FXCM cheated me out. I took short positions starting on 16-June-2016 for EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, GBP/USD, and EUR/USD. Forward to 24-June-2016 and these pairs are going down. FXCM increased the margin on my existing positions twice and subsequently lead to the automatic closings of all my short positions on 22-June-2016. They wiped me out. If they hadn’t increase the margin the second time I would have survived the volitility and become reward with the correct direction that I had the positions going! FUCM sh$theads!
So even with all the talk of brexit. Notes from brokers etc etc you held open positions with insufficient funds to meet margin requirements.
Can’t help stupidity. Dont blame your broker. Take responsibility for your own mistakes and your own descisions.
Why didn’t you increas you funds prior?
I did increased my funds to cover FXCM’s first notice of margin increased from the list they supplied. It was the SECOND substantial increased that did it. By the time I woke up to take a look at my account it was too late to do anything about it. Why do such a thing if they had no intention of taking advantage of people’s held positions?
On the day prior to FXCM closing my short positions I checked the USBL Mgr. percentage, it was at 68%. The next day I logged into the account I saw Margin percentages turned red and there was a beeping sound with a window showed up and I clicked okay, and all wiped out.
Was it their decision to hold open your positions. No. That decision was yours n yours alone.
Take ownership bro. Don’t blame your broker
I am sure we are going to be hearing a lot of stories like this, and from a few who got it right, Many US stock brokers rallied the market today believing the Brexit would fail. I am sure many of them will be facing margin calls in the morning
Thanks for the comforting thoughts bro. Yes, it was my decision to hold the open, but it wasn’t my decision to increase the margin the second time to wipe out the 68% cushion I thought was enough. I guess little guys will always get screwed somehow.
I feel you pain bro. I really do. And because of their history I wont touch FUCM. But there are many ways we can lose our trading capital. 5 weeks ago hackers drain all my bank accounts. All I was left with was my funds with my broker which (cause like you I’m just a little guy) wasn’t much and I had to withdraw to continue living. Have got some back but as each day goes by wonder if I will get sufficent back to allow me to go back to the level I was at.
Sovtake comfort you will not be the only one. Others will experience losses completely out of their control. We just have to start again. But if you don’t take ownership then you leave yourself open to this happening again.
Oh wow, I thought I had it worst. You’ve had your own shake down too. At first I thought you were one of the brokers’ mole, they come onto the forum to defend their respective brokers no matter what. Yes, I hope you will get back to where you were and more! Your attitude is admirable. As for me, I am now taking a comfort that I had it correct. Brexit is now imminent. The BBC just called it. And I checked Bloomberg just now and leave =51.6% vs. remain =48.4% .
Yes, good luck to them.
even thou it is his own fault i completely undrstand louadams.
FXCM did NOT act in a good way. they first increased margin requirements and gave a shout out weeksbefore. the second increase was a panic reaction of FXCM and was anounced only less then 48 hours prior to the increase leaving people very little time to adapt to the changing conditions.
NO OTHER BROKER DID THIS AND INCREASED TWICE AND INCREASED WITH A RUN TIME OF LESS THEM 48 HOURS.
I am very comcerned about the way FXCM acted in this case and i really think that this should be inspected by the authorities in their headquater location.
More fines ahead for FUCM. Won’t be anything new there.
Thanks guys for allowing me to vent. It means so much. I hope that they will be investigated, TURBONero. So, for now, like bobbillbrowne said, it’s time to start the rebuilding.
Oh wow, Bob, I am so sorry, this is a horrible situation… 
Could the bank restore any part of the loss, like with insurance or something?
As for the FXCM situation…didn’t they first warn their clients few days before the change in order to provide them with time to react? Usually this should happen 3-4 days before any actions which will be taken, otherwise this increase could have a deadly impact on most orders…
Na bro. You sux it up say “that’s life” and start all over again.
Hello Sebastiano,
FXCM does notify clients ahead of time regarding any margin changes. Common examples include this year’s UK and France elections. While we aim to give sufficient notice, situations such as geopolitical instability are not events which are scheduled. Geopolitical instability such as North Korea missile tests is a good example. This type of event can occur without notice and cause highly illiquid conditions in the market. For circumstances such as these, we email clients in advance that margin requirements may change depending on market conditions but the exact timing may not be known since geopolitical events such as this tend to occur without prior notice.
Jason
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Hi Jason,
Thank you for your reply. I understand what you mean but can’t help but sympathize traders in such situations. Yes, geopolitical events can be sudden and catch all of us off guard but I am not sure if this should lead to many wiped out accounts. Anyways, it’s just my opinion so I cannot speak from the side of brokers, only from a trader’s point of view.
Hi Sebastiano,
I think there is a need to keep separate the effect of a dramatic price movement itself and the amount of additional margin required if a broker changes the requirement with respect to a perceived enhanced risk situation.
If a trader’s total open positions’ risk exposure is within the parameters considered prudent during normal trading conditions (i.e. 1-2% of total equity) then it is unlikely that the typical increased margin requirement from the broker, by itself, is going to cause an account to be wiped out.
It is, of course, the unexpected loss from an abnormal market price movement that even gaps over stoplosses that does the real damage?
Or have I understood wrongly what you mean here?
Hi, Simple_Simon, thanks for the reply. Yes, I completely understand you point of view, we could distinguish both events and what I meant was that perhaps it would not be very good in such events, the traders to be notified at the last moment and therefore to have absolutely no time for reaction.
However I agree with you that each trader should minimalize the total risk exposure in order to be safe from sudden sharp market conditions.
Basically such situations are a bit delicate in my opinion because no one could take the entire blame, haha 
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