Canadian Watchdog MSC Warns About FMTrader

Canadian provincial regulator, the Manitoba Securities Commission (MSC), has issued an alert, warning the public on investing with unregistered binary options broker, FMTrader, operating online as www.fmtrader.com. FMTrader claims to be located in Cyprus and Belize and is not registered to sell securities in Manitoba, or anywhere else in Canada, and therefore fails to comply with provincial securities laws.

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The latest warning concerns a Manitoba resident who had invested $28,000 in binary options trades after finding FMTrader via a social media ad, according to the MSC. The investor was said to be attracted by the promise of ‘risk-free trading,’ and ‘high profits.’ After investing $5,000 in cash and $23,000 via credit cards, he was told he couldn’t withdraw any money until he’d placed a minimum $1,000,000 in trades. Based on similar prior incidences, it is unlikely that any of the investment will be recoverable.

This is not the first time that FMTrader has been red-flagged for soliciting Canadian traders. Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published a “Black List” of 37 unauthorised binary options brokers in March 2015 in which FMtrader also appeared.

According to figures revealed by the MSC, Manitobans have reportedly lost nearly $160,000 this year to unregistered, offshore binary options brokers, trading under a variety of names, and has stated that losses may be higher due to unreported cases.

In its capacity as one of Canada’s provincial regulators, the Manitoba Securities Commission seeks to protect investors while promoting fair and efficient capital markets throughout the province. FMTrader is the latest broker to be added to its warning list and follows a growing number of recent complaints regarding binary option firms.