Former Saxo Bank COO Steps Down as Lunar CEO Just After Four Months

A roundup of industry developments across forex, CFD and fintech firms details a mix of AI integration, improved financial results and regulatory activity. Among the headline items, The5ers has connected client trading accounts to artificial intelligence tools, including ChatGPT and Claude, while EC Markets doubled its UK revenue and ThinkMarkets returned to profit.

Elsewhere on the product and expansion front, Alpaca continued to advance its growth plans in Southeast Asia, and Capital.com broadened its offering by adding stocks and ETFs to its range. The additions mark a further shift by contracts-for-difference brokers into broader multi-asset coverage.

On the executive side, a former chief operating officer of Saxo Bank stepped down as chief executive of Lunar after only four months in the position, a notably short tenure at the top of the business.

Prop firms and platforms

The recap also covered a shake-up in the proprietary trading space. The brand rights to MyForexFunds were sold to a Dubai-based firm, while FundedSeat closed its operations. Separately, Valbury adopted the DXtrade platform.

Regulatory and legal pressure remained a running theme. The UK Financial Conduct Authority shut down 21 CFD firms, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed suit against Cash FX, and authorities in New York took aim at prediction market Polymarket. Germany expanded its efforts against trading fraud, and decentralised finance faces a regulatory path that extends beyond Congress.

One data point from the recap underscored the skew in retail trading outcomes: the top 1% of winning accounts captured 66.5% of profit. In other items, a security incident at DriveWealth exposed customer data, and Revolut moved into the Argentine market.