The futures prop trading sector faced renewedquestions over its business model, with exchange data costs and low-pricedchallenges putting pressure on firms operating without recurring subscriptions.Meanwhile, established industry figures returned with new businesses, whilebrokers continued to expand their regulatory and corporate structures.London's trading industry is coming home!The week also brought developments in brokerage technology,corporate governance and retail trading activity. IG Group advanced its plannedmove to Jersey, CFI secured preliminary approval for a crypto brokerageoperation in Dubai, and eToro reported weaker crypto trading activity despiteaccount growth. Artificial intelligence, prediction markets and technologydisruptions also featured among the week’s developments.Futures Prop Firms Face Rising CME Data Costs UnderOne-Time Pricing ModelsSeveral futures proprietarytrading firms have moved away from monthly subscriptions towards one-timechallenge fees, raising questions about the sustainability of their pricingmodels. Apex, Tradeify, Bulenox and My Funded Futures made the shift in 2026,while exchange data costs continue to recur monthly for active users. CME’sreal-time annual licence fee is $29,280 per exchange, although many firmsaccess data through platform vendors rather than licensing it directly.TradersYard’s co-founder Manuel Sonnleithner said a prop-specific simulationlicence requires all four exchanges, bringing the base fee to $117,120annually, before additional monthly data charges. The mismatch betweenrecurring operating costs and one-off customer payments remains a centralchallenge.Futures Prop Firms See Margins Squeezed by $49 Challengesand Rising CostsThe pressure on futures prop firms extendsbeyond exchange data fees, with lower challenge prices and higher operatingcosts reducing profitability. TradersYard CEO Manuel Sonnleithner, citinginternal industry data, estimated that net margins have fallen from 25-30% to10-15%. Platform expenses, including monthly charges per user, make low-pricedchallenges harder to sustain. Ruben Abitbol of RUBIK said futures firmsgenerally face higher operating costs than CFD prop firms, partly because ofplatform and market-data expenses. Payout ratios also differ, with futuresfirms typically paying out 70-80% compared with 40-50% for CFD firms, accordingto Abitbol’s broad benchmark. Several operators, including FundingTicks, RevOne and FundedSeat, closed during 2026, and Alpha closed its Premium Plan.Former iS Prime Founders Launch New Liquidity Businessfor BrokersThreeformer iS Prime executives have launched JT Prime, a prime-of-primeliquidity provider targeting brokers, funds, family offices and proprietarytrading firms. Raj Sitlani and Jonathan Brewer, who co-founded iS Prime in2014, established the business alongside Jeff Wilkins, who previously led iSPrime’s risk analytics operation. JT Prime will offer aggregated Tier 1 bankand non-bank liquidity across foreign exchange, precious metals and index CFDs,with FIX API connectivity.The business operates as the institutional arm ofretail broker JT Markets. JT Markets currently holds a Seychelles licence,while an application in an unnamed Western market remains pending. The foundersalso plan to expand into digital assets.CFI Receives Preliminary VARA Approval for Dubai CryptoBrokerageCFI Financial Group has received in-principleapproval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, known as VARA,for its crypto brokerage subsidiary, CFIX. The approval covers broker-dealerservices, but the company cannot begin offering virtual asset services until itreceives a full licence.According to CFI, VARA requires the subsidiary tofinalise its leadership appointments, operational infrastructure, governancearrangements and regulatory controls before granting final authorisation. CFIsaid CFIX would operate as a separate legal entity with its own governancestructure.The development adds another regulatory step to the group’sinternational expansion. CFI also holds authorisations in severaljurisdictions, including Brazil, where it received approval for a securitiesbrokerage earlier this year.IG Group Advances Jersey Redomiciliation Ahead ofNovember Listing SwitchIG Group secured courtapproval for its proposed move from England and Wales to Jersey, bringingthe restructuring closer to completion. The transition will establish a newJersey-incorporated holding company, Jenkins Topco, which will be renamed IGGroup Holdings. The move is scheduled to take effect on 13 November, subject todelivery of the court order to the Registrar of Companies. Existing shares willbe cancelled, with new shares issued through the Jersey entity. The currentshares are scheduled to be delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 16November, when the new shares are expected to begin trading. The group expectsrestructuring costs of £30 million in 2026.CFI Chairman Says Independent Board Must ChallengeManagement DecisionsCFI Financial Group’s independent chairman, Federico Cirulli, outlinedhow the board oversees management as the broker expands its operations andregulatory footprint. Cirulli said independent directors should pressure-testmanagement proposals rather than routinely block decisions. The board setsstrategic direction, establishes risk appetite and holds executivesaccountable, while Chief Executive Ziad Melhem manages daily operations.Cirulli also said founder-led structures are effective in the early stages, butthat more stakeholders, a more complex offering and heavier regulation can callfor a different structure. CFI reported $3.45 trillion in trading volume duringthe third quarter, up 123% year-on-year, while nine-month volume reached $8.8trillion, figures that are company-reported. Cirulli said governance andinternal controls must keep pace with that expansion.eToro Reports 62% Drop in Crypto Trades Despite FundedAccount GrowtheToro’s clients placed 2million cryptocurrency trades in October, down 62% from a year earlier,despite an 18% increase in funded accounts to 4.42 million. The average amountinvested per crypto trade fell 29% to $228.The figures followed a weaker thirdquarter, when net income dropped 74% year-on-year to $15 million and netcontribution declined 13% to $186 million. Adjusted EBITDA fell 56% to $34.2million. Net trading income from equities, commodities and currencies increased21% to $88.5 million, although it declined from the previous quarter. ChiefFinancial Officer Meron Shani said crypto activity had recovered sequentiallycompared with the second quarter.eToro Targets $100 Million Latin American Revenue AfterArgentine AcquisitioneToro plans to generate $100million in Latin American revenue within two to three years, using itsproposed acquisition of Argentine fintech LB Finanzas as a regional base. Thecompany agreed to acquire the investing and payments app for less than $20million. Chief Executive Yoni Assia gave analysts the target, and the articlenoted that eToro already has a larger online audience in the region than mostretail brokers, according to FM Intelligence data. The acquisition marks thecompany’s fourth deal announced in 2026, following purchases involving Zengoand Bit2C and an agreement to acquire US broker TradeZero. Assia said eTorowould slow its acquisition activity to focus on integrating the businesses.AI Trading Agents Create New Monitoring Challenges forForex BrokersArtificial intelligence agents are increasingly able to interactdirectly with retail trading accounts, creating new monitoring challengesfor forex and CFD brokers, according to an op-ed by Marios Kyriakou, Head of FXDealer Academy by Your Bourse.Connections through platforms such as MetaTraderand cTrader allow AI tools to access trading functions through Model ContextProtocol, or MCP, servers. These integrations can make it difficult for dealingdesks to distinguish automated orders from trades placed manually by clients.Remote setups may also involve access tokens held by third-party AI tools,limiting brokers’ visibility. While some official integrations offer read-onlyaccess and approval requirements before trades are executed, open-source andcustom-built alternatives may lack similar safeguards. The development raisesquestions about client profiling, exposure management and operational risk.AI Voice Agents Raise Questions About Client Trust in ForexBrokerageForexbrokers are increasingly considering AI voice agents to handle customeracquisition and routine communications. The technology can contact prospectiveclients, chase account-opening documents through a secure upload link, followup on incomplete applications and schedule calls with human representatives.However,its use in client-facing conversations raises concerns about mis-selling andthe boundaries of automated communication. Anish Lal, Chief BusinessDevelopment Officer at BlackBull Markets, argued that voice agents shouldsupport administrative tasks rather than provide trading advice or encourageadditional deposits, and that documents and card details should never be takenover the phone. He also highlighted the importance of transparency, includinginforming customers when they are speaking to AI. Brokers must balanceefficiency gains with appropriate controls and maintain human involvement wherefinancial decisions and client trust are concerned.Prediction Markets Seek Broker Partnerships to SustainTrading ActivityPrediction market operators are increasingly turning to brokeragepartnerships and wider product offerings to attract customers beyond majorsporting and political events, according to a column by Paul Golden. The WorldCup generated a significant increase in activity, but platforms now face thechallenge of maintaining user engagement between major events.Women are less than 25% of the user base on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket… but are the largest consumers on Instagram and Facebook. I think Meta’s prediction market product will actually be a huge hit due to this untapped audience and the social/cultural topics they are interested in.Count me in for predicting who gets voted out next on Love Island. 🏝️— Brit Morin 🦞 (@brit) July 7, 2026Kalshi hasexpanded its distribution through partnerships with Alpaca and Public, allowingevent contracts to reach customers through existing brokerage platforms. It hasalso introduced products beyond conventional event contracts, including a stockindex perpetual future. The expansion brings prediction markets closer totraditional financial products. However, regulatory uncertainty, particularlyaround sports-related contracts in the US, remains a challenge for operatorsseeking broader distribution.Nvidia Shares Fall More Than 6% Following Jensen Huang’sResignationNvidia shares fell more than 6% in trading after the announcement that co-founderJensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive and board memberafter 33 years leading the company, although the sell-off had begun before theannouncement. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has taken over as interimCEO while retaining her CFO responsibilities, and the board is consideringinternal and external candidates for a permanent successor. Former Synopsyschief executive Harvey Jones was appointed as Nvidia’s first board chairman.The company did not state a reason for the departure, which followed anindependent investigation announced by the board, which appointed former actingUS Attorney Joon Kim and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conductthe review. Jones said operations, customer commitments and the product roadmapwould continue without interruption.We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas. More details can be found in the Microsoft 365 admin center under EX1550543.— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) November 12, 2026Microsoft 365 Outage Disrupts Financial Markets and BrokerOperationsAglobal Microsoft 365 outage disrupted financial firms across several markets,forcing trading desks and brokerages to rely on manual workarounds. Thedisruption, which had lasted 12 hours at the time of reporting, affectedExchange Online, with Downdetector recording more than 130,000 reports in theUS at its peak. Brokerages in Singapore and India reported delays in customersupport, while CMC Markets in Singapore used phone calls and WhatsApp to bypassaffected systems. Japanese financial firms also turned to manual processes asemail authentication failures disrupted trade confirmations and settlements,and a Kalshi post joked that Japanese markets had switched to fax machines. Theoutage highlighted the industry’s dependence on cloud-based services, with retailFX brokers also reporting difficulties involving customer logins andoperational processes.This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.