Swiss Brokers to stop accepting US clients come July 2011

Following the last year's approval of Dodd-Frank rules all foreign brokers, who aren't registered as RFEDs in the US, had to stop accepting US clients. The only exemption was for foreign banks which could continue accepting US clients until July 2011. At the time MIG Bank, amongst others, announced that they can still accept US clients - which was a major draw to many US Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term traders seeking higher Leverage Leverage In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders Read this Term and greater trading flexibility which could only be achieved outside US.

Unfortunately for US retail forex traders this is about to change again. We've seen Deutsche Bank as the first foreign bank which decided to publicly announce its withdrawal from the US market and now I can confirm that MIG, and probably Dukascopy and Swissquote Bank as well, are going to stop accepting US clients come July 2011. The only legal way as far as I know for US traders to trade outside US is through their foreign companies which can open corporate accounts with foreign brokers - this is a costly and lengthy operation and may only be suitable for larger traders.

CitiFX Pro emerges as the single biggest winner in this scenario - it is the only forex bank left which can continue accepting US, and other, clients.

This is what MIG had to say when I contacted them:

"We will definitely stop accepting US clients in July 2011 in line with the US regulations. As for the current client base, a decision is still to be made and we are evaluating various options. We will not sell any client as such but we are looking into different strategic partnership opportunities. We will inform you once the situation is clear." Ilgar Rustamov - Head of Marketing, MIG Bank

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