There’s a heated debate across many websites whether the new rules mean that non-US brokers will be able to accept US clients or not.
It seems that the majority of people (check Francesc and Bart’s websites) believe that foreign brokers will stop accepting US clients, even meaning that subsidiaries/affiliates of US brokers themselves will not be able to accept US clients.
I however, have a different opinion as may be seen here in comments: http://forexmagnates.com/cftc-finalizes-forex-rules-leverage-reduced-to-150/#comments. I believe that what is going to happen is the same thing that happened to the US online gambling industry. Although it was banned from the US (for similar, reasons the retail forex industry is under fire now) however continued prospering nonetheless.
First of all, for now, there is no rule that forbids foreign brokers from accepting clients. Secondly, even if it passes, there’s almost no way that any regulatory agency will be able to effectively monitor or prevent this. Thirdly, many offshore brokers will just keep accepting US clients and there’s nothing anybody can do to them, just like there are offshore online casinos who still accept these clients. They realize of course that this means that their execs won’t be able to step on US soil and that if in the future the online gaming industry will be allowed to operate in the US again, they won’t be able to participate. In the meanwhile they are racking up huge profits. There’s a good chance that some of them will take simply because you can always settle these cases, just Google what some online gaming operators did in similar events…
For the sake of US customers I hope CFTC won’t get involved in this and will actually let these traders choose where they wish to trade. I believe that the public in the US will know how to make wise decisions without Uncle Sam telling them what to do in every step.
I’m new in this but I think smart traders do not wait to find out what others are doing. They already know what they are supposed to do given a certain fair or unfair situation.
I’m sure billions of dollar is flowing out of US everyday.