User:Kahvihenki/ThinkMarkets

• Comment: Does the author of this draft have any sort of financial or other connection with the subject of this draft? Please read the conflict of interest policy and the paid editing policy and make any required disclosures.
  You may ask for advice about conflict of interest at the Teahouse.
  If this draft is resubmitted without addressing the question about conflict of interest, it may be Rejected or nominated for deletion. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:04, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

  Thank you! As I stated in the undeletion request, I have no conflicts of interest. I have edited numerous articles on various brokerage firms and am familiar with Wikipedia's guidelines. Kahvihenki (talk) 15:51, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

---

ThinkMarkets

Founded	2008 in New Zealand
Founder	Nauman Anees Faizan Anees
Headquarters	Melbourne, London , Australia, UK

ThinkMarkets (known as ThinkForex until 2016) is a retail forex and CFD broker founded in 2008 in New Zealand. It currently maintains dual headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, and London, United Kingdom.

ThinkMarkets provides trading services globally under multiple licenses, including ASIC (Australia), FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus), FSCA (South Africa), JFSA (Japan), and CIMA (Cayman Islands). The company remains privately held, having faced significant financial difficulties between 2020 and 2024, including declining revenues, rising debt, and unsuccessful attempts to become publicly traded.

History

ThinkMarkets (initially ThinkForex) was founded in 2008 in New Zealand by brothers Nauman and Faizan Anees. In 2012, the company moved its headquarters to Melbourne, Australia, after receiving an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) from Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). In 2015, it established a second headquarters in London, obtaining FCA authorization in the UK.

In 2016, ThinkForex rebranded as ThinkMarkets. The following year, the company acquired the ThinkTrader mobile platform, making it the flagship trading application for its clients.

In 2019, ThinkMarkets expanded operations to South Africa, and also acquired A-Conversio Capital Ltd, a CySEC-licensed investment firm in Cyprus, subsequently renamed TF Global Markets (Europe) Ltd.

By 2020, ThinkMarkets had grown its customer base to over 43,000, primarily concentrated in China and the Asia-Pacific region. That year, ThinkMarkets planned an IPO, but the initiative was abandoned at an early stage.

From 2021 to 2023, ThinkMarkets faced significant financial challenges, including declining revenues, accumulating debt, and increased administrative expenses. In 2021, the company secured a $30 million loan from Mars Growth Capital Fund to support operations. Despite growing its customer base to approximately 138,500 clients across 165 countries and reporting annual revenues of $62 million in 2022, the company was perceived as financially weakened by significant losses and liabilities during this period.

In May 2023, ThinkMarkets announced another IPO attempt through a reverse merger with the Canadian SPAC, FG Acquisition Corp., with a pre-merger valuation of approximately $160 million. Shortly thereafter, FG Acquisition Corp. experienced a massive buyback, reducing its available cash from $118 million to approximately $2 million. This was perceived as market skepticism toward ThinkMarkets' financial stability. The IPO was canceled in December 2023 after FG Acquisition Corp. withdrew its preliminary prospectus in November.

In 2022, ThinkMarkets expanded into Japan by acquiring a licensed local FX firm, subsequently regulated by Japan's JFSA. In 2023, the company re-entered New Zealand with an FMA license.

In July 2024, ThinkMarkets launched ThinkCapital, a proprietary trading subsidiary, diversifying its core brokerage business. In the second half of the same year, the company established a subsidiary in the UAE. Additionally, ThinkMarkets deepened its integration with TradingView in 2024, extending brokerage services to TradingView's web and mobile platforms.

Business and regulation

ThinkMarkets is a retail forex and CFDs broker, with dual headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, and London, UK. As of 2024, the company provides trading services in 165 countries through various subsidiaries, offering clients more than 10,000 CFDs across forex, commodities, indices, and equities via its proprietary ThinkTrader platform, as well as MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.

The broker operates globally through several regulated subsidiaries:

• TF Global Markets (Aust) Pty Ltd, regulated by ASIC (AFSL №424700), serves as the group's primary operating entity, generating approximately 99% of global revenue. In 2023, it reported holding AUD 18.5 million (~USD 12.3 million) in client funds.
• TF Global Markets (UK) Limited, authorized by the FCA (license №629628) since 2015, acts as the group's European headquarters. In 2023, this entity reported a 25% revenue decline and an operating loss of £56,507.
• TF Global Markets (Europe) Ltd, regulated by CySEC (license №215/13), was actively launched for European clients in early 2022.
• TF Global Markets (South Africa) Pty Ltd has held an FSCA license (FSP №49835) since 2019, offering regulated financial services within South Africa and across Africa.
• TF Global Markets Japan, established in 2022, operates under Japan's JFSA license, acquired through purchasing a licensed Japanese FX broker.
• TF Global Markets (International) Ltd operates offshore, licensed by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA).
• A UAE-regulated subsidiary was established in late 2024.

In August 2021, ThinkMarkets announced that its entity, Think Capital Limited, had received regulatory approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). The BMA promptly issued a public warning clarifying it never authorized ThinkMarkets or its affiliates, labeling the announcement misleading. ThinkMarkets subsequently corrected the statement, noting it had confused Bermuda with its actual license jurisdiction, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA).

Controversies

Unauthorized transfer of client funds

In late 2021, ThinkMarkets UK seized $4.28 million from the account of long-time client Abdurrahman Suzgun, a Turkish entrepreneur trading forex and precious metals with the broker since 2019. The company had provided him two accounts—a regular account and a swap-free account intended for short-term Islamic-compliant trading without interest charges. ThinkMarkets accused Suzgun of abusing the swap-free terms by holding positions for prolonged periods, alleging $1.6 million in unpaid swap fees. Suzgun denied the accusations. Despite this, ThinkMarkets transferred approximately $4.65 million of Suzgun's funds without his consent from its UK-regulated entity (under FCA jurisdiction, known for stricter client protection) to its Australian subsidiary. Suzgun responded by filing a lawsuit in London's Circuit Commercial Court.

In January 2024, the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales issued an interim order requiring ThinkMarkets' UK and Australian entities to return the seized $4.28 million to a segregated UK client account pending final judgment. The court noted potential contempt charges against ThinkMarkets if the order was not complied with. As of early 2025, the lawsuit remains ongoing.

iS Prime dispute

In 2017, ThinkMarkets sold its B2B liquidity and risk management business, ThinkLiquidity, to prime-of-prime broker iS Prime, part of ISAM Group. The deal included an exclusivity clause requiring ThinkMarkets to route trades exclusively through iS Prime under specific terms. Shortly thereafter, iS Prime accused ThinkMarkets of breaching this exclusivity by sourcing liquidity from other providers beginning in early 2018.

In 2019, iS Prime filed a $15 million lawsuit in the UK High Court, claiming breach of contract and lost profits. ThinkMarkets rejected these claims, citing iS Prime's decision to transfer its index swap business to a Hong Kong affiliate outside FCA jurisdiction in December 2017, which ThinkMarkets argued nullified its exclusivity obligations.

The case was settled in 2023, one day before trial. According to Finance Magnates, the agreement required ThinkMarkets to formally retract previously made negative statements about iS Prime and its staff. Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, though iS Prime described the outcome as a "clear vindication" of its position.

Persecution of a former employee

James Sorenson, a former ThinkMarkets employee and Senior Network Architect who moved to competitor ISAM Group, was sued by ThinkMarkets in late 2021. ThinkMarkets alleged he improperly accessed sensitive internal documents and deleted proprietary code before leaving. Sorenson presented evidence of manager-supervised data handover procedures and argued the deletion was a routine removal of company files from his personal laptop after resignation. Sorenson stated the lawsuit lacked concrete evidence, describing it as a case driven by animosity toward an employee who joined a rival firm, particularly given the ongoing legal dispute between ThinkMarkets and ISAM. In August 2021, both parties agreed to pause discovery pending court decisions on preliminary motions.

In February 2023, a U.S. District Court dismissed one of ThinkMarkets' five claims but allowed the remaining four (covering breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of fiduciary duty) to proceed to discovery and further litigation.