Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
Japan’s financial markets and services regulator, the Kanto bureau of the country’s Finance ministry, has warned of several forex and binary options brokers who do not have a license to operate in Japan.
On the list are the well-known and regulated forex brokers XM, TradeView and FXDD.
XM’s various units are regulated by three bodies: Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
TradeView does not have such solid regulation and is licensed only by the Cayman Island’s Monetary Authority, while FXDD is based in Malta and is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), which allows the broker to operate throughout the EU.
Neither of the three forex brokers, however, has a license in Japan, as required by local law. As a matter of fact, the regulator warns of TradeView for a second time since last December.
The Kanto office has also put on its black list the binary options brokers OptionBit, OptionRally, Speed Option and Royal Option. Of them only the first two are regulated – in the offshore zone Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the CySEC, respectively. At the same time, Royal Option is obviously specifically targeting the Japanese market, judging by its website.
Similarly to forex brokers, binary options brokers need a Japanese license in order to operate in the country.
According to the watchdog, those forex and binaries brokers have solicited Japanese residents and notes that their clients are not cover by the customer protection mechanisms available for the clients of properly regulated companies.