FX week in review: Freetrade sold, eToro IPO filing, Equiti Wealth and Deus X Markets launch, Neex CEO, XTB Chairman

Gerald Segal 0 Comments January 19, 2025

Which online broker acquired UK neobroker Freetrade for nearly $200 million?

At what valuation is eToro planning to go public? Where will it hold its IPO?

Who is behind the launch of Broker-as-a-Service startup Deus X Markets?

Who did Retail FX and CFDs broker Neex hire as its new CEO?

Who is Poland based broker XTB’s new Chairman?

Where did Forex.com UK CEO Nigel Rose move to?

Some of the most read and commented-on FX/CFD industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:

Top FX and CFDs industry news stories this week

Freetrade acquired for $195 million by… The great European neobroker experiment seems to be over. Following the 2024 bankruptcy of Switzerland based FlowBank, and the takeover of Amsterdam based BUX by one of its backers, ABN Amro, UK neobroker Freetrade has been acquired, for £160 million (USD $195 million). Who has bought Freetrade? What were Freetrade’s revenues in 2024 (and in Q4 2024)? EBITDA?

eToro files for an IPO in the US at $5 billion valuation. Social trading focused online broker eToro has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with US securities regulators. The confidential filing will allow eToro to clear any comments or issues the regulators may have regarding its prospectus and its financial statements, before eToro has to release that information to the greater public. Depending on how long its prospectus takes to clear the regulators, and the overall state of the markets, eToro could be ready to go public in Q2-2025.

Broker-as-a-Service operation Deus X Markets launches with Tim Plummer as CEO. Experienced FX and CFDs industry executive Tim Plummer has announced that he is becoming CEO of a new business being launched by fintech investor Deus X Capital, called Deus X Markets. Deus X Markets is being set up as a Brokerage-as-a-Service (BaaS) solutions company. The company’s website describes a complete solution for launching and managing a brokerage, integrating technology, liquidity, branding, and operational support seamlessly.

Revolut founder Nik Storonsky nets $400 million from private share sale. UK news site Sky News is reporting that neobank Revolut’s founder Nik Storonsky has sold more than £330 million (USD $400 million) of shares in the company. He continues to hold about $8 billion worth of Revolut stock, based on Revolut’s $45 billion valuation achieved in a fundraising mid last year. The shares were sold to a group of large private equity and tech investors including Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Coatue and D1 Capital Partners.

Equiti Group to launch Equiti Wealth following SCA approval. Leading MENA region based online broker Equiti Group has announced that it has received in-principle approval from the UAE regulator Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) to launch the Equiti Global Balanced Fund as part of its new product line – Equiti Wealth. Equiti’s Managing Director of Strategy, Gaurang Desai, also former CEO of DGCX, has been tapped to head Equiti Wealth.

Capital.com sees monthly trading volumes rise 33% in 2024 to $142B. Leading Retail FX and CFDs broker Capital.com has announced that total trading volumes on the platform reached more than $1.7 trillion in 2024 (or about $142 billion monthly), 33% higher than a year earlier. In the second half of the year, volumes topped $150 billion per month. Over the same period, the number of trades executed on the platform jumped by more than 20%, with the majority of trading volumes coming from clients in the Middle East and Europe.