Cantor Index has reported that it is preparing to launch a new multi-asset trading platform targeted at private investors, mainly catering for investors looking to hedge against foreign assets with currency positions.

Established in 2000, Cantor Index was originally one of the big 4 four main providers in the spread betting industry but it has been relatively inactive in the past few years in particular on the marketing and product launches and has been something of a sleeping giant since.

Cantor Index at present already offers a range of markets which includes indices, shares, bonds and commodities. The launch will however be the first major push for Cantor for the last few years.

Lisa Baum, Marketing and PR Executive at Cantor noted that the specialist platform will be especially useful for those who prefer to protect their trades with currency spreadbets.

She explained, ‘We haven’t yet released any information about the trading platform in public, as it won’t be launching until later in the year. We have noted that our clients are becoming more interested in the foreign exchange spread betting products we offer, as they have been forced to re-evaluate what might be a safe-haven currency.’

‘The Australian dollar, for instance, has been performing well in the last few weeks, hitting a 29-year high against the USA dollar earlier in the week.’ Baum added that Cantor’s clients have been following the financial markets closely since the start of the year especially as events in the Middle East continued to evolve, sending shock waves in the world markets.

She added, ‘In the first quarter of 2011 we witnessed a surge in interest in commodities as uncertainty in the Middle East saw oil rising back over US $100 a barrel, and data showing continued growth in emerging economies had a knock-on effect on the likes of copper and other metals.

‘The rise in commodity prices is contributing to worldwide inflation, but while some countries continue to deny this, currencies remain volatile and there is a growing demand for using spread bets on currency pairs.’

Cantor Gaming & Wagering Ltd, the financial fixed odds provider division of Cantor Fitzgerald, which also owns Cantor Index, today announced the launch of its new collaboration with PartyGaming Plc, the world’s leading listed online gaming company. PartyGaming will extend its existing product range, to include financial fixed odds betting, via an integrated platform. Financial fixed odds betting will be available on PartyGaming’s sports betting websites PartyBets and Gamebookers.

Part of the Cantor Group, Cantor Gaming & Wagering Ltd has been exploring opportunities within the wider gaming industry and this diversification in its white label offering constitutes the beginning of a substantial agenda of growth. The new offering will give customers of PartyBets and Gamebookers access to fixed odds betting on a wide range of financial markets including currency pairs, commodities and global indices.

CEO Lee Amatis commented ‘This is an exciting collaboration with one of the market leaders in online gaming, and a great addition to our commercial offering.’

Comments: Cantor Gaming and Wagering used to be part of Cantor Index, and is now just a part of Cantor Fitzgerald. They provide financial fixed odds betting as opposed to spread betting. They have been providing Ladbrokes with this service for over five years now and just launched with PartyGaming.

Cantor Index have raised margins by 10% with immediate effect. IG Index have upped theirs too.

Spreadex has temporarily changed its financial spread betting Notional Trading Requirements (NTRs) due to the current extreme conditions in the global financial markets. For UK shares, they are currently only accepting trades on UK 350 stocks.

The NTRs are now 20% on the first 100 stocks, 25% on the next 150 shares and 35% on the next 100. Spreadex’s indices NTRs are now: UK futures x 200, UK daily x 100, Dow futures x 300, Dow daily x 200, Dax futures x 200, Dax daily x 100, SPX x 30, Nasdaq x 75, SMI x 200, Eurostoxx x 150, Nikkei x 500.

Spreadex have given clients a week to cough up:

“All existing financial positions will need to be covered by cash on your account with all NTR/margin paid by 3.30pm on Monday, 20th October 2008.”

However my experience is that they will not roll over daily positions (i.e. not futures) at the end of trading if your a/c is on margin call. Maybe they’ll be flexible on this due to the huge rise in margins – from 3% to 20-25% on FTSE350 and from 20% to 35% on others.

Cantor Spreadfair has confirmed that through its suspended share markets it is offering its clients the opportunity to bet on the level of compensation Northern Rock shareholders will receive per share as a result of the independent valuation process.

The current price available on Spreadfair is 25p-35p, with the price expected to narrow as clients introduce liquidity to the market.

When a company’s listing is suspended, shares in that company can’t be bought or sold until the suspension is lifted or other arrangements made. Cantor Spreadfair’s suspended share markets allow shareholders to hedge their shareholdings during the period of suspension, as well as allowing those who want merely to speculate on the share price following the suspension to do so.

Cantor Spreadfair is a person to person spread betting exchange where clients are able to post a price at which they are prepared to trade or accept a price that has already been posted by another client. Spreadfair’s clients will therefore be able to determine their own valuation of Northern Rock’s share price via their open order book. Previously, the only alternative open to clients wishing to trade on suspended shares was through the OTC market or through market makers, often inaccessible to the retail investor.

As a peer to peer exchange, the spreads are generally much tighter than the spreads offered by the traditional spread betting companies. Commission is charged on the net winnings. Profits made from spread-betting are exempt from capital gains tax.

A long-running legal dispute between Cantor Fitzgerald and the former head of the broker’s spreadbetting arm has been settled just hours before an employment tribunal was due to hear the case.

Lewis Findlay, who ran Cantor Index from 2003 until he resigned in 2006, withdrew an allegation of constructive dismissal last night.

Mr Findlay had been claiming as much as £12.5 million in compensation, the amount he says he would have been entitled to if Cantor Index had been sold or floated.

In a joint statement, Cantor and Mr Findlay said: “The parties have reached an amicable settlement of Mr Findlay’s claims brought in the Employment Tribunal. Mr Findlay accepts that he was not detrimentally treated or dismissed by reason of whistle blowing. Mr Findlay accepts that those allegations were unfounded and they have been withdrawn.

Cantor Index Limited accepts that Mr Findlay was unfairly dismissed by the Company in January 2006.

Neither side would comment on the details of the settlement.

Investors locked into a share which has been suspended from trading onthe London Stock Exchange can breathe a little easier.

Cantor Spreadfair, the retail spread betting exchange, is offering an online service enabling investors to buy or sell a ‘frozen’ stock throughout the suspension period.

Settlement will be based on the closing price of the stock on its first fullday back trading on the market.

Cantor Fitzgerald said yesterday it was effectively doubling the amount of money that must be held on deposit when trading FTSE 100 stocks via spread betting or contracts for difference.

The company blamed the current turmoil in global credit markets and volatility in the world’s stock markets. Credit markets were thrown into chaos by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, with the contagion spreading throughout debt markets.

The problems have had a knock-on effect on the world’s stock markets, and a number of flotations have been cancelled.

Spread betting is a leveraged product, meaning punters only have to put down a percentage of the amount they want to trade. That has been increased from 10 to 20 per cent. The move also applies to contracts for difference, another derivative that enables investors to benefit from rises or falls in the price of relatively large packages shares for significantly less than their cost.

The company said: “In light of the current global credit market and the volatility in the global equity markets, Cantor Fitzgerald has raised margin rates applied to its CFD and spread betting products by 10 per cent. The management believe that the company should be prudent and vigilant in its approach to credit and the credit facilities it offers. The change is expected to be temporary and rates will return to usual levels when the current volatility subsides.”

Other spread betting companies said they did not plan to follow suit. John Noble, dealing director at IG, said: “We monitor changes in volatility in stocks and if things go outside our limits, that is when we would act. At the moment we are comfortable.” City Index took a similar stance.

Cantor Index, has today announced that it is to launch a spot FX spread betting product, based upon the institutional spot market price and delivering some of the most competitive spreads in the industry. Quarterly foreign exchange trading, based on the price of listed currency futures, has traditionally been one of Cantor Index’s most popular products and now clients will have the opportunity to trade spot prices for the first time at much tighter spreads. Seven major currency crosses are available to trade online, with all thirty-two quoted currencies available to trade over the telephone. In time, this service, which will be offered to Cantor Index’s established private client base, will see all quoted pairs available to trade online.

Spot FX bets are quoted at a far tighter spread than the traditional quarterly futures based spread bet, making this FX product as competitive as some private client FX services, but with the added advantage of all profits not being subject to capital gains tax and of being much more suitable for short-term investing. All open positions automatically roll over to the next day (unless closed by the client), with trades closing at the end of the trading day, and reopening at a new rate which reflects the overnight net effect of interest rates for the two currencies quoted in the pair.

The seven major currency pairs offered online are:

US Dollar / Swiss Franc
Euro / Sterling
Euro / Yen
US Dollar / Yen
Australian Dollar / US Dollar

Euro / US Dollar
Sterling / US Dollar

Dominic Crosthwaite, Co-Managing Director of Cantor Index said today: “The launch of spot FX spread betting is a natural extension of our existing service, providing our clients with a very cost effective way to trade FX and further supporting our drive to provide our clients with the most competitive priced products, and the highest level of execution.

“We will be building on our extensive private client experience and institutional backing to ensure we build an unrivalled service in the FX space. In the short-term, this will include extending the range of online currency pairs with an additional 25 currency crosses.”

Clients can open or close spot FX bets on the telephone or online from as little as GBP1 a point. They also have the option to request an autoclose at 20:00 on any trading day, rather than rolling the position.

Cantor Fitzgerald LP is being sued for as much as $30 million by the former head of its U.K. spread- betting business, in a dispute over Cantor’s plans for the lucrative division.

Lewis Findlay, who helped set up the Cantor Index unit six years ago, claims he was wrongfully dismissed by the company last January. He’s now pursuing two separate lawsuits to protect his stake in the business and says he’s entitled to a multimillion dollar payout for the money he would have made if it’s sold or listed on an exchange.

It’s the second time Cantor, which lost the majority of its U.S. staff in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has been hit with a big-money employment lawsuit in Britain. Steven Horkulak, a former London-based broker, was awarded 795,000 pounds ($1.5 million) in 2004 over his claim that he was bullied into quitting by Cantor’s Lee Amaitis.

Findlay’s case, which had a preliminary hearing today at the High Court in London, centers on a so-called incentive agreement he signed in 2003, entitling him to share in the proceeds of a successful sale or share listing of Cantor Index.

‘We believe the claim is without merit and we will robustly defend our position,’ Cantor’s London office said in a statement.

Bonus Payment.

The company specializes in financial spread-betting, which allows traders to gamble on the movement of share or commodities prices, without the tax and disclosure obligations of share ownership. While Cantor last week announced plans for a $460 million initial share sale of its BGC Partners Ltd. brokerage unit in the U.S., it has retained ownership of Cantor Index.

Findlay claims that his stake in the company would be worth between $20 million and $30 million, given an estimated market valuation of between $200 million and $300 million. He’s also seeking his bonus payment for 2004 and compensation for alleged damage to his reputation and employment prospects, according to documents submitted to the High Court.

Cantor denies wrongdoing and today argued that the court should strike out most of Findlay’s claims relating to the incentive agreement, on the grounds that he knew the risks of leaving the company and that there was no breach of his contract.

Findlay’s second claim, filed at a U.K. employment tribunal in August, has been temporarily postponed pending the outcome of the High Court case.

A full trial on the claim is scheduled for July.

The financial bookie Cantor Index has launched the first financial spread betting exchange alongside its long-established sports exchange.

The exchange allows retail punters to trade against each other on the daily movement in the FTSE 100, property prices and interest rate decisions.

Like traditional spread bets, punters have to decide to either “buy” the spread if they think the FTSE 100 will close higher or “sell” if lower. Winnings or losses are calculated by the size of their stake multiplied by the number of points higher or lower than the spread.

Because the prices on Cantor’s Spreadfair exchange are not determined by the bookmaker – instead being set by the people who bet – the difference or spread between the buying and selling price is minimal. However, Cantor will charge winning punters commission of between 3 and 5 per cent on their winnings at the end of any trading day.

For example: If a punter bought the FTSE 100 for £10 a point at 6211, they would have made £265 if the FTSE closed at 6227.6. The winnings are 26.5 points multiplied by £10 stake to make £265. However, selling the FTSE at 6211 would produce a loss of £265, although there would be no commission charged.

The minimum bet size is £1 a point, and like any spread betting product losses are potentially unlimited. However, the exchange enables users to close out their positions before the close of a trading during the day to either bank a profit or crystalise a loss.

The company plans to add bets on Wall Street and the gold price in coming months, and is in talks with FTSE, which compiles the FTSE 100 index, and the London Stock Exchange over introducing bets on single shares.

Because the winnings are considered as gambling profits they are free of tax, and there will be no stamp duty to pay when the bets on individual shares are launched.

Andrew Garood, recently made joint managing director of Cantor Index, said: “We believe this to be a revolutionary product for the retail investor, who can now gain cost-effective exposure to movements in the FTSE on a daily basis.

“One of the good things about the FTSE is it reliably moves every day, but unlike in some sporting events, such as cricket, the spread does not move so much that you get absolutely cleaned out.”

He added: “Betting exchanges have grown exponentially in recent years and yet until now there has never been a way for private investors to establish easily the price at which they are prepared to trade or to take a price which they are comfortable.”