Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued during the weekend warning alerts against IBL Markets, a clone company of genuine forex broker Interactive Brokers UK, as well as against unauthorized forex brokerages ECN Markets and CMS Trader.
IBL Markets, www.ibl-markets.com, is giving out details of FCA-regulated Interactive Brokers UK in an attempt to scam investors, when in fact it is not associated with it in any way. Interactive Brokers UK is the UK arm of US-based forex group Interactive Brokers. The group also has units in Canada, Hong Kong, Japan and India.
Meanwhile, ECN Markets, www.ecn-markets.com, and CMS Trader, www.cmstrader.com, both target UK citizens without being authorized. Under the local regulation, forex trading service providers need to be regulated in order to operate within the country.
According to the FCA alert, CMS Trader is a brand name of Pandorx Ventures Ltd. On its website, however, the broker says it is operated by Safe Side Trading Ltd. with office addresses in New Zealand, France, Dominica, and Bahrain. CMS Trader offers trading in forex, contracts for difference (CFDs), gold, oils, commodities, indices, and stocks. Earlier this year, the regulatory body of the Canadian province of Ontario issued a warning against the Pandorx Ventures and its website www.cmstrader.com. It said at the time the broker targeted local investors and offered them financial services without the proper authorization.
ECN Markets is a broker of forex and CFDs. The company does not provide on its website information as to where it is based and whether it is regulated. Its website is available in English, Arabic and Russian.
The UK is a strong forex market with tight regulation. An FCA license provides access to the rest of the countries in the European Economic Area (EEA). The FCA is renowned for its strict standards and tight supervision. The regulator keeps a register of unauthorized forex brokers that target local citizens and regularly issues alerts against entities that could potentially hurt local investors.
We strongly advise you to only deal with regulated forex brokers, authorized by reputable regulatory bodies like CySec, FCA, and CFTC/NFA, among others.
