Mick81
Private
- Messages
- 13
As a retail client, I opened a live account with broker Trading212 on August 4th, 2023.
Trading 212 UK Ltd. is registered in England and Wales (Company number 8590005). Trading 212 UK Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm reference number 609146). Registered address: 107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN, United Kingdom.
After 4 months of live trading, on 27th November 2023, without any previous notice, I was informed by the broker that I "breached" their T&C with "a high volume of transactions that are opened and closed within an unusually short period of time as compared to the ‘average’ client, with a disproportionate number placed advantageously between the price of trade and the price of the underlying market instead of the 'random distribution' that would be expected when the Trading Platform is used "fairly"...
And for this "reason", they unilaterally decided to close my live account. All 17 trades I made in 4 months were voided and all the profit I made (approx. 5000 GBP) was canceled.
I feel I wasn't treated fairly by Trading212.
1. It's obvious and very easy to prove, that (according to my trading history) I didn't use any short, tick-scalping strategies. Almost all my trades lasted more than 3+ minutes and some trades even 20+ minutes, which can hardly be seen as something "unusual" and also can not be defined as a few seconds scalping...
2. They accused me of "high volume of transactions"... checking my trading history, it's obvious I made only 17 trades in 4 months and I always traded max. 1 open position/trade at the time.
3. They accused me of "latency" or "price" manipulation. My trading is based purely on price action (and volatility) following major fundamental news or events, which is generally seen as a standard trading strategy. I don't know a single EU/UK broker that wouldn't allow this kind of trading. I trade the same way with many other FCA/CySec/ASIC-regulated and reputable brokers without any issues. Trading212 is the first broker to have a "problem" with my trading style.
As for "platform misuse", I can only work/trade with price quotes provided via the broker's trading platform. I see it unfair that the same broker accused me of "misusing" his own platform and price quotes. I, as a retail client, have no chance to "manipulate" what price quotes I receive on the broker's platform - nor I can be responsible for any discrepancy between prices Trading212 should've been providing, and the ones that were in fact being streamed. Providing accurate quotes is the broker's risk, not the client's risk and the client should not be penalized for the broker's mispricing errors if they occur. If the broker isn't able to provide accurate and stable pricing of market instruments, they shouldn't offer them at all.
Still, it's worth noting here that if we compare prices (my trades were executed at) with 3rd party quotes, we will see these prices were realistic and similar to my other brokers at the time of trades.
4. I double-checked Trading212 T&C and I haven't found any information about specific trading strategies that would be prohibited. Also, I haven't found any specific information to comply with, e.g. minimum trading holding time, max orders open, max volume, etc. If this is so important for them and can lead to closing clients' accounts (or even voiding ALL the profits), why didn't they specify these parameters in T&C clearly? so I or anyone else could comply with them? In their T&C, I found only uncertain and vague clauses that leave the decision entirely up to the broker's discretion.
5. Finally, I wish to emphasize, that my trading history with Trading212 started in August 2023 and lasted more than 4 months, with no issues. Since August, there has been zero notice from the broker's side that there is anything wrong with my trades or that they have problems with my orders. Then suddenly, after 4 months of trading, they unilaterally closed my account without any previous warning and voided all my trades and profits.
Probably not trading itself, but my constantly growing profit was a "real" problem here for Trading212. I assume if I lost money with Trading212, no account closure would ever happen.
It seems that some forex brokers (even regulated ones) operate in a very questionable way. Retail clients losing money are welcomed, while profitable accounts are simply closed and profits canceled. Flawless business for them. From my point of view, this practice is unfair.
If the broker doesn't want me as a client anymore, I'm fine with that. But I strongly don't agree with removing all my profits for 4 months of trading. Regulated financial institutions should not work like that. I still hope I can find a reasonable solution with Trading212.
Trading 212 UK Ltd. is registered in England and Wales (Company number 8590005). Trading 212 UK Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm reference number 609146). Registered address: 107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN, United Kingdom.
After 4 months of live trading, on 27th November 2023, without any previous notice, I was informed by the broker that I "breached" their T&C with "a high volume of transactions that are opened and closed within an unusually short period of time as compared to the ‘average’ client, with a disproportionate number placed advantageously between the price of trade and the price of the underlying market instead of the 'random distribution' that would be expected when the Trading Platform is used "fairly"...
And for this "reason", they unilaterally decided to close my live account. All 17 trades I made in 4 months were voided and all the profit I made (approx. 5000 GBP) was canceled.
I feel I wasn't treated fairly by Trading212.
1. It's obvious and very easy to prove, that (according to my trading history) I didn't use any short, tick-scalping strategies. Almost all my trades lasted more than 3+ minutes and some trades even 20+ minutes, which can hardly be seen as something "unusual" and also can not be defined as a few seconds scalping...
2. They accused me of "high volume of transactions"... checking my trading history, it's obvious I made only 17 trades in 4 months and I always traded max. 1 open position/trade at the time.
3. They accused me of "latency" or "price" manipulation. My trading is based purely on price action (and volatility) following major fundamental news or events, which is generally seen as a standard trading strategy. I don't know a single EU/UK broker that wouldn't allow this kind of trading. I trade the same way with many other FCA/CySec/ASIC-regulated and reputable brokers without any issues. Trading212 is the first broker to have a "problem" with my trading style.
As for "platform misuse", I can only work/trade with price quotes provided via the broker's trading platform. I see it unfair that the same broker accused me of "misusing" his own platform and price quotes. I, as a retail client, have no chance to "manipulate" what price quotes I receive on the broker's platform - nor I can be responsible for any discrepancy between prices Trading212 should've been providing, and the ones that were in fact being streamed. Providing accurate quotes is the broker's risk, not the client's risk and the client should not be penalized for the broker's mispricing errors if they occur. If the broker isn't able to provide accurate and stable pricing of market instruments, they shouldn't offer them at all.
Still, it's worth noting here that if we compare prices (my trades were executed at) with 3rd party quotes, we will see these prices were realistic and similar to my other brokers at the time of trades.
4. I double-checked Trading212 T&C and I haven't found any information about specific trading strategies that would be prohibited. Also, I haven't found any specific information to comply with, e.g. minimum trading holding time, max orders open, max volume, etc. If this is so important for them and can lead to closing clients' accounts (or even voiding ALL the profits), why didn't they specify these parameters in T&C clearly? so I or anyone else could comply with them? In their T&C, I found only uncertain and vague clauses that leave the decision entirely up to the broker's discretion.
5. Finally, I wish to emphasize, that my trading history with Trading212 started in August 2023 and lasted more than 4 months, with no issues. Since August, there has been zero notice from the broker's side that there is anything wrong with my trades or that they have problems with my orders. Then suddenly, after 4 months of trading, they unilaterally closed my account without any previous warning and voided all my trades and profits.
Probably not trading itself, but my constantly growing profit was a "real" problem here for Trading212. I assume if I lost money with Trading212, no account closure would ever happen.
It seems that some forex brokers (even regulated ones) operate in a very questionable way. Retail clients losing money are welcomed, while profitable accounts are simply closed and profits canceled. Flawless business for them. From my point of view, this practice is unfair.
If the broker doesn't want me as a client anymore, I'm fine with that. But I strongly don't agree with removing all my profits for 4 months of trading. Regulated financial institutions should not work like that. I still hope I can find a reasonable solution with Trading212.
