Open interest on prediction markets has crossed $1 billion for the first time since the U.S. presidential election, reflecting a growing share of capital tied up in contracts that will not resolve quickly.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!) The figure is not being driven by a single event spike. Several categories are running at once: the Masters, the NBA playoffs, ongoing U.S.-Iran geopolitical developments, and the 2026 midterm elections, where positions will stay open for another six months.Prediction market open interest just hit $1B for the first time since Nov 2024.Four events are driving it simultaneously:• Masters Golf Tournament• NBA Playoffs (sports notional volume is ~$4B on all PMs)• U.S.-Iran geopolitical events• 2026 Midterms (open positions… pic.twitter.com/YqaIwNQuTW— Stacy Muur (@stacy_muur) April 15, 2026Sports alone accounts for an estimated $4 billion in notional volume on the prediction markets, but the more important shift is duration. Capital is not just passing through the market. More of it is staying locked in. Volume is Accelerating Faster Than Forecasts Total weekly notional volume across the sector recently reached $6.5 billion, up roughly 25% week-over-week. Kalshi processed $3.54 billion of that; Polymarket handled $2.48 billion. That pace is already testing projections made only months ago.Prediction Market Notional Volume reached $6.50B (+24.85%) last week. ? Kalshi: $3.54B (+21.84%)? Polymarket: $2.48B (+25.51%)? https://t.co/j9QzYf35UX: $170.86M (+21.43%)? Opinion: $118.18M (+46.14%)? Predict: $117.18M (+95.79%)? Limitless: $60.78M (+81.97%)… pic.twitter.com/41p9X7tfHk— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) April 15, 2026Bernstein forecast $240 billion in annual volume by the end of 2026. Yet year-to-date volume from Kalshi and Polymarket alone has already exceeded the sector’s entire 2025 total, underscoring how quickly activity is scaling. Bernstein’s longer-range estimate of $1 trillion in annual volume by 2030 no longer looks isolated.LATEST: ? Bernstein analysts project the prediction market sector to grow from roughly $51 billion in volume in 2025 to $1 trillion in annual volume by 2030, citing regulatory clarity and distribution partnerships. pic.twitter.com/eSYKfSJv5I— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) April 15, 2026Other forecasts point in the same direction, even if they differ on timing and composition. What matters for the open-interest story is that many of these projections also assume a gradual shift away from sports-driven bursts toward political, economic, and corporate event contracts. What the Open Interest Number Signals Volume can be generated by short-term trading that says little about whether money is actually staying in the market. Open interest measures committed positions — capital that remains locked in until contracts resolve. Crossing $1 billion on that metric, across contracts with multi-week and multi-month horizons, suggests a change in market structure. The sector is retaining capital for longer periods. A market dominated by short-lived sports trades looks very different from one where capital is tied up across elections, macro events, and unresolved geopolitical outcomes. The latter points to longer-duration positioning rather than episodic speculation. Growth is Clear, Durability is Less So Forecasts broadly agree on the direction of travel, but they diverge sharply on timing, composition, and regulatory outcomes for the prediction markets. That uncertainty still matters. Some of the most bullish projections depend on continued growth in sports contracts, while others assume expansion into economic and political markets with clearer institutional use cases. Regulatory pressure remains a live variable, particularly in categories that state regulators continue to challenge. The $1 billion open-interest figure sits inside that tension. It is a stronger signal than volume alone because it shows capital staying in the market rather than simply passing through it. Whether that capital proves durable will depend on how the product mix evolves — and how much of today’s growth survives regulatory contact. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Following XTB’s recent acquisition of Category 1 and 2 licences, an upgrade from its Category 5 status just a year earlier, many industry participants are asking why the Capital Market Authority (CMA) has become increasingly prominent.While the DFSA within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) remains a well-established international hub, the decision to pursue a CMA licence reflects a shift in business strategy for brokers targeting the domestic UAE market.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The CMA Is Gaining Increasing AttentionThe primary advantage of the CMA framework is the legal access it provides to the entire UAE mainland retail population. Unlike firms based in the DIFC, which operate within a designated financial zone, CMA-licensed brokers can market their services directly to residents across all seven Emirates without geographical limitations. This enables more localized marketing through mainland media channels, which are often not accessible to free-zone entities. In addition, mainland brokers benefit from closer integration with domestic UAE banks, allowing for local AED payment rails that reduce both settlement times and transaction costs compared to international wire transfers. [#highlighted-links#]Choose Wisely: The Right Category MattersUnderstanding the CMA’s licensing categories is essential for any firm entering this space. The Authority classifies licences based on the level of risk and the specific nature of the financial activities performed. These categories determine everything from how client orders are handled to the firm’s capital requirements and internal compliance structures. Ultimately, selecting the appropriate category is a foundational step that defines how a broker interacts with the broader market and fulfils its legal obligations within the UAE. You can read the full analysis of the UAE licensing regime on our Intelligence Portal. This article was written by Sylwester Majewski at www.financemagnates.com.

X has introduced a new feature called Cashtags that turns its social feed into a financial information hub. Starting April 15, users in the US and Canada on iPhone can view real-time price charts and related discussions for stocks and cryptocurrencies directly on the platform.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).Cashtags Link Market Data and User PostsWhen users search or post a ticker symbol, such as $BTC or $AAPL, or a crypto contract address, X automatically suggests matching assets. Tapping a Cashtag displays the asset’s live chart alongside posts mentioning it, letting users follow market moves and conversation threads without leaving the app.Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X, announced the rollout, noting that market sentiment and price action are increasingly intertwined on the platform. “Billions of dollars are allocated every day based on what people read on Timeline,” he said. Bier described Cashtags as the first step in making X the center of financial and crypto activity.? has always been the best source of financial news for traders and investors. Billions of dollars are allocated every day based on what people read on Timeline. Today we're launching our new Cashtags feature in the US and Canada on iPhone, bringing real-time financial data to… pic.twitter.com/c8s7X9gHTO— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) April 14, 2026“Today we're launching our new Cashtags feature in the US and Canada on iPhone, bringing real-time financial data to X.”Wealthsimple Pilot Brings Trading to XAlongside the Cashtags launch, X began testing an integration with Canadian brokerage Wealthsimple. The pilot adds a trade button to Cashtag pages, allowing users to place trades directly within X. Bier said the goal is to make trading simple and immediate: “The content on X is valuable and actionable, so trading should be frictionless.”Related: Musk’s X to Launch Trading and Payments in Push Toward “Everything App”: ReportCashtags are landing alongside a broader financial strategy around X Money, the in-app payments system that is entering early access in April 2026 with savings, P2P payments, bill pay and debit cards, and plans to add stock and crypto trading later in the year. Earlier announcements described Smart Cashtags and in-app trading as one of the core features meant to support this “integrated financial platform” vision, where users can chat, pay and invest without leaving X.Blending Market Data and Social Sentiment“If X becomes your Everything app, it would move to control money and identity. Musk companies often start with an MVP, but iterate incredibly fast from there,” Simon Taylor, the Founder FintechBrainfood previously commented. “X has been slowly buying Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs). X Payments LLC is licensed in 41 states and every Fintech infra company was vying for a piece of this.”While trading Cashtags’ access is limited to a specific region for now, Bier confirmed plans for Android and web expansion and a global rollout. The partnership indicates X’s broader ambition to evolve from a social platform into a financial destination combining real-time data, community sentiment, and trade execution.For crypto and stock traders, the move consolidates market information and conversation in one place, marking X’s first major step into financial technology. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Ingot Brokers, a Jordan-based CFD brokerage group, has launched a new brand, Rise, in what appears to be a calculated push towards a younger, more digitally native clientele.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The new venture was co-founded by Ahmed Al-Khawanky, who also serves as the Group’s Chief Product Officer. Announcing the launch on LinkedIn, he remarked that the team had “stripped away all the outdated trading clutter.” Alongside the brand's more fintech aesthetic, the remark suggests it might be aimed at a younger cohort.The regulatory setup is also notable. Rise operates only under a licence from the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles, while Ingot – the Group’s main brand – is licensed across jurisdictions, including Cyprus, where it has expanded its physical footprint with a new office in Limassol in 2026, adding to its presence in Jordan, Australia, Dubai and Kenya.Courting the Next Cohort of TradersThe appeal to capture a younger, mobile-first Generation Z is obvious. A survey by eToro and Opinium, covering 11,000 retail investors across 13 countries, found that 87% of Gen Z invest monthly, compared with 86% of millennials, 79% of Gen X and 68% of baby boomers.Meanwhile, the younger generation also appears to exhibit a greater appetite for risk, a trend corroborated in a 2026 research from Charles Stanley Direct.What is driving this may be more structural than cyclical: Gen Z are more inclined than previous generations to take an active role in managing their finances. Others are pushing the boundary further still.CMC Markets has introduced a Junior Cash ISA, long-term, tax-free savings accounts for children, via its CMC Invest platform, while Robinhood is involved in developing “Trump Accounts,” a tax-advantaged savings scheme for children. Such initiatives echo a familiar playbook from retail banking: cultivate customers early via youth-oriented products and extend the relationship to the household, potentially securing longer-term client loyalty in an increasingly competitive market. This article was written by Adonis Adoni at www.financemagnates.com.

Offshore broker Born2Trade has launched a new account offering leverage up to 1:5000 on forex instruments. The move reflects how offshore brokers compete for active retail traders. The "Dynamic" account also carries partner payouts of up to $18 per lot — a figure designed as much for IB acquisition as for end clients. Born2Trade is not the first to go this far. Leverage at this level or above has become increasingly common among brokers regulated in Mauritius, St. Lucia, and the Seychelles. M4 Markets offers a comparable Dynamic Leverage Account up to 1:5000, while CapitalXtend and several others go as far as 1:5000 or even advertise unlimited leverage on major FX pairs and metals. The gap with regulated markets in Europe, the UK, and Australia — where retail leverage is capped at 1:30 — continues to widen.Why High Leverage Drives Growth For offshore brokers, extreme leverage is a client acquisition tool as much as a trading condition. High leverage attracts scalpers and volume-driven traders. Higher volumes, in turn, increase payouts to introducing brokers — a key driver of growth for these firms. The Dynamic account is designed for high-volume strategies — including scalping, news trading and aggressive position sizing.The risks on the other side of that equation are well documented. For traders, leverage at this level compresses the margin for error to near zero. At this level, losses can accumulate rapidly, particularly for retail traders using high-risk strategies.A Standard Offshore Setup The new account is available on Born2Trade's proprietary platform — built on Match-Trade Technologies infrastructure with TradingView charts integrated — and on MetaTrader 5, which the broker added recently. The technology stack is broadly standard for offshore brokers and is not the point of differentiation. The key variable, however, is the leverage itself. Whether 1:5000 remains a differentiator or becomes the new floor among offshore brokers competing for the same trader segment is worth watching. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

IG Group has appointed Qu Zhao as Head of Japan. The appointment follows the departure of Tomoharu Furuichi, who stepped down after nearly seven years in the role of Representative Director and Chief Executive Officer of IG Japan.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).Zhao Held Senior Roles Across Asia Tech PlatformsZhao most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer at moomoo securities Japan, a position she held for around two years. Before that, she was Country Head for Japan and Head of Tinder East Asia at Tinder. She spent around three years in the role, overseeing Japan, Korea, and Taiwan and reporting to regional and global leadership.She previously served as Head of Japan and East Pacific Region at BIGO, where she spent around four years leading growth strategy and operations across Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Australia.Earlier in her career, she co-founded WorkHub, Inc. in Tokyo and served as Chief Executive Officer for around five years.Japan Rules Drive IG Product ChangesSeparately in Japan, IG Securities has stopped offering cryptocurrency ETF CFDs. The decision follows guidance from Japan’s Financial Services Agency stating that derivatives linked to overseas crypto ETFs are treated as crypto-related products and fall under domestic regulation, as the issuance and sale of such ETFs remain prohibited in Japan.In a further operational change, IG Japan’s subsidiary has ended its introductory trading program for new clients. The program had allowed reduced minimum trading sizes during the first two weeks after account opening and has now been phased out.The company said the change followed earlier adjustments to product sizes, which it said had created a “more comfortable trading environment” and reduced the need for promotional incentives. Accounts opened before the termination date continued to receive benefits until the program ended. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

OKX has announced the launch of a new crypto derivatives product called X-Perps. The product introduces MiFID-regulated five-year expiry crypto derivatives for the European Economic Area, with up to 10× leverage. It is designed for both retail and institutional traders.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).The launch places OKX’s regulated derivatives offering in a segment that may, in certain structural aspects, resemble CFD-style leveraged trading. At the same time, it introduces longer-dated expiries and portfolio margining features that are not typical in standard CFD products.OKX Expands EEA Access with X-PerpsThe product will be available to eligible customers across the EEA. It includes advanced margin features through a unified account structure, enabling real-time, multi-asset and multicurrency functionality within a single risk framework.X-Perps is designed to support capital-efficient trading of volatility and directional positions. It uses a funding rate mechanism that keeps derivatives pricing aligned with spot markets. It also enables what OKX described as funding rate arbitrage opportunities, alongside standard crypto derivatives trading mechanics.The platform is built on OKX’s existing derivatives infrastructure, using deep liquidity, low-latency matching, and high-throughput order processing. The company said this is intended to support execution stability across different market conditions.OKX Launches X-Perps, Bringing Regulated Derivatives Trading Across The European Economic Area@OKX's X-Perps has officially gone live in the EEA, providing regulated access to crypto derivatives for millions of European users. The platform offers up to 10x leverage with… pic.twitter.com/6FL58TxsUj— BSCN (@BSCNews) April 15, 2026European Traders Access Multi-Asset X-Perps PlatformOn the product side, it includes leverage up to 10×, portfolio margining, and continuous margining without batch settlement. It also supports advanced order types, charting tools, mobile access, and API connectivity. Multi-asset collateral is accepted in EUR, USD, and selected crypto assets.The platform launches with BTC, ETH, ADA, DOGE, PEPE, LTC, PUMP, SOL, XRP, and SUI trading pairs, with additional listings planned over time.The system includes negative balance protection, continuous exposure monitoring, and is backed by Proof-of-Reserves and asset verification frameworks. European users must pass an appropriateness assessment before accessing X-Perps. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

CMC Markets (LSE: CMCX) has launched a Junior Cash Individual Savings Account through its CMC Invest platform, extending the FTSE 250 broker's push beyond its core contracts-for-difference business and into long-term family savings. The account pays 3.56% AER variable interest, accepts deposits from £1, and is opened and managed entirely online, the company said.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)Interest is paid monthly, and existing JISAs held with other providers can be transferred in, according to the company. CMC described the launch as part of its strategy to bring trading and investing into a more unified offering, building on a multi-asset push it has accelerated over the past year.Rate Beats Major Banks but Sits Below Top Building SocietiesThe 3.56% rate places CMC's Junior Cash ISA above several high-street offerings, including Halifax's Junior Cash ISA at 2.35% AER and NS&I's at 3.55%, although it trails some specialist building society products such as Leek Building Society's 3.85%. CMC has not disclosed how long the introductory rate will hold, and the variable structure means it can move with broader interest rate conditions.Jon Bendall, CMC's Chief Operating Officer, said the JISA gives families "a simple, secure and tax-efficient way to start building wealth for their children" and "extends our offering to the next generation of investors." Lachlan Rourke-Davies, the product manager who led the build, said the account was designed to be "simple to open and easy to manage."The Junior ISA market itself remains tightly defined by HM Revenue & Customs rules. Parents and guardians can pay up to £9,000 per child per tax year into a combination of cash and stocks-and-shares Junior ISAs, with the funds locked until the child turns 18. The account size makes it a niche product compared with adult ISAs, but providers see it as a long-duration relationship that can convert into a full investment account a decade or more down the line.CMC Invest Adds Another Layer to the Wealth Build-OutThe Junior Cash ISA is the latest piece in a steady expansion of CMC Invest, which CMC originally launched in the UK in October 2022 as a commission-free share-dealing platform. The unit has since added flexible Stocks and Shares ISAs, a US dollar wallet, and access to more than 12,000 global shares and ETFs. In late 2025, CMC rolled out a single multi-asset platform that lets clients hold equities and trade derivatives within one account, alongside a three-phase plan to evolve into what the company describes as a financial "Super App" combining TradFi, DeFi, and eventually banking products.CMC has not disclosed pricing assumptions behind the 3.56% rate, the spread it expects to earn on cash balances, or whether it intends to add a Junior Stocks and Shares ISA.Leveraged Brokers Race to Lock In Long-Horizon ClientsThe launch slots into a broader pattern across the CFDD industry, where firms that built their businesses on retail leveraged trading have spent the past several years diversifying into wealth management, passive investing, and now products aimed squarely at long-term family savers. Trading 212, an early disruptor of zero-commission stock trading, secured FCA authorization for self-invested personal pensions in February 2026 after a five-year wait, and now positions stockbroking and tax-efficient cash savings as its primary growth lines rather than CFDs. Revolut launched a Stocks and Shares ISA in July 2025 with a £1 minimum, eToro added a Cash ISA at 4.67% in November 2025, and Warsaw-listed XTB rolled out a zero-fee ISA targeting the £400 billion UK ISA market in December 2024 with fractional share access and a 4.75% yield on uninvested cash, as Finance Magnates previously reported in coverage of the UK micro-investing trend.The push toward minors is newer. In December 2025, Binance launched Binance Junior, a standalone app for users aged six to 17 that links to a parent's main account and lets parents set spending and transfer limits on crypto holdings. From Leveraged Trading to Family FinanceCMC's multi-asset push has been visible in the broker's results. Trading revenue rose 50% in the first half of fiscal 2025 to £131.3 million, and the group has guided toward 45% revenue growth on the back of cost cuts and new product launches, including its partnership with Revolut that distributes CFD access through the neobank's app. The investing arm has been a smaller revenue contributor than CFDs, but management has pointed to it as the strategic growth lever.Whether the JISA itself moves the needle on group revenue is a different question. Junior ISA balances are capped, locked away for years, and pay interest that the provider funds from the spread on client cash. The strategic value is the household. A family that opens a Junior Cash ISA for a five-year-old is a candidate, in CMC's bet, to hold an adult ISA, a SIPP, and eventually an investing or trading account on the same platform.That, in turn, is the longer game now playing out across the CFD industry: as the addressable pool of new leveraged retail traders shrinks, brokers are reaching for the next generation before another platform gets there first. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $74,221 on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, after the session briefly cleared $76,000 and broke March 17 highs at $75,954 before reversing 0.4% into a bearish pin bar at the upper boundary of the consolidation range that has defined the chart since February. The world's largest cryptocurrency now sits 42% below the October 6, 2025 all-time high of $128,198, trapped in a $60K-$75K corridor for the third consecutive month. Three catalysts will resolve the range over the next two weeks: today's April 15 tax deadline, the April 22 ceasefire expiry with Iran, and the April 28-29 FOMC meeting.In this article, I examine why Bitcoin is going down, how low the BTC price could fall, and what the latest Bitcoin price forecasts are, based on my more than 15 years of experience as a trader and analyst.Follow me on X for real-time market analysis: @ChmielDkWhy Bitcoin Is Going Down Today? Iran Optimism Meets Tax-Day RealityTuesday's intraday push above $76,000 came on a 5% rally from Monday, fueled by Vice President JD Vance's weekend trip to Pakistan for marathon US-Iran negotiations and the prospect of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The total crypto market capitalization rose 4% to $2.6 trillion in the same session. By the close, every dollar of that gain had been surrendered.The reversal hit at the worst possible technical and seasonal moment. Today's April 15 tax deadline is forecast to drag roughly $2.8 billion of crypto selling into the market. Funding rates on Binance Bitcoin perpetuals have been negative for 46 consecutive days, the longest streak since the FTX collapse marked the 2022 bottom. As the FinanceMagnates.com report from Monday detailed, $6 billion of clustered shorts above $73,000 had primed the move, but spot supply absorbed the breakout before the squeeze could complete.Joel Kruger, crypto strategist at LMAX Group, framed the setup directly:"It's one thing to break an important level and another to establish above it. While the technical developments are encouraging, the focus now shifts to confirmation via weekly closes," Kruger wrote. He added that a sustained close above $76,000 in BTC and $2,400 in ETH would strengthen the case for a structural shift.Three drivers explain Tuesday's failure:Tax-day liquidation pressure: roughly $2.8 billion of crypto selling tied to the April 15 deadline46 days of negative perpetual funding: the longest stretch since the FTX bottom, signaling persistent bearish positioningSpot supply at the upper band: sellers absorbed the breakout above the March 17 highs at $75,954 within hoursNothing Has Changed Since February: Bitcoin Range Holds for the Tenth WeekAs I wrote in my March 24 analysis, nothing structurally has changed for Bitcoin despite the headline-driven volatility. The $60K-$75K consolidation has now held for ten weeks, marking the lowest price levels since late 2024. Each of the four breakout attempts in 2026 has produced a near-identical sequence: a multi-day rally, a breach of the upper boundary, then a reversal back inside the range.Three figures define the range:Spot price: $74,221, 42% below the October 6, 2025 ATH of $128,198200-day moving average: $87,519, the long-term trend separatorFunding rate streak: 46 consecutive negative days, last seen post-FTX in late 2022Bitcoin's correlation to the Nasdaq-100 has climbed back toward 85% during 2026 oil spikes, confirming it continues to trade as a high-beta risk asset rather than a hedge.Bitcoin Technical Analysis: Pin Bar Confirms Range, $60K-$63K in SightMy chart shows that Tuesday's candle is the most pronounced bearish pin bar on the BTC daily timeframe since the March rejection at $74,500. The wick into $76,000+ tested both the prior local highs at $75,954 from March 17 and the Fibonacci 0.205 retracement of last year's broader rally. The body closed back inside the range. That structure is textbook for another swing-trade move toward the lower boundary.The primary downside target sits at $60K-$63K, the February lows that bound the consolidation. Local intermediate support runs at $66K, marked by the late March and early April pivots. As my March 16 analysis flagged, the same structural pattern produced the previous failed breakout, but Tuesday's pin bar is materially more aggressive.Upside requires three sequential breaks. First, a daily close above $76,000 invalidates the pin bar. Second, $80,000 (the November 2025 lows) caps the next leg. Third, the $85,000 zone aligns with the 200 EMA and the dividing line between bear and bull regimes.A speculative tail scenario exists. If $60,000 breaks, a Fibonacci extension drawn from the October 2025 high to this year's lows, then to current highs, projects a downside target near $10,000. That implies a 90% drawdown. Past Bitcoin bear cycles delivered comparable percentage losses, but the institutional capital base today, including $18.7 billion of Q1 2026 ETF inflows despite the price decline, makes a move of that magnitude implausible.Key Bitcoin price levels (April 15, 2026)Bitcoin Price Predictions: From LMAX's $76K Test to Crypto Birb's $30K Bear CallThe institutional and trader forecast set spans nearly a 10x range. LMAX's Kruger holds the most balanced near-term view, anchoring the bull case on weekly close confirmation rather than intraday wicks."For now, markets are moving in the right direction, but the burden remains on bulls to demonstrate follow-through into the weekly close," Kruger said. He pointed to deepening institutional engagement, steady tokenization development, and growing integration with traditional finance as the underlying support for any sustained move higher.The bear camp on X is more concrete. Trader Kabuki called the current setup a near-perfect 2021 fractal:$BTC perfectly repeating the 2021 bear market scenario2021: ATH $69K – bear trap – range – bull trap – breakdown2026: ATH $126K – bear trap – range – bull trap – breakdownIf this fractal completes ~$50K becomes the target bottomI called every major market move live so… pic.twitter.com/RF1efoWbu7— Kabuki? (@kabukistory) April 13, 2026"$BTC perfectly repeating the 2021 bear market scenario. 2021: ATH $69K, bear trap, range, bull trap, breakdown. 2026: ATH $126K, bear trap, range, bull trap, breakdown. If this fractal completes, ~$50K becomes the target bottom."Pepesso highlighted a multi-cycle parallel channel where every cycle taps the upper trendline before bleeding to support, projecting a $35K-$40K macro bottom if the 2018 and 2022 structures repeat.? BTC PARALLEL CHANNELEvery cycle taps the top then bleeds to the lower trendline2018 -> top then bottom on support2022 -> same structure againNow 2026 just rejected the upper bandIf this repeats $35K-$40K becomes the next macro bottomTURN NOTIFS ON! pic.twitter.com/qnWTbUzxNI— Pepesso (@0xPepesso) April 9, 2026Crypto Birb, 16 weeks into what he labels a confirmed bear market, projects $30,000 with anything below $50,000 acceptable for the long run, citing a four-year cycle bottom in October or November.I've got bad news.Especially if you believed fake supercycle story waiting for $200k in 2026.We're 16 weeks into bear market.With 60% drop I'm guessing $30,000 but anything under $50k will do in long run.4-year cycle data says bottom in Oct/Nov.How long until new ATH?? pic.twitter.com/U4ySSUNkPK— ₿IRB (@crypto_birb) February 20, 2026Institutional desks land between these poles. As the FinanceMagnates.com January preview detailed, the 2026 forecast range spans $75,000 to $225,000. Standard Chartered sits at $150,000 for year-end after halving its prior $300,000 call, while JPMorgan's Fibonacci extension model projects $240,000 long-term.Bitcoin price prediction table (2026)Bitcoin Price Prediction FAQWhy is Bitcoin going down today?Bitcoin reversed from $76,000 to close at $74,221 on April 14, 2026, as Tuesday's US-Iran peace optimism faded into tax-deadline selling. Roughly $2.8 billion in crypto liquidation tied to the April 15 deadline absorbed the breakout. Funding rates have been negative for 46 days, the longest streak since the FTX collapse, signaling persistent bearish positioning despite spot ETF inflows.How low can Bitcoin go in 2026?My primary downside target is $60,000 to $63,000, the February consolidation floor. A break below opens $50,000, the August 2024 lows. The most aggressive Fibonacci extension projects $10,000, but institutional capital absorbed $18.7 billion of Q1 ETF inflows even during the decline, making a 90% drawdown unlikely. X traders Crypto Birb and Pepesso target $30K-$40K.What is the next Bitcoin price prediction target?Two scenarios apply. To the upside, a daily close above $76,000 opens the $80,000 November 2025 lows, then the 200 EMA at $87,519. To the downside, the $66,000 March-April pivot is intermediate support before the $60K-$63K range floor. Joel Kruger at LMAX wants a weekly close above $76,000 to confirm any structural reversal.What does the Bitcoin pin bar pattern mean?A pin bar is a daily candle with a long upper wick and a small body near the open. Tuesday's session printed one at $76,000 with a close back at $74,221. The structure shows buyers pushed price into resistance and sellers absorbed the move before the close. The same pattern preceded the March rejection at $74,500.Will Bitcoin recover in 2026?Institutional forecasts remain constructive medium-term. Standard Chartered targets $150,000 by year-end, JPMorgan's Fibonacci model projects $240,000 long-term, and Carol Alexander at the University of Sussex sees a $75K-$150K range with a $110K center of gravity. Recovery requires a sustained break above the 200 EMA at $87,519 and a Fed pivot from the current 3.50%-3.75% rate band. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

The UAE became the first country to regulate finfluencers around a year ago, and its Capital Markets Authority (CMA) registry now lists 171 registered financial influencers. But a FinanceMagnates.com review of the list raises serious questions about enforcement quality and compliance — with social media links found to be inconsistent, non-functional, or misattributed across registrants. The CMA told FinanceMagnates.com that "all available links of the financial influencers will be reviewed accordingly," without addressing specific anomalies flagged by the publication.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)Despite the gaps, the initiative has been a great success. The structured regime has attracted many, including regulator finfluencers and even contracts for differences (CFD) broker executives, and the list is continuously growing.The list of regulated finfluencers on the regulatory website includes their names, dates of registration, registered email addresses, and social media accounts.According to the regulator, it “publishes only the social media channels through which the financial influencer has elected to provide financial recommendations.” However, it appears very difficult for a layperson to verify regulated finfluencers from the registry list due to the current anomalies.Running a Broker to Become a FinfluencerThe CMA is regulating credible finfluencers, at least on paper.At a high level, the eligibility criteria include being an accredited financial analyst by a competent authority or holding a CFA qualification, alongside fit-and-proper expectations and required disclosures. The regime also includes a minimum threshold of 1,000 followers, financial and technical expertise for over six months, among other requirements, to fall within the influencer perimeter.“If the condition of holding a Certified Financial Analyst qualification is not met, the natural person may still submit a registration application to the Authority based on any of the other available criteria, such as possessing relevant experience or having a record of issuing repeated recommendations,” a CMA representative said.“We would also like to emphasise that the assessment of whether the conditions are met rests solely with the Authority.”Read more: Retail Traders Trust Finfluencers More than Friends and Family, Study FindsAlthough the conditions specify that the regulated finfluencer “be independent (i.e., not employed by any entity licensed by the Authority or by an equivalent regulatory authority)”, at least two CFD broker executives have become regulated finfluencers — one is Ashu Khurana, CEO of Kira Financial, and the other is Rabi Abdalla, Regional Head MENA and General Manager of Axi. The name of Abedelqader Shaath, a Director at MultiBank’s MEX platform, also appeared on the list.However, it is not illegal for brokerage executives to become finfluencers. “Providing a financial recommendation must be done in his personal capacity or through the use of his own platforms and personal accounts,” the regulatory spokesperson added.Abdalla already runs an Instagram blog where he shares personal Arabic market analysis, particularly focusing on gold. He obtained the influencer license as it is now required in the UAE.For Khurana, however, the aim is different. “My ambition is not to build a following,” he told FinanceMagnates.com, “it is to contribute to a framework of responsible financial dialogue — one that encourages investors to shift away from prediction-driven behaviour and toward process-driven thinking.”Most of the other financial market analysts, trading educators, and broker affiliates appear to be the target of the licensing regime.Proper Disclosure Is a Must, but…The CMA’s rules clearly state that a regulated finfluencer is “required to clearly and prominently disclose” whether the person is a financial analyst or a natural person, and that their registration number must be displayed on “every financial recommendation and on all platforms.”However, FinanceMagnates.com found that many regulated finfluencers might not be complying with disclosure requirements — neither their approved social media handles nor their posts indicate any licences.“I have not been instructed by CMA to display my license number on my social channels,” a UAE-regulated finfluencer who promotes binary options and crypto trading told FinanceMagnates.com. “If this becomes an official requirement, I will comply immediately. I also guide other influencers on how to correctly apply for the CMA license, ensuring that all practices are fully compliant.”Related: Israeli Authorities Probe Alleged Binary Options Marketing Involving Pocket OptionAnother regulatory requirement is that regulated finfluencers must disclose “the last financial recommendation made by the finfluencer within the previous twelve months related to the same financial product, virtual asset, financial service, or issuer”, but this is clearly missing from the content of most finfluencers.There is also a question about the feasibility of this requirement: how can one include detailed references to previous recommendations in a photo or a short video?Who Is the Content For?The UAE has a population of about 11.5 million, of whom roughly 90 per cent are expatriates. This mix indicates a strong appetite for non-Arabic financial content in the country.Although English is widely spoken there, the country’s regulator has also licensed multiple finfluencers who primarily create content in other languages, including Italian and Hindi/Urdu. Many do not have any of the required disclosures on their profiles or content.The finfluencer who actively promotes binary options also stands out for his content language — he creates content in Hindi/Urdu and appears to be targeting South Asians in the UAE and abroad. It is not only the language of the content, but the content itself, that raises concern.He also promotes only binary options and crypto trading. In a video (in Hindi/Urdu, of course), he also explained that he does not like trading or promoting margin forex, although he features an Exness affiliate link. He appears to be promoting Quotex, an unregulated binary options trading platform registered in St Kitts and Nevis with no licences.Read more: “Prediction Markets Are a Different Title for Binaries… We Have Capability in the Space,” Said IG CEO“A registered finfluencer cannot legitimise the promotion of a product or platform that is not approved to be promoted in the UAE,” said Nikolas Xenofontos, Managing Director at SALVUS Funds, without referring to any particular finfluencer. “Their content should remain within permitted, approved financial instruments or services and must comply with disclosure requirements and standards.”Although a majority of the finfluencers are affiliates of locally regulated CFD brokers, some are promoting links to offshore brokers with no local presence.“If you are seeing regulated finfluencers promoting binary options,” Xenofontos added, “the angle is either that the underlying product is not authorised and the promotion is therefore problematic, or the content is being framed as something other than a regulated recommendation. Either way, it is a compliance red flag.”The finfluencer, however, argues that content is entirely focused on education and awareness, not promotion. “I do not receive any payment from Quotex or any other platform. I do not run sponsored posts, nor do I encourage anyone to deposit or trade. I explain how trading works, how platforms function,” he said. However, he does indeed feature affiliate links for Quotex.His other argument is that any platform accessible from the UAE without a VPN is not illegal.“I have contacted the CMA legal department directly to obtain written clarification regarding offshore-regulated platforms,” he said, adding that regulatory officials informed his associates that “if a website is blocked or inaccessible, it is illegal; if it is accessible normally, then it is allowed.”You may also like: CFD Brokers Flock to Dubai, but Few Go All InSelling the Lifestyle ContinuesThe binary options-focused finfluencer has 467k followers on Instagram, over 325k subscribers on YouTubeHis Instagram account also shows that, despite the regulatory regime, the CMA has not curbed the flashy lifestyle displays of finfluencers. With G-Wagons, BMWs, and luxury villa backdrops, he is clearly selling the image of trading as an ultra-luxury lifestyle.Dozens of other regulated finfluencers are also showing off their luxury lifestyles — some posing inside private jets, while others have dinners with panoramic views of Dubai.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Thair Jarrar (@thair.jarrar)Interestingly, his Telegram signal channel has a disclosure notice: “All content shared here is for educational and awareness purposes only and is not financial or investment advice, nor a solicitation to trade or open accounts. I am not a financial adviser…”The disclosure, however, is dated 23 August 2025, whereas, according to the CMA registry, he became a regulated finfluencer on 30 December 2025.UAE-regulated finfluencers are allowed to make “investment recommendations to buy, sell, or hold a financial product or virtual asset, or recommendations related to a financial service or any issuer within the state.”The CMA’s influencer regulatory regime has made one thing clear: finfluencers based inside the country must be regulated, regardless of their target audience.No regulatory framework arrives fully formed. The UAE's finfluencer regime is the first of its kind anywhere in the world, and the challenges it is encountering — disclosure gaps, registry accuracy, cross-language monitoring, and edge cases involving unregulated products — are the kinds of challenges that regulators refine over time, through enforcement action, updated guidance, and market feedback. But the question then arises: Does the agency have the resources to scan through the thousands of pieces of content posted by these finfluencers? This is particularly relevant when the content is in non-Arabic and non-English languages.“Keyword here is complaints,” Xenofontos said regarding the ways for the regulator to scrutinise finfluencers’ content. “Ongoing scrutiny is typically a mix of monitoring, periodic reviews, and enforcement triggered by complaints or market intelligence. If a registered finfluencer is operating from the UAE mainland, publishing recommendations can remain regulated even if followers are predominantly non-UAE, because the regulated act is the provision of recommendations via media channels, not merely the nationality of the follower.” This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

SIX, the operator of Switzerland's stock exchange and Spain's BME, has agreed to publish real-time pricing for equities listed on both venues directly to smart contracts through Chainlink, in a deal the two firms announced today (Wednesday). The arrangement uses Chainlink's institutional data service DataLink and covers companies with a combined market capitalization of around €2 trillion, opening the dataset to more than 2,600 applications running across over 75 public and private blockchains, according to the companies.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The pipe carries quotes from constituents of the SIX Swiss Exchange and Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, the Madrid-based exchange SIX acquired in 2020. That puts pricing for blue chips such as Nestlé, Novartis, Roche, Banco Santander, and Inditex within reach of any smart contract that subscribes through Chainlink's network, alongside the US-listed names that already dominate onchain equity feeds. Until now, European blue-chip data on public blockchains has been sparse, with most tokenized equity products and onchain prediction markets pulling from American sources.Matthew Nurse, head of market data at SIX, said the firm is using the integration to bring "flagship Swiss and Spanish blue-chip equities onchain via Chainlink's DataLink," and to deliver "real-time, high-value market data" to digital asset applications.Swiss Blue Chips Meet Smart ContractsThe announcement does not put SIX shares themselves onto a blockchain. What goes onchain is the price feed, delivered in a format that smart contracts can read and act on without a human intermediary. Trading applications, derivatives platforms, and structured product issuers built on blockchain rails can now consume European exchange data the same way they consume US equity feeds today.For SIX, the move extends a years-long effort to commercialize its market data outside traditional broker and terminal channels. The exchange operator has spent the past few years building digital asset infrastructure including its SIX Digital Exchange, a regulated venue for tokenized securities, and has experimented with longer trading windows on its conventional venues, including a recent decision to stretch its derivatives day to nearly 14 hours to overlap with US sessions.For Chainlink, the deal lands one of the largest exchange data sets to date on a network that already supplies pricing to most onchain trading venues. The same infrastructure was used last year to connect JPMorgan's private blockchain to public networks during a tokenized treasury settlement test that fed into the bank's Kinexys deployment with CMC Markets.Tokenized Equities Race Heats Up Across VenuesThe data deal arrives in the middle of a noisy period for onchain equities. Crypto exchanges, brokers, and traditional venues have all been racing to put traditional stocks within reach of around-the-clock trading, with US shares so far getting the most attention.Kraken's xStocks platform, run with Backed Finance and now operated through Alpaca, crossed $25 billion in tokenized trading volume in under eight months and is now listed on Deutsche Börse's 360X regulated venue. Bitget, KuCoin, and Robinhood have followed with their own tokenized US equity offerings, mostly limited to non-US users. Alpaca opened the door wider in October with its Instant Tokenization Network, which lets institutions swap real shares for tokens and back without a cash leg. The US Securities and Exchange Commission approved a Nasdaq pilot in March that will let large-cap US equities and major index ETFs trade in tokenized form on the exchange itself.From Indices to Prediction Markets, the Cited Use CasesThe companies say the integration is aimed at applications including tokenized indices, structured products, compliant DeFi protocols, prediction markets, and what they describe as "new trading primitives" built on European equity data. Fernando Vázquez, president of capital markets at Chainlink Labs, framed the appeal in commercial terms, saying DataLink offers data providers "a secure, scalable path to commercialize high-quality market data onchain while preserving the integrity, entitlements, and distribution controls required by regulated financial institutions."Several of those categories are already drawing meaningful flow. Prediction market venues such as Polymarket and Kalshi have grown into a category large enough that the CFTC has been litigating with state regulators over their treatment, and oil traders have begun using prediction markets as a signal source. Structured products are already SIX's largest derivatives segment, with more than 70,000 listed instruments on its Swiss venue.Whether the European data attracts the same kind of trading volume that has gathered around tokenized US equities will depend on whether issuers actually launch products that use it, and whether retail and institutional traders show up to trade them. SIX did not provide adoption targets or a timeline for the first products built on the feed. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

TS Imagine, the trading and risk technology vendor formed by the 2021 merger of TradingScreen and Imagine Software, released a new version of its execution automation platform this week, pitching it as a single environment for desks to design and run rule-based trading workflows across asset classes.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The product, branded Automation 2.0, combines a visual and code-based rule builder with what the company calls a stateful workflow engine that processes order events in real time. TS Imagine said the system can encode branching logic, fallback actions, sequencing, and liquidity, cost and market-calendar awareness, then chain those rules together without manual intervention."With order handling requirements becoming more complex, trading desks need automation tools that can reflect the realities of their workflows,” Andrew Morgan, president and chief revenue officer at TS Imagine, said.[#highlighted-links#] “Automation 2.0 enables firms to move beyond manual, reactive processes towards a more consistent, scalable approach to automated execution within a single integrated, multi-asset platform."Moreover, TS Imagine declared publicly disclosed customer assets under service now exceed $19.5 trillion, up from $5.3 trillion in 2023. Crowded Field for Multi-Asset Execution ToolsAutomation 2.0 lands in an EMS market where most major vendors have spent the past several years bolting rule-based routing, AI signals, and cross-asset workflows onto their existing platforms. Rules-driven order routing is not new in itself: Refinitiv's REDI EMS introduced a Rules-Based Order Routing feature back when it was still operated by Thomson Reuters, designed to let traders preset destinations and conditions for automated execution.FlexTrade Systems has taken a similar path with its FlexTRADER EMS, layering in third-party analytics and AI-driven broker selection through a partnership with BTON Financial, and pairing its order management capabilities with SimCorp's portfolio platform under a cross-vendor integration announced in 2023. CQG and Broadridge tied their OMS and EMS offerings together in a similar move that same year.Where TS Imagine differentiates Automation 2.0, according to the company, is in handling more nuanced order logic, particularly cases where compliance, execution strategy, and market conditions intersect. The firm argued that desks often revert to manual handling when existing automation tools lack the flexibility to express the full complexity of a workflow. Building Toward an "Execution Agent"The company framed Automation 2.0 as the foundation for a future product it calls the Execution Agent, described as an autonomous system that, in the company's words, "doesn't just follow predefined rules, but can reason, adapt, and act across the full order lifecycle." Talk of agentic AI has spread quickly across capital markets technology over the past 18 months. TS Imagine itself announced a partnership with AI platform Gentek.ai in October 2025 to embed AI infrastructure into its front-to-back platform. On the brokerage side, FXCM and eToro have both cited advances in agentic AI when announcing job cuts, while regulators including the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee have warned that increasingly autonomous trading models could amplify volatility during market stress. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Britannia Global Investments swung to a £657,002 profit in 2025 from a £1.14 million loss the year before, as the FCA-regulated institutional broker pushed deeper into securities financing and saw client custody assets jump to £7.43 billion from £1.23 billion. Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)From £1m Loss to £657k ProfitTurnover at the London firm reached £9.85 million for the year ended December 31, more than 23 times the £427,330 reported in 2024, according to annual financial statements filed with Companies House this week.The wholly-owned subsidiary of Britannia Financial Group Limited posted pre-tax profit of £906,979, compared with a pre-tax loss of £1.52 million the year before. The turnaround came as BGI, which provides custody, execution-only brokerage and securities financing to professional and institutional customers globally, ran a transitioned business under a refreshed board that included the September appointment of director Simon Foster. The shift extends a trajectory flagged in coverage of BGI's 2024 results, when custody assets tripled but the company still booked a loss.Key Performance IndicatorsSource: Britannia Global Investments Limited annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025, filed with Companies House on 14 April 2026.Securities Financing Becomes Largest Revenue LineThe most striking change in BGI's income profile came from securities financing, an activity that contributed nothing to the books in 2024. Interest income, which the firm now reports together with securities financing revenue, generated £7.39 million in 2025, accounting for roughly three-quarters of total turnover. Commissions rose to £1.81 million from £202,277, while custody fees climbed to £658,445 from £225,053.The balance sheet now reflects the scale of that activity. Securities financing receivables stood at £164.74 million at year-end, against obligations of £131.81 million, leaving a net position of £32.93 million. None of those line items existed a year earlier.London Faces Crowded Field for Institutional Custody and Prime ServicesBGI's move into securities financing places it alongside a growing number of London firms competing for hedge fund, family office and asset manager flow. In June 2023, StoneX Financial launched a CASS-compliant multi-asset custody solution under its StoneX Institutional Prime brand, bundling repo financing and securities lending. IG Group has expanded its IG Prime business over the same period, while Marex Group and Sucden Financial continue to invest in prime services and outsourced trading for institutional clients.The non-bank prime segment has also drawn larger corporate activity. Ripple's $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road and the subsequent rebrand to Ripple Prime in 2025 combined clearing, financing and prime brokerage across FX, digital assets and fixed income under one banner, illustrating how custody and financing are increasingly bundled with execution at the institutional end of the market.BGI's positioning differs from those operations. The company focuses on cash equities, fixed income, equity swaps, funds and securities financing rather than CFD-led or crypto-native services, and serves clients globally except in the United States and other restricted jurisdictions. Its sister firm, Britannia Global Markets, runs the group's CFD and FX prime brokerage business, which has previously expanded into FX, index and commodity CFDs under the Britannia Prime brand. 2026 OutlookThe wider Britannia Financial Group has been building out its FCA-regulated footprint over the past year. Britannia Global Markets gained LME Category 4 membership in late 2025, expanding the group's metals trading capability, and previously drew on senior hires from TP ICAP, LSEG and Morgan Stanley including Martin Ryan as COO of that entity.The directors said commission revenue is expected to rise further in 2026, attributing the projection to higher custody assets and trading volumes. BGI carries a deferred tax asset of £2.75 million against expected future profits, and recorded a tax charge of £249,977 for the year following the move into taxable income. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

In a prop trading industry where credibility is everything, Equity Edge has reached a milestone that demands attention.The proprietary trading firm has now paid more than $10 million to traders in just two years, underlining its rapid growth and strengthening its position in an increasingly crowded market. At a time when traders are paying closer attention to payout reliability, platform quality, and overall trust, the milestone gives Equity Edge a clear point of differentiation.The announcement comes alongside another notable development: the return of MetaTrader 5 to the Equity Edge platform. For many funded traders, access to MT5 remains a major factor when choosing a prop firm, making the timing especially significant.Together, the two updates highlight a company looking to build on momentum and reinforce its standing among the leading names in prop trading.A $10 Million Milestone That Carries WeightBig numbers are common in this industry. What matters is whether they mean anything.In the case of Equity Edge, surpassing $10 million in trader payouts speaks directly to one of the most important questions in the prop firm space: does the firm actually pay its traders, and does it do so consistently?That question has become more important as the funded trading sector has matured. Traders are no longer only comparing challenge fees or headline offers. They are looking more closely at withdrawal times, trading conditions, and whether firms can build long term trust after the marketing fades.This is where payout history becomes meaningful.According to Equity Edge, funded traders have been receiving payouts within 48 hours of submitting a withdrawal request. In a market where delays can quickly damage confidence, fast payouts remain one of the clearest indicators of operational strength and trader trust.Reaching the $10 million mark within two years also places Equity Edge in a select category of prop firms that can point to real scale rather than simply ambition.MT5 Returns to the PlatformThe return of MetaTrader 5 adds another layer to the story.MT5 remains one of the most recognised trading platforms in the forex and CFD markets, widely used by both retail traders and funded traders for its charting tools, execution capabilities, and support for automated strategies. In a sector where platform familiarity often influences a trader’s decision, access to MetaTrader 5 is more than a technical feature. It is part of the value proposition.For Equity Edge, bringing MT5 back gives traders access to an environment many already know and prefer. For traders deciding between prop firms, that matters.Platform choice can shape everything from onboarding to retention. A familiar and trusted interface reduces friction and makes it easier for traders to focus on performance rather than adaptation. By restoring MT5, Equity Edge is aligning itself with what much of the market still wants most.Competing on Value, Not Just PriceChallenge pricing remains one of the biggest points of competition in the prop firm market, but low pricing on its own rarely builds loyalty.Traders may be drawn in by affordability, but they stay for the overall experience. That includes execution quality, payout speed, platform access, and the confidence that the firm can deliver once profits are made.Equity Edge has positioned itself around that wider balance.The firm is known for competitive challenge pricing, but its broader message is centred on value. The combination of accessible pricing, fast payouts, and MT5 access is designed to appeal to traders who want strong conditions without paying a premium to get started.That balance is not easy to maintain. In the prop trading space, firms often compromise somewhere. Some compete on price but struggle operationally. Others charge more while offering little extra in the areas traders actually care about.Equity Edge is aiming for a middle ground that is harder to execute well: affordable entry, professional infrastructure, and a payout model that builds confidence.Why Fast Payouts Still Shape ReputationIn prop trading, payout speed is not a minor detail. It is a signal.Fast payouts create credibility. Slow payouts create doubt.That is why the 48 hour payout window highlighted by Equity Edge matters beyond operations alone. Traders actively share their experiences across Discord, Telegram, X, and trading communities, and payout performance often becomes one of the biggest drivers of reputation.In that environment, firms that can consistently pay traders quickly have a clear advantage.The $10 million figure reinforces that reputation. It suggests not only that Equity Edge is attracting traders, but that it is maintaining enough trust for those traders to continue engaging with the platform and sharing their experiences publicly.For a proprietary trading firm operating in a sector where trust can be fragile, that kind of social proof carries real weight.Building Momentum in a More Demanding MarketThe prop trading market is more competitive than ever, but it is also more demanding.Traders are asking tougher questions. They want proof, not just promises. They want transparent conditions, reliable infrastructure, and evidence that a firm can scale without losing the qualities that made it attractive in the first place.Equity Edge’s latest milestone speaks to that shift.Surpassing $10 million in trader payouts within two years is not just a growth headline. It is a marker of how the firm wants to be seen: established, credible, and capable of delivering for funded traders in a market that increasingly rewards consistency over noise.With MetaTrader 5 back on the platform, a strong focus on fast payouts, and pricing that remains competitive, Equity Edge is making a clear play for traders who value both access and reliability.Final WordFor traders evaluating the prop firm landscape in 2026, Equity Edge has added another strong argument in its favour.More than $10 million paid out to traders.MetaTrader 5 restored to the platform.A 48 hour payout process.Competitive challenge pricing.In a sector crowded with promises, Equity Edge is building its position around delivery.For many funded traders, that is what matters most. This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

The use of artificial intelligence in trading has a long and storied history that predates the recent breakthrough of LLMs into mainstream awareness and widespread use. From institutional HFT algorithms and the adoption of trading bots in retail, to early sentiment analysis systems and earnings call analyzers. In 2023, on the eve of the recent AI boom, EY reported that 99% of the CEOs it had surveyed were making or planning significant investments in AI. As far as retail brokerage is concerned, these investments appear to have initially focused primarily on client-facing tools that include market summaries, trade suggestions, portfolio construction and analysis, stock screening, technical insights, and strategy development. This approach has served to aid branding initiatives and to boost conversions at a time when AI was at the forefront of public consciousness. Below we make an argument for why this is changing towards churn prediction and revenue retention, focusing more on harnessing proprietary data that remains underutilized by brokers.Prioritizing competitivenessIn our conversations with clients, we’ve found that as the market becomes saturated and AI fatigue sets in, financial services businesses are increasingly turning their attention to how AI can assist in the retention of revenues and the prevention of client churn. Dormant accounts, high client turnover, and increasing customer acquisition costs repeatedly come up as on-going concerns for brokers. These concerns are being exacerbated by increased competition from a myriad of rival offerings, among them neobanks and neo brokers that are expanding into multiple asset classes, instruments, and regulatory jurisdictions. Online brokers have mastered how to convert leads, but to remain competitive in today’s increasingly crowded market, they’re now called to become experts in revenue retention, and AI can be a valuable ally in this area. Our own approach to the development of AI tools has been two-pronged in that we’ve focused on the development of both front- and back-end technologies that serve the goals of personalization, engagement, churn prediction and revenue retention, each picking up where the other leaves off.Data quality has been an on-going conversation in AI-circles. Our own position has been that brokers have access to high quality client data of their own that is unique to each business and can provide competitive advantages when harnessed correctly. Two types of proprietary brokerage dataOn the one hand, brokers have access to user inputs, which include queries and preferences expressed through searches and engagement touchpoints. On the other hand, they have access to trading behavior, which is available via platform telemetry and account management behavior. The first can be gathered from client-facing interfaces such as AI-assistants and can be used to provide insights that relate to client interests via queries, conversations, and search box interactions. The second is available on the back end by gathering trading data that says a great deal about client trading habits, risk profiles, as well as their money management practices. Each is beneficial to brokers seeking to maximize their revenue-retention initiatives, which include offering a more personalized service, increasing engagement, providing pre-emptive support, and in general having a more holistic view of each client.Client-facing AITo start with, client-facing AI can be used to help users engage with a broker’s offering in a more constructive manner. Recommendations and search bar suggestions allow traders to broaden their horizons while remaining on the platform, helping them to find both what they’re searching for and to be exposed to things they may not yet be aware of. These systems also act as a first line for customer inquiries, answering queries and solving problems quickly and efficiently, lightening the load of human teams and allowing them to tackle high priority issues. Our own version of such a system ships with the DXtrade platform and allows customer support staff to observe these interactions and to seamlessly step in as a second line of support, when required, with in-platform chat, video calls, and screen sharing.It’s important to note that this process generates its own valuable data. Client interactions such as those described above can form the basis for additional client insights, which can be used as the basis for timely alerts, asset suggestions, and other educational content to keep clients engaged and developing as traders. DXtrade’s trading assistant is also integrated with Discord, Telegram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. These integrations allow users to remain “plugged-in” to the trading terminal and to send instructions even when not in direct contact with it. In this way, it borrows from the stickiness of their preferred communication apps, without having to compete with them for attention. Another thing to note is that users benefit from dxFeed market feeds, meaning that the data used to answer market-related queries is of a higher quality.Broker-facing AIOn the back end, effective user profiling can be conducted, and actionable behavioral insights can be distilled at scale. Utilizing machine learning models trained on real client trading data, it's possible for brokers to gain a view of what’s going on with their clients in a way that wasn’t feasible in the past. DXtrade’s user profiling module provides client churn predictions derived from proven engagement metrics, which indicate the users that are statistically most likely to drop off. This information can be directly integrated with company CRMs and is crucial to retention initiatives as it can guide the generation of timely responses that are highly targeted.The system’s extensive segmentation capabilities and its ability to discern between different platform actions that may be of interest to brokerage teams (such as repeated deposit failures, or trading difficulties such as setting stop losses) open up a variety of communication opportunities. This is the key to incorporating systems such as these into the ways different brokerage teams organize their workflows, whether it be via in-platform communications, email, or personalized outreach in advance of accounts falling dormant. Common groundIn the past, overreliance on a constant stream of new conversions and an acceptance of client churn figures as a matter of fact have contributed to a dragnet approach to customer acquisition. This and the reality of fragmented software ecosystems have been obstacles to brokers making the most of the data they generate in an efficient and productive way. As trading evolves from a niche occupation to a lifestyle, brokers are being called to truly know their customers, and to start viewing them as long-term partners. The point here is that churn statistics are not set in stone. Much of the data pertaining to client turnover originate from a time before it was possible to truly provide personalization at scale.Through a combination of learning from what they say and what they’re interested in, as well as what their actions when trading reveal about them, brokers are now able to bridge the engagement gap between acquisition and retention in order to encourage longer, mutually beneficial relationships with their traders. This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

Jon Light, Senior Director of Product Management at DevexpertsIn recent years, retail prop trading has emerged as a viable alternative to the traditional brokerage business model. The segment has marketed itself effectively, and activated new retail demographics that other financial service providers have struggled with in the past. The retail prop trading industry was valued at $12 billion in 2025, with some expecting this to rise to $20 billion in 2026. As with any other market that garners wider attention, prop trading appears to be coming of age. Mainstream awareness has turned trading contests into a social media phenomenon, while also placing the industry under increased regulatory scrutiny. The next few years are likely to be critical as the industry tackles these regulatory challenges, consolidates, and expands into other areas such as retail brokerage. Institutional precursorsThe institutional heyday of proprietary trading took place between the mid-1980s and the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which prohibited commercial banks from trading with their own funds, had been introduced to prevent some of the excesses that contributed to the stock market crash of 1929. By the mid-1980s, Glass-Steagall was being eased via regulatory reinterpretations that effectively eroded its separation between commercial and investment banking. This led to an expansion of proprietary trading activity among banking institutions, as well as the establishment of independent proprietary trading firms.In the wake of the 2008 crisis, the Dodd-Frank Act introduced the Volcker Rule. Like Glass-Steagall before it, the rule banned banks from prop trading and shifted this activity to independent proprietary trading firms like DRW and Jane Street, which have been two of the most successful prop trading firms. The former was established during the period of Glass-Steagall easing, while the latter was founded post-Dodd-Frank.Unlike hedge funds, prop firms trade with the company’s own capital, essentially allocating funds to traders and providing performance-based compensation and profit shares with them.The Rise of RetailTop Step is acknowledged as the first retail prop firm. Founded in 2010 by former floor trader Michael Patak as Patak Trading Partners, Top Step would go on to pioneer the retail prop trading model. Blending education, gamification, and market access into an attractive package, the firm introduced trading contests in a simulated environment where successful contestants could earn a funded account to trade with the firm’s capital. The trading evaluation model, which exempted Top Step from the regulatory requirements of securities brokers, was quickly picked up and adapted by many other market participants. Notably, the technologies used by retail CFD brokers, which had themselves enjoyed a period of massive growth in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, provided a professional and cost-effective way to run the same kind of business model via a different instrument. Typically, US prop firms like Top Step were able to partner with registered Futures Commission Merchants, while circumventing the need for broker-dealer regulation due to the simulated nature of the trading they offered. Similarly, prop firms that used a CFD backbone to offer trading challenges were able to do the same. This was achieved by partnering with MetaQuotes licensees and offering challenges via grey-labelled platforms in demo mode. In 2024, MetaQuotes restricted its licensees from continuing to do so, ostensibly in order to ensure compliance with US CFD regulations, but this only led to other entrants into the space, such as OANDA, and to the rival platforms gaining a firmer foothold, among them our own DXtrade platform. Increased scrutinyThe surging popularity of the retail prop trading business model, and particularly the way it has captured the imaginations of younger traders, is leading to regulators placing the industry under increased scrutiny. In the EU, several financial regulators, among them Italy, Belgium, and Spain, have raised concerns about retail prop trading. In Australia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued warnings to financial influencers that promote prop trading in their content without disclosing risks. In the United States, the CFTC has raised the question of whether prop firms should fall under the category of Commodity Trading Advisors and is considering whether prop firms that offer exchange-traded derivatives should have to register with the CFTC regardless of the simulated nature of the challenges they provide. Also under consideration by regulators are requirements that firms unambiguously disclose fee and payout structures, success rates, as well as stricter observation of KYC and AML requirements, and even appropriateness tests before onboarding new traders. Despite these suggestions, a lack of regulatory clarity pervades the industry, with some suggestions that 2026 may be the year where regulatory procedures pertaining to the prop trading business model are formalized. Prop trading instrumentsAs far as the instruments on offer go, retail prop trading has developed along similar geographic lines as retail brokerage. US-based prop firms initially focused on futures and spot FX, while prop firms in other markets opted for CFDs on underlying assets like FX, equities, indices and commodities. Increased attention from regulators and a more general move towards listed markets has led some firms, particularly those targeting US consumers, to pivot towards exchange-traded futures, owing to the perceived transparency of listed markets as compared to OTC.This is echoed in the wider prop trading community with many discussions taking place over social media as to which instrument is to be preferred from the perspective of the end trader. Furthering this trend, one of the new frontiers in this space is the offering of prop trading challenges on options markets. A relatively newer phenomenon, this move leverages the growing interest and participation from retail traders in options markets, which peaked during the pandemic, but has remained elevated ever since. From our perspective as a technology provider, we’re observing increased interest in trading platforms like DXtrade that are purpose-built for exchange traded derivatives like futures and options and include the various instrument-specific risk management capabilities, as well as client-facing tools necessary for the trading of these markets.This is opening the space up even further, with many firms looking beyond incumbent platforms to consider a broader range of providers. The growing interest in prop options raises the bar even further, both in terms of risk management tools, but also to the sourcing of market data itself, as a competitive options offering necessitates more specialized data services, such as options Greeks. Our sister company, dxFeed has also seen an increase in these types of requests. Consolidation and expansionRetail prop trading’s mainstream moment is leading to market consolidation, with many smaller firms having dropped out following the 2024 actions by MetaQuotes, while larger players have moved to secure their dominance via strategic acquisitions such as FTMO purchasing Oanda, and Top Step partnering with Plus500 to further its ambitions of expanding into retail brokerage. The latter reveals another nascent trend, with some prop firms like FundedNext pursuing brokerage licenses. This is taking place both internationally via offshore CFD licensing and in the US via FCM partnerships. The reverse is also true, with established brokers venturing into the world of prop trading. AxiTrader, and IC Markets being prominent examples of this move. The bottom line is that the success of the prop trading business model, its ability to onboard new traders that traditional brokers may not otherwise have been able to attract, as well as the fact that prop trading provides a potential gateway into real money trading, suggests that things are set to heat up further in 2026 as the barriers between what it means to be a traditional brokerage and a retail prop firm continue to blur, and regulators move to make their own positions clearer. This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

Moneta Funded, the leading proprietary trading firm backed by award-winning broker Moneta Markets, today officially launched its groundbreaking Sprint Challenge, a completely new trading model that delivers instant gratification and same-day payouts to traders worldwide.Unlike traditional multi-phase prop challenges that can take weeks or months to complete, the Sprint Challenge is built for speed and simplicity. Traders select an account size ($10,000 or $25,000), a multiplier (2x or 5x), and a timeframe (1, 2, 4, or 8 hours), with the price starting from just $30 to purchase the challenge. The challenge begins the moment the first trade is placed and runs for exactly the chosen duration. To succeed, traders must hit a clear profit target (0.6%–2%) without breaching the maximum loss limit. Traders can track their progress directly from the Moneta Funded Dashboard, with a live countdown and performance monitor. Upon success, they receive their full profit as a fixed payout with a 100% profit split. The account is then closed, and traders can start a new Sprint Challenge right away.The Sprint Challenge features minimal restrictions, no news trading, no gap trading, and no market-open trading during the 5-minute windows before and after high-impact economic events or major market opens (NY, London, Asia). Everything else is permitted, giving skilled traders maximum flexibility to showcase their edge in a single focused session.“This is the prop trading experience traders have been waiting for,” said David Bily, Founder and CEO of Moneta Funded and Moneta Markets. “We created the Sprint Challenge for ambitious traders who don’t have weeks to spend on evaluations. Whether you have one hour before work, a lunch break, or a quiet evening, you can now turn your skill into immediate cash with total clarity and zero unnecessary complexity. It’s effort - result - payout, all in the same day.”Moneta Funded’s full challenge lineup now includes the new Sprint Challenge alongside its popular One-Step, Two-Step, Instant Funding, and Phoenix programs, offering every type of trader the perfect path to funded capital, from ultra-fast sprints to comprehensive longer-term evaluations where traders can access up to $2,000,000 in funding.As a broker-backed prop firm powered by Moneta Markets, Moneta Funded delivers superior execution, deep liquidity, and institutional-grade technology that sets it apart in the industry. Traders benefit from tight spreads, fast fills, and the confidence that comes from trading with a firm that has real skin in the game.David Bily added: “Moneta Markets’ backing ensures our traders get the best possible conditions and fastest payouts in the industry. The Sprint Challenge is more than a new product, it’s a statement that prop trading can be simple, fair, and genuinely rewarding. We’re incredibly excited to see how our community ‘sprints’ toward success.”The Sprint Challenge is available immediately to new and existing clients at monetafunded.comAbout Moneta FundedMoneta Funded is a next-generation proprietary trading firm headquartered in Dubai and powered by Moneta Markets. With a trader-first philosophy, Moneta Funded offers flexible funding programs, lightning-fast payouts, and industry-leading trading conditions designed to help serious traders scale their capital quickly and profitably. This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

Day trading activities in the US might receive a massive boost, as the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday (Thursday) approved a plan to eliminate the Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule, which requires a minimum $25,000 account balance.The existing PDT rule restricts a trader from making more than four day trades in a five-day period if they hold less than $25,000 in their margin account.How Much Risk Can You Take?The securities regulator proposed a new intraday margin system, which would measure risk in real time instead of counting trades. It would require traders to maintain enough equity based on actual exposure.When implemented, the new rule would cover all margin accounts, not just day traders.The one notable market shift with the elimination of the existing rules and the implementation of the new ones is from “how often you trade” to “how much risk you take.”Today, the SEC approved a major FINRA rule change that eliminates the Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule and replaces it with a new intraday margin system.https://t.co/QB7FlwCBE6? What’s Being RemovedThe $25,000 minimum account requirement for day traders? What’s Replacing It…— Cobra Trading (@cobra_trading) April 14, 2026A Major Shift in Day Trading RulesThe current PDT rules were issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the independent regulator of the brokerage industry, in 2001 after the dot-com crash, when many retail traders lost significantly from trading activities. The goal was to keep a portion of beginner, small-balance investors out of day trading, thus protecting them from taking substantial trading risks.[#highlighted-links#] Now, after the SEC approved the elimination of the PDT rules, FINRA has yet to announce the official start date of the new rules. After the notice from the independent regulator, the new rules will go live in about 45 days, while firms can phase them in over up to 18 months.The new rules are going to change day trading in the US, which has the largest stock market with almost 50 per cent of the global share.Retail traders accounted for roughly 18 per cent of total US equity market volume as of 2024, while active day traders contribute about 12 per cent of daily trading activity. However, about 72 per cent of day traders lose money.The exit ratio among day traders is also high, with 40 per cent quitting within a month, while only 13 per cent remain after three years. Further, only 13 per cent can generate consistent profitability over six months, with less than 1 per cent achieving long-term success over five years. This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

Switch Markets now bundles a free VPS, Trackatrader analytics, AlgoBuilder AI, and PineConnector bridge for all depositing clients.The package targets algorithmic and active traders who need always-on infrastructure, strategy-building tools, and performance tracking at no additional cost.Each tool integrates directly with MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, giving traders a connected ecosystem from strategy creation to live execution.Switch Markets has recently launched a new trader bundle that gives every depositing client free access to four tools designed for algorithmic and high-frequency strategies. The package includes a dedicated Virtual Private Server (VPS), the Trackatrader analytics platform, AlgoBuilder AI for no-code strategy creation, and a PineConnector bridge that links TradingView alerts to MetaTrader 5. Together, these tools form a complete infrastructure layer, from idea generation and backtesting through to live, automated execution.Most brokers charge separately for these services, and many do not offer them at all. By bundling all four at no cost, Switch Markets positions itself squarely in the growing segment of retail traders who build, test, and deploy systematic strategies rather than trade manually.About Switch MarketsFounded in 2019 and headquartered in Sydney, Switch Markets is a forex and CFD broker that serves traders across more than 100 countries. The broker offers access to over 1,000 instruments, spanning forex pairs, indices, commodities, shares, and digital currencies through the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms.Switch Markets operates two account types: a Standard account with spreads from 1.0 pips and zero commission, and a Pro account with raw spreads from 0.0 pips and a commission of $3.50 per side. The minimum deposit stands at $50, and leverage reaches up to 1:500 for international clients. Client funds are held in segregated accounts with tier-one banks, and negative balance protection is applied to every account.The broker has earned multiple industry awards, including Best Trading Experience Broker and Best MT5 Broker, and maintains a Trustpilot rating above 4.7 from more than 700 verified reviews. With 24/7 customer support via live chat and email, Switch Markets has built a reputation for responsive service and transparent trading conditions.Key Features of the Algorithmic Traders BundleThe new bundle comprises four distinct tools. Each addresses a specific stage of the algo trading workflow, and all four are available to any client who deposits $50 or more.Trading VPSAlgorithmic strategies demand continuous uptime. A single disconnection during a volatile session can turn a profitable trade into a loss. Switch Markets provides every depositing client with a free VPS valued at $497 per year, featuring 99.99% uptime and trade execution latency of just 1 millisecond. The server runs around the clock, keeping Expert Advisors and automated scripts operational even when a trader’s personal hardware is offline. TrackatraderConsistent profitability requires more than a good strategy; it requires knowing where that strategy breaks down. Trackatrader is a trading analytics platform that connects directly to a Switch Markets client’s account and delivers detailed performance reports. Traders can identify strengths and weaknesses across instruments, sessions, and time frames. The platform surfaces patterns that manual journaling often misses. For instance, traders can track your drawdown clusters, win-rate drift, and risk-adjusted return trends. By studying past trades with precision, traders can refine their approach and prepare for changing market conditions.AlgoBuilder AINot every trader who thinks systematically knows how to code. AlgoBuilder AI removes that barrier. The tool allows traders to describe a strategy in plain English, then converts the logic into an executable algorithm. Users can backtest the strategy against historical market data, adjust parameters, and deploy it to a live account when the results meet their criteria. This lowers the entry point for algorithmic trading dramatically because a trader with a clear edge no longer needs to hire a developer or learn MQL5 to automate it.PineConnectorTradingView is among the most widely used charting platforms in retail trading, and many traders build alert-based strategies within its Pine Script environment. PineConnector bridges TradingView and MetaTrader 5, executing trades in a client’s Switch Markets account the moment an alert fires. This eliminates the manual step between signal generation and order placement, which often acts as a gap where slippage, hesitation, and missed entries erode performance. For traders who already rely on TradingView for analysis, PineConnector turns their alerts into live positions without switching platforms.The Backbone for Algo and Active TradersIndividually, each of these tools solves a specific problem. Combined, they form an end-to-end infrastructure for systematic trading. A trader can design a strategy with AlgoBuilder AI, deploy it on a VPS that never sleeps, bridge TradingView signals directly into MetaTrader 5 through PineConnector, and then review every trade with Trackatrader’s analytics without paying a separate subscription for any of it.As more traders adopt algorithmic methods, the brokers that provide the surrounding infrastructure stand to capture the most engaged segment of the market. Switch Markets’ decision to absorb these costs signals a commitment to the algo trading community and a bet that traders who receive professional-grade tools will remain active, loyal clients.The bundle is available immediately to all new and existing Switch Markets clients. Traders who deposit $50 or more gain full access to the VPS, Trackatrader, AlgoBuilder AI, and PineConnector at no additional charge. Details and activation instructions are available on the Switch Markets website. This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

American crypto exchange giant Kraken confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) late last year, its co-CEO, Arjun Sethi, revealed during the Semafor World Economy event in Washington, DC. However, the specifics of the IPO, including valuation and offer size, still remain unknown.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The exchange also raised $200 million from Deutsche Börse Group, Bloomberg reported, at a valuation of $13.3 billion, which was below the $20 billion peak valuation it achieved in late 2025. In exchange for the investment, the German exchange group received a 1.5 per cent fully diluted stake in the crypto exchange.Read more: Kraken’s Extortion Claim Points to a Growing Market for Insider AccessAim at an IPO PersistsThe parent company of Kraken has been mulling going public for some time now. It first submitted a confidential draft Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2025.The exchange raised $800 million from investors like Jane Street and Citadel Securities at its peak valuation after that confidential draft filing.However, the company’s IPO plans did not materialise, as reports suggested it paused going public around March due to market conditions. The latest statement from Sethi indicates that the exchange never shelved the plan.[#highlighted-links#] Meanwhile, the revenue of the crypto exchange also jumped 33 per cent in 2025 to reach more than $2.2 billion, which, according to the company, was driven by “a broad-based performance across trading and asset-based businesses.” Of the total revenue, about 47 per cent came from trading activities.Crypto trading activity also increased on the US-based platform, with total transaction volume reaching $2 trillion, a 34 per cent increase. Assets on the platform rose by 11 per cent to $48.2 billion.Expansion Drive ContinuesAlthough headquartered in the US, Kraken also appears to be expanding globally. It obtained a MiFID II licence by acquiring a Cyprus-based broker last year and launched crypto perpetual contracts through the entity for European users.The expansion in products, as well as the offering of tokenised stocks, shows a strong focus on that area. Within months of launch, tokenised stocks on its platform reached more than $5 billion across both centralised and decentralised venues, and the number of users passed 37,000. Both figures are likely higher now. This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.