U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION 

Three Lafayette Centre 

1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581 

www.cftc.gov 

Office of Proceedings 

* 

BRE'IT L. RETTURA, * 

Complainant, * 

* 

v. * CFfC Docket No. 11-R28 

* 

GAIN CAPITAL GROUP LLC, * 

d/b/a FOREX.COM, and * 

TRADESTATION SECURITIES, INC., * 

Respondents. * 

* 

INITIAL DECISION 

Introduction 

RECEIVED CFTC 

Office of Proceedings 

Proceedings Clerk 

12:14 pm, Jun 02, 2014 

Brett Rettura seeks to recover $1,977 that he claims he lost on four open forex 

positions that were transferred as part of a bulk assignment from Gain Capital Group to 

TradeStation Securities.! Rettura's complaint is not a model of clarity. Moreover, his 

subsequent submissions failed to provide meaningful clarification or substantiation. 2 As 

can best be gleaned, the gravamen of Rettura's complaint is that respondents somehow 

misappropriated funds from his account in connection with the bulk assignment. 

1 See page one of factual description ofRettura's reparations complaint: "General false use of margin and use of 

customer equity/liquidity/margin to open trades within their own market making capacity. Broker utilized customer 

margin in order to open trades during technology transition. . . . Trading accounts were closely monitored during 

transition. Improper margins were reported on the day of and the week or two after the transition. Inaccurate 

positions were reported for almost a week after the April 8111 20 II transition. These positions and margins were false 

due to the use of customer margin to open trades within their market making capacity .... The use of customer 

margin to open positions within their own market-making capacity cause[ d) a net loss of -$1977 .I 0. 2 In this connection, Rettura failed to produce discovery replies, and as a result I have imposed adverse inverse 

sanctions imposed pursuant to CFTC rules 12.35(a), (b) and (c). See Order dated September 24, 2013, and bulleted 

items on pages 7-11 of respondents' joint final verified statement and closing arguments. The conclusions and 

findings below are based, in part, on these adverse inverse sanctions. 
In response, Gain and TradeStation deny any violations, assert that the bulk 

transfer was handled in accordance with CFfC and NF A rules, and further assert that 

the forex positions on which Rettura's complaint are based had already suffered market 

losses by the time of the transfer. As explained below, after carefully reviewing the 

parties' documentary submissions, it has been concluded that Rettura has failed to 

establish any violations by Gain and TradeStation. 

Factual Findings 

The parties 

1. Brett Rettura, a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, when he opened his 

TradeStation account, had an annual income between $so,ooo and $gg,ooo, and an 

approximate net worth and liquid net worth both between $200,000 and $499,000. 

Rettura had two to three years of extensive forex trading experience, averaging 101 to 

500 trades per month. He also had traded options and futures for two to three years. 

2. Gain Capital Group LLC ("Gain"), located in Bedminster, New Jersey, is a 

registered futures commission merchant and retail foreign exchange dealer. Up until 

April 8, 2011, Gain served as the clearing firm for TradeStation's forex business. 

3. TradeStation Securities, Incorporated (TradeStation), located in Plantation, 

Florida, is a discount online broker-dealer that provides an electronic trading platform 

for retail forex customers. 

When Rettura first opened his accounts with TradeStation, in 2010, it was a 

registered futures commission merchant that cleared its forex business through Gain. 

Soon before the bulk assignment in April2011 that forms the basis for Rettura's claim, 

all ofTradeStation's forex business was transferred from Gain to TradeStation Forex, 

2 
Inc. (n/k/ a IBFX, Incorporated)(heinafter referred to as "TradeStation Forex"), an 

affiliated· retail foreign exchange dealer. 

The bulk transfer 

4· Rettura maintained several accounts with TradeStation since May 2010. 

In 2011, TradeStation took steps to self-clear its forex business under its affiliate, the 

newly registered TradeStation Forex. 

TradeStation and Gain delivered to Rettura the NFA Rule 2-40 advance notice for 

firm-to-firm bulk assignment of forex accounts.3 On March 31, 2011, via email, 

TradeStation notified its customers, including Rettura: 

We are proud to introduce TradeStation Forex, Inc. (TSF"), a new 

subsidiary of TradeStation Group, Inc. ("TSG") and a new affiliate of your 

current forex broker, TradeStation Securities, Inc. ("TSI"). TSF, as a Retail 

Foreign Exchange Dealer, is registered with the Commodity Futures 

Trading Commission ("CFfC") and is a member of the National Futures 

Association ("NF A"). TSF will offer the same high level of service to which 

you have become accustomed through TSI. 

At the end of the trading session on Friday, AprilS, 2011, TSI will cease to 

act as introducing broker for your forex account and, unless you object or 

otherwise transfer your account, it will be transferred to TSF as your new 

clearing firm and counterparty. This means that the relationship you once 

had with TSI introducing your forex account to GAIN will be discontinued 

at that time. You will be given sufficient advance notice of the conversion, 

at which point you will no longer be able to purchase or sell foreign 

currency contracts through TSI but will be able to conduct such trading at 

TSF, with TSF acting as counterparty once GAIN transfers your account to 

TSF .... 

Tomorrow, you will receive a notice from GAIN explaining the reason for 

the transfer, the details of the transfer, and the name of the transferee, 

your new clearing firm and counterparty, i.e., TSF. This GAIN notice will 

also inform you that you are not required to accept the transfer, and will 

provide you with additional information with respect to the transfer. If you 

do not object to the conversion or otherwise transfer your account to 

3 See NFA Interpretive Notice 9058. NFA rule 2-40(a) and the Interpretive Notice require compliance with CFTC 

rule 5.23. 

3 
another forex firm, your account will be transferred to TSF and you will 

thereafter be subject to the New Agreement .... 

On March 31, and April 6 and 7, 2011, via email, Gain delivered the following notice to 

its customers, including Rettura: 

Dear Client, 

Foreign exchange ("forex") trades you make in your GAIN Capital Group, 

LLCaccount introduced by TradeStation Securities, Inc. are currently 

executed and cleared by GAIN Capital. In addition, GAIN Capital holds 

custody of the assets in our account. 

TradeStation Group, Inc. recently established a new subsidiary, 

TradeStation Forex, Inc. (TradeStation Forex). . . . As a result, GAIN and 

[TradeStation] have made arrangements to transfer your account to 

TradeStation Forex on Friday, April 8, 2011. 

If you desire to transfer your account to TradeStation Forex, then no 

action is required. Effective April 8, 2011 at approximately s:oo pm ET 

GAIN Capital will transfer your account to TradeStation Forex and 

following such transfer you will be bound by the TradeStation Forex 

Customer Agreement. 

In order to facilitate the transfer of your account, trading will be 

suspended in your account at 3:00 pm ET on Friday, April 8, 2011. 

In addition, your positions will be marked to the market, which will 

result in a gain or loss in your account .... 

As explained in Gain's and TradeStation's notices, Rettura could have remained with 

Gain. However, by remaining silent and not opting out of the assignment, his accounts 

moved from Gain during the transition weekend, Friday April 8, 2011 through Monday, 

April11, 2011. 

5· During the transition weekend, forex positions held in customers' accounts, 

including Rettura's, were offset at Gain, then reinstated on the books of TradeStation 

Forex, at no additional risk or cost to customers. In connection with the offset Gain 

reported that four positions had a $1,976 loss. However, Rettura's account was not 

4 
adversely affected because the identical forex positions were placed back in his accounts 

at Trade Station Forex. Moreover, TradeStation did not use Rettura's margin to do 

anything other than maintain the status quo. 

6. Other than changing clearing firms, the only impact on Rettura's accounts was 

the realization of a loss that had been caused solely by his trading decisions and market 

forces. By maintaining the status quo during transition, Rettura was able to continue 

managing his open contracts at TradeStation Forex just as he had done at Gain. 

Rettura's trades in dispute 

7. On January 10, 2011: (a) Rettura sold, as an open order, 10,000 USD/CHF at 

a deal rate of .96431. (Contract A); (b) Rettura sold, as an open order, 10,000 EUR/USD 

at a deal rate of 1.29043 (Contract B); (c) Rettura sold, as an open order, 10,000 

USD/CHF at a deal rate of .96423 (Contract C); and (d) Rettura sold, as an open order, 

10,000 EUR/USD at a deal rate of 1.29052 (Contract D). 

8. On March 31, 2011: Contract A had an unrealized loss totaling $1,253; 

Contract B had an unrealized gain of $4922; Contract C had an unrealized loss of 

$1,252; Contract D had an unrealized gain of $491; and Rettura's combined unrealized 

loss for these four contracts totaled $1,523.4 

9. Over the transition weekend April 8-11, 2011, Rettura's forex account was 

transferred, as described above. 

10. On April19, 2011, Rettura closed out the four forex positions for a net loss of 

$1,639· 

4 Amounts rounded to the nearest dollar. 

5 
Conclusion 

Rettura has not produced a scintilla of evidence that TradeStation and Gain acted 

improperly in connection with the transfer of his forex positions. Thus, Rettura must 

bear full responsibility for his losses on those positions. 

ORDER 

Brett Rettura has failed to establish any violations by respondents causing 

damages. Accordingly, the complaint in this matter is dismissed. 

Dated June 2, 2014. 

0 ,~~_~1/ /1/1 II~ Ptl~cGuire, Judgment Officer · 

6