Key Insights
- Blueberry Markets has terminated its data/platform service for prop trading firms
- Move followed pressure from MetaQuotes over regulatory compliance concerns
- Impacts major prop client MyFundedFX which is migrating to non-MetaQuotes platforms
SYDNEY (MarketsXplora) – Australian retail broker Blueberry Markets has terminated its data and platform service catering to the proprietary trading industry, bowing to pressure from trading systems vendor MetaQuotes over regulatory concerns.
Blueberry Markets said on Monday it has “dropped the curtain” on the offering, severing ties with all prop trading firms including major client MyFundedFX.
The move follows what Blueberry described as lengthy discussions with MetaQuotes, the company behind the popular MT4 and MT5 trading platforms.
“Balancing the industry’s growth trajectory and concerns from a key vendor, we decided discontinuing this service was the only way to meaningfully address those concerns,” said Dean Hyde, Blueberry Markets’ chief executive.
The service had provided prop firms access to demo MetaQuotes servers and pricing data to run their trading challenges and funded accounts programs.
While not disclosed, sources said MetaQuotes’ unease centred around prop firms potentially on-boarding traders from banned jurisdictions like the United States to trade on its platforms in a non-compliant manner.
MetaQuotes has been clamping down to ringfence its systems from U.S. clients unless brokers are properly licensed there.
Blueberry is the latest broker affected after being warned by MetaQuotes to stop facilitating prop businesses, which have boomed by offering traders a path to earn funds and launch careers as money managers.
The decision impacts Blueberry’s biggest prop client MyFundedFX, which said it has now integrated alternative cTrader systems to go live with its service powered by an offshore brokerage.
It underscores mounting industry tensions around regulatory responsibilities as the nascent prop trading segment balloons in size and struggles to fit existing compliance frameworks.
“We respect the prop industry but have to address legitimate vendor concerns over the service in a meaningful way,” said Hyde, who was tight-lipped on whether Blueberry would continue serving prop businesses on non-MetaQuotes platforms.
But with offshore entities potentially at play, regulatory headaches may persist around an industry accused by some of facilitating problematic trading practices.
Blueberry’s offshore unit in Vanuatu could allow it to retain some prop business under more flexible local rules, though at legal risk.
The developments signal rising compliance friction in the white-hot prop trading space as regulators, brokers and even technology firms scramble to catch up with the largely uncharted territory.