In one of many week’s most vital trade developments this week, Jefferies Monetary Group is reportedly exploring a sale of Stratos, the dad or mum firm behind CFD manufacturers FXCM and Tradu, in response to a number of sources talking to Finance Magnates.
Whereas talks seem like underway, the deal’s development stays unsure, notably because the potential purchaser could come from exterior conventional monetary companies—presumably a cryptocurrency change seeking to broaden into leveraged buying and selling merchandise.
The transfer would make sense given Jefferies’ large scale as a monetary companies powerhouse. The New York-based agency generated over $2.87 billion in income and $159.3 million in web earnings in Q1 2026 alone, suggesting the CFD operation could merely be too small a bit of its broader enterprise to justify continued possession. Neither Jefferies nor FXCM responded to requests for remark.
CySEC chair on crypto perps
Within the prediction markets, George Theocharides, Chairman of
CySEC, confirmed to Finance Magnates that the Cypriot regulator held differing
authorized views from ESMA concerning the classification of crypto perpetuals.
Talking from CySEC’s Nicosia headquarters, Theocharides
emphasised that regulatory compliance can’t be justified by employment
numbers, stating bluntly: “Our position as a monetary regulator is to
safeguard the market; we aren’t right here to supply jobs.” He additionally indicated
that prediction markets or occasion markets would more than likely fall inside the
binary choices class below present frameworks.
Cyprus’s retail dealer sector has turn into a big
financial power, notably in Limassol, using between 7,000 and eight,000
individuals as of 2024 with median whole pay estimated at €30,000.
Prediction markets skew towards younger males
Prediction markets have drawn rising consideration. Protection has highlighted considerations that people with entry to private data may use it to position knowledgeable bets on when particular occasions will happen. On the identical time, regulators in america proceed to debate find out how to classify and oversee these merchandise, which sit between conventional monetary devices and playing.
Sports activities as a % of whole buying and selling quantity on Kalshi has been persistently falling for the reason that begin of the 2025 NFL season.
Sports activities is now roughly 58% of the whole quantity. A big a part of that is the rise of crypto-related markets.
Over time, as new classes emerge, I’d argue… pic.twitter.com/chQgEYBpUK
— Nick Grous (@GrousARK) Could 26, 2026
A latest investigation into person profiles provides one other dimension to the dialogue. The findings recommend that participation in prediction markets is closely concentrated amongst a single demographic group: younger males. This focus raises additional questions on who these platforms are attracting and the way which will form their growth.
IG Australia opens buying and selling platform to ChatGPT
IG Australia has enabled merchants to attach their accounts on to ChatGPT by launching its CFD Assistant on the ChatGPT App Retailer. This integration permits customers to question the AI about their open positions, revenue and loss, watchlists, market sentiment, and different account-related information in actual time.
The function is constructed on a Mannequin Context Protocol (MCP) server, although it at present helps solely ChatGPT. Based on the dealer, help for added AI platforms, together with Claude, is predicted to be added quickly.
Robinhood launches AI agent accounts
In the meantime, Robinhood launched new instruments that permit customers to deploy AI brokers to commerce shares and make purchases on its platform. These brokers may be related on to a person’s account and are capable of perform predefined methods or full transactions robotically, with out guide enter. The corporate can also be introducing devoted accounts for these AI brokers.
These accounts function individually from a person’s major portfolio and should be funded independently, which limits how a lot capital an agent can entry and use.
Prompt Funding acquires Funded Buying and selling Plus
Lastly, within the prop buying and selling house, Prompt Funding purchased proprietary buying and selling agency Funded Buying and selling Plus, bringing each manufacturers below a
single group as a part of its growth technique. The businesses stated they’ll
proceed to function independently, with no rapid adjustments to person accounts,
dashboards, buying and selling challenges, payouts, or guidelines.
Each companies will retain their present platforms and buyer
help buildings. The acquisition is meant to strengthen Prompt Funding’s
capacity to spend money on product growth, expertise, and infrastructure, whereas
supporting a extra scalable enterprise and enhancing the buying and selling expertise over
time.
In one of many week’s most vital trade developments this week, Jefferies Monetary Group is reportedly exploring a sale of Stratos, the dad or mum firm behind CFD manufacturers FXCM and Tradu, in response to a number of sources talking to Finance Magnates.
Whereas talks seem like underway, the deal’s development stays unsure, notably because the potential purchaser could come from exterior conventional monetary companies—presumably a cryptocurrency change seeking to broaden into leveraged buying and selling merchandise.
The transfer would make sense given Jefferies’ large scale as a monetary companies powerhouse. The New York-based agency generated over $2.87 billion in income and $159.3 million in web earnings in Q1 2026 alone, suggesting the CFD operation could merely be too small a bit of its broader enterprise to justify continued possession. Neither Jefferies nor FXCM responded to requests for remark.
CySEC chair on crypto perps
Within the prediction markets, George Theocharides, Chairman of
CySEC, confirmed to Finance Magnates that the Cypriot regulator held differing
authorized views from ESMA concerning the classification of crypto perpetuals.
Talking from CySEC’s Nicosia headquarters, Theocharides
emphasised that regulatory compliance can’t be justified by employment
numbers, stating bluntly: “Our position as a monetary regulator is to
safeguard the market; we aren’t right here to supply jobs.” He additionally indicated
that prediction markets or occasion markets would more than likely fall inside the
binary choices class below present frameworks.
Cyprus’s retail dealer sector has turn into a big
financial power, notably in Limassol, using between 7,000 and eight,000
individuals as of 2024 with median whole pay estimated at €30,000.
Prediction markets skew towards younger males
Prediction markets have drawn rising consideration. Protection has highlighted considerations that people with entry to private data may use it to position knowledgeable bets on when particular occasions will happen. On the identical time, regulators in america proceed to debate find out how to classify and oversee these merchandise, which sit between conventional monetary devices and playing.
Sports activities as a % of whole buying and selling quantity on Kalshi has been persistently falling for the reason that begin of the 2025 NFL season.
Sports activities is now roughly 58% of the whole quantity. A big a part of that is the rise of crypto-related markets.
Over time, as new classes emerge, I’d argue… pic.twitter.com/chQgEYBpUK
— Nick Grous (@GrousARK) Could 26, 2026
A latest investigation into person profiles provides one other dimension to the dialogue. The findings recommend that participation in prediction markets is closely concentrated amongst a single demographic group: younger males. This focus raises additional questions on who these platforms are attracting and the way which will form their growth.
IG Australia opens buying and selling platform to ChatGPT
IG Australia has enabled merchants to attach their accounts on to ChatGPT by launching its CFD Assistant on the ChatGPT App Retailer. This integration permits customers to question the AI about their open positions, revenue and loss, watchlists, market sentiment, and different account-related information in actual time.
The function is constructed on a Mannequin Context Protocol (MCP) server, although it at present helps solely ChatGPT. Based on the dealer, help for added AI platforms, together with Claude, is predicted to be added quickly.
Robinhood launches AI agent accounts
In the meantime, Robinhood launched new instruments that permit customers to deploy AI brokers to commerce shares and make purchases on its platform. These brokers may be related on to a person’s account and are capable of perform predefined methods or full transactions robotically, with out guide enter. The corporate can also be introducing devoted accounts for these AI brokers.
These accounts function individually from a person’s major portfolio and should be funded independently, which limits how a lot capital an agent can entry and use.
Prompt Funding acquires Funded Buying and selling Plus
Lastly, within the prop buying and selling house, Prompt Funding purchased proprietary buying and selling agency Funded Buying and selling Plus, bringing each manufacturers below a
single group as a part of its growth technique. The businesses stated they’ll
proceed to function independently, with no rapid adjustments to person accounts,
dashboards, buying and selling challenges, payouts, or guidelines.
Each companies will retain their present platforms and buyer
help buildings. The acquisition is meant to strengthen Prompt Funding’s
capacity to spend money on product growth, expertise, and infrastructure, whereas
supporting a extra scalable enterprise and enhancing the buying and selling expertise over
time.
