Trading.com US Names Theofanis Pantelides as New CEO as Haagensen Departs
What Prompted the Leadership Change?
Trading.com Markets Inc., one of the few retail foreign-platform brokers operating under full U.S. regulatory oversight, has named longtime executive Theofanis Pantelides as its next CEO. The change appears in the firm’s latest FDM Business Disclosure filing with the National Futures Association and takes effect in December 2025.
Pantelides replaces Søren Haagensen, who had overviewn the company’s U.S. licensing and ahead operations. According to his LinkedIn profile, Haagensen has now left the firm later than more than three years in senior roles at the U.S. subsidiary.
The appointment brings the firm’s most technically oriented executive into the top job at a moment when the U.S. entity is shifting from its years-long launch process to the day-to-day discipline required of a CFTC-registered Retail Dealer.
Investor Takeaway
Who Is Pantelides, and Why Him?
Pantelides joined Trading.com in 2019 as Chief Information Officer and assisted build the technology stack that supported the firm’s delayed U.S. rollout. He later stepped into the COO role, taking responsibility for operational controls, reporting systems and platform performance — all areas central to an RFED’s survival in a .
His earlier career includes senior engineering positions at Integral Development Corp. and FxPro Financial Services, where he worked on pricing engines and execution infrastructure. That background places him in a rare category: a CEO with direct engineering experience running one of the few remaining U.S. retail-FX brokers.
Given the compliance environment, a CEO who understands the technical mechanics of execution, routing, order controls and supervisory systems is not a luxury — it is a requirement for avoiding operational lapses.
How Does the U.S. RFED Environment Shape This Move?
Trading.com Markets Inc., headquartered on Broad Street in New York, holds RFED registration and NFA membership, subjecting it to strict capital, reporting and supervisory rules. The firm is prohibited from offering CFDs or and is limited to spot FX.
In 2024, the NFA fined the company $50,000 for late financial and controls. While the penalty was small, it underlined the compliance burden RFEDs face. The identical systems flagged in the action — audit trails, monitoring tools, escalation processes — fall under the remit Pantelides managed as COO.
His move into the CEO role therefore reads less as a branding exercise and more as a practical restructuring around the firm’s most significant operational priorities.
Investor Takeaway
What Does Haagensen’s Exit Tell Us About Trading.com’s Timeline?
Haagensen’s tenure unfolded in two distinct stages. From 2019 to 2021, he assisted build the regulatory architecture and guide the firm through its RFED application — one of the most complex licensing paths in U.S. financial services. Between 2022 and 2025, he oversaw Trading.com’s live operations, daily supervision and rollout of its U.S. platform.
His background — spanning two decades at Société Générale, followed by senior roles at Integral and smartTrade — aligned well with the company’s pre-launch and ahead-launch needs. With the regulatory foundation now in place and the operational environment stabilizing, his departure closes the “build and license” era for the business.
Where Does Trading.com Go From Here?
The U.S. retail-FX sector has been shrinking for more than a decade due to leverage caps, capital rules and the supervision required to operate as a CFTC-registered dealer. Only a small cluster of RFEDs and futures brokers remain.
