NFA Forex Dealer Dead Pool

[forex scholar]

Six weeks ago I reported on the danger of trading with FXDD because they were the only forex firm in the United States that had neglected to get a license from the NFA.
Forex Trading | MetaTrader Indicators and Expert Advisors - View Single Post - NFA Forex Dealer Dead Pool

Well it appears FXDD took my criticism to heart.

FXDD Announces Pending NFA Approval

NEW YORK, NY May 7, 2008 – FXDD, a global leader in online foreign exchange trading, today announced its applications for becoming a National Futures Association (NFA) member and for registration as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the CFTC are pending approval. Clients may follow FXDD progress through the registration process by logging on to the NFA’s website (National Futures Association - NFA is a regulatory service provider for the derivatives markets) and searching the BASIC system under its NFA ID number 0397435.

“The pending reauthorization legislation for the CFTC will fill the gaps left by previous legislation and narrow the playing field for entities in the Forex space. The value of companies as registered entities and non-registered entities is driven by many factors; registration is certainly one of those factors,” commented James E. Green, FXDD’s chief legal counsel. “FXDD is always interested in increasing its business under the appropriate circumstances by providing professional service and promoting certainty and clarity as to the government and private agencies responsible for regulating Forex dealers.”

All I can say is, it's about time! Count that as another victory for retail forex traders. The Savior's work goes on...

[forex scholar]

The big news this week is the farm bill which is close to passing the House and Senate. Inside that farm bill are provisions that would require U.S. forex dealers to have a minimum adjusted net capital of $20 million in addition to requirements that all introducing brokers be registered with the CFTC.

The big question is if Bush vetoes the bill will the Congress have enough votes to override his veto? According to this story the override vote will be a very close one:
http://deltafarmpress.com/topstory/farm-legislation-0513/

Chambliss, a Republican, has promised to try to override a White House veto. With other Republicans also taking such a stand, does President Bush have the votes to sustain a veto? It will be “very close” said Ed Schaefer, USDA secretary, during a May 9 press conference. Schaefer then played the populist and tied subsidy levels to U.S. families having trouble paying rising food prices. If politicians listen to such families “then we’re going to sustain the veto.”

Of course, the forex provisions are a sideshow in this fight, which has become a fight primarily over farm subsidies. The $20 million capital requirement has been agreed upon by the powers that be. So now the question is not if, but when. A veto override means this capital requirement will be enforced by the end of the year for sure.

Developing…

[forex scholar]

According to Republican Senator Charles Grassley the Congress will have the votes to override a Bush veto of the farm bill.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/cdp_20080513_6699.php

Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley said today he has signed the farm bill conference report and will work to override a likely presidential veto, predicting that both chambers have enough support for an override. Grassley told Iowa reporters in his weekly teleconference that he is disappointed by the payment limitation provisions in the bill, but said they are better than current law. He also praised the bill's "long list" of other changes, including farm program and tax provisions that he wants enacted. Grassley expects the White House will not push Republicans to sustain the expected veto. If Bush does push support for the veto, cautioned Grassley, he should expect "very weak loyalty in the Congress from his own party."

It looks more and more like this bill is going to become law. I’m trying to dig up the actual language of the bill to find out the time frames the industry is going to get in order to comply with the law. I’ll have more tomorrow.

[forex scholar]

House passes election-year farm bill
By MARY CLARE JALONICK – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a $290 billion farm bill Wednesday with a strong veto-proof majority, offering more subsidies for farmers, food stamps for the poor and special projects that lawmakers can bring home to voters this election year.

The 318-106 vote for the five-year bill came despite President Bush's promised veto. He says the measure is too expensive and gives too much money to wealthy farmers.

About two-thirds of the bill would pay for nutrition programs such as food stamps and emergency food aid for the needy. An additional $40 billion is for farm subsidies while almost $30 billion would go to farmers to idle their land and to other environmental programs.

Senators planned to begin debating the bill later Wednesday. A rejection of a Bush veto may be even easier in the Senate, where farm states have greater representation than they do in the House. Congress has only overridden one veto, on a water projects bill, during Bush's two terms.
This measure is not perfect, said the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, who believes it is balanced. "We've put a bill together that I think addresses what people are concerned about in this country," said Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.

Republicans, however, criticized the mostly bipartisan and popular bill because home-state projects added in an election year. The bill includes tax breaks for Kentucky racehorse owners, extra help for farmers in Hawaii and Alaska, and dollars for salmon fishermen in the Pacific Northwest.
"This bill has been under consideration for a long, long time, and yet still we have earmarks that have been 'air dropped' into the legislation," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

Ahead of the House veto, Bush made his objections clear, noting that married farmers who make up to $1.5 million still could collect subsidies under the new farm bill. "I believe doing so at a time of record farm income is irresponsible and jeopardizes America's support for necessary farm programs," Bush said.

[forex scholar]

Cue up the Michael Myers Halloween Theme…

I have just finished reading the Farm Bill language and it is clear that the Congress is not giving the industry much time to adapt to the incredible changes they are forcing upon retail forex dealers and introducing brokers.

The full language is now available at the House of Representatives website:
http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/FarmBill.html

Title XIII (page 548) is the part of the bill that references the forex industry. Note the following language as it pertains to adjusted net capital requirements for forex dealers:
http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/Legislation/110/FB/Conf/CRlang.pdf

“(ii) The dollar amount that applies for purposes of this clause is-
“(I) $10,000,000, beginning 120 days after the date of the enactment of this clause;
“(II) $15,000,000, beginning 240 days after such date of enactment; and
“(III) $20,000,000, beginning 360 days after such date of enactment.

Assuming the bill passes by the end of June, that would give U.S. retail forex dealers until Halloween to increase their capital to $10 million. Then they would have until February 2009 to increase it to $15 million and then June of 2009 to reach the full $20 million. Halloween would also be the registration date for Introducing Brokers.

The bill also creates a separate registration category for Forex Dealers and gives the CFTC tremendous leeway in crafting rules governing this new financial services category. There is no telling what the CFTC might come up with (tough new Margin Requirements? Customer Funds Segregation? New Dealing Practice Rules?)

All in all the industry is in for a massive overhaul in the next 12 months. There are sure to be a lot of tricks and treats ahead. Stay Tuned.

[forex scholar]

The Farm Bill just passed the Senate in a landslide, 81-15, which is a veto proof margin. With veto proof margins in the House and Senate it is now clear that the Farm Bill is going to become law.
Senate passes $289 billion farm bill, 81-to-15 - MarketWatch

Bush is expected to veto the bill and it appears Congress is preparing to override the veto no later than Memorial Day.

In any case, this is a seminal day for the U.S. retail forex trading industry.

[forex scholar]

According to the Washington Post Bush will still veto the farm bill. However, the veto will not be sustained in Congress.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503985.html

Senate Passes Farm Bill, But Bush Still Plans Veto


President Bush will now follow the lead of the late Dwight Eisenhower by vetoing a comprehensive farm bill.

Bush, though, is no Eisenhower.

On Thursday, the Senate, by a comfortably veto-proof margin of 81 to 15, approved a farm bill that now faces a resistant White House. Bush says he will veto the five-year package, much as Eisenhower nixed a big farm bill in April 1956.

Eisenhower won his showdown, the last time a president vetoed a major, standalone farm bill. Bush, however, will lose. The House and Senate now have both approved the farm bill by more than the two-thirds vote needed to override a veto.

"Mr. President, you and your people have been at the table for more than a year," Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) declared. "It's time you recognize the value of this project."
Craig was one of 35 Republican senators to abandon Bush on Thursday and support the farm bill. On Wednesday, 91 GOP House members voted for the bill, boosting the House's approval to a veto-proof margin of 318 to 106.

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the Republicans' presumptive presidential candidate, missed the vote but said he opposes the bill. Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) both support the bill, but they likewise missed the vote.

[forex scholar]

It’s due diligence time once again. With the Farm Bill set to become law the trading public needs to start preparing for the changes just over the horizon. The following U.S. registered firms do not currently meet the first 120 day benchmark ($10 million) the Congress has recently set for Retail Forex Dealers according to the latest CFTC Net Capital Report:

http://www.cftc.gov/stellent/groups/public/@financialdataforfcms/documents/file/fcmdata0308.pdf

Advanced Markets $5,100,000
Bacera $5,500,000
Money Garden $6,600,000
Easy Forex $7,200,000
MB Trading $7,700,000
Hotspot $7,700,000
Forex Club $7,900,000
Friedberg Mercantile $8,000,000
CMC $8,300,000
Alpari $8,800,000
Ikon $8,800,000

Now obviously some of these firms can come up with the money as several have large parent companies who are loaded (CMC and Hotspot for example.) But just as past dead pool members were unable to meet the former $5,000,000 mark so too is it likely that some Autumn Equinox Pool members will be unable to meet the upcoming $10,000,000 mark which is set to go into effect at the end of September should the legislation become law before Memorial Day as expected. Which firms may fold as a result? No one can say for sure. But I certainly would not want to be a trader at Bacera, Advanced Markets or Money Garden right now.

Since the worst of the forex dregs were purged in the last dead pool the likelihood of any of these firms going belly up like One World Capital is slim. That’s the good news. The bad news is firms that know they are going out of business have a strong incentive to really screw over their customers and give them the worst execution possible as they try to grab some traveling money before they have to hit the road. This is why I’m recommending that traders avoid opening new accounts or depositing any additional funds with Advanced Markets, Bacera and MG Financial until they clearly demonstrate they can meet the new capital requirement.

I suspect the remaining firms will have enough capital to meet the $10 million requirement but traders who have accounts with these firms should be sure to speak with them and discuss the firm’s long term strategy for dealing with the full $20 million requirement. There is going to be a lot of mergers in the industry in the next twelve months and traders are likely to suffer in the chaos as customer service gets chopped up and dealing desks start really squeezing traders in their last dying days. Know in advance what you are in for and be sure to do your due diligence now more than ever.

[forex scholar]

Touring the Dead Pool Graveyard

Since starting up this thread many former forex firms are now pushing up the daisies, dead parrot style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Lq771TVm4

Indeed, these firms have passed on. They have ceased to be. They have expired and gone to meet their maker. They’re stiff. Bereft of life they rest in peace. They have kicked the bucket and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible. These are ex-forex firms:

Rest in Peace
-The following firms are no longer functioning as independent registered forex dealers.

• United Global Markets (Died May 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• Forward Forex (Died June 2007. Cause: Busted for Fraud)
• Worldwide Forex (Died June 2007. Cause: Busted for Fraud)
• Cal Financial Corporation (Died March 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• Nations LLC (Died July 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• FX Option1 Inc (Died June 2007. Cause: Busted for Fraud)
• Trend Commodities (Died June 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• Performance Capital (Died June 2007. Cause: Buyout)
• FiniFX (Died July 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• CFG Forex (Died February 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• Tradex Swiss AG (Died August 2007. Cause: Busted for Fraud)
• Spencer Financial (Died June 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• One World Capital (Died November 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• ANTC (Died August 2007. Cause: Buyout)
• Royal Forex (Died August 2007. Cause: Buyout)
• Northfinance (Died May 2008. Cause: Buyout)
• VelocityFX (Died December 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• Direct Forex (Died December 2007. Cause: Buyout)
• E-FX (Died November 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• Solid Gold (Died December 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• FXLQ (Died December 2007. Cause: Busted for Fraud)
• SNC Investments (Died December 2007. Cause: Undercapitalization)
• WestCap FX (Died April 2008. Cause: Autopsy not Complete)
• AleccohFX (Died February 2008. Cause: Busted for Fraud)
• Finex (Died sometime in 2007. Cause: Busted for Fraud)

That’s twenty five firms by my count that have been closed or bought out on the Scholar’s watch. Thousands of traders have lost millions of dollars as a result of the chaos in the forex industry the past year and a half. Don’t allow yourself to be the next victim. Be sure to trade with a well capitalized firm and make sure they are prepared for the coming capital requirement increase to $20 million.

[forex scholar]

While we await the President’s veto I thought I would pass along one of the funniest forex related websites I have seen in a while. It is called Caveman Forex.
http://www.cavemanforex.com/home.html

The troglodyte running this website claims to be selling a winning “formula” guaranteed to make traders rich. Says Caveman Forex, “Due to the nature of the Cavemanforex formula, the success rate of these trades ranges from 60% to 70%. This ultimately gives me a profit ranging from 200 to 500 pips, sometimes more.... EVERY WEEK!”

Uh huh.

And get this. He’s only selling this secret formula for $89! As Don Corleone once said to The Turk “Why do you come to me? Why do I deserve this generosity?”

I’ll tell you why, because it ain’t generosity. You’re more likely to earn money betting on Eight Belles to win the Triple Crown this year than you are trading the forex market based off signals given to you by the cast from the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But I give Caveman Forex points for showmanship that’s for sure!