My name is Chris Reynolds and as Director of Operations at GO Markets I am your acting representative for this forum. I look forward to answering any questions on GO Markets offerings or any support queries you may have.
If you are not familiar with GO Markets, we are a regulated broker with offices in Australia and The Netherlands. We are regulated by ASIC, and specialise in offering Forex & metals trading through the MetaTrader 4 platform as a Straight Through Processing (STP) provider.
We offer trading with a simple approach, with our standard accounts enabling you to trade micro, mini and standard lots all through the one account. We also offer Learner (L-Plate) accounts for beginners which may be useful for some of you.
We would be delighted to add GO Markets to our List, if you confirm that this is appropriate.
I noted this on your website:
Customers applying from outside of Australia including the U.S acknowledge that GO Markets Pty Ltd has not actively solicited for business. All overseas Customers must check their own national laws and regulations.Is there more that we (here in the U.S.) need to know about this paragraph?
Unfortunately at this stage the CFTC regulations mean that US residents are not allowed to open accounts/trade with non-CFTC regulated brokers. We are regulated in Australia by ASIC but not the CFTC meaning that US residents are not allowed to trade with us. It would be great if that situation was to change and we could welcome everyone to GO Markets!
Unfortunately the legal advice we took both in Australia and the US advised us that we cannot take US residents as clients. There is a memorandum of understanding between ASIC and the CFTC which results in a level of cooperation, and also strengthens the reasons for the legal decision. Our position has been justified by the fact that 14 (I think it is 14) off-shore brokers have had legal cases filed against them.
Of course the exception remains about Eligible Contract Participants. If you qualify as an ECP you are exempt from the regulations and are welcome to open an account with GO Markets.
The fact remains that we would love to have US clients at GO Markets, but quite frankly, we are not going to go against legal advice to do so.
I understand that “Eligible Contract Participants” — meaning traders who have substantial trading capital — are free to trade as they see fit anywhere in the world.
We simply want that right for ALL retail forex traders, large and small.
The membership of this Forum is made up almost entirely of small retail traders who don’t qualify as “Eligible Contract Participants”. But, they are adults, and they are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves where, and with whom, to trade.
Furthermore, they are — supposedly — free citizens in a free country, and should therefore be free of government interference in their lives.
Personally, I despise the Nanny State and its mistaken belief that IT KNOWS BEST what each of us should, or should not, be allowed to do.
Regarding that “memorandum of understanding”, I especially hate the collusion between Nanny States — mine and yours, in this case — leading us toward some god-awful WORLD REGULATORY AGENCY which will micro-manage every financial decision of every person on the globe.
I don’t blame GO Markets for taking the safe and easy path. Looked at purely as a business decision, it probably makes sense to [I]go along in order to get along.[/I]
But, at some point, we all have to take a stand against government intrusion into our lives.
f) GO Markets may use the funds in the
client segregated account to manage GO
Markets’ dealings with its counterparties
with respect to client positions. The
Client acknowledges that this serves as
sufficient written authorisation for GO
Markets to withdraw without notice to,
or further authorisation from, the Client
any money or property deposited into
the segregated account to be used by
GO Markets for this purpose. The Client
has no interest in or claim over GO
Markets’ contracts (if any) with any
other person or in the accounts into
which GO Markets lodges or pays the
funds which were withdrawn from the
segregated accounts. The Client
acknowledges that the balance of the
Client’s account may not be protected if
there is a default in the dealings with
counterparties or in the overall
segregated account balance; and assume risk of loss in excess of their
margin deposit;
I need further clarification on this point. Basically is our money safe?
All australian fx brokers are setup the same and have a client segregated account. I would much rather have my funds with an australian broker such as go markets rather than an offshore broker or a broker using the infrastructure of an offshore broker.