NFA Forex Dealer Dead Pool

[forex scholar]

Forex Liquidity is apparently in debt to its customers to the tune of $11.6 million. Here is the official CFTC Press Release:

CFTC Sues Futures Commission Merchant Forex Liquidity LLC Alleging Undercapitalization in Excess of $11.6 Million

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that on December 13, 2007, it sued Forex Liquidity LLC (Forex Liquidity), a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) in Santa Ana, California, charging it with being undercapitalized in excess of $11.6 million and also with failing to maintain required books and records.

On December 14, 2007, the CFTC won an asset freeze and other emergency relief that will enable the Commission to freeze the remaining assets of Forex Liquidity and safeguard the interests of its customers.

According to the CFTC complaint, as of November 30, 2007, and perhaps earlier, Forex Liquidity’s net capitalization was below the minimum required by the Commission. As a Forex Dealer Member of the National Futures

Association (NFA) offering to be the counterparty to retail customer foreign currency transactions, Forex Liquidity is required to have a minimum adjusted net capital of $1 million; instead, according to the complaint, as of December 7, 2007, it had an adjusted net capital deficit of approximately $11.6 million.
Forex Liquidity is also alleged to have been unable to produce required financial documentation regarding its assets and liabilities. For example, according to the CFTC’s complaint, Forex Liquidity represented in reports and discussions with NFA that its assets at one time included a $35 million ABN-AMRO bond located in Switzerland. The complaint further alleges that Forex Liquidity represented to the NFA that the ABN-AMRO bond (or its proceeds) were transferred to a U.S. registered broker dealer, Commonwealth Financial Network (CFN); however, CFN does not have an account for Forex Liquidity and the account number that the defendant provided to NFA was fictitious.

Accordingly, the CFTC also charged Forex Liquidity with failure to maintain books and records of its business transactions, specifically, current ledgers that accurately reflect its assets and liabilities.

In the ongoing action in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the CFTC seeks an order of permanent injunction against the defendant, monetary penalties, and other relief. The Honorable Cormac J. Carney, U.S. District Judge, issued the restraining order freezing the assets of Forex Liquidity and prohibiting the defendant from destroying documents or denying CFTC staff access to books and records.

[forex scholar]

Today is the day when the $5 million minimum capital requirement rule takes effect. News out of Money Garden is that they are dropping their high leverage accounts in order to comply with the new rule. That means no more 400:1 leverage from MG, or 200:1 for that matter.

The following firms have still not publically indicated they have met the requirement. Beware these firms until further notice:

1) SNC Investments: $1,152,000
They are well below the $5 million capital requirement. It is highly unlikely they will make the new requirement at this point. I advise customers to leave this firm and look for greener pastures.

Update: Just went to their website and there is no reference at all to being able to open an account with them. I suspect they are just going to be an introducing broker from now on.

2) Wall Street Derivatives: $1,228,000
This firm is based out of New Zealand and I'm not even sure they have any U.S. customers as their U.S. website is out of service.

3) Advanced Markets: $1,322,000
Amifx is already teetering on the brink as they are the subject of a business conduct committee case before the NFA in which they are cited for a whole host of financial violations including not meeting the old capital requirement. This firm does not have much of a future.

4) AlpariFX $2,481,000
Little known European firm. Well under the cap requirement.

5) Solid Gold Financial: $2,040,000
Solid Gold's future is now in serious doubt. Like many of the other firms on this list they have been charged by the NFA with failing to meet their existing capital requirement. When you can't meet the old requirement it stands to reason you won't be able to meet the new one either. Solid Gold is anything but a solid investment at this point.

6) Bacera Corporation: $2,300,000
Like a turd that won't flush Bacera Corporation just refuses to go down the drain. The Savior wrote Bacera off over the summer as sources knowledgeable about them stated they were going to close up shop. But no, they are still hustling the folks in LA for fresh deposits. In September Bacera settled a complaint with the NFA after it was discovered they were undercapitalized to the tune of $1.2 million. NFA reported Bacera only has about 200 customers as it is. But to those 200, do yourself a favor and get yourself another broker because sooner or later the pipes are gonna get cleaned and these guys are going to get flushed once and for all.

Update: They published their Holiday Trading Schedule on their website. So they apparently don't plan on closing their doors. Do they have the money? Is the CFTC going to raid the place after the Holidays? We'll soon find out.

7) ODL Securities: $2,566,000
Ravaged by undercapitalization issues.

8) Forex Club: $3,320,000
They still have not hit the minimum $5 million mark. And don't forget since they are a market maker they have other financial requirements to meet as well. They still haven't publically done so.

9) Easy Forex: $3,789,000
Under siege for their sleazy sales tactics, it's hard to imagine the NFA isn't going to drop the hammer on them soon.

So now what? Judging from the NFA's website it doesn't appear they will be moving in for the kill yet. In fact, it may not be until January that we find out who will survive and who will perish. So if you have any money at these at risk firms get it out now. And Merry Christmas everyone!

[scorpion]

In the list, most of them are well-known brokers. Well we'll see what will happen.

[forex scholar]

No word on whether Solid Gold has made the capital requirement however.

NFA orders San Francisco firm to pay $35,000 fine

January 2, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) has ordered Solid Gold Financial Services Inc. (Solid Gold), a Futures Commission Merchant located in San Francisco, California, to pay a fine of $35,000. The Decision, issued by NFA's Business Conduct Committee, is based on a Complaint filed in November 2007 and a settlement offer submitted by Solid Gold.

The Committee found that Solid Gold used misleading advertisement and submitted false or misleading information to NFA. The Committee also found that Solid Gold failed to provide its customers with required disclosure regarding NFA's Background Affiliation Status Information Center (BASIC) and failed to obtain required information from its customers. Additionally, the Committee found that Solid Gold failed to take applicable concentration charges, failed to maintain the required adjusted net capital and failed to collect the required minimum security deposit.

[forex scholar]

A new year brings with it a new forex industry. Let's hope that the new year will be a lot better than the last. Last year the NFA had its hands full as over a dozen firms went under dragging thousands of investors to the bottom of the sea. The NFA has stated that there are now only 24 registered forex dealer members. It appears the following four firms were recently removed from this exclusive club of 24:

1) Hamilton Williams (Velocity4X)
2) Royal Forex
3) Solid Gold
4) SNC Investments

NFA reports four forex firms have ceased operations in light of increased capital requirements

January 11, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) announced today that four of its Forex Dealer Members (FDMs) have ceased operations as a result of NFA's new $5 million capital requirement, which became effective on December 21. In addition, six additional FDMs have ceased operating since September 1, 2007.

"When NFA's Board of Directors adopted the increased capital requirement on August 15, 2007, NFA had 34 registered FDMs," said Regina Thoele, vice-president of Compliance. "As of December 31, 2007, that number has decreased to 24."

The four firms that were unable to meet the new capital requirement and ceased operating transferred their customer accounts to other FDMs.
"We closely monitored each of the firms to ensure that customer funds were transferred to another, fully-capitalized firm," says Thoele.

But I wouldn't be surprised if the NFA took some further dramatic actions in the next few weeks as firms like Advanced Markets are still way below the capital requirement as of the last CFTC financial report:

Financial Data for FCMs

Developing...

[forex scholar]

Well it appears the NFA is not done with its capital increase crusade. They are pushing hard in the Congress to increase the minimum capital requirement to $20 million and it appears they have succeeded. The Congress has passed legislation to do just that:

http://weblog.fxstreet.com/2008/01/new-bill-means.html

When such a new rule would become law is unclear. But it looks like we'll have to go through this whole capital requirement ordeal again...

[forex scholar]

With Congress set to increase capital requirements to $20 million and with the NFA having previously narrowed down the list of U.S. Brokers to 24 I thought it helpful to post the numbers for the remaining brokers in business so everyone knows where the industry is at in the here and now:

According to the latest CFTC Report:
Financial Data for FCMs

Advanced Markets $1.3 million
Alpari $6.4 million
Bacera $3.1 million
CMC $2.7 million
CMS $11.4 million
Easy Forex $7 million
Forex Club $4.8 million
Friedberg Mercantile $7.9 million
FX Solutions $26.9 million
FXCM $75 million
Gain Capital $50 million
GFS Futures & Forex $3.6 million
GFT $57 million
Hotspot $6.1 million
I Trade FX $23.8 million
IFX $17.1 million
Ikon $9.1 million
Interbank FX $30 million
MB Trading $6.6 million
Money Garden $5.3 million
Oanda $159 million
ODL $13 million
PFG $12.8 million
RJ O'Brien $91 million

[forex scholar]

Advanced Markets just got nailed for shoddy book keeping. Here is the the NFA's official statement:

NFA fines Charlotte forex firm, Advanced Markets, Inc., and its principals $150,000

January 30, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) has ordered Advanced Markets, Inc. (AMI) and its principals, Anthony P. Brocco and Geoffrey Gooch, to jointly pay a fine of $150,000. AMI is a Futures Commission Merchant and a Forex Dealer Member located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Decision, issued by an NFA Hearing Panel, is based on a Complaint filed in June 2007 and a settlement offer submitted by AMI, Brocco and Gooch.

The Panel found that Brocco and Gooch failed to diligently supervise the firm's financial and recordkeeping activities and the promotional materials used by AMI's unregistered solicitors.

[forex scholar]

2007 was a year of change in the forex industry, most of it for the better as some of the seediest firms in the industry were shown the door thanks to the NFA’s capital requirement increase. But 2008 appears to be an even more momentous year of change for the U.S. forex industry. And those changes may not necessarily be for the better.

The Savior has long been an advocate of healthy capitalization in the industry. But the recent legislation set to pass in the Congress should be a cause for serious concern for all forex traders. The last few weeks I have received numerous emails and done some research through helpful links provided on the bulletin boards and have come to the realization that this legislation is not good for the trading public.

Wha? I know, I know. The Savior has been preaching the virtues of high capitalization so in theory he should support increasing capitalization to $20 million right? And in fact at first I was sympathetic to this proposal. But the bottom line is the Savior is also a trader. And as a trader I am worried that by restricting this industry to just a handful of the larger players (FXCM, GFT, Gain, Oanda) that speads will once again widen. Take FXCM for example. Their spreads have been tightening for the past year in response to the increased competition taking place in the marketplace. But what happens if that competition gets eliminated altogether? How does this affect the average trader?

The $5 million rule needed to be put into place. There were too many tiny bucketshops doing serious damage to traders. Even now I still have my suspicions about tiny little outfits like AMIFX who are barely treading water even after the $5 million requirement.

Nevertheless, with the House already passing a law to require that all firms have a minimum $20 million on hand (and who knows what other capital requirements will be imposed upon the industry) the barrier to entry is getting sky high and few firms are going to be able to make the cut. My understanding is that the Senate has not approved the House’s language. So there may still be a chance to stop this law from passing.

Also it appears that introducing brokers are going to be wiped out entirely. There are a bunch of registration requirements that may very well strangle most introducing brokers and put them out of business.

I don’t think people realize just how perilous the situation is. This could all become law in a month’s time. Traders, brokers and medium sized dealers should call their Congressman right away. It seems Congress is only hearing from the regulators, not the general public. As a trader I want a healthy industry with stable, well capitalized firms. But I also want good service and tight spreads. Having only 6 firms in the industry is not going to guarantee either.

[forex scholar]

Should the Congress pass legislation requiring all firms have a minimum net capital requirement of $20 million the following firms will be in danger in the United States:

Advanced Markets $1.3 million
Alpari $6.4 million
Bacera $3.1 million
CMC $2.7 million
CMS $11.4 million
Easy Forex $7 million
Forex Club $4.8 million
Friedberg Mercantile $7.9 million
GFS Futures & Forex $3.6 million
Hotspot $6.1 million
IFX $17.1 million
Ikon $9.1 million
MB Trading $6.6 million
Money Garden $5.3 million
ODL $13 million
PFG $12.8 million

Now, many of these firms have additional capital they can infuse into their firms (particularly foreign firms like IFX and CMC as well as domestic ones like Hotspot.) But many do not. The customers of these firms should take notice, and if you want to keep trading with these firms, take action.