Abdelaziz Fathi
Senior Reporter, Brokers and Prop Firms
Abdelaziz Fathi covers the intersection of forex/CFD brokerage, regulation, liquidity, fintech, and digital assets. With a B.A. in Finance and hands-on industry exposure, Aziz blends analytical rigor with clear storytelling to make complex market structure understandable for traders, brokers, and fintech professionals.
September 2026
Corn to $4.75 by the December 14 expiry: the crowded-long case
Managed money added 191,573 net corn contracts in a fortnight, into the second-largest US crop on record. Why CZ26 targets 475 c/bu by the 14 December expiry.
Klein Funding review: the Bybit API is a demo-trading key
Klein Funding advertises “real Bybit infrastructure” and “no simulated fills”.
Bitfunded review: 24 hours, 4 days or 14 days for a payout
Bitfunded publishes three payout speeds - two of them in one paragraph of its own Terms of Use - and two profit splits.
Avatar Securities review: the $70,000 censure over risk controls
Avatar Securities is a FINRA-registered US proprietary equities desk with $104.4m of net capital and no challenge fee.
Silver to $58 by September 30: the spec-length unwind case
Silver at $64.12, 8.7% below the August 28 LBMA fix. CFTC net length rose into the top and Warsh says the Fed has work to do. Base case $58 by September 30.
EverFunded review: the contract says there is no profit to split
EverFunded's homepage sells a 90% profit split and a "Reward Guarantee".
Plutus Trade Base review: €39 on the page, €99 in the terms
Plutus Trade Base advertises €39 challenges and “trade our capital”. Its own terms price the same account at €99, call every account simulated, and say the terms prevail.
Axia Investing review: a prop desk registered as a school
Axia Investing markets itself as Brazil's most innovative proprietary desk.
Bright Trading review: the SIPC exclusion it puts in writing
Bright Trading is a FINRA-member broker-dealer where traders join as Class B members and post their own deposit.
SOFR–IORB capped at 10bp into year-end: the fading-turn case
SOFR–IORB sits at 0bp against +22bp at the last year-end. The call: at or below +10bp on December 31, 2026, with the Standing Repo Facility as the ceiling.
August 2026
Great Point Capital review: whose money is in the funded account
Great Point Capital is an SEC-registered broker-dealer with 13 regulatory disclosures, including a $2m SEC recordkeeping order it admitted.
Hyperticks review: the terms name two models, it sells four
Hyperticks sells four futures programmes.
USD/TRY path to 50 runs through the CBRT’s restarted repo auction
USD/TRY at 48.245 after the CBRT restarted one-week repo auctions on August 23, cutting effective funding 300bp. Base case 50.00 by October 31, 2026.
Velotrade review: the 20x payout cap and what it forfeits
All 60 of Velotrade's published payout hashes check out on Arbitrum - totalling $38,643.
EU carbon to €90 by year-end 2026: the surplus-floor case
EU carbon allowances closed at €82.87/t. The Market Stability Reserve intake from September 1 draws the ETS surplus to exactly 833 million — and to €90/t.
Maverick Trading review: the bond its own site never names
Maverick Trading puts traders on real firm capital after an interview, not a paid challenge.
Also filing this week: Rick Steves and Karthik Subramanian.