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Forex.com
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Forex.com is a global provider of foreign exchange (FX) and contracts for difference (CFD) trading services. It operates as a brand of GAIN Capital Holdings, a subsidiary of the publicly traded StoneX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SNEX). The company offers leveraged trading products across various markets including currencies, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies.
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History
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GAIN Capital was founded in 1999 by Mark Galant and launched the Forex.com brand in 2004 for retail trading clients.[1][2]
In 2008, Gain Capital acquired a UK FSA-regulated broker, rebranding it as Forex.com UK and launching operations across the UK and continental Europe in May 2009.[3][4] By then, monthly trading volume had already neared $200 billion.[5] In 2009, the broker entered the Japanese market by acquiring Fortune Capital,[3] and in 2010 opened a Hong Kong office and partnered with Polaris Securities.[6] By the early 2010s, Forex.com operated across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.[6]
Forex.com purchased dbFX from Deutsche Bank in 2011, adding 1,650 clients and $55 million in assets.[6][7] In 2013, it acquired Sydney-based Global Futures, bringing combined client assets to over $650 million.[8][9][10] In 2014, its Japanese division took over the client base of Planex Trade FX.[11]
In January 2015, in the aftermath of the Swiss franc cap removal,[12][13] Gain Capital announced that it would reset all accounts with negative balances.[14][15] Two years later, the company absorbed more than 47,000 U.S. retail accounts from FXCM, adding $142 million in client assets following FXCM’s regulatory settlement with the CFTC.[16][17]
Forex.com entered the cryptocurrency market in 2018, launching trading in Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash for clients in the UK, Europe, Australia, and Singapore.[18] In 2020, the company was acquired by StoneX Group for $236 million, becoming part of a publicly traded financial services conglomerate.[19][20]
In 2021, it obtained a license in the Cayman Islands and entered Latin America.[21] In 2022, it broadened its Canadian offering to more than 2,500 CFD markets.[22] and launched automated trading features for U.S. clients in partnership with Capitalise.ai.[23] As of 2024, the company reported the highest volume of client deposits in the U.S. market, totaling $209.4 million.[24] In May 2025, Forex.com launched operations in Singapore.[25]
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Profile
Forex.com is headquartered in Warren, New Jersey,[26] and operates internationally under multiple regulatory regimes, including licenses from the U.S. CFTC and NFA, Australia's ASIC, UK's FCA, Japan's FSA, Canada's IIROC, and Hong Kong's SFC.[27] As of 2023, the company reported over 750,000 active clients worldwide with customer assets exceeding $8.5 billion.[28]
Controversy
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Regulatory and compliance issues
The broker have been subject to multiple regulatory actions over the years for various compliance violations. These include a $500,000 fine from the CFTC for illegally onboarding U.S. clients via a UK entity[29] and a $300,000 penalty for supervisory failures over client accounts.[30] In 2010, the NFA fined GAIN Capital $459,000 for unfair slippage practices, margin handling, and poor supervision.[31]
On 31 March 2021, a system error led Forex.com to display outdated quotes for 14 FX pairs for over 10 hours. Dozens of trades were executed at stale prices, resulting in account imbalances. The company reversed $2.84 million in client gains and credited minor adjustments to others. In 2022, the NFA fined the company $700,000 for mishandling the incident, rule violations, and misleading regulators.[32][26]
Lawsuits and legal disputes
In 2013, Gain Capital was sued by UK investors who alleged it enabled trading for Cameron Farley Ltd., an unlicensed broker operating a Ponzi scheme. Between 2004 and 2008, Cameron Farley, founded by Stephen Farley, lost over £10 million via Forex.com, while total client losses exceeded £18 million.[33][34][35] Plaintiffs claimed the company failed to perform due diligence and indirectly facilitated fraud by allowing thousands of individuals to trade through an unlicensed intermediary.[36]
In July 2020, a Chinese trader Jun Zhang sued Gain Capital after losing $143,032 while trading at Forex.com. Zhang blamed the negative pricing of WTI futures and Gain's system that halted 22 minutes before the closing of U.S. crude oil trading on 20 April 2020. On 21 April 2020, the platform showed US_OIL at $0.01.[37][38][39]
Since 2021, GAIN Capital has been engaged in continuing litigation with Canadian broker OANDA, which accuses Forex.com of infringing patents related to price quoting and trade execution.[40] The dispute involves U.S. patents 7,146,336 and 8,392,311, with proceedings extending into 2025.[41][42] The partnership with Capitalise.ai was further expanded in May 2025, when Forex.com opened access to this platform to its clients in the EU and UK.[43]
Security and ethical incidents
In April 2020, the Japanese unit of Forex.com suffered a data breach, client personal data were exposed by an unauthorized third party.[44]
In 2020, following the acquisition by StoneX Group, Joseph Conlan, a former GAIN executive, profited from non-public information about the deal. He later settled with the SEC, paying $159,389.[45][46]
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References
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