The Bank of England has published its policy statement and draft rules for sterling systemic stablecoins, and in one move it both creates a regulated GBP coin worth issuing and caps it at £40 billion per coin. This causes a tension: a regulated rail for broker deposits and settlement is finally viable, but its economics now sit on the gilt curve, and that is what decides who issues one. The 22 June package is the near-final shape of the UK regime, and the reversals from last November’s consultation are commercial, not cosmetic. The proposed holding limits, £20,000 per individual and £10 million per business, are gone, replaced by a temporary issuance guardrail set initially at £40 billion per systemic stablecoin. Issuers can now hold up to 70% of backing assets in short-term UK government debt, up from the 60% first proposed, with the remainder in non-interest-bearing accounts at the Bank. Coins that are systemic at launch, or transitioning up from the FCA-only regime, can run as high as 95% gilts initially while they scale. The Bank also added a liquidity facility, letting issuers pledge gilts for emergency funding under stress, and held the line on par redemption within 24 hours with no suspension, even in a crisis. Together, the message to issuers is that the UK wants this market; the old per-user limits were the biggest deterrent: they capped how large a coin could ever get. Swapping them for a per-coin ceiling and lifting the gilt allowance hands issuers a viable yield on reserves, and the liquidity facility removes the run-risk of fire-selling gilts at a loss. This is a regime designed to be issued into, not just survived. But the constraints are real. The £40 billion guardrail caps the float, and with it issuer revenue, in a way a USD coin elsewhere is not. Holders earn no interest, by design. And the model rests on short-term gilts, which the Bank itself flags as a dependency on the government debt market: under stress, the same backing that protects holders can transmit pressure into gilts. That is the trade-off issuers now have to model. A regulated, par-redeemable sterling coin is what broker payments and the forex-native PSP layer have wanted: stablecoin speed with a trust profile compliance can sign off. Rail providers like B2BinPay and Match2Pay get a clearer roadmap for a GBP product without the regulatory ambiguity of today’s coins. On the issuer side, Circle and Tether are the obvious names, but their dollar coins are unlikely to be deemed systemic for UK payments; so the real question is whether anyone issues a sterling coin through a UK entity under these terms. The £40 billion cap and the unremunerated-deposit drag are the variables that will decide it; UK banks and licensed PSPs weighing tokenised money sit in the same calculation. For institutional desks, a systemic sterling coin parks up to 70% of a multi-billion-pound float, 95% at launch, in short-term gilts: a structural new buyer at the front of the curve. At scale, it is a flow story. There is a real chance the regime is world-leading on paper and quiet in practice. The £40 billion cap, the no-interest rule and the unremunerated reserve slice may leave a GBP systemic coin commercially marginal next to a USD coin issued elsewhere, in which case issuers simply stay in the non-systemic, FCA-only lane, which is where almost all stablecoin activity already sits. Nothing is live until 2027, and the Code itself is still open for feedback. A framework built to be issued into still has to be issued into. The joint Bank and FCA approach document is due shortly and will set out how firms move between the two regimes. Feedback on the Code closes on 22 September, with finalisation targeted for the end of 2026 and the regime live in 2027. The single signal that matters more than any of those dates is whether a credible issuer publicly commits to a sterling systemic coin under this £40 billion ceiling. Until one does, the UK has built the rail and is waiting to see who drives onto it.   Internal links to add [INTERNAL LINK: a recent LeapRate stablecoin or crypto-regulation piece] [INTERNAL LINK: a recent LeapRate payments or PSP piece] Sources (primary led) Bank of England, policy statement “Sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins” and draft Code of Practice, 22 June 2026 — bankofengland.co.uk Bank of England news release and Sarah Breeden remarks, 22 June 2026 — https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2026/june/boe-launches-policy-statement-and-draft-rules-on-regulating-systemic-stablecoins The post The Bank of England Just Made a Sterling Stablecoin Worth Building and Then Capped It first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Crude’s near three percent drop on Monday’s US sanctions waiver looks like the start of a calmer energy market, and for any desk running an oil book, that read is a trap. The barrels the market thinks are arriving are mostly already at sea; the swing producer that would normally cap a rebound has no plans to spend a cent doing so; and the whole arrangement expires on 21 August. On 22 June OFAC issued a 60-day general licence legalising Iranian crude exports and the banking, insurance and shipping around them, through 21 August. WTI fell about three percent to near $74 and Brent to near $77, the lowest since before the war began in late February, and both fell further on Tuesday. It sits inside a non-binding memorandum sent to Congress on 18 June, pairing relief with a promise to reopen Hormuz. Iran never left the market. The EIA’s last pre-war ledger put 2025 exports at 1.58 million barrels a day, 99.4 percent of it to China, worth about $48 billion, with Iranian Light at an $8 to $10 discount to Brent. The waiver does not create those barrels, it relabels them: cut-price, China-bound cargoes become full-price barrels any refiner can buy, and that discount is what compresses as legitimate buyers compete. Rystad’s Jorge León has told CNN it could lift exports toward 2 million barrels a day, a third above that level. Real upside, but a pricing and routing event, rather than noteworthy volume adjustments. The new supply is will not be from Iran at all; it is the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq and Qatar, regaining clean Hormuz access and that is the fragile area. Iran re-closed the Strait on 20 June, the deal is a memorandum not a treaty, and tanker rates and insurer caution still create bottlenecks in the flow. The producer that has historically arbitraged any real surplus is standing down. The EIA has US output flat to slightly lower, across 2026 at around 13.3 to 13.5 million barrels a day, the first annual contraction after four straight years of growth. The Dallas Fed’s energy survey has operators blaming price volatility for frozen capital plans, with the US rig count failing to climb even through a stretch of ninety-dollar oil. The message from the patch is consistent: nobody is funding new rigs and frack crews on a price they expect to reverse, and certainly not against a sixty-day clock. The next Dallas Fed survey is due this week and should sharpen the point. Put the two together and the market has priced a clean supply normalisation that is neither clean, nor new in the volumes assumed, nor secured. For the trading industry the consequence is not the price level, it is the volatility. A coiled, headline-sensitive crude with a hard expiry date is a busy-desk setup, not a quiet one. The venues feel it first: CME and ICE take the two-way flow as volume and open interest. The listed brokers with deep commodity books come next: IG Group, CMC Markets and Plus500 all see energy CFD demand swell, as Hantec’s record quarterly volumes on gold and oil already showed. If 21 August becomes a run of headline repricings, that demand intensifies rather than fades. The supply-side names anchor the thesis rather than carry it. Permian Resources and its peers have made free-cash-flow discipline the explicit investor message: returns, not barrels. If the memorandum holds and is extended past 21 August, the calculus flips. Iran genuinely adds up to 2 million barrels a day into a market the IEA already calls oversupplied. The risk premium bleeds out, oil settles into a lower regime, and the dip is the trend, not a coil. That is the bear case the selloff is betting on, and it is credible. The only question is whether a non-binding deal survives its own expiry. Three things decide which scenario wins: whether Hormuz stays physically open after the 20 June re-closure. Whether the licence is extended or allowed to lapse: the SHIP Act’s port-and-refinery sanctions are dormant under the waiver, not repealed, and snap back the moment the window closes, forcing a fast, disorderly exit from newly legitimised Iranian positions. And whether US shale shows any sign of breaking discipline, which the rig count and the Dallas Fed survey will flag before the production data does. Until those resolve, the move lower is a volatility opportunity for energy desks, not the all-clear it looks like.The post Oil Fell on the Iran Waiver. The Supply Story Says Don’t Trust the Dip. first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

  As XS.com continues to strengthen its position as a global multi-asset broker, the company’s growth story has become increasingly defined by scale, strategic expansion, and a strong client-first approach. From entering new markets and operating under multiple regulatory frameworks to refining the client experience and investing in long-term partnerships, XS.com continues to evolve with purpose. In this interview, Simon-Peter Massabni, Head of Global Sales at XS.com, shares his perspective on what’s driving that momentum, how the company approaches global growth while maintaining consistency across regions, and what clients and partners can expect from the next chapter of XS.com. Q1: Simon, thank you so much for joining us today. XS.com has been on a strong global growth trajectory and continues to make bold moves. From your perspective, what’s really driving that momentum? What may appear externally as rapid expansion is actually the result of a very structured and disciplined internal build. That includes infrastructure readiness, liquidity depth, onboarding efficiency, and the ability to support clients consistently across different regions. We’ve been very intentional about not pursuing growth in isolation. Instead, we focus on whether each market can be fully supported end-to-end before we even enter it. That means when we do expand, it doesn’t feel like an experiment, it feels like a fully operational extension of our existing ecosystem. This is what makes growth sustainable and predictable. Q2: When you look at global expansion today, what does it actually mean for XS.com beyond opening new regions? Well, global expansion today is far more complex than simply entering new geographies or launching localized marketing. For us, it means building a single, unified trading ecosystem that can intelligently adapt to different market environments without compromising its core structure. Every region we enter has its own trading behavior, liquidity expectations, client sophistication level, and preferred engagement style. Expansion is not about replication, it’s about adaptation within a controlled framework. The platform remains consistent, but the way clients interact with it can feel highly localized. What matters most is that wherever a client joins from, they’re connected to the same global infrastructure, the same execution environment, and the same operational standards. Q3: One thing XS.com is often recognized for is the breadth of its offering. How important is the multi-account structure in that global model? It’s central to how we operate. Retail trading today is incredibly diverse. You have beginners entering the market for the first time, active traders focused on cost efficiency, and professionals who prioritize execution quality, speed, and stability above all else. A single account structure can’t realistically serve all of those profiles without compromise. That’s why we’ve built a multi-account ecosystem that reflects different trading needs and behaviors. Each account type is designed around a specific objective, whether that’s tighter pricing, more flexibility, or a premium execution environment. This structure also supports global scalability. When we enter a new market, we don’t need to reinvent the product, we simply position the right account types around the dominant trader profiles in that region. That flexibility is a major advantage in expansion. Q4: So, would you say account segmentation is more of a growth tool than simply a product decision? Yes, without a doubt. While it appears to be a product structure on the surface, in practice it functions as a growth engine. It directly influences how easily a trader enters the ecosystem and how long they remain engaged within it. If a trader feels that the account they start with already matches their expectations and trading style, onboarding friction drops significantly. More importantly, they don’t feel the need to switch providers quickly because they already feel aligned from the beginning. From my perspective as Head of Sales, that translates into stronger retention, better-quality engagement, and a more natural client lifecycle progression.Q5: A lot of brokers struggle when scaling across regions. What’s been the key to keeping XS.com consistent globally? The key lies in clearly defining what must remain identical globally and what should be adapted locally. Certain elements cannot change, execution quality, platform stability, infrastructure performance, and the core client experience are non-negotiable. At the same time, communication styles, onboarding flows, and client engagement strategies need to reflect local expectations. What works in one region may not resonate the same way in another. Rather than forcing uniformity across everything, we’ve built a layered system. The foundation is standardized, while the client-facing layer remains flexible. That’s how we maintain consistency without becoming rigid, and how we scale without fragmenting the brand. Q6: XS.com operates under eight regulatory licenses globally. How does regulation influence your expansion strategy and the way you serve clients across markets? Regulation plays a central role in how we grow as a business. Operating under multiple regulatory frameworks allows us to scale globally while maintaining strong local credibility in each market we serve. For us, regulation isn’t simply a compliance requirement, it’s part of the foundation of trust. It shapes how we structure operations, onboard clients, build client protection frameworks, and enter new markets responsibly. Each jurisdiction has its own requirements, but our priority remains consistency. No matter which entity a client joins through, they should experience the same level of transparency, security, and operational reliability. Strong regulation and strong growth go hand in hand, and that balance is a key part of our long-term strategy. Q7: Trust has become such a key part of the XS.com identity. How do you build and maintain that trust with clients across so many markets? In this industry, clients are trusting you not only with their trading experience, but also with their capital, their decisions, and their long-term confidence in the platform. That responsibility is something we take very seriously. For us, trust comes from delivering on expectations every day, whether that’s execution quality, transparency in our offering, strong client support, or operating within a solid regulatory framework. It’s not built through one moment or one campaign; it’s built through repeated experience. No matter where a client is trading from, they should feel the same level of reliability, clarity, and confidence when interacting with XS.com. That consistency is what turns first-time clients into long-term relationships. Q8: How does retail trading behavior differ across the markets you’re active in? It varies significantly depending on market maturity and access to financial education. In more developed markets, traders tend to be highly analytical. They compare execution metrics, evaluate platform performance closely, and often take a more systematic approach to trading. In emerging markets, we see a stronger emphasis on accessibility and learning. Many traders are entering financial markets for the first time, so education, onboarding simplicity, and guidance become much more important. There are also highly mobile-driven markets where trading is deeply integrated into daily routines. We don’t try to force one behavioral model globally. Instead, we adapt the entry experience while keeping the core trading environment consistent. Q9: Do partnerships fit into that expansion model? Without a doubt! Local partners bring something centralized teams simply can’t replicate easily: deep market insight. They understand cultural nuances, client expectations, and distribution channels in ways that can significantly accelerate market integration. That said, we approach partnerships with a long-term mindset. It’s not about short-term acquisition or temporary volume spikes. It’s about building strategic relationships where both sides grow sustainably together. The strongest partnerships are the ones where the partner becomes a true extension of the XS.com ecosystem. Q10: XS.com has received significant industry recognition over the past year. What do those achievements represent internally for the team? Recognition is always appreciated, but internally we see it more as validation than as a finish line. Awards reflect the work happening behind the scenes across many teams, from product and operations to support, technology, and commercial strategy. For us, they’re a signal that the direction we’re taking is resonating with the market and with our clients globally. But more importantly, they reinforce our responsibility to keep improving. Every recognition we receive motivates us to continue raising the standard, not just to maintain that level, but to keep evolving beyond it. Q11: XS.com is known for focusing heavily on execution quality. How does that connect to retail growth? Clients may initially join because of branding or marketing exposure, but long-term engagement is largely determined by how consistent their trading experience is. If execution is stable, fast, and reliable, clients naturally increase activity and remain engaged longer. If it’s inconsistent, no acquisition strategy can compensate for that loss of trust. So in many ways, execution quality is not just a technical metric, it’s a commercial growth driver. Q12: Client expectations have evolved significantly in recent years. How is XS.com adapting both its client experience and account offering to meet those changing needs? Retail clients today are far more informed, comparison-driven, and performance-focused than they were just a few years ago. They expect speed, transparency, flexibility, and immediate access, not only when it comes to trading execution, but across their entire experience with a broker. That shift has influenced how we approach both client experience and product development at XS.com. On the experience side, clients expect seamless onboarding, intuitive platforms, clear pricing structures, and fast access to tools and support. Any friction in that journey becomes noticeable very quickly, which means every touchpoint matters. On the product side, expectations have become increasingly specialized. In emerging markets, accessibility remains key, making it easy for traders to get started and navigate the ecosystem confidently. In more mature markets, the focus shifts toward precision: tighter trading conditions, more advanced tools, and greater flexibility in how clients manage their trading. Our approach is to evolve alongside those expectations. That means continuing to refine our account offering while making sure the overall client experience remains simple, transparent, and consistent regardless of market or trader profile. Q13: What role does education play in retail expansion? Education plays a fundamental role in sustainable retail growth and is a major part of how we build long-term relationships with our clients. A well-informed trader is typically more confident, more engaged, and more consistent over the long term. Education reduces uncertainty, improves decision-making, strengthens platform engagement, and helps create long-term trust. For us, education goes far beyond simply providing market commentary, it’s about giving traders access to the tools, knowledge, and support they need to grow with confidence at every stage of their journey. That includes live educational seminars across key markets, interactive webinars with industry experts, one-on-one sessions with market analysts, structured trading courses, educational articles, e-books, daily market insights, and ongoing learning resources tailored to different levels of experience. Some clients are just entering the markets and want to understand the fundamentals. Others are more experienced and are looking for deeper market analysis, strategy discussions, or direct engagement with our experts. Our goal is to support both. Q14: With trading becoming increasingly digital, how important is it for XS.com to maintain a physical presence? Physical presence remains extremely important for us, especially in key strategic markets. While trading is digital by nature, relationships in this industry are still very personal. Being present locally allows us to stay closer to clients, partners, and the broader market itself. It gives us a stronger understanding of regional dynamics, creates deeper engagement, and helps us respond more effectively to market needs. It’s also a reflection of long-term commitment. Investing in a market physically sends a strong message that we’re there to build relationships, not just visibility, and that matters greatly to both clients and partners. Q15: Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about what’s coming next for XS.com? I can say there’s a lot happening behind the scenes at XS.com right now. We’re continuing to expand globally while also working on new products and solutions designed to create even more value for our clients and strengthen long-term partnerships across our ecosystem. A big part of our focus is building for the future, not just in terms of growth, but in how we innovate, strengthen our offering, and create sustainable opportunities for everyone we work with. So there’s definitely a lot to look forward to, and I think our clients and partners will be seeing more from us very soon.  The post Simon-Peter Massabni Shares Strategic Vision on the Global Expansion Strategy of XS.com first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Stripe has appointed Eileen O’Mara as vice chair and named Tyler Bryson as its new chief revenue officer, the company announced on Monday.  The moves come as the payments company repositions its senior leadership to address an evolving policy and regulatory landscape affecting the millions of businesses it supports globally. O’Mara, who most recently served as Stripe’s chief revenue officer, brings more than 25 years of experience across the global technology sector, including senior roles at Salesforce and Oracle.  During her tenure leading Stripe’s global revenue organisation, the company’s annual payment volume nearly doubled to $1.9 trillion.  In her new role, she will be expected to engage with policymakers, regulators and executives at Stripe’s customers and partners to shape conditions that support entrepreneurship and economic growth. “Tooling and infrastructure are necessary conditions for economic growth, but progress is also contingent on policy, culture, and partnerships,” said Patrick Collison, co-founder and Chief Executive of Stripe. Bryson, who takes over as chief revenue officer, joined Stripe in 2025 to lead the Americas Revenue and Global Solutions teams. Before joining the company, he spent more than two decades at Microsoft in senior leadership roles during a period of significant revenue growth. The announcement came with endorsements from several Stripe partners.  Ravi Inukonda, Chief Financial Officer at DoorDash, said O’Mara’s operational expertise and empathy for end customers will make her an invaluable advocate for entrepreneurs, while Wayne Pommen, Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm, described her as an outstanding partner with a relentless focus on results.The post Stripe Promotes Eileen O’Mara to Vice Chair and Appoints Tyler Bryson as Chief Revenue Officer first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Interactive Brokers said Monday that it has expanded its agentic trading capabilities with the addition of ChatGPT and Grok to its suite of AI platform integrations, joining Claude, which was available previously.  The broker revealed it has also extended order instruction support to include options, futures and futures options alongside its existing equities and ETF coverage. Available through certified AI connector marketplaces, the integrations are said to allow clients to link an existing IBKR account to their chosen AI platform in minutes using their IBKR login, with no additional account, no extra cost, and no passwords or API keys shared with the AI provider.  The company said that once connected, clients can use natural language to explore portfolios, analyse markets and generate order instructions, which are reviewed and approved by the client in a dedicated AI Instructions tab before any order reaches the market. “Adding ChatGPT and Grok, together with support for options and futures, expands the ways clients can securely connect AI tools to Interactive Brokers for research, analysis and execution,” said Milan Galik, Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Brokers. The integrations are expected to support a range of use cases, including generating options strategies to protect gains on existing positions, placing futures orders, identifying overbought or oversold holdings using technical indicators, and benchmarking portfolio performance against market indices. The AI integrations add to a broader suite of tools available within IBKR’s platforms, including AI Screeners, Investment Themes, a Connections tool, Ask IBKR for natural language portfolio queries, and AI News Summaries filtered to individual holdings and watchlists.The post Interactive Brokers Adds ChatGPT and Grok to AI Trading Suite first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced that the US District Court for the Southern District of New York has entered a consent order resolving its 2023 civil enforcement action against Alexander Mashinsky, founder and former CEO of Celsius Network LLC. The order permanently enjoins Mashinsky from further violations of anti-fraud provisions in the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, and imposes permanent trading and registration bans against him. The CFTC’s original complaint, filed in July 2023, alleged that from 2018 through at least June 2022, Mashinsky and Celsius engaged in a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of customers. Celsius received approximately $20 billion in pooled customer digital assets while publicly representing itself, via videos, blog posts, livestreams and social media, as a safe, bank-like alternative offering high-yield weekly rewards. In reality, the firm was deploying those funds into increasingly risky strategies including uncollateralised loans and unregulated decentralised finance agreements. The scheme collapsed into bankruptcy. The civil action runs in parallel with a criminal prosecution by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York: Mashinsky pleaded guilty in December 2024 to one count of commodities fraud and one count of securities fraud, and was sentenced in May 2025 to 12 years in prison with forfeiture of $48.4 million. A separate consent order against Celsius Network itself was entered by the court in July 2023, leaving Mashinsky as the sole remaining defendant in the CFTC’s civil action until now. The consent order closes the regulatory loop on one of the most heavily litigated crypto-lending collapses to date, with concurrent CFTC, SEC, and DOJ actions all pursuing Mashinsky personally. That pattern is deliberate: US regulators have consistently treated the executives of failed crypto lending platforms as personally and criminally liable rather than limiting exposure to the corporate entity. For compliance officers at digital asset businesses and regulated crypto exchanges, the sequence of Celsius actions, from bankruptcy through criminal conviction to civil resolution, remains the template enforcement agencies will apply to any platform that misrepresents the safety or regulatory status of customer funds.The post CFTC Permanently Bans Celsius Founder Mashinsky, Closing 2023 Fraud Case first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Octa Brand Shares a Reality Check on the Economics of Trading for a Living Many aspiring traders start with the same vision: polished Instagram photos, luxury cars, laptops overlooking tropical beaches, and stories about quitting a traditional job thanks to trading income. Social media has helped turn trading into a symbol of financial freedom and independence, convincing many people that making a living from the markets is only a few successful trades away. The reality check often comes much later, sometimes after the trading account is already heavily damaged. The problem is not that making a living through trading is impossible, but rather that new traders’; expectations are often detached from statistical reality. Consistent profitability requires discipline, risk management, and experience rather than quick wins and aggressive risk-taking. The Octa brokerage brand, which has served clients globally since 2011, highlights some of the most common misconceptions about trading for a living, and what real market statistics suggest instead. Trading can quickly replace a full-time job Many beginner traders enter the market believing that one profitable month will be sufficient to justify leaving a stable salary behind. In reality, generating consistent income from trading is not easy, especially once losses, commissions, unsuccessful trades, and periods of high volatility are factored in. Income instability remains one of the biggest challenges, even for experienced traders. The psychological pressure to reach the financial benchmarks outlined by social media can be quite high. Some traders even describe this self-imposed requirement as one of the most stressful aspects of trading, something Octa broker has observed repeatedly among retail traders across global markets. Such pressure often undermines rational decision-making, as emotions can push traders to take excessive risks in an attempt to reach a desired monthly income target. This is supported by a study. Researchers found that fear often escalates into anxiety and is a common reaction to losses and uncertainty, while frustration and feelings of powerlessness frequently result in decision paralysis. To avoid this scenario, traders must remain disciplined, rational, and emotionally detached from short-term outcomes. For this reason, trading should not be treated as the sole source of income unless it has already proven itself as one. Following market sentiment increases your chances of success Many beginner traders believe that other market participants are inherently more experienced, better informed, and therefore more likely to be right, a misconception the Octa broker frequently addresses in its market analysis. As a result, they blindly follow market sentiment, social media influencers, trading communities, or ‘smart money’ narratives without conducting their own analysis. In reality, collective market dynamics are often driven by emotion rather than rational decision-making. This phenomenon is known as herding behaviour—investors copying the actions of others instead of relying on independent judgment. A study published in the Journal of Global Economics, Management and Business Research found that it intensified from four in stable markets to nine during crises, affecting around 80% of participants. According to the Octa brokerage brand’s analysts, this effect can lead to impulsive entries at market peaks, panic selling during downturns, inflated asset bubbles, and poor risk management. To avoid this trap, traders need to develop their own trading muscles through constant learning and practice. Trading schedule and ‘active hours’ are overrated It may seem logical that you need to always be in the market to catch trends. In practice, excessive trading often produces the opposite effect. Overtrading remains one of the most common reasons retail traders lose money, as emotional decisions, impulsive entries, and accumulated transaction costs gradually erode overall performance. To avoid this trap, traders should set fixed trading hours, limit the number of trades per session, take mandatory breaks after several consecutive orders, and maintain a consistent routine to reduce emotional fatigue. The Octa broker also emphasises that structured trading routines and disciplined risk management are often more important for long-term performance than constantly staying active in the market. Many experienced traders also avoid trading during periods of stress or boredom, recognising that patience and selectivity are often more profitable than continuous market exposure. Avoiding the trap of aggressive marketing Online trading content often presents a highly curated, unrealistic picture of success. For beginners, this creates the impression that consistent profits and at least a comfortable lifestyle are a natural outcome of entering the market. Yet discipline, learning, and proper risk management remain largely invisible. To avoid being misled by curated success stories, traders need to engage with financial influencers and brokers that promote fair and sustainable trading practices. For example, the Octa brand operates with transparent trading conditions, without hidden fees, tricks, or mechanics, promoting fair trading environments. In addition, it provides valuable educational materials to help users develop long-term trading discipline and a robust skill set, rather than focusing on instant gains.The post Octa Brand Shares a Reality Check on the Economics of Trading for a Living first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) has announced plans to raise $2.0 billion through a private offering of convertible senior notes due 2029, with proceeds allocated toward share repurchases, dilution protection, and broader corporate growth initiatives. The Menlo Park-based trading platform said on June 22 that it intends to offer the notes exclusively to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933. Initial purchasers will also have the option to acquire up to an additional $200 million in notes within 13 days of the initial issuance date. The senior, unsecured notes are set to mature on October 1, 2029. Robinhood will be unable to redeem the notes before July 1, 2028, except under specific cleanup redemption conditions. After that date, redemption becomes an option if the company’s Class A common stock price reaches at least 120% of the applicable conversion price across a qualifying trading period. Robinhood intends to use approximately $300 million of net proceeds to repurchase Class A common stock, though the final amount repurchased may differ. A further portion will fund capped call transactions designed to reduce shareholder dilution until at least a 125% premium to the pricing-date share price is reached. Remaining proceeds will support general corporate purposes, potentially including organic growth investments, acquisitions, and capital expenditures. In connection with the offering, Robinhood will enter into capped call transactions with financial institutions to offset potential dilution upon note conversion. The interest rate, initial conversion rate, and all other key pricing terms will be determined at the time of the offering’s pricing.The post Robinhood Launches $2 Billion Convertible Notes Offering to Fuel Strategic Growth first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) has announced enhancements to the client margin framework at its derivatives clearing houses, with the changes designed to improve capital efficiency, reduce funding costs and support the long-term development of Hong Kong’s derivatives market. The revised arrangements will be rolled out in two phases. Phase 1 is planned for 21 September 2026, with Phase 2 targeted for March 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The phased approach is intended to ensure market readiness and allow participants to adjust their systems and risk management practices in an orderly manner. Under the new framework, the client initial margin multiplier will be reduced from the current 1.33 times the clearing house (CH) margin level to 1.2 times in Phase 1 and further to 1.1 times in Phase 2. Client maintenance margin requirements for derivatives, excluding stock options, will also be adjusted, moving to 1.0 times the CH margin across both phases. HKEX Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Lau said the changes represent the latest in the exchange’s microstructure enhancements. “The revised framework strengthens collateral efficiency whilst maintaining robust risk controls. It supports more efficient use of capital, lowers costs and enables market participants to better manage their hedging, trading and portfolio activities,” she said. The adjustments will also bring HKEX’s client margin multiplier more closely in line with those of other major international markets, reinforcing Hong Kong’s standing as a global risk management centre. Market participants will retain the discretion to apply higher margin requirements based on individual client risk profiles and prevailing market conditions.The post HKEX Revises Client Margin Framework to Boost Derivatives Market Efficiency first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) and global blockchain technology company OKX have announced the formation of a joint venture aimed at building next-generation infrastructure for tokenized and digitally native financial products. The 50-50 venture, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to operate as a U.S. registered broker dealer and futures commission merchant (FCM). Its primary purpose will be to enable OKX’s customers, both in the U.S. and internationally, to access ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets. The partnership will also explore regulatory-compliant blockchain-enabled markets beyond those initial offerings. The joint venture will be co-chaired by ICE and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has worked with OKX since 2023. Cuomo previously served as New York State Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. “This partnership brings together OKX’s world-class blockchain technology and ICE’s trusted market infrastructure to help build a more modern, transparent, and resilient financial system for the future,” said Cuomo. Trabue Bland, Senior Vice President of Futures Exchanges at ICE, highlighted the venture’s long-term ambitions, stating that the partnership aims to extend ICE’s regulated market infrastructure to OKX’s 120 million retail traders globally. The announcement follows ICE’s strategic investment in OKX, which was disclosed in March. OKX, headquartered in San Jose, California, holds regulatory licences across multiple jurisdictions including the U.S., UAE, Singapore, and Australia. The two firms have not confirmed a specific timeline for regulatory approvals or a projected launch date.The post ICE and OKX Form Joint Venture to Connect Traditional and Digital Asset Markets first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

MoneyGram has announced it is joining the Solana network as an active validator, marking a significant step in the global payments company’s deepening commitment to blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The Dallas-headquartered firm will contribute directly to the security, integrity, and performance of the Solana proof-of-stake network by staking SOL, processing transaction blocks, and participating in consensus at the protocol level. The move positions MoneyGram alongside other institutional players helping to underpin one of the world’s highest-performing blockchains. MoneyGram has also joined the Solana Developer Platform, an AI-ready, API-driven platform designed to help institutions build and scale compliant financial products on Solana. The company joins as an early adopter alongside institutions such as Mastercard. Luke Tuttle, Chief Product and Technology Officer at MoneyGram, said the validator role places the company at the heart of Solana’s network operations. “We help run the rails we move money on,” Tuttle noted, adding that the firm is simultaneously innovating to make money movement seamless regardless of where users are or what form of money they use. Sheraz Shere, General Manager of Payments and Commerce at the Solana Foundation, welcomed the development, highlighting MoneyGram’s global scale and experience as key assets as more payments activity moves onchain. For MoneyGram, the announcement builds on more than five years of integrating blockchain and stablecoin capabilities into its core payments platform. The company serves over 60 million active customers through nearly half a million retail locations worldwide. Chairman and CEO Anthony Soohoo framed the move as part of a broader vision, stating that the future of global money movement will be built on open, interoperable stablecoin rails accessible to everyone, everywhere.The post MoneyGram Becomes Solana Validator in Major Blockchain Infrastructure Push first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes May personal income and outlays on Thursday, and for once the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge arrives loaded. It is the first PCE print since 17 June, when Kevin Warsh’s first meeting as chair held rates at 3.50 to 3.75% but rewrote the projections around them. The median dot moved to a year-end 3.8%, flipping an implied 2026 cut into a lean toward a hike, with 17 of 18 participants placing the risks to inflation on the upside. With the committee split right at the current range, and a chair who has stripped out forward guidance so the data does the talking, this is the release that moves the odds. Consensus has headline PCE up about 0.5% on the month, lifting the annual rate toward 4.1% from April’s 3.8%, with core near 0.3% and around 3.4% on the year, up from 3.3%. The headline will mislead. May is the month that fully captured triple-digit oil, before the 14 June peace memorandum theoretically reopened the Strait of Hormuz and pulled crude back, so this print carries the energy spike and none of the relief. The base effects turn in June and July, not Thursday. A 4-handle headline is the Iran war showing up late, not a fresh acceleration, and the desks that trade the surprise rather than the level will read it that way. Strip the energy out and the picture can invert. May core CPI already cooled to 0.2% on the month even as the headline ran to 4.2% on the year, the tell that this is an energy shock sitting on a core that is easing, not a broad reacceleration. A core PCE that says the same, near or below 0.3%, hands the argument to the camp, JP Morgan among them, reading the oil move as a one-off supply shock the Fed can look through. A core that runs hot says the shock is bleeding into the rest of the basket, and the nine dots already pencilling a hike begin to look like a majority in waiting. The tension to watch is with the Fed’s own hand: May’s expected headline sits above the 3.6% the committee pencilled in for year-end, which reconciles only if the post-deal fall in oil does the heavy lifting in the second half. The print cuts cleanly in two. A hot core prices the hike in: the dollar firms, the front end sells off, EUR/USD leaks into the European close, and gold, already shedding its war premium and leaning on the monetary bid, loses another leg as real-yield expectations climb. A soft core does the opposite, revives the look-through case, caps the dollar and gives gold a reason to hold. EUR/USD is the cleanest dollar expression, gold the read on real yields, and the two-year the scoreboard for the hike debate. The same session brings the final Q1 GDP estimate, but it bites only if it misses badly enough to dent the Fed’s solid-pace story. Whatever prints, the monthly core is the figure the 17-of-18 upside-risk vote turned on, and the one that frames the run into the late-July meeting. One footnote that raises the stakes on every release from here: Warsh withheld his own dot and has put the projections themselves under review, so the dot plot that anchors this trade may not see out the year.The post US PCE: the first test of Warsh’s hawkish Fed first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

HIFI, the stablecoin infrastructure company, DRW Cumberland and Marex have completed an onchain repurchase agreement on the Canton Network. The transaction settled both legs simultaneously, the cash leg and the U.S. Treasury collateral leg, in real time, with HIFI providing the cash side via USDC and USDCx, DRW supplying the Treasuries, and Marex acting as prime broker. The trade was executed through Tradeweb’s RFQ protocol, following the standard electronic dealer-to-client repo market structure. The U.S. repo market averages $12.6 trillion in daily outstanding exposures, making it one of the largest and most systemically important funding markets in the world. It is also consistently ranked as the top candidate for tokenisation: many financial institutions name repo as their highest-priority tokenisation use case, ahead of OTC derivatives margining and securities lending. What has historically blocked onchain repo from institutional adoption is not technology; blockchain settlement for bilateral transactions has been technically feasible for years. The obstacle has been market structure. Institutional participants do not execute repo through novel pipelines; they use the frameworks they trust: competitive price discovery via RFQ, intermediation by a prime broker, and the legal certainty of established clearing relationships. This transaction replicates all three of those elements onchain for the first time. The cash-leg flow in this transaction moved from fiat via real-time payments (RTP) into USDC, then into USDCx for settlement on Canton. At maturity, the flow reversed along the same path, automated end-to-end. That architecture eliminates the “fail risk” between legs that occurs in traditional repo when legs settle separately, and compresses the settlement window from the T+0 same-day end-of-day cycle that currently defines most repo markets to near-instantaneous atomic settlement. For institutions outside the US time zone, particularly those in Asia and the Middle East, the implications are material. These institutions hold dollar assets and U.S. Treasuries, but operate in windows where U.S. markets are closed. Atomic onchain repo running on Canton’s 24/7 infrastructure allows them to access dollar funding and mobilise Treasury collateral outside conventional New York hours without the overnight funding gap that currently forces them to pre-fund or leave collateral idle. The transaction settles on Canton, described as a public, permissionless blockchain built specifically for institutional finance. Canton combines privacy with interoperability, payment flows, counterparty relationships and transaction amounts in this repo were not exposed to the network, a requirement that would make most institutional participants immediately reject a conventional public blockchain. The network has participation from major global financial institutions and governance facilitated by the Canton Foundation. This is a proof-of-concept at institutional scale, not a live clearing migration. The next step that would signal genuine adoption is a standing facility — multiple transactions per day, multiple counterparty pairs — rather than one publicised demonstration trade. Watch for Tradeweb’s RFQ platform announcing expanded Canton integration, and for Marex as prime broker reporting additional onchain repo transactions into the clearing record. The SEC’s approved extended trading sessions for U.S. equity exchanges and the move of clearing infrastructure toward near-continuous operating hours are the structural tailwinds that give this architecture its policy alignment; any rulemaking from SIFMA or the SEC on clearing-house operating hours that explicitly contemplates 24/7 settlement will be an important accelerant.The post HIFI, DRW and Marex complete onchain repo on the Canton Network first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Euronext and BNY have announced a strategic collaboration that connects Euronext Clearing to BNY’s $7.8 trillion Global Collateral Platform, with BNY acting as triparty agent across asset classes with a focus on cleared repo. The deal, disclosed on 17 June, allows clearing members to manage margin, default-fund contributions and collateral substitution through a single integrated platform spanning both cleared and uncleared exposures. BNY will handle selection, valuation and substitution of eligible collateral on behalf of Euronext Clearing members, using its Global Collateral Platform as the settlement and optimisation layer. For members, the practical gain is the ability to manage cleared repo positions, initial margin, variation margin and default fund, alongside their bilateral uncleared book on one interface, rather than operating separate collateral workflows for each. This matters in a European repo market under structural pressure; Basel III final implementation and EMIR margining requirements have raised the cost of holding unoptimised collateral. The ability to pledge, substitute and optimise through a single triparty infrastructure directly addresses that cost centre. The deal is part of Euronext’s stated objective of expanding its cleared repo franchise beyond Italian government bonds, the historical core of Euronext Clearing, into a wider range of asset classes. Euronext intends to onboard international banks and institutional clients who need a European CCP with multi-asset collateral capability, rather than a single-sovereign specialist. This puts Euronext’s clearing ambitions more directly in competition with LCH and Eurex Clearing, both of which offer broader European repo clearing with established triparty relationships. BNY’s $7.8 trillion platform is the credential Euronext needed to make a credible pitch to those international clients. Camille Beudin, Chief Diversification Officer at Euronext, said the arrangement “[enables] clients to manage collateral more efficiently, optimise capital usage and access deeper liquidity pools.” Gesa Johannsen, BNY’s Executive Platform Owner for Global Collateral Platform, cited the ability for clients to “seamlessly optimise collateral across cleared and uncleared obligations on a single, integrated platform.” For clearing members already using BNY’s Global Collateral Platform for their bilateral book, most tier-1 and tier-2 European banks, the integration offers operational efficiency: one platform, one view of collateral, one substitution workflow. The potential reduction in duplicate pledging across cleared and uncleared positions is material for balance-sheet management teams running large repo books. For prime brokerage desks routing client repo activity through Euronext Clearing, the relevant question is whether improved collateral flexibility translates into better margin terms or more competitive repo pricing. That outcome depends on the pace of uptake and whether Euronext’s asset-class expansion brings enough new counterparties into the cleared market to deepen liquidity materially. Euronext has not disclosed a specific onboarding timeline beyond the “Innovate for Growth 2027” frame. The next meaningful indicator will be the first international bank announcement joining the expanded clearing offering. Watch also for competitive responses from Eurex Clearing and LCH; this deal accelerates a collateral-capability race among Europe’s major CCPs. Any change in cleared repo pricing visible through interdealer broker screens will be the early market signal that the collaboration is delivering for members.The post Euronext taps BNY’s $7.8 trillion collateral pool to scale European repo clearing first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Trace Finance, the regulated financial infrastructure company powering cross-border payments and stablecoin settlement, has closed a $32 million Series A led by CoinFund, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Jump Crypto, Valor Capital, Paxos and HOF Capital. Strategic backers include Chainlink Labs, SNZ Capital, Sean Neville (co-founder of Circle), Anatoly Yakovenko (co-founder of Solana Labs) and Ricardo Villela Marino, partner and vice chairman of Itaú Unibanco, Latin America’s largest bank. The raise was announced on 17 June 2026. The infrastructure thesis Trace is not a stablecoin issuer. It is the regulated plumbing layer between onchain settlement and local banking systems in markets where compliance requirements are highest. The company’s initial proving ground was the US–Brazil corridor. Brazil has classified virtual-asset cross-border flows as foreign exchange operations, effectively requiring institutional volume to move through bank-grade infrastructure rather than unlicensed rails. Trace built to that standard and has processed more than $10 billion in institutional cross-border volume, making it the main infrastructure provider for the top four global payment companies operating in LatAm, including dLocal. The Series A will be used to extend that stack internationally: deeper product capabilities across FX, bank connectivity, compliance and stablecoin settlement, and an expanded regulated footprint across Brazil, the US, APAC and additional priority jurisdictions. CEO Bernardo Brites was direct about the model: “Stablecoins alone do not solve cross-border payments. Stablecoins plus regulated local bank infrastructure does.” Why brokers and their PSPs should pay attention Several of the frictions that Trace solves are the same ones broker operators experience in LatAm and APAC corridors. Settlement in high-compliance jurisdictions tends to be slow, expensive and operationally intensive. PSPs serving the high-risk merchant segment – including online trading businesses – typically rely on a patchwork of local partners for Pix connectivity, FX conversion and compliance operations. Trace bundles all three under a single regulated infrastructure layer and targets the largest payment companies as customers, meaning the layer can appear underneath a broker’s existing PSP relationship rather than requiring a direct integration. The dLocal connection is material. dLocal is an established payment route for brokers operating in emerging markets; Trace being the infrastructure provider for dLocal and equivalent platforms represents a significant position in the payment chain that broker deposits and withdrawals may already pass through. Einar Braathen, Partner at CoinFund, framed the investment in settlement-efficiency terms: “Brazil is one of the largest and most operationally complex payment environments in the world, and Trace has built the regulated infrastructure that global blue-chip businesses are using to scale, while saving time and costs compared to legacy alternatives.” The GENIUS Act, which passed in the US in July 2025 and established a federal regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers, has accelerated institutional capital into the compliant layer of the stablecoin stack. Trace’s funding follows State Street’s Rule 2a-7 stablecoin reserves money market fund (launched 16 June) and Fidelity’s equivalent (15 June) – three separate institutional moves in the same week pointing at the same structural shift: regulated stablecoin infrastructure is being capitalised at scale. What to watch Trace’s APAC timeline: the company has named APAC as a priority corridor alongside LatAm and the US. For brokers with significant client bases in South-East Asia, where stablecoin adoption among retail traders is high and local banking connectivity is complex, the launch timing matters. Paxos participation: Paxos, a regulated stablecoin issuer and payments infrastructure provider, backs the round. Any product integration between Paxos stablecoin rails and Trace’s banking network would broaden the settlement options available to broker payment partners. Regulatory treatment of stablecoin-converted deposits: MiCA is live in the EU, the GENIUS Act in the US. How each jurisdiction classifies a stablecoin-funded client account remains a live compliance question for brokers expanding their payment optionality. The post Trace Finance raises $32m Series A to bridge stablecoins and regulated bank rails first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Dukascopy Bank has officially unveiled its new flagship mobile application, marking a significant milestone in the Swiss bank’s ongoing digital transformation. Built for the bank’s growing global client base of more than 400,000 users, the new Dukascopy Bank App consolidates banking, payments, cards, foreign exchange, investments and more into a single, streamlined mobile platform. The launch follows a strategic decision by management to completely overhaul its mobile ecosystem. The new app replaces the bank’s legacy Connect 911 and Swiss Mobile Bank applications, bringing the full spectrum of Dukascopy services under one roof. Clients can now open accounts remotely via secure video identification, order and manage virtual or physical Visa, Mastercard and Chinese payment cards, send and receive international payments, exchange currencies at competitive rates, and buy, sell and manage investments around the clock. Multilingual human customer support is also available 24/7 through secure encrypted chat. Andre Duka, CEO of Dukascopy Bank, said the launch reflects the bank’s longstanding commitment to innovation. “For 20 years, Dukascopy has been recognised as a technological pioneer in fintech and online trading. Our new flagship app reflects our vision of making Swiss banking more accessible, more intuitive, and more powerful than ever before.” Dukascopy has confirmed the app represents only the first phase of a broader mobile evolution, with regular feature updates and new digital services planned in the coming months. A dedicated next-generation trading application for JForex accounts is also in development.The post Dukascopy Bank Launches New Flagship Mobile Banking App first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

SBI Holdings has announced a co-lead investment in Pints AI, a Singapore-based provider of agentic artificial intelligence built specifically for financial institutions operating under strict privacy and compliance requirements. The investment was made through the SBI-NTU-Kyobo Digital Innovation Fund, a Singapore-based early-stage vehicle established by SBI Group alongside NTUitive and Kyobo Securities. Pints AI develops “Autothought,” an AI platform designed to help banks and insurance companies automate manual-heavy processes such as underwriting, insurance claims processing, and new client onboarding. The platform generates traceable audit trails for AI-assisted decisions and is built on a proprietary agent orchestration framework that routes tasks to the most suitable language model, from small purpose-built models to more powerful ones, across a single governed system. This architecture is also intended to give institutions model sovereignty, reducing dependence on any single AI provider. Since its founding less than two years ago, Pints AI has been deployed by 12 financial institutions across Singapore, India, Hong Kong, and the United States. Early results have been notable, with some clients cutting underwriting times by 40% and new client onboarding times by 70%, generating a combined cost saving of approximately 10 million USD. The new capital will fund expansion across the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, grow the company’s engineering team, and support the development of “Autothought Studio,” a toolset enabling institutions to build and manage AI applications internally.The post SBI Holdings Backs Pints AI in Early Funding Round for Compliance-First Agentic Platform first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has formally closed the book on New York broker-dealer Reid & Rudiger LLC, expelling a firm that was already on its way out of the industry. FINRA expelled the firm from membership and barred its cofounders, Clifford Reid and chief executive Edward Rudiger Jr, from associating with any member firm, after finding they churned and excessively traded customer accounts in breach of Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) and FINRA rules. The firm had been winding down for some time. It filed a broker-dealer withdrawal request at the end of April, and FINRA cancelled its registration in early June after it failed to pay industry fees. The expulsion, settled this month, formalises that exit and attaches permanent bars to the two men who ran the business. According to FINRA, the firm and its cofounders excessively traded 20 customer accounts, several of which were also churned, over a period of nearly six years. The conduct cost clients around $2 million in commissions and trading costs and produced approximately $2.7 million in losses. The firm’s business centred on a high-volume, high-cost market-timing strategy marketed largely to high-net-worth investors reached through cold calling, an approach FINRA said made it “virtually impossible for customers to make a profit”. The harm showed up clearly in the firm’s trading metrics. FINRA recorded annualised turnover rates ranging from 6.92 to 17.33 and annualised cost-to-equity ratios of between 34.9% and 111%. At the top of that range, one account would have needed to generate a 111% return simply to cover commissions and costs and break even. Two further accounts carried cost-to-equity ratios of around 69% and 67%, with losses of more than $345,000 and nearly $400,000 respectively. FINRA also took action against the firm’s supervisors. Majority owner Marc Harrison and chief compliance officer Kelli Mezzatesta were each suspended for three months in all principal capacities, fined $5,000 and required to complete 20 hours of supervision-related continuing education. FINRA found they failed to act on repeated red flags of excessive trading, did not factor customers’ cost-to-equity ratios into their supervision, and did not use the exception reports available to them. The firm and Rudiger, as CEO, were found to have failed to maintain a supervisory system capable of detecting and acting on churning. Reid & Rudiger operated from 40 Wall Street and had been in business since 1999. The matter was resolved through a 43-page settlement, with the firm, Reid, Rudiger, Harrison and Mezzatesta consenting to FINRA’s findings without admitting or denying them. FINRA’s underlying complaint was filed in March 2026. FINRA framed cost-to-equity ratios and turnover rates as key metrics for identifying excessive trading and churning, a reminder to member firms that supervision systems are expected to monitor and act on those figures rather than treat them as background data.The post FINRA expels Reid & Rudiger and bars cofounders over six-year churning scheme first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The FCA-regulated firm spent close to two years in filing default and survived a compulsory strike-off, regularising only alongside a change of control and a £3.8 million recapitalisation. EBC Financial Group (UK) Ltd, the FCA-regulated London arm of the EBC broking group, has filed its long-overdue accounts for the 18-month period to 30 September 2023, roughly two years after they fell due. The belated accounts disclose a £747,000 write-off, which the company attributes to the misappropriation of funds. The filing closes a prolonged period of default. The accounts had been outstanding since the middle of 2024, and in October 2024 the company received a first Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off. That action was discontinued the following month, yet the accounts themselves remained unfiled for a further eighteen months, leaving the company on the register but persistently behind on its statutory reporting. The position was resolved only in the spring of 2026. Over a matter of weeks the company underwent a change of control, completed a £3.8 million recapitalisation that lifted its issued share capital to £7.395 million, and finally brought its filing record up to date with the submission of the outstanding accounts. Those accounts set out the scale of the strain behind the delay. The group recorded a loss of about £1.53 million for the period, within which the £747,000 write-off sits. EBC’s UK entity operates as a matched-principal CFD broker, routing client trades to liquidity providers rather than taking market risk itself.The post EBC’s UK broker files long-overdue accounts disclosing a £747,000 write-off first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Two of the three gave up their Cyprus licences voluntarily. Only Conotoxia was pushed, for no longer meeting the conditions of its authorisation. The Investor Compensation Fund has withdrawn the membership of Conotoxia Ltd, TTCM Traders Trust Capital Markets Ltd and OBR Investments Ltd under paragraph 6 of Directive DI87-07, on 17 June. The step follows CySEC’s earlier withdrawal of each firm’s CIF authorisation and does not extinguish covered clients’ rights to compensation for business conducted before the membership lapsed. Only one of the three left under pressure. Conotoxia (CIF 336/17) lost its authorisation on 5 June, on a board decision of 22 December, after CySEC concluded it no longer satisfied the conditions on which the licence had been granted. The regulator cited the suitability of a board member and of a shareholder, the requirement for at least two people to effectively direct the business, and deficiencies in the firm’s organisational arrangements. TTCM (CIF 107/09) and OBR Investments (CIF 217/13) went the other way. Both requested renunciation of their licences, TTCM on a decision of 14 May and OBR back in February, with no breach findings attached to either exit. The pattern here is the steady churn rather than a clampdown. CySEC has been working through a stream of CIF departures, voluntary more often than not, and the ICF removals are the administrative tail of that process.The post CySEC removes Conotoxia, TTCM and OBR from compensation fund first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.