Building a scalable acquisition engine for your prop firm most often comes down to three things: which channels you run, how you segment your audience, and what your creatives look like. This article covers all three – including the six channels worth your attention, a framework for testing creatives systematically, and eight specific creative themes with real performance benchmarks.Important "disclaimers": the performance metrics I'm sharing vary from market to market. Simply copying and pasting creatives doesn't guarantee results. The examples below are for inspirational and educational purposes only.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The Six Channels That MatterThe prop firm acquisition landscape centers around six core channels, each serving a distinct function in your growth engine.Search campaigns through Google Ads capture traders who are already problem-aware and actively comparing options. Run branded campaigns (your firm name), generic campaigns targeting keywords like "best prop firms" and "funded account challenges," and competitor campaigns bidding on rival brand names. In my experience, search consistently delivers the highest intent traffic, with CPCs ranging from $2-3 for branded terms to $4-7 for competitive generic keywords. The problem with search is volume – if you need to go from 100 to 1,000 funded accounts monthly, you'll need additional channels.Performance Max campaigns extend your reach through banners and Gmail placements. These work particularly well once you have conversion data for Google's algorithm to optimise against. I typically recommend allocating budget here after you've established a baseline of 300+ conversions monthly.Social media (Meta, TikTok, and X) excel at visual storytelling that showcases lifestyle, payout proofs, and ease of entry. Meta delivers the highest volume and builds brand awareness at scale. TikTok brings younger demographics with higher engagement but occasionally lower conversion quality, while X works well for brand visibility within trader communities.Read more: The Great Prop Firm Shakeout: Who Survives 2026?YouTube excels at building trust through long-form content. A 15-minute breakdown of your challenge rules from a credible trading YouTuber will generate conversions for months. For your own YouTube ads, UGC-style short-form videos in square format consistently outperform static banners. The winning formula: a powerful hook in the first 3 seconds, simple messaging, and dynamic pacing.Display and native advertising through Taboola and Outbrain offer surprising value. Taboola is seriously underrated – in LATAM and parts of Asia, it delivers strong results for top-of-funnel awareness. Outbrain works particularly well for content-heavy funnels when you're running education-led journeys.Community channels like Discord and Telegram function as your retention infrastructure. Active community members show 2-3x higher lifetime value than isolated traders in every cohort analysis I've run. The referral loops that emerge from healthy communities can reduce your CAC by 20-30% over time.A System for Creative TestingBefore producing any creative asset, you need a systematic framework. The Creative Matrix prevents random experimentation and helps you identify patterns faster.The three personas that matter most are the Gambler who seeks high-risk, high-reward opportunities; the Professional who values strict rules and stability; and the Newbie who needs education and low entry barriers. Each responds to fundamentally different messaging.The matrix works by combining these elements systematically. When targeting the Gambler, your creative might show a "Turn $100 into $10k" headline over flashy lifestyle visuals. That same offer for the Professional would highlight "Institutional trading conditions" with clean, Bloomberg-style aesthetics.Eight Creative Themes Worth TestingDiscounts and coupons create urgency. The specific structure matters – "80% OFF + CODE: SAVE80 + Ends Friday" outperforms vague "limited time" language. This drives volume but can attract lower-quality traders if overused.Highlighting total payouts builds credibility. "$75M paid to traders" demonstrates scale, while "Average payout: $3,386" makes success feel achievable. Record-breaking individual payouts inspire action; aggregate numbers build credibility.Promoting large account sizes appeals to ambition. Show the path – how traders can progress from smaller accounts to larger ones. Works particularly well for the Gambler and Professional personas.UGC and video testimonials consistently outperform professionally produced content. A trader filming themselves on their phone, showing genuine emotion about a payout, carries weight scripted content cannot match. Keep these between 15-30 seconds, focusing on the emotional peak.Instant funding messaging has grown significantly because it removes the waiting period traditional challenges require. It particularly resonates with experienced traders who view evaluation phases as unnecessary barriers.Educational content positions your firm as a trusted resource. It works exceptionally well for the Newbie persona – lower immediate conversion rates but higher-quality traders with better retention.Challenge structure features (1-step or 2-step) deserve dedicated creative focus. Traders actively compare structures across firms, so making yours crystal clear reduces friction.Localization remains underutilized despite its effectiveness. This goes beyond translation – it includes local currency, regional payment methods, and cultural references. Localized creatives often outperform generic English-only campaigns by 30-40%.Where to Find Creative InspirationThe goal is to extract strategic insights, not simply copy what you see.Meta Ad Library should be your starting point. An ad that's been active for 60+ days likely indicates profitability. Look at the messaging hierarchy, visual style, and offer structure rather than just copying the asset. Google Ads Transparency Center shows search campaigns and YouTube creatives. TikTok Creative Center helps you spot trending formats and music. For systematic analysis, Foreplay.co lets you build organized swipe files before ads expire, while Adbeat tracks display and native ads.The strategic value comes from asking questions about what you observe. When a competitor runs an 80% discount for 45 days, consider whether they're boosting cash flow, testing price sensitivity, or prioritizing acquisition over margin.Next StepsIf you're just starting, focus on the six core channels and build your baseline conversion data. Once you have 300+ conversions monthly, layer in the Creative Matrix to systematize your testing. If you're already spending significantly, audit your current creative against the three personas – chances are you'll find entire audience segments you're not speaking to effectively. This article was written by Stanislav Galandzovskyi at www.financemagnates.com.

This article explains how traditional banks and digital wallet apps collaborate to process financial transactions, focusing on the significance of the cash app bank name users see during transfers and statements, and its impact on resolving disputes, ensuring compliance, and understanding account security.As wallet apps transform how people manage money, many users overlook the complexity behind their use. The cash app bank name often appears when reviewing transfer details; this reveals the banking partnership that powers a user's transactions through the app. Recognizing the shared responsibilities between wallet providers and banks helps users see why both institutions matter in each transaction.How digital wallet partnerships operate behind the scenesDigital wallet providers focus on creating an easy, attractive front-end for users, but the underlying banking services remain essential for core operations. For recordkeeping and verification, the cash app bank name can indicate which regulated banking partner is supporting financial transactions, keeping user funds secure and compliant with legal standards.The distinction in roles is important: banks handle regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering procedures, and the actual movement of funds, while wallet brands build user features and experiences. This layered partnership allows the familiar app to offer bank-backed reliability without users needing an account directly at the partner bank.The visibility of bank identities in wallet transactionsWhen users send or receive money, transaction logs, direct deposit information, and statement line items can help connect activity to the sponsoring institution. In many cases, the cash app bank name provides this clarity, signaling the role of a specific partner bank in clearing, settling, and recording payments through established financial rails, supporting regulatory and audit needs.Visibility of the sponsoring bank is critical for addressing transaction disputes, tracing the source of payments, and complying with financial safety checks. Knowing which bank stands behind an app can help users resolve issues, understand account limitations, and provide required information for regulatory verification.Benefits and tensions shaping the future of collaborationWallet providers can introduce features faster, while their banking partners carry the regulatory and risk management burdens reflected in account documentation. This arrangement increases transaction volume for banks and lets wallets target new customer segments while leveraging established infrastructure.However, as digital wallets expand into areas such as credit or business services, the collaboration faces tension. Traditional banks are responding with their own digital solutions and reviewing data-sharing arrangements with wallet apps. The responsibilities attached to the financial layer of every transfer may still be associated with an identifying label like the cash app bank name.Regulatory concerns, risk management, and what lies aheadObligations like know your customer and anti-money laundering checks are shared between wallet apps and the banks represented by sponsor relationships. The decision of a partner bank to limit accounts or close relationships can impact wallet users directly, sometimes resulting in frozen funds or unavailable services.Industry observers are watching developments in sponsor banking and regulatory oversight, especially how end users interact with the cash app bank name for compliance verification and dispute resolution. Innovations in open banking and instant payments will also shape this relationship in the future, as noted by BlockchainReporter. This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

Public Bitcoin miners sold more BTC in the first quarter of 2026 than in all of 2025, as low margins forced many operators to liquidate reserves to cover operating costs.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).The surge in sales comes even though Bitcoin’s price remains above the previous cycle peak, underscoring how rising difficulty and lower block rewards have squeezed profitability across the sector.Record BTC Sales as Hashprice SlumpsPublicly traded miners including Marathon, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026, based on preliminary disclosures and data compiled by TheEnergyMag.This already exceeds total net sales for all of 2025 and surpasses the roughly 20,000 BTC miners sold in Q2 2022 during the Terra-Luna-driven market turmoil. Just over a year ago, the same group ended 2024 by adding nearly 17,600 BTC to their balance sheets, pushing combined reserves above 100,000 BTC.You may also like: EU Seeks Larger “European Champions”; CFD Brokers Already Leading the WayThe driver of the reversal is mining economics, not spot price. Hashprice, expected mining revenue per unit of computing power, has hovered in the low 30 dollars per PH/s/day, near record lows. At those levels, margins are thin or negative for operators with older machines or higher power costs, making BTC sales the fastest way to fund operations and meet debt obligations in a tougher financing environment.The industry, however, is not moving in one direction. Some firms now sell aggressively to maintain liquidity, while others continue to accumulate. American Bitcoin Corp.Bitdeer #BTC Weekly Update? BTC Holdings: 0 (pure holdings, excluding customer deposits)? BTC Output: 189.8 BTC? BTC Sold: 189.8 BTC? Net BTC Added: -943.1 BTC? Data as of February 20, 2026.#Bitcoin #BTC #BitcoinHoldings #BitcoinCommunity #BTCMining $BTDR pic.twitter.com/vtvBVEui0Q— Bitdeer (@Bitdeer) February 21, 2026ABTC, the proprietary mining arm of Hut 8, has built reserves of more than 7,000 BTC since early 2025 while ramping its proprietary hashrate to about 28 EH/s. The company reports an all-in cash cost near 55,000 dollars per bitcoin, giving it room to hold production rather than sell into weakness.Miners Split Between Sellers and AccumulatorsElsewhere, private operators with ultra-low-cost power, such as those using flared natural gas, continue to mine profitably even at current hashprice levels. At the same time, miners are increasingly turning to software tools and fleet optimization to squeeze more efficiency from existing hardware, rather than relying solely on large-scale expansions.In one classic case, Bitdeer shifted from holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet to using it primarily as a source of liquidity. In January, the Singapore-based miner produced 668 BTC, a 430% year‑on‑year increase, and pushed its self‑mining hash rate to 63.2 EH/s, with total proprietary hash rate at 65.1 EH/s. Around the same time, other miners have followed the same path, with Riot Platforms selling about 200 million dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to finance its day-to-day operations and support its expansion into artificial intelligence. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Four countries across the Middle East and Africa advanced separate digital asset regulatory frameworks in the first quarter of 2026, a new FM Intelligence analysis found, positioning the region alongside the EU's MiCA regime and Asia-Pacific licensing efforts in the global push to bring crypto under formal supervision.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The four frameworks, covering Dubai, Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria, differ widely in maturity and approach, from a fully operational licensing regime with 300 approved firms in South Africa to a six-entity pilot program in Nigeria. But taken together, they represent the broadest regulatory acceleration in the MEA crypto space to date, according to the FM Intelligence research.Dubai Writes the Region's First Crypto Derivatives RulebookDubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority published Exchange Services Rulebook Version 2.1 on March 31, introducing a 5:1 retail leverage cap for crypto derivatives. The framework covers listed futures, perpetuals, and options across the 45 firms currently holding VARA licenses, nearly double the 23 recorded in December 2024. Major licensees include Binance FZE, Crypto.com, OKX ME, Deribit, and Backpack.The 5:1 cap sits between offshore exchanges that historically offered up to 100:1 leverage and the ESMA 2:1 cap applied to crypto CFDs in the European Union. Enforcement has been running in parallel: VARA issued penalty notices against 36 firms between August 2024 and August 2025, with fines ranging from approximately $13,600 to $163,000, the analysis noted.Kenya's Capital Thresholds Draw Sharp Industry PushbackKenya's draft VASP Regulations 2026, published March 17, propose KES 500 million ($3.86 million) in capital requirements for stablecoin issuers and descending thresholds for exchanges, wallet providers, and investment advisors. The Virtual Asset Association of Kenya warned the thresholds could eliminate over 90% of the country's current operators.The stakes are high. According to Chainalysis data cited in the analysis, Kenya received $19 billion in cryptocurrency inflows between July 2024 and June 2025, ranking 21st on the Global Adoption Index, with over 6 million crypto users. Final regulations are expected between Q2 and Q3 2026.South Africa Leads with 300 Licensed Crypto FirmsSouth Africa's FSCA has built what the analysis describes as the largest regulated crypto ecosystem in the developing world. Out of 512 applications received, the regulator approved 300 by December 2025, a 59% approval rate, while opening 81 enforcement investigations into unlicensed operators. Penalties for operating without a license reach ZAR 10 million (approximately $550,000) or 10 years imprisonment.Two compliance milestones arrived in early 2026: the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework took effect on March 1, and the Financial Intelligence Centre confirmed a zero-threshold Travel Rule for crypto transfers. South Africa exited the FATF grey list in October 2025, with crypto regulation cited among the contributing reforms. VALR, the country's largest crypto exchange, secured a derivatives license in October 2025, becoming one of the first entities licensed for crypto derivatives under the Financial Markets Act.Nigeria Shifts from Prohibition to Structured EngagementNigeria's Central Bank launched an AML supervision pilot on March 31, enrolling six entities including KuCoin, stablecoin issuer cNGN, and payment platforms Flutterwave and Paystack. The pilot requires monthly AML performance indicators, governance reviews, and FATF Travel Rule implementation plans, and follows Nigeria's removal from the FATF grey list in October 2025.The shift is notable given the country's history. Nigeria's central bank ordered banks to close crypto-related accounts in February 2021, a stance that persisted for years. The country processed $92.1 billion in crypto transactions between July 2024 and June 2025, according to PwC data cited in the analysis, nearly three times South Africa's volume.What Remains UnresolvedThe FM Intelligence analysis notes that cross-border recognition between the four jurisdictions is not formalized, and the frameworks vary in enforcement readiness. Kenya's capital thresholds, if enacted as drafted, may produce a market dominated by foreign-capitalized operators rather than local firms, the research warns, inverting the framework's stated objective of fostering domestic participation.The full analysis, including detailed regulatory comparisons, leverage cap benchmarks, and compliance timelines, is available on FM Intelligence DataLab. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Bitcoin traded at $74,300 on Thursday, April 16, 2026, sitting 41% below the $126,198 all-time high set on October 6, 2025, as the market retests resistance at the top of a consolidation range that has defined the chart since early February. Tuesday's session briefly cleared $76,000 before reversing into a bearish pin bar, the same pattern that my previous analysis flagged as the dominant technical signal this week.The bitcoin price prediction debate is being shaped by two competing forces: $411 million in single-day ETF inflows on April 15 after Goldman Sachs filed for a new Bitcoin ETF, and the mechanical reality that every rally attempt toward $75,000 has been sold since the consolidation began. Charles Schwab announced its spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading platform rollout this week, adding another institutional on-ramp. Meanwhile, eToro agreed to acquire self-custodial wallet provider Zengo for approximately $70 million, signaling that platforms generating billions from crypto are doubling down on infrastructure rather than retreating.Follow me on X for real-time market analysis: @ChmielDkHow High Can Bitcoin Go? eToro CEO BTC Price Prediction Targets $250KThe headline bitcoin price prediction this week comes from eToro CEO Yoni Assia, who spoke at Paris Blockchain Week alongside the Zengo acquisition announcement."Bitcoin is on the path eventually to $250,000, $500,000 and beyond," Assia said during a fireside chat. He expects the current slowdown to last one more quarter before an accumulation phase pushes BTC to new highs.The conviction carries weight given eToro's exposure. The platform reported total revenue and income of $13.8 billion in 2025, of which $12.98 billion came from crypto assets, making crypto roughly 94% of its business. That revenue mix explains why eToro is spending $70 million to bring Zengo's self-custody wallet technology in-house and expanding into tokenized assets, prediction markets, and yield products.Paul Howard, Senior Director at crypto market maker Wincent, frames the trajectory as more measured. "We are seeing steady growth in institutional and high-net-worth interest, which acts as a consistent catalyst for BTC, particularly through larger OTC trades and increased engagement from sophisticated counterparties," Howard said. He projects BTC could reach $100,000 by Q4 2026, though not necessarily setting a new all-time high within the year.Key drivers shaping the bitcoin price prediction:ETF-driven institutional demand absorbed $1.1 billion in weekly inflows, the strongest since JanuaryFed rate stance at 3.50-3.75% providing a floor for risk assets while keeping monetary conditions restrictiveIran ceasefire removed the geopolitical premium from oil, loosening the BTC-Nasdaq correlation tradeeToro's Zengo acquisition and Goldman Sachs ETF filing signal deepening institutional commitment to crypto infrastructureTax-season selling mechanically pressuring prices into mid-April, expected to clear by month-endETF Flows and Institutional PositioningThe institutional flow data tells a more constructive story than the price chart suggests. Bitcoin spot ETFs posted $411 million in net inflows on April 15, the day Goldman Sachs filed for its Bitcoin ETF product. BlackRock's IBIT accumulated $505 million over April 14-15 alone.Weekly inflows hit $1.1 billion for the week ending April 11, the largest weekly intake since January. IBIT captured $871 million of that total. Year-to-date flows have turned positive at $2.3 billion, and total ETF AUM reached $96.5 billion, the highest since mid-March.Adam Haeems, Head of Asset Management at Tesseract Group, identified three short-term drivers. "The Fed holding at 3.50-3.75% keeps the floor under risk assets generally. The Iran ceasefire took some of the geopolitical premium out of oil, which loosened the correlation trade that was pinning BTC to the Nasdaq through March. And tax-season liquidations are adding noise this week, that's mechanical, not directional," Haeems said.Haeems also flagged what he considers the most underappreciated structural shift. "A growing share of the $8 billion-plus in wrapped Bitcoin sitting in DeFi protocols is being actively managed rather than parked as idle collateral. That changes the holding cost calculation, which feeds back into price," he said. When allocators can generate yield on a BTC position rather than giving up the risk-free rate, they size larger and hold longer.BlackRock IBIT: $505M inflows over April 14-15, five consecutive days of positive flowsGoldman Sachs: filed for new Bitcoin ETF, joining the institutional raceMorgan Stanley MSBT: $100M+ inflows in first six trading days since launchYTD flows: positive at $2.3B after digging out of a Q1 outflow holeTotal spot ETF AUM: $96.5B, approaching the January high-water markAs I noted in my April analysis, Q1 absorbed $18.7 billion in net ETF inflows despite a 23% price decline, suggesting institutional conviction moved to lower price levels rather than disappearing.Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD Technical AnalysisBitcoin is currently pressing against the upper boundary of the consolidation range it has occupied since early February, and this range sits at the lowest price levels since November 2024. Based on my over 15 years of experience as an analyst and trader, the structure is clear.The upper boundary is defined by the $75,000 area, which coincides with the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the decline from the October 2025 ATH. This level carries additional significance because it aligns with important swing lows from April 2025 that previously acted as support. The lower boundary sits at the early February lows in the $60,400-$62,500 zone, with a local support shelf near $66,000. The 50 EMA runs at approximately $72,000, and price has reclaimed it, a necessary but insufficient condition for any bullish continuation.My chart shows that even if Bitcoin breaks above this consolidation to the upside, supply pressure does not disappear. The 200 EMA and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement converge in the $84,000-$85,000 zone, building a strong confluence resistance that has defined the bearish trend boundary since late 2025. As I detailed in my March analysis, the 200 EMA remains the line separating corrective rallies from genuine trend reversals. Only a daily close above the $84,000-$85,000 confluence would remove the bearish pressure from Bitcoin's chart.How High Can Bitcoin Go? Price Predictions for 2026Assia is not alone in targeting $250,000. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and "Rich Dad Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki have both issued similar calls, as the FinanceMagnates.com report from February detailed alongside even more aggressive targets. A $250,000 BTC price would imply a $5 trillion market capitalization, making Bitcoin the world's second-largest asset after gold.Howard's $100,000 Q4 target at Wincent is built on two pillars: geopolitical de-escalation and potential monetary easing in H2 2026. "I maintain my previous 2025 outlook that 2026 will be characterised by a steady uptrend for BTC, potentially reaching $100K by Q4, though not necessarily setting a new all-time high within the year," Howard said.Haeems approaches the question from a structural angle rather than a price target. "Bitcoin has been range-bound between $64,000 support and $74,000 resistance for weeks now. That range has absorbed the Hormuz shock, the March correlation squeeze, and tax-season selling without breaking in either direction," he said. He noted roughly $6 billion in short liquidation is clustered above the current range, meaning any sustained break through $74,000 gets accelerated mechanically. On the bearish side, Galaxy Digital described the year ahead as "too chaotic to predict," as the FinanceMagnates.com report noted.FAQ, Bitcoin Price PredictionHow high can Bitcoin go in 2026? eToro CEO Yoni Assia targets $250,000, which would imply a $5 trillion market cap, making BTC the world's second-largest asset after gold. Wincent's Paul Howard projects $100,000 by Q4 2026 based on steady institutional growth, while Tesseract's Adam Haeems notes $6 billion in clustered shorts above $74,000 that could accelerate a breakout.What is the Bitcoin price prediction for April 2026? Bitcoin trades at $74,300 as of April 16, 2026, testing the $75,000 upper boundary of a consolidation range that has held since February. The failed breakout above $76,000 on April 14 produced a bearish pin bar. The lower boundary sits at $60,400-$62,500. My technical analysis identifies $84,000-$85,000 as the next major resistance.Why is Bitcoin stuck below $75,000? The $75,000 level coincides with the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the decline from the October 2025 ATH of $126,198. This zone also aligns with April 2025 swing lows. Sellers have defended this level on every test since February, creating a ceiling that requires significant volume and catalyst convergence to break.Are Bitcoin ETF inflows bullish for BTC price? Spot Bitcoin ETFs absorbed $1.1 billion in weekly inflows ending April 11, the strongest since January. Total AUM reached $96.5 billion. Goldman Sachs filed for a new BTC ETF, and Morgan Stanley's MSBT attracted $100M+ in its first six trading days. These flows provide structural demand, but BTC remains range-bound, suggesting inflows are being absorbed without triggering a breakout.Will Bitcoin reach $100,000 again in 2026? Wincent's Paul Howard projects BTC could reach $100,000 by Q4 2026 but likely will not set a new ATH this year. My chart shows the 200 EMA at $84,000-$85,000 must clear first, a 14% move from current levels. Prediction markets price $100K by December 31 at roughly 38%. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

The prediction market industry has expanded its lobbying and public affairs operations in Washington in early 2026, as Congress introduces a wave of proposed legislation targeting the sector. Official lobbying disclosures from 2025 show the industry’s two largest players, Kalshi and Polymarket, spent a combined roughly $1 million. Those figures, however, do not capture more recent developments. In the first months of 2026, both companies have scaled up their presence in Washington in ways that will not appear in public filings until later this year.A Nascent Operation Goes Pro Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated U.S. market leader, has moved beyond external lobbying contracts. The company has opened a dedicated government relations office in Washington, led by a former Biden administration official, and brought on former senior Obama adviser Stephanie Cutter as a policy consultant. A new trade group, the Coalition for Prediction Markets, has also been formed to represent a unified industry position. Led by a former U.S. congressman, it includes regulated U.S. players such as Kalshi, Coinbase, and Robinhood. Polymarket, which has historically taken a lower-profile approach in Washington, is also building a physical presence. The company has been experimenting with a pop-up venue in downtown D.C. as an informal way to engage policymakers. Legislative Pressure is Building The expansion of lobbying infrastructure comes as legislative activity has accelerated in 2026. Congress has introduced at least 13 bills targeting the prediction market industry this year. These range from narrower bipartisan proposals to restrict insider trading by federal officials — which the industry has largely supported — to broader measures that could affect core products. One bill co-sponsored by Senator Adam Schiff would ban sports-related contracts on federally regulated exchanges. Sports contracts currently account for a large share of trading volume on platforms such as Kalshi.Implications for the Industry The prediction markets industry is now navigating multiple regulatory tracks at once. Earlier legal disputes have not disappeared, but policy debates in Congress are becoming a central arena. Official 2026 lobbying disclosures are not yet available. However, the pace at which firms are adding personnel, offices, and coordinated industry groups suggests spending on political influence is increasing faster than current public data indicates. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

The European Union is reviewing its merger control guidelines in what could become the biggest regulatory change in the region. The draft reform aims to help firms grow large enough to compete globally, especially against major rivals from the US and China.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).According to draft guidelines cited by the Financial Times, the European Commission will place greater emphasis on innovation, investment, and the resilience of the internal market when assessing proposed mergers. It marks a shift from the existing approach, which focuses mainly on how a deal might affect consumers and pricing.Indeed, consolidation among the CFD players in the region is picking up pace. Most recently, GBE Brokers agreed to acquire JFD Group’s EU CFD client book and associated funds, in an eight‑figure asset deal. FX and CFD Consolidation AcceleratesStepping back to last year, the merger between prop firm FuzeTraders and Kubera Markets shows a different path to scale: pulling a prop trading outfit into the orbit of a CFD broker. Announced around May 2025 and then built out across the year, the deal created a hybrid structure where funded‑trader style prop activity and CFD brokerage live under one, more recognisable umbrella brand.EU‑facing FX/CFD Brokers Quietly Building “European Champions”Additionally, Interactive Brokers quietly migrated its EU and Central/Eastern European clients into its Irish entity, turning Ireland into the single booking centre for its FX/CFD and wider multi‑asset offering in the EU. The groundwork for that consolidation was laid in late 2023, when Interactive Brokers announced it would merge its Hungarian firm IBCE into its Irish unit IBIE and centralize EU operations there. The legal merger, completed in 2024, brought equities, options, futures, bonds, FX and CFDs for EU clients under a single Irish‑licensed broker, simplifying the group’s structure while preserving its broad multi‑asset scope.Read more: Interactive Brokers Centralizes European Operations in Ireland amid ExpansionAn EU official commented for the FT, saying that the new rules represent an ambitious approach that reflects the realities of increasingly challenging global competition. The guidelines reflect the priorities of the current Commission mandate, more scale and ambition in building globally competitive firms.Balancing Competitiveness and Consumer InterestsCommission President Ursula von der Leyen has urged regulators to support companies that are trying to expand internationally. The draft notes that the growth and scaling-up of firms can be pro-competitive, suggesting that consolidation may strengthen supply chains and secure critical inputs for production.Even with those concerns, the guidelines maintain that protecting effective competition remains the primary objective. The reforms call for a broader understanding of what makes markets competitive, especially in sectors where both innovation and scale are vital to success.The draft text has yet to be finalized, and further debate is expected before formal adoption. If approved, the changes would signal a major policy shift in how Brussels views corporate consolidation within Europe. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said a yuan-backed stablecoin could emerge within three to five years, framing it as part of a broader shift toward technology-driven currency competition. He described the potential development as a natural extension of how currencies compete in digital markets. “If there’s currency competition, you want your currency to have the best features possible,” Allaire said. “This is becoming a technological competition.” However, the timeline reflects industry expectations rather than any confirmed policy direction from Chinese authorities. China’s Strategy: CBDC First, Private Tokens Under Pressure China maintains a domestic ban on cryptocurrency trading while pursuing the e-CNY central bank digital currency as its primary digital currency initiative. Privately issued yuan-linked stablecoins operate mainly outside mainland China and face tightening regulatory scrutiny. Any expansion of such instruments would likely occur through offshore financial centers rather than through the domestic system. In practice, the market for yuan-backed stablecoins remains minimal. Existing tokens such as CNHC, AxCNH and Tether’s CNHt operate primarily in offshore environments and have limited adoption. CNHt is already being wound down, while the remaining projects function at a scale that is negligible compared with dollar-backed stablecoins. More than 90% of fiat-backed stablecoins are denominated in U.S. dollars, with USDT and USDC accounting for the vast majority of a market estimated at roughly $300 billion.What It Means for Circle, and the Market A yuan-denominated stablecoin could, in theory, provide a new rail for cross-border settlement and a digital instrument for holding renminbi exposure, particularly in Asian markets. For financial institutions and brokers, it would introduce a second major fiat base into crypto markets that are currently almost entirely dollar-based. However, that potential is constrained by structure. Any yuan stablecoin is likely to operate within China’s capital control framework, limiting its role as a freely tradable global settlement asset. Circle’s position reflects its own strategic interests. As the issuer of USDC, the company stands to benefit from a multi-currency stablecoin market in which infrastructure providers, rather than individual currencies, capture value. Allaire’s comments therefore point to how industry participants are thinking about the next stage of stablecoin development — even as the current market remains overwhelmingly dollar-dominated. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Charles Schwab has announced plans to roll out spot cryptocurrency trading to retail clients, marking a further expansion into digital assets.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).This follows earlier developments in the US market. Last year, SoFi resumed crypto trading for retail clients, becoming the first national bank to restore access under a revised regulatory framework. At the time, several major institutions, including Morgan Stanley and PNC Financial Services, were preparing similar launches, reflecting a move toward direct crypto offerings.Bitcoin, Ethereum Trading Coming to SchwabThe company said its new offering, Schwab Crypto, will begin a phased launch in the coming weeks. It will initially provide direct access to trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum. These two assets account for a large share of the overall crypto market.The service will be integrated into Schwab’s existing platforms. Clients will be able to view and trade cryptocurrencies alongside traditional investments. The firm also plans to provide educational materials and continuous customer support.Jonathan Craig, Head of Retail Investing at Schwab, said clients are seeking broader access within a single platform. He stated, “We know our clients want to conduct more of their financial lives at Schwab.” He added that the new service allows clients to “trade it alongside their other investments,” while using Schwab’s existing tools and research.JUST IN: Charles Schwab launches direct trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum— Kalshi (@Kalshi) April 16, 2026Crypto Accounts Linked to Brokerage AccountsThe company said pricing will be set at 75 basis points per transaction. It also plans to expand the range of available digital assets over time and introduce transfer capabilities for deposits and withdrawals.Schwab clients will open a separate crypto account linked to their brokerage account. Custody will be handled by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, while Paxos will provide sub-custody and execution services.Schwab said the launch builds on existing client exposure to digital asset products, including exchange-traded products and derivatives tied to cryptocurrencies. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

French online broker that offers CFDs Bourse Direct recorded strong growth, with consolidated revenue up 18.2% year-on-year to €22.1 million and orders executed by individual investors rising 20.2% to 1.7 million.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).According to the firm's Thursday announcement, as translated to English, market volatility since January has fueled higher retail participation. This has lifted both trading volumes and account openings at the broker.Volatility Drives Investor ActivityThe sharp movements in European stocks early in the year triggered sustained trading on Bourse Direct’s platform. The firm’s order volume in the first quarter was also 28.4% higher than in the final quarter of 2025, showing continued momentum in retail engagement. Revenue from individual investors reached €19.5 million, highlighting the segment’s strength amid active market conditions.As of March 31, 2026, Bourse Direct managed over 415,000 accounts, a 9.6% increase compared to the same date last year. Client recruitment also rose 13.5% over the fourth quarter of 2025, supported by steady interest in online investing across France.The company’s professional business, operated through subsidiary EXOE, registered a 35% jump in turnover to €2.6 million, highlighting growing demand among institutional clients. Bourse Direct’s financial structure remains stable, with shareholders’ equity standing at €88.7 million and available cash of €59.7 million at year-end 2025.Bourse Direct continues to provide retail investors with access to equities, ETFs, derivatives, and funds across major global markets. Its platform also offers long-term savings products including life insurance and retirement plans, supporting investors seeking both short-term trading opportunities and long-term wealth growth.France’s CFD MarketAccording to Finance Magnates Intelligence Portal, France is a wealthy but tightly regulated CFD market that offers meaningful growth potential mainly for well-established, long-term players rather than opportunistic entrants. The country combines high household wealth and GDP per capita above $51,000 with very strict AMF oversight, Sapin II advertising curbs, and bans on trading incentives, which significantly raise compliance and client acquisition costs for brokers. Yet, the French CFD sector is not closed: cases such as XTB’s strong client growth and pivot toward regulated long-term savings wrappers like PEA show that firms willing to adapt their product mix, branding and time horizon can still build scale in this market.Additionally, IG Group teamed up with Berlin-based infrastructure provider Upvest to bring stock and ETF trading to French clients, layering a cash-equities and savings angle on top of its traditional CFD and FX franchise. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and CME Group have received regulatory approvals from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for an expanded cross-margining arrangement. The model is designed to increase capital efficiency for market participants. It will take effect on April 30.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).The approvals focus on institutional clearing infrastructure, with limited direct impact on retail-facing markets in the short term. Any effects are expected to be indirect, mainly through gradual changes in institutional liquidity conditions and capital efficiency, which may later influence broker funding costs over time.Treasury Futures Linked Under New FrameworkThe approval marks a further step in the development of the cross-margining framework between the two clearing infrastructures. The expansion extends cross-margining benefits beyond clearing members to end-user clients of dually registered broker/dealers and futures commission merchants. These firms must be common members of DTCC’s Fixed Income Clearing Corporation and CME. The arrangement links positions in U.S. Treasury securities cleared through FICC with interest rate futures cleared at CME. When positions carry offsetting risks, they can be netted for margin purposes across both clearing houses.As the regulatory framework takes effect, CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy said: “With the SEC's central clearing mandates now taking effect, cross-margining is essential — not only for operational efficiency, but to help end users manage the real costs of compliance.” End Users Added to Cross MarginingThe change is expected to reduce margin requirements for eligible participants. It may free up capital and improve liquidity for trading activity in U.S. Treasuries and interest rate derivatives. The move builds on earlier arrangements that already allowed similar offsets at the clearing-member level.The DTCC CME cross-margining framework has been in place since 2004 for proprietary house accounts of common clearing members and was further enhanced in 2024. The latest expansion brings end-user client accounts into the structure for the first time, widening the scope of eligible participants.Under the arrangement, FICC will designate cross-margin accounts where eligible positions can offset CME interest rate futures, while CME Clearing allows intraday allocation of futures to enable continuous offset recognition across both systems. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Hola Prime(https://holaprime.com), the rapidly growing prop trading firm known for its industry-first 1-Hour Payout model, today announced it has surpassed 1,000 verified reviews on Trustpilot, achieving an Excellent rating of 4.5 out of 5. The milestone positions Hola Prime among the most reviewed and the highest-rated prop trading firms globally on the world's most trusted consumer review platform. This recognition adds to a series of recent industry accolades for the firm, including the Global Most Transparent Prop Firm 2025 award from Finance Magnates and the Fastest Payout Prop Firm MEA 2026 award from UF Awards.The achievement comes on the back of sustained growth in Hola Prime's global trader base, with thousands of funded traders across LATAM, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas actively trading on the platform. Trustpilot's verified review system ensures that all ratings are submitted by genuine users, making the 1,000-review milestone a direct reflection of real trader sentiment and overall review credibility.An independent analysis of Hola Prime's Trustpilot reviews reveals recurring themes across verified submissions. Traders overwhelmingly cite the firm's 1-Hour Payout processing as a key differentiator in a market where competitor payout timelines often stretch to days or weeks. Reviewers also consistently praise the responsiveness of Hola Prime's customer support team and the clarity of its trading challenge structure.Hola Prime actively engages with its reviewer community, responding to 77% of all negative reviews within one week, a response rate that significantly outpaces industry norms and reflects the firm's commitment to accountability and continuous improvement in every review interaction."Crossing 1,000 verified reviews on Trustpilot with a 4.5 Excellent rating is not a number we take lightly," said Somesh Kapuria, CEO of Hola Prime. "Every review represents a real trader who trusted us with their time, their money and their ambition. This milestone is a direct reflection of our commitment to building a prop firm that actually delivers on its promises. We pay fast, we communicate openly and we hold ourselves accountable. That is the Hola Prime standard and we intend to raise it further."The prop trading industry has historically faced scrutiny over payout reliability, hidden rules and lack of trader communication. Hola Prime was founded on the principles of radical transparency, offering traders clear challenge parameters, real-time support and a payout infrastructure built to deliver within 60 minutes of request.With over 1,000 verified voices now on record, Hola Prime is calling on the broader prop trading industry to adopt higher standards of accountability, including public review engagement, published payout timelines and transparent communication with their traders.About Hola PrimeHola Prime is a global prop trading firm offering funded trading accounts to skilled traders worldwide. Known for its 1-Hour Payout model, Hola Prime provides traders with access to significant capital across major financial instruments including Forex, commodities and indices. The firm's industry leadership has been recognized with the Global Most Transparent Prop Firm 2025 award by Finance Magnates and the Fastest Payout Prop Firm MEA 2026 award by UF Awards. With a Trustpilot review rating of 4.5 and a rapidly growing global community operating under the hashtag WeAreTraders, Hola Prime is redefining what traders should expect from a prop firm.For more information users can visit www.holaprime.com This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

Spotware will host a free webinar on cTrader Leads – a new programme designed to help brokers attract prospective traders through cTrader products at no extra cost and improve conversion to live trading. cTrader’s growing community of more than 11 million traders opens up numerous acquisition opportunities for brokers and props. The registration is free and now open.With cTrader Leads, firms gain early access to prospective clients at the very start of their journey across cTrader products, including cTrader Store and the cross-broker cTrader app: traders are guided towards registration and live trading, while the client funnel remains fully protected. The programme also fits into the existing IB flow by keeping leads tied to the IB’s preferred broker, helping increase qualified referrals.The webinar "Introducing cTrader Leads: How to attract 250+ traders a day for free" will go live on 30 April at 5 PM (GMT+3). It will cover how the programme works and what real impact it can have on brokers and prop firms’ client acquisition. The session will be led by Aleksei Kozlov, General Manager at cTrader Store, and Ricardo Dias, Business Development Manager at Spotware.Drawing on different areas of expertise, the speakers will present the programme from business, marketing and product perspectives. Aleksei brings more than 10 years of experience in product management and business development across B2B and B2C products, with a focus on client acquisition. In the meantime, Ricardo offers a valuable perspective on the operational challenges and opportunities in emerging and established markets, backed by more than seven years of experience in fintech.What the webinar will cover:A clear action plan to enable cTrader Leads for your businessUnderstanding how to gain warm prospective traders for free across a growing base of over 11 million tradersWays to broaden an acquisition strategy beyond IBs and paid advertisingA special bonus for attendees at the end of the session, allowing FX/CFD brokers and proprietary trading firms to take a full advantage of cTrader LeadsLive Q&A throughout the sessionThe session is aimed at FX/CFD brokers and proprietary firm owners, C-level executives exploring infrastructure upgrades or migration from legacy systems, as well as senior marketing professionals– particularly those looking to strengthen client acquisition and improve conversion performance.Complete the form to register and share your questions in advance so our hosts can cover them during the webinar.About Spotware SystemsSpotware Systems is a fintech company founded in 2010, based in Limassol, Cyprus, with a global team of 200+ professionals. It designs and delivers innovative trading technology and custom solutions for brokers worldwide, supporting long-term growth and scalability. Spotware’s solutions include cTrader, the flagship trading platform, and cBridge, a highly cost-effective liquidity bridge for all platforms that eliminates volume fees and hidden charges entirely. Spotware’s expertise is consistently recognised with multiple international industry awards, including Best Trading Platform, Best Services for Partners and Best Mobile Trading App. This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.

“The most notable structural shift is that market growth is now being driven by reactivation of dormant traders rather than new entrant acquisition,” said Lorenzo Vignati, Research Director at Investment Trends.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!).Singapore’s leverage trading market is showing increasing signs of maturity, with growth shifting from new client acquisition to returning users, according to Investment Trends’ latest research. In a conversation ahead of the Singapore Summit, Vignati said the number of reactivated traders rose to 6,900, up from 5,700 a year earlier. Over the same period, the number of new traders placing their first-ever leverage trade declined from 6,000 to 5,500. He added that the trend reflects a maturing market where “the easier growth from first-timers is tapering,” placing greater emphasis on retention and re-engagement strategies.Across asset classes, US equities remain the dominant underlying instrument for leverage traders in Singapore, continuing to serve as the primary reference point. However, the research indicates increasing diversification beyond equities.Crypto Adoption Exceeds 40% as Use Case ChangesCrypto has surpassed a 40% adoption rate among leverage traders, marking a threshold level of engagement. The data suggests that participation is increasingly driven by portfolio diversification and longer-term growth considerations rather than speculative activity.“What strikes me is the motivation behind it – it is overwhelmingly driven by diversification and long-term growth, not speculation,” Vignati said, pointing to a shift in how crypto is positioned within trading strategies.Mobile Execution Rises While Desktop Remains Key for AnalysisTrading behaviour also reflects a clear divergence in platform usage. Approximately half of all leverage trades are now executed via mobile devices, while one in six traders operates exclusively on mobile. Desktop platforms, however, remain central to charting and analytical tasks.“Mobile is for execution, desktop is for charting and analysis,” he said. He added that traders are increasingly seeking improvements in mobile functionality, including faster execution, real-time data feeds, and more advanced charting capabilities within mobile environments.Demand Grows for Decision-Support and Trading ToolsThe research further highlights a gap between the importance of decision-support tools and current levels of user satisfaction. Features such as algorithmic trading tools, trade signals, and platform functionality were identified as key drivers of broker advocacy, but also as areas where satisfaction consistently lags behind importance.“The traders are telling us they want their platforms to help them think, not just execute,” Vignati said, indicating demand for more advanced analytical and decision-support capabilities.AI Adoption Expands Across Leverage TradersArtificial intelligence is also gaining traction among leverage traders. According to the findings, approximately three in four traders either already use AI tools or are open to adopting them. The primary use case is centred on market analysis and insight generation rather than prediction.“There’s been a subtle but important shift away from ‘tell me what will happen’ toward ‘help me understand what’s happening,’” he said, describing AI’s role as increasingly aligned with interpretation and learning.Traders Signal Willingness to Consolidate ProvidersThe data also points to potential consolidation trends within the broker landscape. Around two-thirds of traders indicated they would consider moving their trading activity to a single provider, provided that provider offers access to all the asset classes they trade.Regulation Emerges as Primary Broker Selection FactorAt the same time, regulatory standing remains the most influential factor in broker selection. According to the research, it ranks ahead of cost, platform quality, and product range as a primary decision driver.“Regulatory standing is the single most influential selection driver we measure,” Vignati said, highlighting the role of trust in shaping competitive dynamics.The findings form part of Investment Trends’ latest Singapore Leverage Trading research, which examines trader behaviour, platform preferences, and competitive positioning across brokers operating in the market. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

XTB has signed on as a Global Partner of FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, in a deal that runs through December 2027 and makes the Polish investment app a sponsor of the sport's two flagship world championships, the company and FIBA said today (Thursday).Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)XTB Joins FIBA as Global Partner Through 2027The agreement covers the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027, along with the worldwide qualifying rounds for the men's tournament. XTB will become the presenting sponsor of the European Qualifiers starting with the third window, scheduled for June 29 to July 7, 2026. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed."Partnering with FIBA allows us to connect financial empowerment with one of the world's most beloved sports,” Omar Arnaout, Chief Executive Officer at XTB, said in the announcement. “Together, we'll be giving fans the tools to put their money to work while celebrating the game they love."Under the terms set out by FIBA, XTB will use the qualifiers and the two World Cups to push its brand in front of basketball audiences and run what the governing body described as exclusive fan experiences, including behind-the-scenes access and the chance to step onto the official courts in Berlin and Doha. The 2026 women's tournament is scheduled for Berlin and the 2027 men's event will be held in Doha.Broker Basketball Sponsorships Heat UpThe FIBA deal lands during a period of unusually heavy investment by trading brands in basketball rights, after years in which football absorbed most of the category's sponsorship budgets. The NBA alone ended its 2024-25 season with 51 marketing partners, including seven new deals, and several of those new partners came from the CFD, fintech, and crypto exchange world.Dubai-based STARTRADER became an official NBA partner in January 2026, with the deal covering arena signage, broadcast placements, and social impact programs through the 2025-26 season. That agreement followed TMGM's multi-year tie-up with the Brooklyn Nets announced in July 2025, covering courtside and digital signage at Barclays Center. Robinhood remains one of the most aggressive brokers in the space, holding NBA jersey patch deals with the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, and Miami Heat, the first of which was signed in October 2023. Proprietary trading firm Hola Prime signed five-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns as its first sports ambassador in May 2025.Crypto exchanges have made similar moves. Coinbase signed a multi-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers in November 2024, extending an earlier sponsorship of the Golden State Warriors and the NBA itself. Older deals include Plus500's jersey partnership with the Chicago Bulls, signed when the London-listed broker was pushing into the US market, and CFI's sponsorship of Jordan's national basketball team, part of a broader industry drift away from football-only strategies.XTB Sports Portfolio Now Spans Six DisciplinesBasketball joins a roster of XTB sports deals built primarily since 2022. The broker added former UFC champion Conor McGregor as an ambassador in September 2022, followed by Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas in early 2023 and Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović as global ambassador in 2024, coinciding with the firm's 20th anniversary and a refreshed logo.The company has since moved into tournament-level sponsorships. In late 2025 it signed a partnership with OKTAGON, adding to its title sponsorship of Polish MMA promotion KSW, a combination that XTB has described as the largest combined MMA sponsorship footprint in Europe. In tennis, the broker sponsored 10 players at Roland Garros in June 2025 in its first move into Grand Slam events. Other deals include McLaren in Formula 1, heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury, the UAE Boxing Federation, Poland's Drifting Championships, and Portugal's Final Four Cup.Frank Leenders, FIBA's Director General of Media and Marketing Services, said the governing body was "delighted to welcome XTB as a Global Partner" and added that the broker's presence at the events "will help to drive a strong connection with their global brand."Leenders framed the basketball tie-up in similar terms to XTB's other sports messaging, saying the broker recognizes that "basketball inspires passion, strategy, and resilience - the same qualities they have identified as driving smart investing."Marketing Budget Has Nearly DoubledThe FIBA deal comes on the back of a sharp acceleration in XTB's overall marketing spend. The broker's marketing bill climbed by close to 70% in 2025 to PLN 584.9 million (about $143 million), an increase of PLN 240 million year-on-year. Management has told investors that the 2026 marketing budget could rise another 40% to 50%, according to comments from Arnaout cited by Polish analysts.That spending has driven a sharp expansion in the client base. XTB added 864,000 accounts during 2025, a 73% jump that pushed the total past 2.16 million by year-end. Arnaout has told Polish daily Parkiet that reaching two million new accounts per year is "completely realistic" within a few years. Client assets held at XTB reached about 10.8 billion euros at the end of 2025.The basketball agreement will run through a period in which XTB expects to roll out many of those new products and compete directly for retail clients against international platforms including Interactive Brokers, Robinhood, and Trade Republic, all of which have stepped up their European presence over the past 18 months. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

CLEO, a trading platform built for crypto and CFD proprietary trading firms, has connected its front end to Gold-i's MatrixNET liquidity management platform, the two companies said today (Thursday), bundling challenge tracking and prop-style risk tools with access to a multi-asset routing system that sits behind a growing share of FX and crypto broker order flow.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)CLEO Integrates With Gold-i's MatrixNET to Target Crypto, CFD Prop FirmsThe arrangement splits the prop stack into two pieces. CLEO sits at the trader-facing layer on web and iOS and Android mobile apps, presenting challenge rules, breach limits and live pass-or-fail status on a single dashboard. Gold-i's MatrixNET handles the plumbing behind the interface, aggregating liquidity from more than 80 providers and 35 crypto exchanges and simulating live execution conditions for traders running funded or evaluation accounts."CLEO has carved a niche as a market leading web-based and mobile platform designed specifically for prop firm traders," said Tom Higgins, the CEO of Gold-i, adding the integration provides prop firms and their traders with "an unrivalled offering," in the company's phrasing.Gold-i declares MatrixNET lets prop firms replicate liquidity-provider behavior with customizable settings for latency, slippage, partial fills and rejections, intended to mirror conditions traders would see on real order flow. The company said the platform runs with 24/7 support to match round-the-clock crypto markets.Prop Tech Turns Into a Bundled BusinessGold-i has been knitting MatrixNET into a string of prop-facing deals as the segment has drifted away from the one-platform, one-broker model that dominated retail CFDs for years. The UK-based technology provider added the Crypto.com Exchange to the platform in March 2026, followed by Scope Prime's crypto CFD pricing earlier this month, extending a crypto roster that already included decentralized exchange Hyperliquid and FX venue Edgewater Markets.The CLEO tie-up lands in a space where platform vendors are competing to offer prop firms a fuller stack rather than a trading interface alone. "This partnership unites Gold-i's infrastructure and reach with CLEO's trader-facing executional layer, enabling prop firms to scale whilst also equipping traders with purpose-built tools, designed for evolving market demands," Kevin Grulich, CEO of CLEO, commented. Devexperts in January paired its DXtrade platform with Arizet Labs' PropTech suite, bundling CRM, risk management and payout automation with the trading screen. Match-Trade Technologies rolled out a February 2026 update to its Match-Trader Prop product that added full MetaTrader 5 backend integration alongside challenge management, verification workflows and monetization tools. Other prop firms have taken the integration route at the trading layer, with For Traders adding futures access through DXtrade earlier this year.A Fragmented Platform MapThe commercial backdrop traces back to MetaQuotes' 2024 move to restrict MetaTrader use by prop firms serving US clients, which pushed the industry to diversify onto Match-Trader, cTrader, DXtrade, TradeLocker and other alternatives. The fragmentation accelerated further in late 2025 when ProjectX, the futures platform widely used by US-facing prop firms, said it would end third-party service, leaving most futures props outside TopStep scrambling for alternatives.For liquidity providers, the shift has created room for products that can sit behind multiple front ends. Gold-i's MatrixNET already powers parts of Finalto's ClearVision stack and underpins distribution arrangements with firms including LTP and, now, CLEO.The deal also reflects a convergence between crypto and FX infrastructure that Gold-i CEO Tom Higgins has flagged before. In past FinanceMagnates.com interviews, Higgins observed that "crypto liquidity and FX liquidity are sort of coming together," a view that has shaped MatrixNET's expansion into digital assets over the past two years.Neither firm disclosed commercial terms, volumes committed, or the number of prop firms expected to go live on the combined stack at launch. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Spotware Systems has integrated with Pelican Network, a UK-headquartered copy trading infrastructure provider, giving cTrader brokers access to an external pool of more than 9,000 live trading strategies sourced from around 70 brokers worldwide, the two companies said today (Thursday).Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The practical impact will depend on broker adoption and how many of Pelican's existing strategy providers opt to make their trades available through the cTrader channel. G4Trade is the first cTrader broker live on the integration, the companies said, marking Pelican's first deployment with a Spotware-powered broker.cTrader Brokers Get a New Route to Third-Party Strategy ContentUnder the agreement, cTrader brokers can plug into Pelican's cross-broker network, which the provider says currently supplies copy trading infrastructure to a number of larger retail brands including IC Markets, Deriv and Pepperstone. Pelican delivers white-label copy trading solutions across mobile, web and desktop, the companies said, with API support available for brokers that want deeper customization or integration into proprietary systems."In copy trading, content is everything. Without it, you're effectively launching an empty product," Mike Read, Director at Pelican Network, said, adding that the partnership with cTrader allows Pelican to bring its ecosystem into "one of the most fast-growing trading environments in the market."Spotware has offered a native copy trading tool, cTrader Copy, since 2018. The platform's previous approach to social trading has focused on strategies operating within individual cTrader brokers, although earlier work has pushed the feature across broker boundaries. IC Markets, for example, embedded the cTrader Copy widget into its client area last year to let customers access strategies without logging out of the broker's site. The Pelican tie-up adds a second, externally managed strategy pool on top of that native offering.Cross-Platform Copy Trading Is the Bigger PlayBeyond the strategy volume, the integration introduces cross-platform copy trading capabilities, according to Spotware, meaning strategies can in principle operate across different trading infrastructures rather than being locked into a single platform or broker silo. That framing fits with Spotware's "Open Trading Platform" positioning, which the company has used to describe its push to integrate third-party services via APIs and plugins. Yiota Hadjilouka, chief operating officer at Spotware, said the Pelican partnership reflects that approach "in action," adding that the integration is aimed at "expanding the depth and activity of copy trading by opening access to a broader strategy network."Copy Trading Infrastructure Market Gets CrowdedThe Pelican integration lands in a trading technology segment where competition for copy trading infrastructure has been stepping up. Rival providers have been expanding cross-platform functionality, broker-side tools and direct integrations with major platforms in parallel, turning what was once a niche product into a standard line item on most retail broker roadmaps.Brokeree Solutions, one of the more visible competitors, launched a new Integration API in March that it said would allow brokers to embed its Social Trading technology on platforms beyond MetaTrader and cTrader. The company had previously connected its system with cTrader to enable cross-server signal copying between MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader, and has since extended support to DXtrade and TraderEvolution. DXtrade itself partnered with Pelican in a separate deal to integrate the provider's multi-asset copy trader engine and its 9,000-plus signal network directly into the DXtrade platform.At the broker end, individual firms have been building their own social layers as well. STARTRADER rolled out Web STAR Copy in early April, a web-based copy trading product with strategy performance pages showing historical returns and active copier counts. Robinhood began beta testing a domestic social trading feature in the United States in March 2026, while Vantage's V Social, which was built on Pelican's technology several years ago, continues to operate in the UK market. Spotware Keeps Broadening Its Product LineupThe Pelican deal is the latest move in a push by Spotware to position itself as more than a single-product trading platform vendor. The Cyprus-based company launched cBridge, a standalone liquidity bridge, in March, and followed that earlier this month with cTrader Leads, a program designed to funnel traders from Spotware's ecosystem to participating brokers. The firm also runs cTrader Store, a marketplace for bots, indicators, copy strategies and prop challenges that Spotware says draws up to 10,000 visits a day.Spotware CEO Ilia Iarovitcyn told FinanceMagnates.com earlier this year that cTrader recorded 105% year-on-year trading volume growth in 2025 and onboarded 104 new broker and prop firm clients, figures the company has cited publicly but not independently audited. Financial terms of the Pelican agreement were not disclosed. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

The NAGA Group AG, the Xetra-listed fintech behind the Naga One financial app, said today (Thursday) it is building its next phase of growth around AI, with the technology now handling most of its chat-based customer support without human agents and allowing the company to run its marketing function with about a fifth fewer people. The update lands one week before NAGA publishes unaudited first-quarter results, and follows a sharp rebound in its Hamburg-listed shares.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)NAGA Shrinks Marketing Team by 20% and Credits AI for the Output NAGA said AI fully resolved approximately 66% of chat-based customer support interactions in the first quarter with no human involvement, and that it plans to extend similar automation to email. The company also said AI-driven tools lifted marketing creative output by three to five times, while the department operates with around 20% fewer staff than before. Partner onboarding, according to the company, has been compressed from about 10 days to roughly one day, and engineering cycles have shortened from multiple weeks to single days.None of these figures were independently audited in the release, and the company did not disclose the methodology behind its productivity comparisons or the baseline against which the engineering and onboarding gains were measured.AI Rollout Spans Support, Marketing, EngineeringChief Executive Octavian Patrascu framed the technology as something broader than a cost lever, although much of the disclosed impact centers on headcount and process efficiency. "We already see that AI is much more than an efficiency tool," Patrascu said in the statement, adding that it is "fundamentally changing how we scale our business."The company said AI-enabled self-serve analytics have also been rolled out internally, giving departments what the firm describes as faster access to operational data for management decisions.[#highlighted-links#] NAGA also flagged an AI-assisted layer inside the trading environment as part of its 2026 product roadmap, alongside further work on social trading, crypto and simplified investment products aimed at broadening its appeal beyond active traders.The Hamburg-based firm reports more than 2.5 million registered users on its platform, which combines CFD trading, stock and ETF investing, crypto, copy trading and neo-banking functions.Broader Shift Toward AI-First BrokerageNAGA's announcement arrives as retail brokers across Europe and the Middle East reposition their operations around artificial intelligence. Technology vendor Tools for Brokers found that AI is the top planned investment area in broker tech budgets for 2026, with 28% of surveyed firms ranking it first, ahead of liquidity bridges at 20%.Competitors have moved in similar directions. eToro introduced Agent Portfolios earlier this year, a feature that lets users connect their own AI agents to live trading accounts through scoped API keys, and reported a 46% jump in AI tool usage on its platform in 2025. MENA-focused broker CFI has embedded an AI Trading Assistant inside its retail platform, while third-party vendors like Bridgewise have run AI research pilots across more than 300,000 CFD traders through broker partners.Not every AI story in the sector has held up on closer inspection. FinanceMagnates.com reported in February that some rivals, including FXCM and eToro, had cited AI to justify large layoffs in a trend that critics labeled "AI-washing," with Tradu, the sister brand of FXCM, subsequently shutting its CFD offering. Xetra Shares Rebound From Record LowThe AI pitch comes after an unusually volatile stretch for NAGA's stock. Shares of The NAGA Group AG (XETR: N4G0) touched an all-time low of €1.31 on April 9, according to TradingView data, then closed at €3.19 on April 15.Thursday also started positive, with further strengthening to €5.50 and an intraday high of €6.00, which combined from the April low represents a gain of 350%.In December, NAGA consolidated its shares in a 10-for-1 reverse split, cutting registered share capital from €232.8 million to €23.3 million and collapsing the share count from roughly 232.8 million to 23.3 million. Management at the time framed the move as a technical step meant to place the share price in a range closer to peers and to make the stock eligible for institutional mandates that restrict purchases of very low-priced securities.NAGA's shift to an AI-first operating model follows a year the company itself described as structurally challenging. Full-year 2025 group revenue came in at €62.4 million, slightly below €63.2 million in 2024, although the figure rose 3.5% to €65.4 million on a foreign-exchange-adjusted basis. EBITDA fell to €3.3 million from €9 million a year earlier, with the company citing low market volatility, spread compression and weaker copy trading activity.For 2026, the Hamburg-based group has guided for revenue of between €68 million and €75 million and EBITDA of €10 million to €15 million, a range that implies a sharp margin recovery if hit. Patrascu told investors in February that NAGA was "pushing to an AI-first approach across marketing, operations, business growth, and execution," a line Thursday's update is effectively meant to substantiate. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race?The mantra that shares deliver superior returns to cash over the long run has been the cornerstone of every financial adviser’s pitch for decades. But does the value of staying invested outweigh the difficulty of finding stocks that outperform the folding stuff?Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)A Financial Times article looked at research conducted by Professor Hendrik Bessembinder from Arizona State University’s Department of Finance on the performance of single stocks.He found that four out of every seven common stocks that have appeared in the Center for Research in Security Prices since 1926 have lifetime buy-and-hold returns lower than those of one-month Treasuries.When stated in terms of lifetime dollar wealth creation, the best-performing 4% of listed companies explained the net gain for the entire US stock market over the last 100 years, as the other stocks collectively only matched the returns offered by Treasury bills.In other words, the median stock was a loss-maker. In fact, the calculation showed that, of the almost 30,000 stocks listed over the last century, just 46 accounted for more than half of the overall return over that period.Bessembinder says these results highlight the important role of positive skewness in the distribution of individual stock returns, attributable both to skewness in monthly returns and to the effects of compounding. They also help to explain why poorly diversified active strategies most often underperform market averages.The article generated some interesting responses, with the chief investment officer at a private bank describing the results of Bessembinder’s research as a reminder of how asymmetric equity returns really are. He noted that if a small number of extreme winners drive most long-term outcomes, the implication is less about consistently picking the right stocks and more about staying invested to compound returns, diversifying broadly, and giving those rare outliers time to emerge - because missing just a handful of them can materially change overall results.His view is that while the temptation is always to focus on finding the outliers, in practice, the real challenge is avoiding the permanent losers while staying invested. That is where diversification and discipline do the heavy lifting, especially when hindsight makes everything look more obvious than it was at the time.Finding the Clues to Solve the Investment PuzzleSherlock Holmes was not your average punter looking to squirrel away a few quid to provide for his old age. For example, the £6,000 he received from the Duke of Holderness at The Priory School in the early 1900s would be equivalent to around a million pounds in today’s money.But Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective does have something to teach us about investment strategy, according to Artemis fund manager Philip Wolstencroft.In A Study in Scarlet, after Holmes has apprehended cab driver Jefferson Hope for murder, he surprises Dr Watson by referring to the case as ‘simple’. It is, he explains, a straightforward case of being able to ‘reason backwards’.“Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be,” he tells the doctor. “There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result.”Wolstencroft observes that most investors look for the same end result – the highest total returns. So, what drives total returns? Rising share prices and dividends. What makes these go up? If a share starts off undervalued and/or its earnings grow quickly.He differentiates the process of screening for factors that can help identify such shares from that of fund managers who reason forward rather than backwards. Some will use the index as their starting point, then try to eke out a couple of extra basis points here and there. Others will look for the next big thing or make a point of meeting management teams.Wolstencroft says it is possible that this will lead them to pick shares that outperform, but asks why you would start out reasoning forwards and investing in a way that you hope will allow you to beat the market, rather than reasoning backwards and focusing only on those factors that you know for a fact drive returns.“We know which factors push share prices up and down, and we know which factors indicate the direction these will move in,” he says. “Therefore, all fund managers should discard any theories that contradict these facts.”Instead, he argues that many do the opposite and will talk of their ‘belief’ in a company or management team, even after a series of profit warnings. In other words, they twist facts to suit theories.UK Savers Refuse to Take StockNew research suggests the UK government still has plenty of work to do to convince savers to put their cash into stocks and shares.A preference for cash over risk is perhaps the key finding, with only 2% of cash savings account holders transferring their savings to a stocks & shares ISA since the allowance for the former was reduced late last year.Your Stocks & Shares ISA vs a cash savings account.£20,000 over 20 years:→ Cash ISA at 4% = £43,822→ S&S ISA at 10% = £134,550Same £20,000.Same tax free wrapper.£90,000 difference.The account isn’t the problem.What you put inside it is.Are people still choosing…— ?? Tom - Investor £120K (@2147mill) March 25, 2026The vast majority of account holders (90%) prioritised the protection of their initial capital over higher potential returns. Worryingly, one in four admitted that they do not understand stocks and shares, and only 11% said they planned to open a stocks & shares ISA despite the sharp reduction in the amount of cash that can be put into such accounts.Savers under the age of 30 were more positive about investing in equities, but even then only two in five intended to do so before April 2027.Analysis of a similar survey conducted this time last year suggests that understanding of equity investment has improved only marginally, despite an acknowledgement that stocks and shares outperform cash over the long term. This article was written by Paul Golden at www.financemagnates.com.

The emergence of AI agents across the global financial ecosystem started in 2024 but in recent months, usage rates of these tools (especially AI-powered trading bots) have shot up monumentally, so much so that they currently account for 58% of all crypto trading volume.Behind these numbers is a structural shift as AI agents are no longer being used purely as execution tools but rather as independent economic actors that can observe markets, form their own views, allocate capital, manage risk, and even execute strategies without any sort of real-time human supervision.That said, being "agent-ready" means more than having an API suite. It means offering reliable uptime, well-documented endpoints, genuine support for agent authentication patterns, regulatory standing that protects agents operating across jurisdictions, and a product suite deep enough to be worth the integration effort. With all of this in mind, listed below are a few exchanges that have strived to achieve a perfect synergy of these aforementioned aspects.Coinbase and its Bet on Providing Quality “AI Infrastructure”Coinbase has been the most aggressive in publicly positioning itself around the AI agent narrative, having launched its Agentic Wallets offering earlier this year. The product is designed specifically for autonomous agents and not adapted from human-facing wallet infrastructure. It also supports programmable guardrails, which matter considerably for institutional deployments where risk managers need to constrain what an agent can or cannot do autonomously.Additionally, the company’s x402 protocol, which went live in May of last year, provides a payment rail allowing stablecoin transactions to be made directly via HTTP request/response cycles. As a consequence, adoption has been growing steadily and 107 million transactions have been processed since the protocol’s debut.That said, there are some gaps present in this setup starting with the fact that Coinbase's ecosystem is heavily slanted toward EVM chains and the Base L2 network. Furthermore, its geographic and financial rail coverage outside North America and Western Europe remains a limiting factor for agents operating across emerging market contexts.VALR and its Real-World Autonomous Finance CapabilitiesThe most substantive development in the AI agent exchange space of early 2026 may be VALR's April 10 launch of its AI Service, a system designed explicitly to serve both human users and autonomous AI agents operating as independent market participants.What separates VALR's approach from the standard "our API works with agents" marketing position is structural, which in layman's terms means that the platform's implementation follows the Agent Skills Standard. This allows named agent frameworks such as OpenClaw, Anthropic's Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex, and others to interface with VALR through a defined integration layer (enabling the building of agent systems at scale).In addition to all this, it bears mentioning that the underlying API suite covers the full operational spectrum be it real-time market data, trade execution, account management, or secure authentication. Everything runs within VALR's regulatory perimeter which consists of an FSCA-license in South Africa, and regulatory approval in Europe. The exchange currently serves over 1.7 million registered users and 2,000 corporate and institutional clients globally and is backed by Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Fidelity's F-Prime Capital. Its product suite spans spot and margin trading, perpetual futures, staking, lending, OTC, tokenized real-world assets including gold and equities, and VALR Pay.That said, the differentiator that arguably sets VALR furthest apart from its contemporaries is its geographic positioning. Africa's largest crypto exchange by trade volume is also, through its recently announced Onafriq integration, now connected to nearly one billion mobile money wallets across 43 African markets. Onafriq operates Africa's largest digital payments network, and the VALR integration allows direct, local-currency deposits across the continent via mobile money platforms including M-Pesa and MTN MoMo.For AI agents that need to interact with financial systems in markets where traditional banking infrastructure is thin and mobile money is the primary financial rail (and this describes a substantial portion of the world's economic activity) such setups are a no brainer.Kraken and its Compliance and Longevity MarkersFor AI agents whose operational parameters are defined by risk management rather than return maximisation, Kraken offers something genuinely valuable, namely the institutional reliability that everyone wants. In the context of autonomous agents, security track record is of utmost importance given that agents don't sleep, don't log off, and operate continuously on infrastructure that has been tested across market stress events, regulatory inquiries, and attack vectors of every variety. Kraken has been tested and its Proof of Reserves (PoR) reporting and MiCA compliance in Europe have given the platform a regulatory standing that holds up under scrutiny. And, even though Kraken isn't leading the AI agent narrative the way VALR or Coinbase are, it consistently surfaces in AI-generated exchange recommendations, which is, in a sense, a form of market validation in itself.Lastly, on a technical note, some of Kraken’s limitations are real. For instance, it offers a narrower asset suite than some of its core competitors, and its geographic reach doesn't extend meaningfully into high-growth African, South Asian, or Latin American markets.The Emerging StandardAs things continue to unfold within this yet nascent space, it stands to reason that the exchanges which end up as default infrastructure providers for AI agents won't be determined purely by marketing narratives but by developers deploying agents at scale (and making practical decisions based on API quality, compliance posture, asset coverage, etc.).Therefore, as the global AI agent market moves from $8 billion in 2025 to a staggering $50 billion by 2030, practical decisions and considerations will only continue to compound. In any case, interesting times ahead! This article was written by FM Contributors at www.financemagnates.com.