FXCM allows people to speculate on the foreign exchange market and provides trading in contract for difference (CFDs) on major indices and commodities such as gold and crude oil.

[6] On February 6, 2017, the firm agreed to pay a $7 million penalty to settle a suit from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) involving fraudulent misrepresentation by FXCM to its customers and to regulators.

FXCM withdrew its CFTC registration and agreed not to re-register in the future, effectively banning it from trading in the United States.

[7] Three top managers resigned under regulatory pressure and the majority owner of the firm changed its name to Global Brokerage Inc., effective January 27, 2017.

Refco filed for bankruptcy on October 17, 2005, a week after a $430 million fraud was discovered, and two months after its initial public offering.

[18] In November 2005, Refco agreed, in part, to sell its 35% stake back (which included 15,000 customer accounts) to FXCM for $110 million.

[28][29] In October of that year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered FXCM to pay $14.2 million in restitution to clients who had not been awarded positive slippage gains.

[30][31] The following year, in February and March 2011, several class actions lawsuits were filed against FXCM, alleging fraud and racketeering from deceptive and unfair trade practices, and misleading shareholders during the 2010 IPO.

[41][42] On January 15, 2015 following a large increase in the price of Swiss francs, FXCM lost $225 million and was in breach of regulatory capital requirements.

[43] The following day, the company received a $300-million bailout loan with a 10% interest rate from Leucadia in order to meet its capital requirements.

[44][45] Later in January, FXCM announced that it would be forgiving 90% of its accounts that incurred negative balances as a result of the unexpected Swiss franc price movement.

[48] In February 2017, the CFTC fined FXCM, Inc. and three founding partners (including Drew Niv) $7 million for engaging in fraudulent activities.

[51] In August of that year, FXCM sold its stake in the FastMatch ECN for $46.7 million and used that money to repay part of the Leucadia loan.