Polaris Trading Partners - Scam

Tom Walsh

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Polaris Trading Partners – Scam Alert

I opened a managed forex account with Polaris Trading Partners on 13 July 2009 after being introduced by an introducing broker and seeing their track record. (which I now believe may not be true)
Returns were around 5-10% pm and sometimes more according to the information I was sent.

Their information also stated that stoplosses of 30-45 pips were always used and that there was a drawdown limit of 15% loss of original capital, ie 85% remaining at which point all positions would be closed and trading would cease pending further instructions.

The trading agreement I signed included the drawdown limit.

The account performed well initially, growing from $32,000 starting capital to $50,000 at its peak. To safeguard some of my profits I instructed David Rose, account manager at Polaris that my drawdown limit was to be raised to $42,000 account balance, ie $8000 max loss from peak, which was confirmed by David Rose on 23 Sept 2009.

But on Friday 25 Sept 2009 the account hit and breached the $42,000 drawdown limit due to some losing GBPJPY trades. These trades were not closed when they should have been, and the position worsened on Sunday 27 Sept 2009 resulting in a 69% drawdown from peak value or 50% drawdown from original capital when they were finally closed later on Sunday 27 Sept 2009. The remaining account balance is $16,000.

I tried in vain to phone the trader and the broker on both Friday 25 Sept 2009 and Sunday 27 Sept 2009 but my calls were not answered. I did get through to the broker in the morning on Monday 28 Sept 2009, by which time the damage had already been done.

I emailed Polaris on Monday 28 Sept 2009 and several times since, but I have yet to receive a response by email, other than read receipts and a one promise to get back to me.

I have had phone conversations since the drawdown with the chief trader Sean Thacker on Tuesday 29 Sept 2009 and on Wed 7 and Thur 8 October 2009. On each occasion he has attempted to sweet talk me into continuing with the managed account, promising to trade his way out of the drawdown and waive performance and brokerage fees. He has evaded every attempt I have made to discuss compensation.

I have stated in an email and on the phone that I need $26,000 to make good the loss due to Polaris’s failure to honour the drawdown. Should this be paid I would withdraw the scam postings, replace them with positive, and I may even continue trading with the managed account.

I have also stated that I would be willing to accept a lesser figure of $16,000 which would restore my original capital. In this event I would withdraw the scam postings, replace them with only moderately negative ones and cease trading with the managed account.


Main points

David Rose of Polaris failed to pass on my instructions to either the broker or the trading team regarding both the initial drawdown limit of 15% loss of original capital or the revised limit of $42,000 account balance.
Sean Thacker of Polaris traded recklessly in taking large GBPJPY positions without stoplosses and without regard to whole account drawdown limits.
The result was a $26,000 loss to my account.

Contact details for Polaris Trading Partners (the trader)

Polaris Trading Partners
5th Floor 1 – 3 Rue de Chantepoulet
Geneva 1201
Switzerland

Tel: +41 227 412 111 and +41 225 331 275 Fax + 41 227 412 112

Polaris Trading Partners - Home
info@polaristradingpartners.ch
drose@polaristradingpartners.ch David Rose, account manager
sthacker@polaristradingpartners.ch Sean Thacker, chief trader


Contact details for Swiss PB (the broker)

Swiss PB
Löwenstrasse 29
CH-8021 Zürich
Switzerland

+41 44 215 33 33 - Main
+41 44 215 33 43 - Direct
+41 44 215 33 99 – Fax
+41 79 869 50 01 - Mobile
r.nettles@swisspb.com Ryan Nettles, account manager
www.swisspb.com


I hope someone can help and I hope this prevents someone else getting scammed.

Tom Walsh
 
This sounds like the account management company is to blame, but one of the names from your brokerage rang a bell. Is that the same Ryan Nettles as the one mentioned here?

Case Summary
 
Polaris Trading Partners

I'm sure the account management company is to blame. I'm not getting anywhere with the recovery of my money.

Interesting that you found the NFA information about Ryan Nettles. I don't know for sure that it's the same guy but it could be.

Thanks for finding this.

Tom
 
It is the same Ryan Nettles, but to be fair to him he does have a clean NFA record except for his time at Tradeco. He only spent two months there and I believe he walked into a mess that was not of his making. By using his NFA licence I understand that Tradeco implicated Ryan in their problems even though he was not to blame.
 
Polaris Trading Partners

Great search engine results. Thanks FPA.

Sean Thacker, David Rose, and Polaris are getting great results on Google linking directly to this thread.

I know they read this stuff.

It can all be turned around to a positive if they do the following.

1. Compensate me for my loss of $26,000 that was incurred by their failure to honour my drawdown limit.

2. Make arrangements with their current broker Swiss PB, or another broker that the broker will automatically action any future drawdown limits as soon as they are triggered.

3. Start trading with stoplosses on all trades and in a way that allows the stoplosses to be seen on the client's screen.

4. Agree maximum position sizes in order to control risk.
 
hi, i've had the exact same thing thru swiss pb.

did you get anything back?

i haven't been able to contact them this week?

i would reinvest if they could assure me of the risk mitigation i understood was going to be part of the trading plan.

Mike
 
Hi Mike

I have received my remaining funds from Swiss PB, ie half of my original capital, but nothing from either Swiss PB or Polaris to compensate me for the loss due to the failure of both Polaris and Swiss PB to honour my drawdown limit.

They're both a bunch of scammers in my opinion.

No matter how low the limbo bar of business ethics is lowered, people like Polaris and Swiss PB will always find a way to shimmy under it.

I would credit Swiss PB with a marginally higher standard of ethics than Polaris since I found out that they have now closed Polaris's managed account facility. (Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted!)

But Swiss PB are also to blame for some of my loss because the trading agreement (which required a signature from them in addition to one from me and one from Polaris), clearly states max 15% drawdown from original capital, which they failed to honour.

I no longer need to exercise any caution in expressing my opinion about Swiss PB. I have nothing further to lose now that I have half of my funds safely in my UK based dollar account.

So I am free to say this. Swiss PB are a thoroughly disreputable brokerage who were happy to take on a dishonest trader with no regard to the safety of client funds.

I am happy to accept that Swiss PB may not have been informed of my revised drawdown limit of 15% below $50,000 high water mark, but they certainly should have been aware of the 15% drawdown limit from original capital, furthermore their failure to man the phones 24/6 is inexcusable in a forex brokerage.

They need to compensate me for my loss in excess of 15% of original capital, or I may need to contact the Swiss regulators. I'm sure they would also be interested to know about the US disciplinary record of their account manager of Ryan Nettles.

Tom
 
same happened to me but i was in my "test month" and my inital 10k euro ar enow 1k usd ... and no david rose, no sean thacker no james watts is reachable - swiss pb is saying it is polaris fault - and yes ryan nettles background is clearly not clean - still i see polaris at the more responsible here.

lets sue them! who else has been scammed? send me an email ad@adeep.de

lets work together on making these guys's life hard until they pay us back
 
I think you overdo it a bit

I all respect for the guy who lost a part of the funds, as we all know forex managed accounts are a risky investment with high return possibilities, but also with risk involved. First rule: Only use funds which you can afford to loose. As I read that the performance of this guys kept what was promised, ( 15k up in 3 month) I am sure you would have praised Polaris Trading Partner very much, even recommended them to friends, now it went the other way, and I see only notes...lets sue them , money back, etc...Most of the money managers you can offer you returns in a range 8-10% per month have due to nature to take higher risk. I am very well established in the FX Market, but I f.e. had never a request of lifting the max. Downdraw line after making nearly 40% in profit. It is not normally the case, maybe that caused some communication problems between the MM and the Broker...may be the request would have to be in written form, etc., etc..With this posting I do not want to say scam or no scam, as I do not know enough about Polaris as well as about Swiss PB, but only due to reading this posting I would not consider the issue as spam. Swiss PB closed the accounts of Polaris, could have been quick reflex of protection for themselves as clients complaints got more, as they are during the procedure of applying for the BL in Switzerland. All possible negative info what goes to the Finma is of course not good. May be another broker, nt in this situation would have handled this issue more on a fair basis..closing Polaris out, is the fastest, and the best to keep own credibility as one of the posts above even says...this is just my opinion...keep it simply...don't overdo it...previous profits made...without Polaris would have never been yours...your downdraw of 15% was anyway the risk which you were able to take. so how much money is really missing?
I have never heard of a broker compensating losses, as for the downdraw block, the broker is responsible and not the trader. Did you ask Swiss PB if they compensate you ?
 
Wow. Why not just blame the victims?

So Bernardo, you wouldn't mind if an account management company with a 15% max drawdown limit started taking excessively large positions in your account with no stoplosses in place?

There was a contract that specified MAXIMUM drawdown and it appears to have been flagrantly violated. This is an incredibly common failing of account managers, and should be treated like any other serious contract breach that costs a client money - i.e. pay damages or be classified as a scam.
 
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