FXCM and Gain Capital (Forex.com) Q4 results - Lessons Learned
By LeapRate
Now that both Gain Capital and FXCM have announced their final results for 2010 (as well as recent results releases and announcements by others such as IG Group, London Capital Group, and FxPro), what exactly have we learned about these firms, and the overall state of the global Forex market?

A few observations:
1) It is possible for a retail Forex broker to build up a significant institutional business.
2) The “Wall Street” types really do not (yet) understand this industry.
3) Growth has slowed, but is still there.

Now, for the details……

CNBC LAUNCHES “MONEY IN MOTION CURRENCY TRADING,” A NEW PROGRAM TO AIR FRIDAYS AT 5:30PM ET BEGINNING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH
Weekly Half-Hour Program Hosted By Melissa Lee and Sponsored By FXCM and FOREX.com
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. – February 14, 2011 - CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, today announced CNBC’s “Money in Motion Currency Trading,” a new weekly half-hour program will join the network’s programming lineup beginning Friday, February 25th airing Fridays at 5:30PM ET and broadcasting live from the NASDAQ MarketSite studio in New York’s Times Square.

Hi everyone

Forex Magnates of our friend and colleague Michael Greenberg gave once again the breaking news.

FXCM slapped with a class action suit over claims of fraud and racketeering

I do not know at this time what are the proves the Morgan & Morgan Group has against FXCM to accuse them of “… develop a “diabolical” software application that provides FXCM with a myriad of tools and system commands with which to interfere with customers’ trades, including routing trades to “slow” servers and sending false “error” messages when customers attempt to close out profitable trades.“, but it would be great to get this issue seriously investigated and clarified once and for all, as this continuous cast of doubts about the reliability of the broker you are trading with is not good at all for the retail Forex industry.

Francesc

Morgan Business Trial Group Files Class Action Against Forex Capital Markets, LLC
The Business Trial Group of Morgan & Morgan, P.A. filed a class action lawsuit today against Forex Capital Markets, LLC (FXCM) alleging fraud and racketeering by the nation’s largest Forex dealer.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan Division), alleges that FXCM has bilked thousands of customers out of hundreds of millions of dollars using deceptive and unfair trade practices, including falsely portraying its Forex trading platform as a fair, transparent, and true foreign currency exchange, when instead it is a “rigged game” designed to systematically separate customers from their money.

FXCM: December Trading Volume Falls From Last Year, November
By DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
FXCM Inc. (FXCM) said its trading volume last month dropped from the year before and from the prior month.
The online foreign-exchange broker said Friday that December recorded an average of 270,656 retail client trades per day, down 1% from December 2009 and 22% lower than November’s level.
It also said total retail-customer trading volume fell 5% on the year to $233 billion, which was 28% below November’s volume.
The sharp sequential drops reflect a seasonal tendency for low trading volume in December because of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The Kimono has been opened!
A comparison of the IPOs of FXCM and Gain Capital (Forex.com)
By Leaprate
NEW YORK, NY, Dec. 17, 2010 — With relatively little fanfare beyond mention in several Forex blogs, one of the most monumental (non-regulatory) changes in recent memory has occurred in the online Forex trading sector this past month – two of the leading US-based firms, FXCM and Gain Capital (Forex.com), have gone public.
The IPOs of FXCM and Gain were just one-time events, which did little but stream cash directly to the pockets of the shareholders of both firms. (The offerings were primarily “secondary” offerings, meaning that most of the cash raised did not go to the companies, but rather to the shareholders whose holdings were thereby diluted).
Click here to download LeapRate’s report

Congratulations guys!

Francesc

UPDATE 1-Currency trader FXCM rises in debut
Dec 2 (Reuters) - Shares of online currency-trading company FXCM Inc (FXCM.N) opened 7.1 percent above their initial public offering price on Thursday.
The shares opened at $15. They rose as high as $15.17 before easing back to their opening level on the New York Stock Exchange.

New York – December 1, 2010 — FXCM Inc. announced today that its initial public offering of 15,060,000 shares of its Class A common stock has been priced at $14.00 per share. The shares are expected to begin trading tomorrow, December 2, 2010, on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “FXCM.” The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 2,259,000 additional shares of Class A common stock at the public offering price less the underwriting discount from FXCM if the underwriters sell more than 15,060,000 shares in the offering.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. are acting as joint book-running managers of the offering.  Barclays Capital Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P. and UBS Securities LLC are acting as co-managers. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus, when available, may be obtained by contacting Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Attention: Credit Suisse Prospectus Department, One Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010, or by calling: 800-221-1037, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, Attention: Prospectus Department, or by calling: 866-803-9204 and Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th Street, 8th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11220, or by calling: 800-831-9146, or by e-mailing: batprospectusdept@citi.com.
The final prospectus, when it is available, also may be obtained on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Web site at http://www.sec.gov.

FXCM Seeks $226 Million in First Online Trading IPO Since 2007‎
By Bloomberg
FXCM Inc., which provides currency trading on the Internet for individual investors, is seeking to raise $226 million today in the first U.S. initial public offering for an online trading platform since 2007.
The operator of the DailyFX.com website is selling 15.1 million shares at $13 to $15 each, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said. At the midpoint, the IPO values New York-based FXCM at 16 times earnings, an 43 percent discount to the median of five companies cited in the IPO prospectus as competitors, data compiled by IPOdesktop.com and Bloomberg show.

FXCM IPO may go ahead on Thursday - Forex Magnates
Forex trader FXCM set for Thursday IPO‎ - MarketWatch
FXCM IPO Will Boost Forex, Price Reasonable‎ - Forex Crunch
FXCM’s IPO Reasonably Priced Before Thursday’s Debut‎ - Seeking Alpha

Hi everyone

I just read at Arnaud Jeulin’s blog that FXCM and Mataf have renewed their exclusive partnership until the beginning of 2013.

In the early 2009 Mataf decided to sign up for what I thought was a risky exclusive deal with FXCM to become the sole advertiser of the site.

Why risky?

Because by going for a single client I thought Mataf would loose negotiation power and by closing the door to other advertisers, that this could be taken badly in the industry and make it extremely difficult for them to get back to an open advertising model if the relationship with the sole advertiser did not work out.

Now I can see that I was wrong

Congratulations Arnaud!

Francesc

Forex Broker FXCM May Raise More Than Thought From IPO
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Foreign-exchange brokerage FXCM Inc. released estimated terms for its planned initial public offering, proceeds of which will be used to buy holdings from current holders.
The online provider of foreign-exchange trading and related services said it plans to sell at least 15.1 million Class A shares at an expected price of $13 to $15 each. In September, the company said it planned to sell up to an estimated $200 million in the IPO. There would be some 75 million Class A shares if all current unitholders in FXCM exchanged them for stock.