It is legal to speculate in foreign exchange. The Criminal Law clearly clarifies that the act of speculating in foreign exchange does not constitute the crime of illegal business operations.
According to current laws, our country does not restrict such investment behavior by individual citizens. Just like the issuance and financing of virtual tokens that have been banned in the country recently, it does not prohibit private peer-to-peer token transactions among citizens, nor does it prohibit private citizens from conducting peer-to-peer token transactions. Citizens are not prohibited from investing in overseas virtual currency projects, nor are they prohibited from trading on overseas virtual currency platforms. Similarly, foreign exchange is only an investment target, and the country has not promulgated laws. Overseas investment by individual citizens is prohibited. However, since the foreign exchange margin business has not yet been fully opened in China, there are no domestic companies or institutions that organize citizens to conduct foreign exchange transactions on their own.
If a domestic foreign exchange investment platform provides agency services to overseas foreign exchange trading platforms to collect commissions, it is suspected of constituting an illegal business crime. Taking the provision of agency services for overseas foreign exchange platforms as an example,
In judicial practice , judicial authorities often determine that such platforms do not obtain approval or filing consent from industry regulatory authorities in accordance with the law, and buy and sell foreign exchange outside designated foreign exchange banks and China Foreign Exchange Trading Center and its branches without authorization, which is a typical illegal business behavior.
Legal basis: The 1998 "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Fraudulent Purchase of Foreign Exchange and Illegal Purchase and Sale of Foreign Exchange". Trading outside designated foreign exchange banks and the China Foreign Exchange Trading Center and its branches. Foreign exchange, disrupting the order of the financial market, and falling under any of the following circumstances shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 225 (3) of the Criminal Law.
1. Domestic individuals and domestic institutions can retain foreign exchange earnings
The provisions on the mandatory settlement of foreign exchange earnings under the current account have been cancelled. That is to say, domestic individuals and domestic institutions can retain foreign exchange earnings under the current account. Foreign exchange income can be retained and accumulated, which is an important source of legal foreign exchange.
2. Legality of the trading platform
Secondly, the choice of the trading platform must be legal. Generally speaking, the more common and legal practice is to use the online platform of the foreign parent bank to conduct transactions. This kind of trading platform is globally applicable. Generally, some foreign parent banks will apply for an electronic banking business license from the China Banking Regulatory Commission through their domestic branches, and at the same time place servers in China to link to the foreign platform. This is feasible.
3. Distinguish between foreign exchange transactions and RMB foreign exchange settlement and sales
Foreign exchange transactions are transactions between foreign exchange and foreign exchange, which will not affect the balance of payments in RMB, unlike those between foreign exchange and RMB. foreign exchange settlement and sales business. Our country does not have any laws and regulations restricting foreign exchange and foreign exchange transactions, and any bank with the business scope of "foreign exchange business" can do so.
IV. Regarding separate criminal laws
First of all, all foreign exchange crimes are administrative crimes. Violation of administrative laws is a prerequisite for crime. There is no administrative law in our country that prohibits foreign exchange transactions. Therefore, It cannot be a crime. Secondly, looking at the law, it mainly focuses on fraudulent foreign exchange transactions such as foreign exchange fraud, and honest and trustworthy foreign exchange transactions are protected by law.
However, it must be noted that foreign exchange transactions should be handled in banks with foreign exchange business qualifications. Branches of foreign banks do not matter, and the parent bank can also handle it in China.
5. The actual demand for foreign exchange transactions
In addition to speculation and arbitrage, foreign exchange transactions have many functions of hedging the risk of exchange rate fluctuations. They are important financial trading tools that cannot be eliminated, denying its legality. Sex has no meaning. Besides, it’s no one else’s business if I exchange dollars for euros. Just don’t exchange RMB for it.
Extended information
According to foreign exchange trading regulations:
Customers of foreign exchange margin trading
1) Those who have a certain amount of foreign currency assets on hand: For example, if you have a foreign currency deposit of US$100,000 on hand, if the US dollar/euro depreciates by 20%, your assets will also depreciate by 20% relative to the euro.
2) Those who have a large amount of RMB assets on hand: Since the RMB is pegged to the US dollar, the depreciation of the US dollar is equivalent to the depreciation of the RMB, so it is necessary to use one-year deposit interest to maintain the value of the currency assets in hand. of.
3) Those with regular foreign business: Use a small amount of money to purchase the required foreign currency in advance to avoid the passive side caused by exchange rate fluctuations.
4) Those with investment and financial management needs: Foreign exchange margin trading, as the best investment and financial management product in the world, deserves your great attention.
5) Serious losses in stocks and futures: In the foreign exchange market, there are many opportunities to change from a few thousand to tens of thousands in a few months, but it is not easy to double in the stock and futures markets. According to The characteristics of foreign exchange margin trading are that you can obtain financing up to 100 times, which gives everyone the opportunity to obtain high profit returns with small funds.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Foreign exchange transactions (currency exchange between countries)