Canada OSC alerts public to overseas broker seeking investment

abdelaziz Fathi

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), one of the thirteen provincial financial regulators in Canada, has added Status Markets to its list of companies not to do business with, according to a regulatory statement.

Status Markets is the latest entity to be added to the OSC warning list and follows a growing number of recent complaints regarding forex and binary options firms.

Representatives of this company contacted Ontario residents by telephone, seeking investment funds for the purpose of trading options online, said the regulator which also believes that Status Markets is operating out of Marshall Islands.

The website https://www.statusmarkets.com seems to be owned by the newly-blacklisted firm. It supposedly offers users the ability to trade in commodities, FX, and cryptocurrencies through options offered online. However, the firm is not registered in Ontario to trade securities or advise anyone with respect to investing in, buying, or selling securities.

How to check authorized brokers in Canada?

“Status Markets is soliciting Ontarians via telephone to invest in commodity options. Neither Status Markets or its representatives are registered in Ontario to solicit investments or provide advice on investing in, or buying or selling securities or commodities,” said the OSC.

A company’s registration status can be checked by using the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search database at www.aretheyregistered.ca.

This is not the first time that Status Markets has been red-flagged for soliciting traders without regulatory permissions. Last year, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC)  issued a warning against the same company for providing forex trading services in the province without having the required authorization.

In its capacity as one of Canada’s provincial regulators, OSC seeks to protect investors while promoting fair and efficient capital markets throughout the province. The regulator website provides information, tools, and resources for investors, including investor warnings about individuals and companies that appear to be engaging in unauthorized activities.

Earlier this year, two subsidiaries of Bloomberg L.P. agreed to pay more than $3 million to resolve Ontario watchdog’s allegations that they operated in Canada without proper authorization and allowed Ontarians to trade on their unregistered trading facilities.

Additionally, the Ontario Securities Commission accused Bloomberg Trading Facility Limited (BTFL) and Bloomberg Trading Facility B.V. (BV) of failure to provide accurate and complete information to regulators.

Read this next

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

Digital Assets

Masa and LayerZero: Bridging Blockchains for Data Sovereignty

Masa Network is poised to revolutionize the personal data landscape with its upcoming launch as a cross-chain platform, making it accessible on a variety of blockchains right from the start.

Digital Assets

Big Time Generates over $100M in Revenue since Preseason

Innovative game developer Big Time Studios announces that its highly anticipated free-to-play multiplayer action/MMO RPG Big Time, has generated $100M in revenue. According to the team, players transacted a total volume of over $230M, without selling a single token.

<