That is the title of an article by John Jagerson over at PFXglobal:
Profiting with Forex (PFX) - Watch Forex Professionals Currency Trade
The retail forex business is young and relatively unregulated but that won't last. I was surprised that the regulators have not moved faster in the U.S. when the Refco disaster occurred a few years ago but we are starting to see some action. What's coming down the pipeline might affect your dealer so do your homework and check them out.
Because many forex dealers are headquartered in the U.S. they are subject to the NFA and the CFTC. Although registration requirements for FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) have been loose in the past, they are tightening fast. There are two big changes coming down the pipe. The one I think retail traders should be aware of is the change to the net capitalization requirement. There is a minimum amount of cash (outside of customer accounts) that an FCM has to have to stay in business. That minimum used to be $250,000 then was recently raised to $1,000,000 and it is now going to be raised to $5,000,000 in the very near term. Did you know that if you are working with a dealer in the U.S. you can find out how much net capital they have? Just go the the CFTC's website and look up their financial data for FCMs. In fact, if you google "CFTC" it will give you a link right to the spreadsheet you want to look at. There is a bunch of other interesting goodies in that spreadsheet as well.
The bottom line is that you should know whether your dealer can meet those requirements because if they can't your account could be tied up while they shut down their operations or raise capital. I realize most of us are working with large dealers but smaller boutique firms have a certain appeal and service levels that attracts a lot of traders. Just make sure you are not working with someone that is too small.
Couldn't have said it better myself...