FX week in review: GKFX and GKPro sold, trading volumes soar, Equiti gets EU license
Before we get to the top FX industry news stories of the week, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, our readers, for making FNG the leading FX industry news site in 2022.
FNG just had a record September (visits, pageviews, email signups, social media likes…), consolidating our position as the #1 most-read and most-visited FX news site.
Google’s latest core update clearly does what it was supposed to – send traffic to sources of original and unbiased content, while punishing “copy” sites and websites that traffic in promotional nonsense.
Our September traffic was certainly helped by FNG breaking the story about Apple banning MT4 and MT5 from its App Store, followed by our exclusive report that MetaQuotes is halting the processing of any new MT4/MT5 white labels – collectively the biggest FX and CFDs industry story-of-the-year.
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While most of the buzz in the FX and CFDs industry this week continues to be around MT4 alternatives, both Apple and MetaQuotes continued to be mum on the subject, leading to much speculation as to “what is to come” for MT4 and MT5, and the brokers which offer the still-very-popular trading platform.
But there was indeed a lot of other news this week, including the restructuring of one of the better known names in the Retail FX business, some really interesting data about trading volumes, and a new EU license for a key global player in online trading.
Some of the most read and commented-on FX industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:
Exclusive: Global Kapital restructures, transfers GKFX and GKPro ownership to Trive. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that Turkey’s Global Kapital Group (GKG) has restructured some of its operations, which includes the transfer of ownership of its main FX brokerage businesses GKFX and GKPro to an Amsterdam based company called Trive Financial. The management team at Trive is now led by Chairman and CEO Engin Çubukçu, who was a partner at PwC Türkiye until joining GKG in 2017 to become chairman of its brokerage division.
Institutional FX trading volumes soar 22% in September 2022 as currency volatility peaks. As the Euro and British Pound hit multi-year lows against the US Dollar against a backdrop of rising inflation, increased government deficits, and continued uncertainty in Europe from the war in Ukraine, currency traders and those looking to hedge currency exposures were extremely active, meaning record or near-record activity at FX ECNs.
Equiti secures CySEC license to operate in Europe. Equiti Group, a provider of online trading technology and multi-asset financial products, has secured an operating license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The Group’s new CySEC license was awarded to its entity registered in Cyprus, Equiti Global Markets Ltd. Equiti’s CySEC license is the Group’s eighth license and is a significant milestone in its ambitious global growth strategy.
Plus500 to become official global partner of Chicago Bulls. Online trading company Plus500 today announced a major multi-year sponsorship agreement to become an official global partner of the Chicago Bulls, the iconic NBA professional basketball team and one of the most established sports franchises in the world. The Plus500 logo will be featured exclusively on the front of the team’s warmup shooting shirts and jackets.
Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:
❑ Exclusive: eToro hires Jason Hughes to head its new UAE operations.
❑ Exclusive: Swissquote hires Saxo exec Carl-Johan Munch-Jensen as Head of Trading.
❑ Exclusive: Capital.com hires IG alum Tim Plummer as Head of Product Strategy.
❑ Exclusive: IC Markets hires TopFX/Capital.com alum Polena Damianou as HR Officer.
❑ Exclusive: Niki Beattie resigns from XTX Markets board.
❑ Exclusive: Pepperstone Partners Manager Giovanni Grillo joins payments company uQualify.