were both at amana for a long period of time. The new CFI execs will work in Dubai as CBDO and CMO respectively.

Onyx Capital announced its retail brokerage arm in the summer. The oil broker has hired execs from several firms, including CMC Markets and IG.

Swissquote, Capital.com, Bitkub, and several others have all seen a surge in app downloads since Donald Trump won the US election.

Soutzis has been with the firm since its inception in 2016. Capital.com also announced that Global CEO Kypros Zoumidou is leaving the firm.

ZFX launched the new cryptocurrency – called ZDS – at the start of November. It can be used as cashback or as a bonus for trading.

Sebbata was most recently CEO at APM Capital Markets, which acquired the FCA-regulated arm of neobroker BUX earlier this year.

Revolut is hiring a Head of Brokerage for its local crypto entity, as well as a compliance officer for its separate wealth and trading division.

XTB is hiring for a Head of Crypto and has an entity set up in Cyprus that could feasibly run it. The signs point to this happening in the near future.

oneZero said it will use the funds from Golden Gate Capital to continue its organic growth, but also hinted at the possibility for M&A.

Mahesh Sethuraman has also been made Singapore CEO at Saxo Bank. The changes come after Adam Reynolds left the firm two months ago.

Investa is one of several firms looking to bring the US options trading boom over to the UK. The company has raised almost £2m in total.

XM is the latest firm to rebrand, with several firms changing their look in the last 12 months to have more of a mobile-friendly, fintech feel.

FXGT has a new app and webtrader. Clients are able to access TradingView charts on the new app, which went live at the end of last week.

Robinhood made over $2m in one week from events contracts. But what are events contracts, how do they work, and can brokers use them?

Farah joins STARTRADER from MultiBank, where she was Head of International Sales. STARTRADER has been expanding globally over the last year.

ATFX has had a long presence in Mexico but the new office will act as a hub for its operations in the country and in the wider LATAM region.

Kresovic will work as Global Head of Premium Client Sales at Blueberry, which recently rebranded and launched its prop offering Blueberry Funded.

The partnership means that brokers using Your Bourse’s bridging technology can on board with ATFX Connect as a liquidity provider.

This is the second major sporting partnership for NAGA, with the broker also sponsoring German football team Borussia Dortmund.