Bitfinex PSP Arrested, Chinese Traders Most Active: Editor's Pick

Another week, another set of stories in the wild world of retail trading. In our weekly editor's pick, we sift through the best stories of the prior seven days and provide you with cream of the Finance Magnates crop.

Sit back, read, and enjoy.

Crypto custody still lagging behind

Custodial services in the cryptocurrency markets - or a lack thereof - have been a perennial problem for participants in the nascent market. The failure to provide decent protection to customer funds is one of the main reasons that many believe institutions are unwilling to enter the market.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem likely to change any time soon.

Last week, we reported on the ongoing controversy surrounding Casa - a crypto custodial services provider - and the massive errors the company appears to have been making.

Bitfinex PSP arrested

The ongoing saga surrounding Bitfinex, QuadrigaCX, and a billion-dollar loss took another turn this week.

Ivan Manuel Molina Lee was arrested in Poland, having been accused by local authorities of helping to have facilitated money laundering.

State prosecutors seized assets valued at $350 million from Lee, which the Polish National Public Prosecutor’s Office described as “the largest security [seizure] in the history of the Polish prosecutor’s office against forfeiture.”

Poles protest XTB

Lee's arrest wasn't the only noteworthy event that took place last week in the Polish retail trading market. A group of people from Trading Jam, an online community of Polish retail traders, staged a protest against XTB.

The protesters say that XTB stole their money by massively abusing price Slippage Slippage In financial trading, slippage refers to the difference in price between the price an order was intended or expected to be filled and the actual price an order was filled. Slippage is a very contentious issue among retail traders, which can lead to issues. Many traders view levels of slippage at brokers as a key determinant for their business. For example, in forex trading, if a trader places a trade intending to enter a buy on the EUR/USD at 1.1080, but they only get into the market at a price In financial trading, slippage refers to the difference in price between the price an order was intended or expected to be filled and the actual price an order was filled. Slippage is a very contentious issue among retail traders, which can lead to issues. Many traders view levels of slippage at brokers as a key determinant for their business. For example, in forex trading, if a trader places a trade intending to enter a buy on the EUR/USD at 1.1080, but they only get into the market at a price Read this Term. The Polish regulator has already fined the broker $2.5 million.

But this hasn't satisfied the protesters who, entirely reasonably, say that the broker should reveal how much money it made from poor execution and pay back the clients that were ripped off.

Making market data cheaper for CFD providers

Market data has always been a sore point for CFD providers. Boring compliance procedures and expensive legal costs make working with exchanges an ordeal that even the most hardened broker executive would want to avoid.

Step in TradeTech. The technology, data, and Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term provider has developed a new set of relationships with a large number of exchanges to improve its market data offering.

To find out more, we spoke to TradeTech Group director Muhammad Rasoul. In a wide-ranging interview, we also covered tier-1 liquidity, common problems brokers are facing, and the future of the CFD industry.

China leads the way in active traders

It may be all doom and gloom in Europe, but across the globe in China, retail traders are still very keen to speculate on market movements.

Research from the Finance Magnates Intelligence Department has revealed that China has the most active traders in the world, with the average Chinese trader making approximately 189 orders per month.

That means the Chinese have taken the crown from traders in Hong Kong who, earlier this year, were making an average of 184 trades per month.

AI and market data

Are you bored of hearing the word 'AI' all the time? We are too, but for some reason, people insist on talking about it, so maybe there is something to it. Who knows.

Anyway, last week, Rachel McIntosh spoke to Zak Selbert, the CEO of data analysis firm Indexica.

In their discussion, which you can listen to on Soundcloud or watch on YouTube, they talked about how AI is going to revolutionize market data in the cryptocurrency markets.

Multibank goes to the races

Sports sponsorship has long been a popular way for retail brokers to reach a wider audience. With Swissquote at Manchester United and Plus500 working with Atletico Madrid, the trend doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

Last week, another broker took the plunge into the world of sports sponsorship. Multibank announced that it had become an official partner of BMW M Motorsport.

The broker will be supporting the racing team at the next Macau Grand Prix.

USDT the go-to crypto in China

Despite the huge controversy surrounding the project in the US and Europe, Tether is dominating the Chinese cryptocurrency market.

Research by intelligence firm Chainanlysis found that almost all cryptocurrency traders in China are converting their digital assets into tether - as opposed to a fiat currency.

Last week, we took a look at why that is.

TMS Brokers acquires Noble Securities' CFD division

One last headline from headline before we let you start you get back to work.

Last week, Warsaw-based retail trading firm TMS Brokers announced that it had acquired Noble Securities' CFD division.

In a statement, Noble said that it was selling off its CFD business so that it could focus its efforts on stockbroking.