By Bart Mallon, Esq. (www.colefrieman.com) State Securities Agency Calls PAMM Accounts Securities Forex investment managers who offer forex separately managed account programs need to be aware of the risks of offering trading programs which use PAMM accounts.  PAMM accounts are functionally equivalent to “bunched” or “batched” order master accounts which [...]

Practical guidance for CTA and CPO firms Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) and Commodity Pool Operators (CPOs) have been contacting me with greater regularity and we have decided to provide those firms with more detailed information on their registration and compliance requirements. Over the course of the next few weeks we [...]

(www.hedgefundlawblog.com) Meta Trader 4 – Online Forex Trading Platform Meta Trader 4 is an online trading complex designed to provide broker services to customers at forex, futures and CFD markets.  This is a whole-cycle complex, which means that the trader will not need any other software to organize his/her broker [...]

Answers Regarding Prohibition of Hedging Spot Forex Transactions (www.hedgefundlawblog.com)  The NFA has certainly taken a lot of heat over its controversial rule to ban the practice of “hedging” in a single spot forex account.  Many retail investors have already begun establishing brokerage accounts offshore in order to utilize this trading [...]

NFA Compliance Rule 2-43 Outlaws Forex “Hedging” For NFA Registered Forex Dealers (www.hedgefundlawblog.com) The new forex regulations have affected the industry in a number of ways.  Rule 2-43 especially has been a source of ire for some forex managers who have utilized a “hedging strategy” as part of their investment [...]

Overview of Series 30 Exam The Series 30 exam is a National Futures Association sponsored exam which is required for those persons who are branch office managers of a NFA member firm (see our post on CPO and CTA Branch Office Information).  Generally if a NFA Member firm (such as [...]

[http://www.hedgefundlawblog.com] No New Information on Forex Regulations I have been getting more and more questions regarding forex registration and unfortunately I have not had much to say because there has been little information coming from the CFTC.  The NFA has done a good job of anticipating what those rules will [...]

Below are a list of the articles which are devoted to forex hedge funds and the regulations involved in the off-exchange foreign currency markets.  Please contact us if you would like to start a forex hedge fund or if you would like information related to the forex registration requirements. Forex [...]

(www.hedgefundlawblog.com) Creating Series 34 Exam Prep Materials One central issue in the investment management industry is increases in regulation of previously unregulated or lightly regulated activities.  The major area which will see direct regulation within the next 12 months is the retail off-exchange foreign currency industry.  As we have discussed, [...]

Forex Firm Caught Operating a Ponzi Scheme The CFTC just announced that it charged a group out of Atlanta with operating a Ponzi scheme.  This is the first action the CFTC has brought against a forex firm for fraud.  At the beginning of last year Congress passed the Farm Bill [...]