PipStop

If I were a latent observer, I'd say that the National Futures Association is on a rampage to fine as many firms in the futures industry they can.

But adding somewhat of an educated perspective on things I can say that there is much needed increased oversight that is present for the Forex market - and there will be more to come.

Last Friday (Jan. 11), the NFA issued the following release, which I'll comment on then paste in below.

Good for the NFA for cutting out the riff-raff in the broker side of the business. There has needed to be more accountability, and we can see it in action. What strikes me is that the number of registered FDM's dropped from 34 to 24 in less than a year with the most recent regulations.

We'll see what increased regulations will bring, and how it will affect the landscape. For one will other brokers step out and do what FXDD has done? Or the question is can they?

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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.

NFA is the premier independent provider of innovative and efficient regulatory programs that safeguard the integrity of the derivatives markets.

As the carry trade continues to get hammered and the GBP/JPY continues its decline, Jordan Lindsey has just come out with his most recent outlook on this fast moving currency pair. Although Tony Juste doesn't think it can go down any further.

Adding to the number of "free" signals that are out there now is Elliott Wave Forex Signal, which put out a buy signal on the AUD/USD today. Of course there is a lag in subscribing to the RSS feed, which can span up to a few hours. But it's interesting to look at anyway. When I saw it a few hours after it had been send out, it was just above the buy price specified anyway. 

How far up can the euro go? It's almost at an all-time high against the US dollar, and while internally Pierre has maintained that it'll break 150, who knows? But it sure is nice to see a little beating the dollar is taking. I only say that because it seems as long as I've lived - all 32 years, the US dollar has been beating the Canadian dollar to a pulp.

I just listened to the Evening broadcast of the DailyFX Radio and its a horrible post. Both the hosts are reading (not very well) off a script, and while one voice is squeaky, the other is monotone - you can barely hear him - both of whom cloud their message to me.  


Now Rob Bookers radio podcast is more refreshing and actually draws you into the listening experience. Not scripted, loosely organized, but effective nonetheless. But naming it Piptopia is a blatant rip-off of Fruitopia, don't you think?