GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. was a US-based provider of online trading services, headquartered in Warren, New Jersey until it was acquired by StoneX Group in 2020. The company provided 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. By trading volume, it i ...

contracts for difference In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a financial agreement between two parties, commonly referred to as the "buyer" and the "seller." The contract stipulates that the buyer will pay the seller the difference between the current value o ...

(CFDs) and exchange-based products to

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

and institutional investors. Trading was 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 ...

s, its own proprietary FOREXTrader PRO later renamed as StoneX Pro and

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 allowed retail and institutional clients to speculate on global foreign exchange markets in what is known as ‘margin forex trading’. GAIN Capital operated 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 owned advisory CFD business, SALT Invest, and futures provider, Daniels Trading.

History

GAIN Capital was founded in 1999 in

Bedminster, New Jersey Bedminster is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 8,272, an increase of 107 (+1.3%) from the 201 ...

, 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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

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 the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

; 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'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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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 was 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 had offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Cracow,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. 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 of the People's Republic of China, State Council to regulate the Chinese banking sector, banking sector of the P ...

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 headqu ...

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

{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1999 Companies formerly 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 2020 mergers and acquisitions 2020 disestablishments in New Jersey Defunct financial services companies of the United States