Compelled to close my account.

[ScandanaviaDover 36]

Global Prime notified me less than 48 hours before the ASIC Product Intervention Order (which significantly reduced retail traders' leverage) went into effect, resulting in a loss of nearly $15,000 in my account.

The change was announced by ASIC five months ago. However, I learned about it on Thursday afternoon. They said I could either deposit $100,000 to cover the leverage reduction that would take place in the next few days, or my account would easily go into margin call, closing almost all of my open trades.

[PlanetFortnite 33]

Perhaps it was just the price that worked against you, rather than Global Prime in general. If you contact support, they will most likely conduct a trade investigation.

[DinkFool 51]

2 minutes ago, ScandanaviaDover said:

Global Prime notified me less than 48 hours before the ASIC Product Intervention Order (which significantly reduced retail traders' leverage) went into effect, resulting in a loss of nearly $15,000 in my account.

The change was announced by ASIC five months ago. However, I learned about it on Thursday afternoon. They said I could either deposit $100,000 to cover the leverage reduction that would take place in the next few days, or my account would easily go into margin call, closing almost all of my open trades.

You, like all other clients, received an email. Allow me to share the proof here.

Regards,

[LeghoLasagna 69]

This kind of information is counterproductive, in my opinion, to be shared here. What dates did Global Prime inform customers of the change?

[ScandanaviaDover 36]

On Thursday, I received notification from Global Prime for the first time.

My money was taken out of my name and deposited into accounts that I didn't own, which was against their anti-money laundering policies.

[LeghoLasagna 69]

15 minutes ago, ScandanaviaDover said:

On Thursday, I received notification from Global Prime for the first time.

My money was taken out of my name and deposited into accounts that I didn't own, which was against their anti-money laundering policies.

"They also assisted me in withdrawing money into accounts that were not in my name, knowingly violating their AML regulations," makes you seem dangerous.

You were aware that your withdrawal attempt was illegal, but you went ahead with it anyway. In your attempt to tarnish your broker's reputation, you ended up shooting yourself in the foot.

Nonetheless, I'm curious as to how your broker assisted you with such an act.

[MellRoach 55]

For the last 5/6 months, the trading world has been buzzing about ASIC Product Intervention... What you should have done was talk to your doctor and ask when these changes would be implemented for AU patients a long time ago, as many informed people did. I'm not even Australian, and I was aware of this. There is no excuse for not being informed; it is in your best interest to be informed about what is going on in the Forex world, especially if you have that amount of money to invest. When you don't do your homework and then say, "Oh, I didn't know," see how far that gets you in life, especially in legal situations. I'm here with GP.

Yes, notifications are important, but it's also important to be informed about what's going on and, if necessary, take the first step in protecting your assets.
 

[BleedingFox 66]

22 minutes ago, ScandanaviaDover said:

Global Prime notified me less than 48 hours before the ASIC Product Intervention Order (which significantly reduced retail traders' leverage) went into effect, resulting in a loss of nearly $15,000 in my account.

The change was announced by ASIC five months ago. However, I learned about it on Thursday afternoon. They said I could either deposit $100,000 to cover the leverage reduction that would take place in the next few days, or my account would easily go into margin call, closing almost all of my open trades.

I'm assuming you're an Au resident. Because you would have been restricted to Au entities only, which would have included the 1:30 fx major pair leverage cap (less for exotics, crypto, etc).

Unless you specifically requested to be accepted as a Professional/Wholesale client.

ASIC has been conducting a consultation since August 2019. The final decision in October 2020 was only a matter of time. GP and several other brokers were putting the finishing touches on their plans.

This email, I believe, was sent only to GP's Au resident clients, rather than "all" clients.

If you were aware of the actual ASIC leverage mandate (and the proposed mandate even earlier), and you are not a day trader (you purposefully hold overnight positions for several days or weeks at a time), why didn't you unwind your positions sooner? Or should you deposit more to meet the additional margin requirements?

It would be great if you could post a screenshot of your total number of open positions. So we can see what you were up to. If you're going to claim "$100,000 margin call" and "$15,000 equity loss from liquidation" on all positions, I believe you could back it up with actual exposure at the time of your notification.

You did not provide a complete picture of your outstanding positions, but if you had 1:200 leverage (max gp offers) and a $15,000 drawdown, consider the following hypothetical scenario to simulate the risk you may have been taking:

Margin call is a margin level of 120 percent, and stop out is a margin level of 100 percent.

Assume a starting balance of $50,000 USD and 20 lots of EURUSD at 1:200 leverage, resulting in a $12,139 margin requirement.
Drawdown is 75 pips to $-15,000, but margin level is 288 percent, and you have 100 pips left until margin is called.

[MissCrystal 40]

23 minutes ago, ScandanaviaDover said:

Global Prime notified me less than 48 hours before the ASIC Product Intervention Order (which significantly reduced retail traders' leverage) went into effect, resulting in a loss of nearly $15,000 in my account.

The change was announced by ASIC five months ago. However, I learned about it on Thursday afternoon. They said I could either deposit $100,000 to cover the leverage reduction that would take place in the next few days, or my account would easily go into margin call, closing almost all of my open trades.

I'm unable to comment on whether you were notified or not, but I'm surprised you were unaware......as you mentioned, it's been common knowledge for five months now.

What I will say is that your assertion that you 'lost' $15k as a result of being forced to close your trades is incorrect. If you have a $50 000 balance and incur a $15 000 drawdown in open trades, you no longer have $50 000......you now have $35 000. There is simply no other way for this to work. If you are forced to close your trade, you can open the same amount of trade volume with another broker (that offers the desired leverage) and you will be in the exact same position as before you closed the trades, ie $35 000 equity. The most you can complain about is the commissions and spreads associated with opening new trades.

[ScandanaviaDover 36]

Well, until the Thursday before it all happened, I was unaware of any ASIC regulations. The GP admitted that they had made no attempt to notify me sooner.

I was only given the option of adding enough to cover the extra margin requirement (way too much money to cough up in 24 hours).

They did say that the account could be kept open, but that I would only be able to close trades. I use a trading method that involves hedging, so if I can't open a hedge (instead of an SL), the only option I have is to close trades (whether they're already in a hedge or not)... so that was my only option.

I applied to be a professional trader, and they accepted my application after a bit of a squabble over one question, in which they basically gave me the answer to the question and then said that if I could write that I agree with it, they could approve my pro application. I responded appropriately. It was now Friday evening.

Then, over the weekend, they reduced my leverage, rejected my application for pro trader, locked my account, and told me I had to withdraw all remaining funds. There was no explanation given.

I needed to make a withdrawal into another person's account. They let it happen more than once. It is not against the law for me to do so. It's against their AUSTRAC and other obligations. Why did they let it happen? I'm not sure.

After looking into it after Global Prime informed me about it on Thursday, I discovered it was announced 5 months ago. Any reasonable trader, in my opinion, should not be expected to keep up with regularity changes without the assistance of their broker. If this were an ASIC order stating a new KYC requirement or something, it wouldn't be a big deal... but the order would KILL retail trader accounts, and Global Prime has a responsibility to notify their customers as soon as possible.

It's an odd scenario: not informing me about the account-killing ASIC change, then answering my questions about the Pro Trader application, accepting it, rejecting it, reducing my margin, canceling my account, and then assisting me in putting all that money into other people's accounts.