From HyperScalper:Perhaps there will come a time when we U.S. persons will again be welcomed by the offshore brokers ??
Who knows, there might be a time as I received an email today which shows that Europe is following the CFTC path and puts pressure on the search for Offshore brokers also on this part of the world… This is what I got today:
"Dear xxx,
On 1st August 2018, the new ESMA investor protection measures come into force for retail clients. We are writing to inform you of the changes we need to make to your account.
New Margin Rates
In preparation for the 1st August deadline, on 28th July 2018 new margin rates will be applied to your account. This means that all trades opened from midnight BST on 28th July 2018 will be subject to the new margin rates.
If you have existing open positions prior to midnight 28th July 2018, these will remain on the current margin levels until you close them. They will not be subject to the new margin requirements.
Maximum Trading Leverage
Market Current Retail Margin New Retail Margin Extra Margin Required for Retail Clients
Major currencies 0.5% 3.33% × 6.67
Major indices 0.5% 5% × 10
Metals 0.5% 5% × 10
Commodities 1% 10% × 10
Shares 4% 20% × 5
Cryptocurrencies 25% 50% × 2
No Negative Balance Protection
From midnight BST on 28th July 2018, no negative balance protection will also be applied to your account. This means that the balance on your account cannot go below zero.
Please also note, the 50% margin close out rule will continue to be applied to your account, unless we have communicated to you otherwise. We will be in touch in the next couple of weeks to tell you more about how these changes will affect you.
Professional Client Status
Professional Clients will not be affected by the new upcoming ESMA regulations. Find out more about becoming a Professional Client.
If you have any questions regarding the information in this email then please do not hesitate to contact us on the numbers below."
If you read the above post, well… if the restrictions kick in, then there are less and less differences between the US brokerages and the other ones so maybe US traders can then trade elsewhere.
My favorite points from the above email:
Making difference clearly between retail traders and “professionals” - whatever the later means.
The ridiculous leverage, which is lot for than in the US. For example look at Cryptos. The new leverage is 2:1. Is that serious?
I am sorry, it seems like I made above the changes of the table showing the Retail Margin, New Margin and Change, but it somehow wasn´t saved the way I made it so it is a bit difficult to interpret the numbers there.
Here is what I got from one of my “regulated” broker.
Pursuant to your recent discussion with us, and based on information you have provided on your application form and/or other information available to us, we shall treat you as an elective professional client (as defined by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) rules) in respect of all your investment business with us.
We categorise you as a professional client on the basis that you meet the requirements for an elective professional client set out in the Appendix to this letter. In accordance with the title transfer financial collateral arrangement in CASS 7.11 of the FCA’s Client Money Rules, and in agreement with Term 18.3 of our Terms of Business you agree that any money (i) you transfer to us or (ii) have transferred to us, or (iii) which is transferred to us on your behalf by way of margin or otherwise will be treated as a transfer of full ownership of such money by you to us for the purpose of securing or covering your present, future, actual, contingent or prospective obligations.
You understand and agree that the consequence of the transfer of ownership of any such monies means that it shall no longer be regarded or treated as “Client Money” in relation to the segregation of those monies and that we may deal with such money in our own right. Furthermore, in the case of insolvency, you rank as a general creditor in relation to such
money.
You do have the right to request re-categorisation as a retail client. Whilst we will consider such a request, we cannot
guarantee we would agree to it.
As a professional client, you will not receive the benefit of certain protections that are available for retail clients under FCA’s rules. You may however be eligible to benefit from lower overnight financing charges and interest on encumbered funds on your account. We enclose a summary of the main differences between professional clients and retail clients herein for your information
Here is the Appendix which states the criteria for a professional client
(the “qualitative test”);
an adequate assessment of the expertise, experience and knowledge of the client has been undertaken that gives
reasonable assurance, in light of the nature of the transactions or services envisaged, that the client is capable of
making his own investment decisions and understanding the risks involved
(the “quantitative test”);
the client has carried out transactions, in significant size, on the relevant market at an average frequency of
10 per quarter over the previous four quarters
the size of the client’s financial instrument portfolio, defined as including cash deposits and financial
instruments, exceeds EUR 500,000
Not sure if its worth becoming a professional investor with a broker. I would rather go to a prop shop and put “first loss capital” and get all the benefits of a professional investor without loosing the right to my money
Back to the Pint -> I think ESMA made this thread even more precious now not only US guys but also EU guys will have to find a new home with offshore brokers. We should now call this thread Going offshore to escape CFTC and ESMA (no offense intended)
I have a couple of comments and a question I hope you can help with. First and foremost this whole thread is AMAZING and Thanks to all who have put in the work to gather the broker info!!!
Next, I am another whose account was moved from Tallinex to Capital City Markets. I went through the issues with credit card deposit supposedly not being recognized by CCMs bank. My credit card issuer honored my fraud claim and I'm not sure what ever happened past that. I hope others affected by that were refunded. As if that wasn't bad enough for CCM, I read posts in this thread of someone waiting a ridiculous amount of time for a withdrawal. Well I put in my first withdrawal request on Monday and I will update you as the process moves along (fingers crossed it goes smoothly).
My question is this, I have been growing a small account and have now reached the point where the FBAR is a consideration. It appears many of you here are dealing with this. I understand how to file and the form appears easy enough, my concern is does filing the FBAR create any headaches for you? Further scrutiny? Increase the odds of an audit? Are there any consequences that come from filing this report?
I pay my taxes, I'm not trying to cheat. But I prefer to live my life under the radar and want to know what the FBAR exposes me to. I welcome your experiences and opinions on this.
Thanks again for all the work in this thread.
This thread is directed to U.S. traders looking for trustworthy brokers outside the U.S.
We call them offshore brokers.
We don’t address the needs of traders in other countries (except, occasionally, Canada) who are looking for brokers beyond their own national borders.
Now that ESMA has stepped up to challenge our own CFTC as the World Forex Police, it will probably become necessary for someone from Europe to open a thread similar to this one, in which to address the interests of European traders desiring to escape from ESMA.
Back to your question – I’m no authority on brokers who welcome traders in Belgium.
But, if I were going to research this question, I would start here – Top Forex Brokers in Belgium | top8forexbrokers
Please note that I am not recommending any of the brokers on that list. I am simply suggesting the list as a starting point for performing your due diligence.
So, the most recent theme appears to be ESMA as a threat,
layerered upon the existing CFTC threat. Personally, I’m ramping
up a fully automated scalable trading operation,
and the only way forward I can see
is to diversify trading across our small range of brokerage offerings,
to handle the increasing threats of brokerage denial to U.S. persons.
I’m increasingly attracted to brokerages such as Evolve.Markets
although that does expose a risk of crypto value fluctuations… And
to hold the minimum equity, consistent with using maximum buying
power so that brokerage failures would minimize worst case risk…
Good day to all. First let me introduce myself. My name is Esteban (middle name). I have been following this forum and specifically this topic for about a year on and off. Gained a lot of information from it. I just felt compelled to share my experiences with one of the brokers here as a warning about doing Forex offshore.
The brokerage is LQDFX. I have seen many positive reviews by them. I had a positive view of them until lately. I joined them in July '17 with about $3k. At first it was pretty good as are most brokerages out there. I deposited more money in the last month or so but I started to notice, well blatantly, actually, that all my orders in demo and live would go against me, the old trade against your client. I mean every order. Do I know how to trade? Yes. I use math and statistical analysis: Ranges, standard deviations, distributions, coefficient of variations and so on. I even have several winning streaks going for a few months. Still do. I guess that was the problem.
I noticed that prices would never retrace or only slightly, my opening price would be used as support and resistance every time. They tried at first not to make it too obvious, but now it is ridiculous. For example, I would try to trade the hot currency (not pair), and every single time, price would go against me in all pairs, every time. Didn’t matter what the time of day was. I get the hint. I even found a way to beat them @ their own game but I’m done.
Now I am in a dispute to try to get all my funds back which is substantial and they are using all kinds of tricks. “We will offer other means of withdrawal other than credit card” or “we have strict rules about money laundering when requesting a withdrawal via VLoad”, when I never initiated a VLoad withdrawal nor do I have a VLoad account. So what I am saying is STAY AWAY from LQDFX. Hopefully I’m get my money back but still disputing. I closed all my accounts and am waiting for a Bitcoin refund (hopefully @ a good rate, hopefully). My advice to anyone, avoid these offshore thugs. I was going to try some of the others but at this point, I just want my money and go back to trading options. At least I know where my money is. Good day to all.
Have you actually done a differential comparison
against another more reliable price feed to verify this?
Seems odd to me…
[EDIT] You say: “For example, I would try to trade the hot
currency (not pair), and every single time, price would
go against me in all pairs, every time.” My super specialty
is Currency Trend and Cluster Analysis. Are you saying
you target a Currency, and possibly take a “basket” style
trade in the associated Pairs? Very sophisticated, if so,
but if that broker is not an ECN and is distorting pricing just
to defeat you, personally… That’s something I just “ain’t
never seen…” and I look carefully for that sort of thing…
I don’t know your background in trading but I have seen that sort of thing…targeting traders…not just in Forex but in other markets as well. The issue for me at this point is not in my trading strategies, because I know they work, that’s why I am warning others to stay away from this broker. My biggest issue is getting my money back. If you cannot get your money back from a broker, strategy is mute. Like I said, I figured a way to beat brokers (which I will not delve into), no matter the market but if you cannot get your funds, and that is the bigger issue, what is the point. I stand by my statement. Don’t trust LQDFX. How are you going to initiate a withdrawal by credit card, which they made me verify my identity (OK, that’s standard), email me back saying, you can withdraw via other methods, when in the past, you had to withdraw via the method you deposited. Then after several back and forth emails, they cave in and gave me ONE withdrawal via credit card. Then two days later do the same thing again…come on…
OK, thanks for the warning about the broker, but you
shouldn’t just drop the fact that you can “beat the markets”
without going into some tantalizing details, please.
I’ll go first. I beat the markets by buying under-valued Currency
Pairs, and selling over-valued Currency Pairs. Period.
Granted, I don’t
know anything about that broker, but I’d be remiss if I
were not sceptical of your claim that they were significantly
meddling with price. Still, perhaps it happens with non ECN
brokers…
Sure, put it in another more relevant thread, but what
about sharing? I’m posting a 2 week pips-equity curve since I also
know how to “beat the market”… but I digress ! LOL
(a bit off-topic… but maybe that’s fine)
(something wrong with the uploader… I’ll try to upload…)
[EDIT] guess something was wrong with my brain… so uploaded…
I stand by my original post. I’ll let the users decide. From my experience, any good trader does not share his/her strategy. Brokers read this forum and post as fake users, I’m pretty sure of that. If you want to share your strategy, that’s on you. I have nothing to gain by warning of users about a particular broker. If Clint or whoever wants to keep them on the list, fine, but anyone who reads my post has been warned.
OK, whatever, but that does not settle your claims of
price fixing/manipulation… And why wouldn’t a good trader
share a strategy? Would that reduce your personal returns?
I can share my strategy, or describe it; but there is a technical
infrastructure required in order to implement it, so no one can
easily replicate it… And after all, if other traders were to succeed that
is unlikely to affect your personal gains…
Right. I just do my best to protect the intellectual property of my strategy and open trades. The rest is just not really going to matter. Brokers, yes, will B Book you, if you’re trading is not consistent, but that’s your problem to fix, not something to blame on them. Go be the best trader you can be, and the rest takes care of itself.
Check out how I learned over a long time that I only have me, myself, and I to blame for losses and only the price action itself to recognise. My track record is at MyFXBook, Signalstart, and Darwinex.
I didn’t give up because I knew there was a clean way to become a legitimate professional asset manager and strategy provider.
OTB Low Risk master account – #41 at SignalStart – 18 months track record – consistent new equity highs outside the box master account
NEW OTB High Risk account attracting more attention now – #4 at SignalStart – 4 months track record – trading like the old days when I was excited about having developed my own strategy that has a real proven edge in the markets. outside the box high return
NEW DARWIN (Dynamic Asset and Risk Weighted Investment)
DARWIN – ticker BUX
A Darwin is a financial asset based on a trader (or automated strategy) trading at Darwinex. As an investor you can buy and sell DARWINs just like you would trade stocks. Each DARWIN has a certain value when you buy it, and depending on the performance of the trader who provides the DARWIN, the value will go up or down. Behind the scenes, each time the DARWIN’s trader places a trade, Darwinex opens or closes a trade in that asset on behalf of investors, given what they have calculated to be optimal risk to minimise Drawdown and maximise Profit. Each DARWIN starts from 100 at inception and the price updates every 30 seconds based on the performance.
@outsidetheboxhk very interesting, and I hope that is not
misconstrued on this forum as advertising…
Personally, I am glad to be out “of the client business”… All
due respect to past clients…
[EDIT] so much better to form a private trading group, and just
focus on the task at hand… Oh, what is that? making money,
of course ! LOL [EDIT2] Also known as “beating the markets”…
now not only US guys but also EU guys will have to find a new home with offshore brokers. We should now call this thread Going offshore to escape CFTC and ESMA (no offense intended)
