GUILTY Case# 2018-020 | Bollebeertje vs Trade.com

Based on the available evidence, do you believe Trade.com is guilty?

  • Guilty

    Votes: 67 98.5%
  • Not guilty

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • Total voters
    68
  • Poll closed .

Bollebeertje

Private, 1st Class
Messages
45
Original FPA Traders Court Submission:

I am submitting the case against: www.trade.com

My Case is: After examining a few brokers and comparing their trading conditions I decided TRADE.com was the platform I would go. The regulation and seemed to be good, and the site was named on many other (affiliate) sites, so I was happy that I found a trusted company.

On the 18th of September 2017, I registered with the company. On the 21st of September I made my first deposit of €5,000, and I made another €5,000 and €2,070.01 deposit on the 27th of September.

Then I made quiet a nice profit and the misery started.

When my account balance was €171,040.36 on the 16th of October because of trading, my maximum lotsize was downsized. Another downsize followed on the 23rd of October and my margin was set from that moment on 1:1 (100% margin requirement). My balance was €285,323.49 that day.

My account manager Adi told me on the phone it was all fine, TRADE.com had many accounts way over €1,000,000. Unfortunately I haven't recorded the phone call.

Then on the 2nd of November TRADE.com tripled my spread overnight. So I decided to immediately withdrawal all the remaining funds of a total of €351,395.39

I already made a withdrawal request of €10,000 on the 13th of October and got approved on the 19th of October after I sent a Proof of Deposit of all my deposits. On the 8th of November I was requested by Andrei to send a Proof of Deposit of a €40,000 deposit that I would have made. The truth was I never made such a deposit. All my deposits already got approved.

On the 9th of November my withdrawal request got approved. A few hours later I recieved a disturbing email from George Rodger of Lead Capital Markets LTD (Parent company of TRADE.com) that my account was under investigation and my withdrawal request was stopped. He referred me to section 19 of their terms and conditions (Market Abuse and Prohibitive Trading Techniques).

The next two weeks I tried to call them two times and sent an email three times. But none of this had affect. The message from them stayed the same. "We are still busy" "We call you back" "We hope to conclude by the end of the week".

On the 17th of November I recieved an email wiht a withdrawal request of €2,070.01 which they made. So I got all my deposits back, but there is still €350,108.23 left in the account.

From that moment on a radio silence followed. On the 27th of November I recieved another email from George Rodger, but the conclusion was the same: still under investigation.

Then, just when I started to file a Traders Court I recieved an email from George Rodger. It was on the 11th of November. Basically he said: since I denied using a software I must have been part of a 'pump and dump' scheme. And if I wanted to highlight specific transactions that were not part of this scheme, I would have to let him know.

I was amazed by this email. TRADE.com came up with a whole other reason. It feels like they try to shoot as many reasons in my way in the hope one will stick... I'm sick of it.

New thread in the Scam Alerts Folder:

Review is submitted by Bollebeertje on 02/10/18

The company was first contacted about the issue on 11/09/17 the last contact was on 02/12/18

Details: 2017-11-09 20:45 GMT+01:00 George Rodger <George.rodger@leadcapitalmarkets.com>:
Dear Sir,



You are hereby put on notice that the activity in your trading account is under investigation.



We refer you to section 19, Market Abuse and Prohibitive Trading Techniques, of the Terms and Conditions to which you agreed to and govern your relationship with us. They can be accessed here: https://www.trade.com/en/terms-conditions



Your account is frozen and all activities, including pending withdrawals are on hold until conclusion of the investigation.



All further communication between us will be carried out and handled by our Compliance Department.



Regards,



George Rodger | Chief Operating Officer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2017-11-10 18:53 GMT+01:00 Marek van Beek <mai*****@gmail.com>:
Dear George Rodger,

Thank you for your email.

I was kind of shocked recieving your email. Of course I understand that you have to be sure that every trade is executed correctly and that you have to do research for that.

But I can assure you that there hasn't been used any abusive trading techniques or anything related to that. All trades are executed by myself and according to your policy.

Best Regards,

Marek van Beek

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Marek van Beek [mailto:mai*****@gmail.com]
Sent: 20 November 2017 15:11
To: George Rodger <George.rodger@Leadcapitalmarkets.com>
Subject: Re: Suspension of your account and Investigation into abusive trading activities



Dear George Rodger,



Today I've tried to reach you on the phone two times. Friday I've been calling you as well. And this is the third email I'm sending to you right now.



And still I haven't got any response from you.



Please bear in mind that my withdrawal request was approved more than one weeks ago by the financial department. And according to the policy of Trade.com referring to section 14. withdrawal request will be processed by us ... on the same day that the request to withdraw funds was made.



What is taking so long?



I've made another withdrawal request, and looking forward to your answer about the delay.



Best Regards,

Marek van Beek

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

El 21 nov 2017, a las 17:54, George Rodger <George.rodger@Leadcapitalmarkets.com> escribió:

Dear Sir,



The trading activity is still under review. We hope to conclude our investigation by the end of the week and will contact you to advise of our findings.



Regards,



George Rodger | Chief Operating Officer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2017-11-27 16:41 GMT+01:00 George Rodger <George.rodger@leadcapitalmarkets.com>:
Dear Sir,



Please be advised that the trading activity on your account is still under investigation for probable breaches of the Terms and Conditions.



1. We refer you to section 19, Market Abuse and Prohibitive Trading Techniques, of the Terms and Conditions to which you agreed to and govern your relationship with us. They can be accessed here: https://www.trade.com/en/terms-conditions



Specifically we bring your attention to the first paragraph of clause 19.3 and the first paragraph of clause 19.4, both stated below for clarity:



19.3. It is absolutely prohibited to use any software , which we determine, at our sole discretion, to have as its purpose to apply any kind of artificial intelligence analysis to our Online Trading Facility and/or computer system(s) with an ultimate goal to gain unfair advantage and exploit our trading facility; in the event that we determine, at our own discretion, that any such artificial intelligence software has been used, or is being used, we reserve the right to take all action as we see fit, including, without limitation, completely blocking access to our Online Trading Facility, blocking and/or revoking your Access Codes and/or terminating your Account.



19.4 Internet, connectivity delays, and price feed errors sometimes create a situation where the price(s) displayed on our Online Trading Facility do(es) not accurately reflect market prices. The concept of using trading strategies aimed at exploiting errors in prices and/or concluding trades at off-market prices and/or by taking advantage of internet delays (commonly known as ‘arbitrage’, ‘sniping’ or ‘scalping’ hereinafter, collectively, referred to as ‘Arbitrage’), cannot exist in an OTC market where the client is buying or selling directly from the principal; accordingly, we reserve the right, at our sole discretion, NOT to permit the abusive exploitation of Arbitrage on our Online Trading Facility and/or in connection with our Services; any Transactions or Contracts that rely on price latency arbitrage opportunities may be revoked, at our sole discretion and without prior notice being required.



2. We also refer you to section 8 of the Terms and Conditions regarding Cryptocurrency Products, specifically:



You should be aware that the Cryptocurrencies are not recognized as Financial Instruments for the purposes of MiFID. When trading in CFDs where the underlying asset is a Cryptocurrency, you need to take in consideration that Cryptocurrencies are traded on non-regulated decentralized digital exchanges. Accordingly, price formation and price movements of the Cryptocurrencies depend solely on the internal rules of the particular digital exchange, which may be subject to change at any point in time and without notice which often leads to a very high intra-day volatility in the prices. which may be significantly higher compared to the Financial Instruments recognized by MiFID. By trading CFDs in Cryptocurrencies you accept a significantly higher risk of loss of your invested amounts which may occur within a very short time frame as a result of sudden adverse price movements of the Cryptocurrencies. Any losses you may incur due to trading CFDs in Cryptocurrencies are not covered by the protections under the Investor Compensation Fund scheme. Likewise, any complaints that you may have or any disputes that may arise between you and the Company in connection with you trading CFDs in Cryptocurrencies are not eligible and shall not be accepted for consideration by the Financial Ombudsman of the Republic of Cyprus.



3. Finally we also point out clause 6.6 (d) obliging you to keep your usernames and passwords secret and ensure that third parties do not obtain access to our Online Trading Facility.

To be clear, above clause applies in cases where you have provided your details to third party software, websites or persons.



We are currently analysing data from the Bitcoin exchanges and our liquidity providers as well as data held on our systems. Once we have completed this analysis and assessed against your trading activity we will inform you further.



Best Regards,



George Rodger | Chief Operating Officer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2017-11-27 23:09 GMT+01:00 Marek van Beek <mai*****@gmail.com>:
Dear George Rodger,

Thank you for writing me this email.

However, I have some concerns.

The longer your investigation takes, the more I begin to believe you try to find things that aren't there.

Take for example this email you write to me. There is nothing really new you are telling me. I am fully aware of your terms and conditions.

You said you "hoped" you could conclude about the investigation by the end of last week. Which you didn't. No email last friday from you.

Ok. So let's say that you are telling me that you investigate my account regarding those points you point out in your email.

Well... you know that I don't use any trading software (19.3), otherwise you would have found it already (I know that, because I know you and your team are smart).

And as you've probably already looked at my trades, you see that they aren't made by aiming for arbitrage techniques (19.4)

So what's next?

Ah, section 8, about cryptocurrencies! Thank you for reminding me that cryptos are still not regulated. That reminds me also that Trade.com is offering CFD's which can only be sold IF they are regulated.

And serious...? You think that I will let someone else login to my account with €350K on it? (clause 6.6 d)

Your terms and conditions work one way to your customer, but it works also the other way around George.

If I don't get any results of your "investigation" and a confirmation of my approved withdrawal of €350,108.23 by the end of this week (1st of December '17), I have to take further legal actions.

And I also want to remind you that by the end of the week, the interest on the amount has risen to €959.20. And continues to increase with €47.96 per day.

I've been trading with many platforms, and always as a happy customer. Trade.com is the only platform that haven't payed me out in full yet and therefore don't make me happy so far.

Best Regards,

Marek van Beek

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Marek Van Beek [mailto:mai*****@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2017 8:23 PM
To: Compliance <compliance@Leadcapitalmarkets.com>; Support Trade <support@trade.com>; compliance@trade.com; info@leadcapitalmail.com
Subject: Complaints form



Dear Trade.com compliant department,

I would like to inform you about the complaints form I filled in.

The form and the relevant documents can be found in the attachment.

Best Regards,

Marek van Beek

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2018-01-05 15:48 GMT+01:00 Despina Sfiktou <despina.s@leadcapitalmarkets.com>:
Dear Sir,



We would like to inform you that the Company acknowledges the receipt of your email.



We hereby provide you with your Reference Number for your future communication: LE201*****



Kind Regards,



Despina Sfiktou | Legal and Compliance Advisor

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2018-02-11 15:29 GMT+01:00 George Rodger <George.rodger@leadcapitalmarkets.com>:
Dear Sir,



First of all I would like to apologise for the length of the investigation.



However as I am sure you appreciate this involved a large number of transactions that had to be analysed on your trading account as well as to other interconnected accounts either through identical/similar IP addresses or due to identical/matching opening times of trades.



Since you deny using algorithmic or other automated software, and there is no decisive evidence currently to the contrary, the company’s conclusion at this moment in time is that you were participating in or instigating a large scale ‘pump and dump’ scheme in order to manipulate the pricing of various crypto currencies in order to fraudulently and illegally earn profit.



Until we can evaluate all trading transactions on your account and establish which specific ones were genuine and which were part of ‘pump and dump’ co-ordination, all profits will be assumed to be null and void.



Please note despite the fact that here is no official position from European authorities/bodies determining whether the trading on CFDs relating to virtual currencies falls under paragraph 9, Section C, Annex 1 of Directive 2004/39/EU on markets in financial instruments (‘MiFID’) and especially in light of Circular C244 issued by CYSEC we will proceed to inform both the Cyprus and Dutch securities regulators of the above in order to obtain their guidance on how to move forward since we believe illegal activities were carried out.



If in the meantime you wish to highlight specific transactions that were not part of the above suspected ‘pump and dump’ scheme, we would be happy to investigate, evaluate and accord you the profits if such is the case.



Kind Regards,



George Rodger | Chief Operating Officer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2018-02-13 13:06 GMT+01:00 Marek van Beek <mai*****@gmail.com>:
Dear Sir Rodger,

Thank you for your kind email.

Your apologies are appreciated. I would also apologize for me sometimes being rude in the past three months.

The safety of your company and clients are very important, I understand that. I appreciate people who do everything for their company. And I appreciate that you are determined to find the truth and don't accept any nonsense sprouted by any person. I really value honest people like you, who fight for their rights and the rights of their company.

To save both of us a lot of time I selected the specific transactions that were not part of the so called 'pump and dump' scheme. You can find a list here (Sorted on Order/Transfer ID). Or if you like to see a more detailed list, it can be found in any file in the attachment:

363994577
362666633
362414018
361613467
361183506
361176007
361163132
361163116
361102865
361102565
361101008
361093942
361093063
360996449
360991094
360902970
360832870
360751932
360723986
360718187
360703926
360515584
360417254
360399666
360397762
360396755
360393460
360321856
360233370
360054592
360040867
359874820
359725350
359676626
359665408
359632477
359614091
359597710
359516523
359516485
359514163
359512450
359503330
359496544
359493112
359491447
359455676
359426851
359354811
359266552
359264722
359262499
359261242
359260521
359260259
359258692
359257715
359256878
359255763
359254877
359254613
359252018
359250323
359247157
359245281
359236127
359186862
359177233
359163482
359146168
359137452
359124166
359116531
359112936
359109777
359106720
359104937
359081102
359071239
359067432
359065695
359012904
358979953
358979872
358976281
358972252
358969674
358953820
358951135
358950026
358949550
358947213
358946321
358945448
358945442
358944823
358944479
358929023
358926562
358925900
358896756
358896575
358893341
358887509
358883066
358882781
358882757
358882271
358881532
358881393
358881387
358881157
358881139
358876859
358874672
358855124
358832644
358802747
358802731
358799226
358795253
358774607
358761452
358748998
358748984
358748948
358601528
358563079
358530650
358530644
358530618
358530603
358524729
358517588
358517580
358458320
358448676
358438886
358348122
358345722
358339729
358323655
358318570
358298095
358298028
358294116
358291613
358291447
358290989
358290906
358290839
358290773
358290733
358290703
358289945
358286840
358286815
358283731
358283343
358273512
358265994
358258913
358256183
358239925
358234500
358231779
358225895
358225554
358225219
358224777
358222298
358222236
358177568
358173805
358173713
358173594
358165882
358161866
358154584
358150629
358149703
358147691
358147685
358147679
358147665
358147080
358144767
358134146
358134118
358131365
358128720
358128697
358128689
358128683
358128466
358095896
358095888
358095732
358093232
358088799
358083741
358082910
358082736
358082720
358081175
358081161
358079828
358079822
358079781
358079756
358047101
358047067
358046917
358045470
358045290
358035369
358035196
358023926
358013122
358010814
358010794
358005175
357997215
357927364
357923132
357923102
357920425
357819555
357816489
357767380
357767260
357767238
357767151
357767129
357762260
357762140
357759341
357757192
357757168
357757030
357753251
357749273
357749261
357749081
357749019
357747875
357747867
357728636
357728632
357726771
357726745
357721501
357721489
357721453
357721455
357685136
357685030
357613178
357613116
357572122
357542271
357535637
357527979
357527953
357509332
357509201
357504096
357502507
357502294
357501223
357501120
357479696
357471835
357470922
357464447
357461316
357452625
357451110
357416766
357415733
357414366
357414338
357413008
357412966
357411172
357409595
357367895
357365734
357361500
357358646
357357324
357352258
357239115
357234553
357231733
357229814
357229693
357227713
357226344
357225373
357225332
357224992
357224965
357223315
357223204
357221241
357218900
357218121
357217340
357217321
357216622
357216195
357216017
357216009
357215480
357215385
357215074
357215041
357214383
357213310
357213231
357212450
357210346
357210337
357209634
357207797
357199041
357168647
357154266
357152255
357151482
357150078
357143542
357141503
357139291
357136270
357132936
357128418
357127592
357114880
357113421
357080306
357066222
357046179
357041423
357038891
357019845
357011162
357011013
357005381
356999814
356930063
356758724
356758060
356756944
356756294
356753384
356719930
356710784
356698156
356619426
356555316
356524872
356523799
356521344
356514952
356513437
356500698
356391549
356357803
356349384
356154394
356151562
355836944
355629844
355574689
355573071
355571422
355487483
355364173
355332555
355329186
355328914
355317486
354941657
354884600
354884508
354778238
354775501
354773697
354576745
354560895
354372466
354372389
354277776
354031195
354001640
353999069
353994973
353379933

I would like to make sure that you are aware of the total amount outstanding. It is €350,108.23 and should not include an inactivity fee of €8.05. Any other fee charged after 9 november 2017 will not be accepted.

I would also make a note that in accordance to a compensation for falsely accusing my trading account of illegal trading behaviour that an amount of €7,443.40 (Based on a 8% APR Internest rate over the total amount of €350,108.23 from the day the account was under investigation until today) will be debited to Lead Capital Markets LTD as a compensation for not having access to the funds upon which the compensation is calculated. No additional fees will be charged if the whole amount is credited on the same bank account before 20 february 2018. I highly recommend to transfer this to avoid any further legal actions. A acquittance will be sent accordingly once the compensation is recieved on the bank account.

In the meantime I am also preparing a Traders Court on the Forex Peace Army community website. An official invitation from the owners will follow soon. I hope we can resolve this case before it goes public, so that I won't seriously damage the reputation of TRADE.com and/or Lead Capital Markets LTD.

Any complaince must be resolved within three months from the day the compliant started. I kindly remind you that the date of resolve is on March 19, 2018.

If you have further questions, please feel free to ask.

Kind Regards,

Marek van Beek

P.S. It makes me wonder George... If a person is really certain about what he believes based on the evidence he has, then why does someone else needs to confirm that what he sees is actually true?

Company representatives' emails: Adi <adi@trade.com>
Compliance <compliance@Leadcapitalmarkets.com>
Support Trade <support@trade.com>
Despina Sfiktou <despina.s@leadcapitalmarkets.com>
George Rodger <George.rodger@leadcapitalmarkets.com>
Legal Team <LegalTeam@leadcapitalmarkets.onmicrosoft.com>
Compliance Team <complianceteam@leadcapitalmarkets.com>

 

Attachments

  • Account Statement 07-02-2018.pdf
    1.2 MB · Views: 14
  • Account screenshot TRADE (17-11-2017) email blurred.png
    367.1 KB · Views: 10
Please invite George to come to your Scam Alerts thread and explain what he means by "pump and dump" in forex.

The definition I know is using various methods to artificially drive up the price of a stock, then to sell into the bubble. In forex, this would be nearly impossible except to the largest players in the market.
 
Unfortonately nobody responded. No response on my email invitation, and no response on the email I sent in response to George’s “pump and dump” email.
 
I wonder. I have been trading with Markets.com (Safecap Investments LTD) at the same time. And even my positions are overlapping (the same). They just paid my funds including profits in full when I requested for it, no problem with them. It's known that Trade.com and Markets.com are (unofficial) sister companies. Could this help?
 
Somehow, there were multiple companies all under SafeCap and now some are under Lead Capital Markets.

I'm sending the formal FPA invitation now. Please post on Monday the 26th to let me know if they got in touch.
 
I also have no response from them. I'm now moving this to Open Cases, If there is no progress in the situation, the vote will begin next week.
 
Bollebeertje said:
Then, just when I started to file a Traders Court I recieved an email from GeorgeRodger. It was on the 11th of November.

This was actually on the 11th of February 2018. See e-mail above.
 
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