Welcome to the real world.
Here in the Offshore Broker thread, we have been following events in Australia for several months now, as the ASIC caves in to pressure from the CFTC (and from the FCA, and ESMA) to increase their strangle-hold on off-exchange currency trading worldwide.
The goal of these Nanny Regulators is to exclude retail (non-ECP) traders from the off-exchange market, forcing them onto futures-style currency exchanges managed and regulated by the CFTC.
Here are some recent articles on the Australian situation from Finance Magnates –
Regarding the transfer of IC Markets’ non-Aussie customers to their “subsidiary” in Seychelles, use extreme due diligence in evaluating that option. It may be an excellent option – but, as many on this thread can attest, these forced transfers of client accounts can work out badly.
Many of us were involved with Tallinex, before the CFTC cracked down hard on that broker, forcing them to unload their U.S. clients. Tallinex negotiated the option of a transfer of U.S. client accounts from Tallinex to Capital City Markets in Vanuatu — a move which ultimately turned out to be a nightmare for those clients who took that option and went along with the transfer. For more information on that ordeal, search this thread for relevant posts (search-words: CCM, and Capital City Markets).
On a more positive note, we don’t necessarily have anything against Seychelles, or any other reasonably stable offshore jurisdiction. We are much more focused on honest brokers, than on highly-regulated jurisdictions. In fact, one of our Trusted Brokers (Turnkey Forex) is domiciled in Mauritius, which is in the same Indian Ocean neighborhood as Seychelles.
So, as I said above, the IC Markets (SC) option could be promising for you. Maybe for some of us, as well. We’re always looking for offshore brokers who are interested in doing business with us.