Resolution no. 23525

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance committed via the website https://xptraders.com and the page https://trading.xptraders.com

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA
[The National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange]

HAVING REGARD to Law no. 216 of 7 June 1974, as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING REGARD to Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance"), as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, commodities, shares and cryptocurrencies through the website https://xptraders.com, which is active, registered anonymously, also available in Italian and divided into the following sections: "About us", "IA Auto", "Trading", "Products" and "Accounts";

ii. in order to place trading transactions, users must register with the above-mentioned website, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, from the page https://trading.xptraders.com and open a trading account; specifically, five different types of account are advertised on the website: "Bronzo" (Bronze), "Argento" (Silver), "Oro" (Gold), "Platino" (Platinum) and "VIP", which differ according to the minimum deposit and the benefits promised;

iii. with regard to the legal entity that the website refers to, it is noted that there are generic references therein to "XPTRADERS" and in the section "Terms and Conditions", it reads "XPTRADERS" with the email address support@xptradersemail.com provided.

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website https://xptraders.com and the page https://trading.xptraders.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account on which it is possible to issue purchase and/or sale orders relating to financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out via the website https://xptraders.com and the page https://trading.xptraders.com is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is also available in Italian, and that cold calling of Italian consumers has also been reported; furthermore, no mechanisms were found to limit or block registration by users connected to the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses and some reports have been received from Italian investors;

WHEREAS such activity carried out via the website https://xptraders.com and the page https://trading.xptraders.com cannot be attributed to any entity that is authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD to the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which "The commercial provision of investment services and activities to the public is reserved to Italian investment firms, EU investment firms, Italian banks, EU banks and non-EU firms";

HAVING ESTABLISHED, therefore, that the operations in question qualify as the professional provision of investment services to the Italian public, in infringement of article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of article 7-octies, letter b), of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract unauthorised provision of investment services" - Consob "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that such infringement cease";

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary, in the light of the foregoing, to adopt this Resolution immediately for reasons of urgency;

RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the breach of Article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://xptraders.com and the page https://trading.xptraders.com, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties and published in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of service.

16 April 2025

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona