Adam has circulated this article from LeapRate.com
The story was posted by them on 25 May but in case it's escaped your attention here's a quick heads-up.
Say LeapRate:
"LeapRate has learned that the US Securities and Futures Commission (SEC) has quietly filed a notice indicating that as of July 31, broker-dealers will no longer be able to engage in leveraged foreign exchange transactions with traders, other than what it calls "eligible contract participants", SEC-speak for institutional traders.
What this effectively means is that only standalone CFTC registered and National Futures Association (NFA) member FCMs or retail FX dealers, as well as certain banks, may serve as counterparties in retail forex transactions.
The majority of retail forex trades in the US already occur at FCM-only brokers. So this shouldn't cause a major shift in the industry, just a good opportunity for the big FCMs to pick up some business.
LeapRate spoke with a senior securities lawyer in the US who believes that this is likely just thefirst step by US regulators to possibly ban altogether highly leveraged retail forex trading. While the SEC might not have consulted with the futures and forex industry regulators (CFTC, NFA) in making its decision regarding the broker-dealers, those regulators will likely keep an eye on the SEC's action - and it is not inconceivable that they could take similar action at some point in the future"
More from LeapRate here.
