GAIN Capital is a US-based provider of

online trading In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

services, headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey. The company provides market access and trade execution services in

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...

, contracts for difference (CFDs) and exchange-based products to

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

and institutional investors. Trading is provided via one of two

electronic trading platform In finance, an electronic trading platform also known as an online trading platform, is a computer software program that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. Various financial products c ...

s, its own proprietary FOREXTrader PRO, or

MetaTrader 4 MetaTrader 4, also known as MT4, is an electronic trading platform widely used by online retail foreign exchange speculative traders. It was developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2005. The software is licensed to foreign exchange brok ...

. GAIN Capital allows retail and institutional clients to speculate on global foreign exchange markets in what is known as ‘margin forex trading’. GAIN Capital operates retail foreign exchange and CFD trading brands, FOREX.com and City Index as well as GTX, a fully independent FX ECN, a multi-dealer foreign exchange trading platform, for hedge funds and institutions. It also owns advisory CFD business, SALT Invest, and futures provider, Daniels Trading.

History

GAIN Capital was founded in 1999 in Bedminster, New Jersey, and was one of the early developers of online forex trading. The company went

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

in 2010 when it floated part of its shareholdings on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the List of stock exchanges, world's largest s ...

; however, the initial IPO was scaled back at the last minute as the target price was not reached. In October 2014 the company acquired UK-based rival City Index for $118 million, boosting its CFD business and expanding its Forex business in the UK. On February 7, 2017, GAIN Capital agreed to acquire

FXCM FXCM, also known as Forex Capital Markets, is a retail foreign exchange broker for trading on the foreign exchange market. FXCM allows people to speculate on the foreign exchange market and provides trading in contract for difference (CFDs) ...

's US client base a day after the latter had been barred by the CFTC and NFA from doing business in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The company paid $7.2 million for these accounts, $500 per account that traded within 76 days and $250 for accounts that traded subsequently. In February 2020, StoneX (formerly INTL FCStone) announced the acquisition of US-based brokerage GAIN Capital Holdings Inc. The all-cash deal, approved by boards of both companies, was worth about $236 million in equity value.

Operations

GAIN Capital is a US-based firm but has serviced customers from over 140 countries worldwide and gains over half its revenue from outside the US. GAIN Capital and its affiliates have offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; Bedminster,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

;

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

;

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

; Hong Kong;

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

; Singapore and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. The company's largest retail Forex website is Forex.com, though it also offers white label solutions for dozens of online Forex trading companies, most of which serve the global market.

Regulatory issues

In May 2008 it was told by the Chinese financial regulator,

China Banking Regulatory Commission The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) was an agency of the People's Republic of China (PRC) authorised by the State Council to regulate the banking sector of the PRC except the territories of Hong Kong and Macau, both of which are spec ...

that it had breached rules that prohibit forex trading firms providing retail forex trading services through direct solicitation to Chinese residents through the internet without a permit. It temporarily stopped taking Chinese clients between 2008 and 2010. In October 2010, Gain Capital was fined by the

National Futures Association The National Futures Association (NFA) is the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for the U.S. derivatives industry, including on-exchange traded futures, retail off-exchange foreign currency (forex) and OTC derivatives ( swaps). NFA is headquar ...

for allegedly engaging in margin, liquidation and price slippage practices that benefited Gain to the detriment of its customers. They were fined $459,000 and agreed to refund to customers the amount of negative slippage they experienced on the trades that were placed in their accounts between May 1 and July 31.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1999 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Financial services companies of the United States Financial derivative trading companies Foreign exchange companies 2010 initial public offerings American companies established in 1999 Companies based in Somerset County, New Jersey 1999 establishments in New Jersey