👀 FTMO buys Oanda

Hi guys, it’s Kieran! Another wild week is in the books, and it’s time to do it all over again, so let’s buckle up and get prepared for the week ahead.

📢 Prop Firm Industry News

In a seismic move for the industry, FTMO has acquired global broker Oanda. This is a huge deal, not least because Oanda have reportedly 100k+ active traders and had a revenue projection of $175 million last year. For them to be acquired by a prop firm is kind of crazy! However, FTMO’s turnover alone was reportedly $213 million in 2023, so with this acquisition we are now looking at a financial markets powerhouse.

This represents a milestone moment for the industry and another step toward legitimacy and a regulated environment. Very exciting news indeed! 😀 

Full details from Finance Magnates 👇️ 

Social Media reaction 👇️ 

From Payout Junction, here are the firms who have paid out the most over the last 7 days 🏆️.

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🕜 Economic calendar

Here are this week’s red folder news events. US Inflation numbers on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as US Retail Sales on Friday will be the key events of the week to look out for. Jerome Powell is testifying to congress on Tuesday which should be watched closely as well.

📈 The Macro View

Sideways chop continues in the S&P 500

Another mixed week in the S&P 500, no breakout or breakdown yet. Futures are green this morning but risk markets overall remain broadly flat and trendless for now, awaiting the next major catalyst. My advice, don’t get over exposed in these conditions and expect a series of shakeouts before we resolve in either direction.

Fear and Greed - Back to Fear

Overall Market Sentiment is resetting nicely. Weak-hands are slowly getting flushed out as the wall-of-worry grows. This is typical behaviour for the equity markets. The further we go towards ‘Extreme Fear’ the better the buying opportunity becomes.

Positioning flat

Positioning on Goldman Sach’s Prime Book, is still neutral. Not ‘Streched’ in either direction. We await a breakout or breakdown in equity markets to see a shift in market positioning.

Hedge Funds are buying the dip

One group who are buying is Hedge Funds. They sold into the tech rally all of last year, but are now back buying in size. As per Goldman Sachs “ Info Tech was by far the most net bought US sector this week and saw the largest net buying since December 2021 (2nd largest in the last 5 years), driven by both short covers and long buys (1.5 to 1)”

Overall Market Breath is Very Healthy

Despite the massive concentration of the Technology sector in the S&P 500, particularly the Mag 7 stocks, this year-to-date it has actually been outperformed by all other sectors. In fact, the only sector to be down for the year is Technology! 😁 I read this as a positive sign that the overall market is catching up to the tech outperformance we have seen. A very healthy sign for a continued rally with a solid market structure.

OK guys that’s it for this week. Stay safe out there and see ya next week!

Kieran

This year I am trading prop firms full-time. If you would like to follow my personal trading journey, you can do so on X here > https://x.com/kierangohil_.

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