PaulWilliams
AvaTrade Representative
- Messages
- 10
Official response from AvaTrade to customer
The issue of trading outside the market/on off market rates is very clearly covered in our Terms and Conditions (Found Here).
As a news trader I often get emails by forex brokers that some of my trades were off market, but these come within 24 hours, and reputable brokers actually adjust price’s
One example I have is HotForex, it has happened to me on two occasions that I have received an email of my trades being adjusted, but not cancelled.
The Trading Practices department at AvaTrade takes arbitrage activity of this nature extremely seriously.
In this instance the client is openly acknowledging participation in trading at off market prices on other brokers (HotForex). The complaint here from the client is that AvaTrade did not adjust the price of the trades and instead cancelled the trades and the profit.
AvaTrade is aware of many EA systems that are specifically designed to detect arbitrage opportunities by targeting rates outside the market at times of high volatility – in essence the trader is exploiting short delays in price updates to obtain illicit/illegal profits, clearly forbidden by our Terms & Conditions’
AvaTrade reserves the right to cancel or adjust to market rates - all illicit trades of any client found to be opening/closing trades at off market prices.
Hence, all trades that were opened outside of the market rates by this client were cancelled by the Trading Practices department and all profits and/or losses on these trades are deducted.
Firstly the trades were not cancelled right away rather about 1 month after the trades were executed, most were opened and closed on July 4th, and the cancellations came on July 31st.
AvaTrade’s Trading practices department allows a grace period for clients using an EA (Electronic Algorithm) that have participated in opening trades at off market prices. If the Trading Practices department deems the client was not intentionally doing this, as the client is using an EA, they will continue to monitor the accounts trading to indicate if this activity is prevalent in the clients trading/EA. This was the case with this particular client.
What the client fails to mention in her post is that AvaTrade also detected off market trading on the clients account on the 29th July.
So the combination of arbitrage on the 4th July + 29th July led the Trading Practices department at AvaTrade to deduct profit and/or losses on all illicit trades opened at off market prices on the 30th July.
The other issue I have is with account #2, you can't see it on the statement, but I actually submitted a withdrawal request for the whole account balance before the trades were cancelled. Which makes me believe that they received the withdrawal request looked at the profit I've made and decided to take some of the profit off.
In order to protect client privacy we cannot go into specifics of client withdrawals.
However - The account was being monitored by the Trading Practices department continually from the first instance of arbitrage trading on the 4th July. There is no correlation between the time ANY client makes a withdrawal request and the deduction of funds from illicit trades.
As stated above, the Trading Practices department continued to monitor the clients account for future off market trading as there was a suspicion the client was using an EA that targets rates outside the market at times of high volatility which gave the trader the ability to obtain illegal profits, which are clearly forbidden in AvaTrade’s Terms & Conditions.
The reason that this client received all the deductions on the 30th July is because the Trading Practices department found illegal trading on the 29th July as mentioned above. Based on the fact the client arbitraged on the 4th July, and was monitored by the Trading Practices department for future illegal trading, which was committed on the 29th July, the decision was made to cancel the trades and deduct this illicit profit from the client on the 30th July.
If the trades were off market, why did it take almost a month to catch that?
As stated above, it did not take one month to ‘catch’ the trades that were opened at prices out of the market. The client was being monitored from 4th July after the first cases of off market trading and after a second case presented itself on the 29th July, all trades that were opened at rates outside the market were cancelled and the illegal profits were deducted on the client’s account on 30th July.
It should be noted that the client was able to make legitimate profits on legitimate trades with illicit profits made from these arbitraged trades.
Why were the trades cancelled rather than adjusted to market prices within 24 hours of the trades?
AvaTrade does not manipulate/change/correct prices on clients open or close trades.
Why does AVA see it as totally normal to cancel trades beyond a reasonable time after the trade was closed.
Every client of AvaTrade must agree to the company’s Terms and Conditions.
Within these T&C’s are specific details about prohibition of arbitrage and manipulation.
This particular client agreed to the terms and conditions when they opened two accounts with AvaTrade.
‘AvaTrade reserves the right to investigate and review any account AvaTrade suspects of manipulation and withhold funds suspected of being derived from such activity. AvaTrade reserves the right to void any transaction which it has determined to be a result of any of these practices and will have no liability to the customer whatsoever for any losses incurred’
The issue of trading outside the market/on off market rates is very clearly covered in our Terms and Conditions (Found Here).
As a news trader I often get emails by forex brokers that some of my trades were off market, but these come within 24 hours, and reputable brokers actually adjust price’s
One example I have is HotForex, it has happened to me on two occasions that I have received an email of my trades being adjusted, but not cancelled.
The Trading Practices department at AvaTrade takes arbitrage activity of this nature extremely seriously.
In this instance the client is openly acknowledging participation in trading at off market prices on other brokers (HotForex). The complaint here from the client is that AvaTrade did not adjust the price of the trades and instead cancelled the trades and the profit.
AvaTrade is aware of many EA systems that are specifically designed to detect arbitrage opportunities by targeting rates outside the market at times of high volatility – in essence the trader is exploiting short delays in price updates to obtain illicit/illegal profits, clearly forbidden by our Terms & Conditions’
AvaTrade reserves the right to cancel or adjust to market rates - all illicit trades of any client found to be opening/closing trades at off market prices.
Hence, all trades that were opened outside of the market rates by this client were cancelled by the Trading Practices department and all profits and/or losses on these trades are deducted.
Firstly the trades were not cancelled right away rather about 1 month after the trades were executed, most were opened and closed on July 4th, and the cancellations came on July 31st.
AvaTrade’s Trading practices department allows a grace period for clients using an EA (Electronic Algorithm) that have participated in opening trades at off market prices. If the Trading Practices department deems the client was not intentionally doing this, as the client is using an EA, they will continue to monitor the accounts trading to indicate if this activity is prevalent in the clients trading/EA. This was the case with this particular client.
What the client fails to mention in her post is that AvaTrade also detected off market trading on the clients account on the 29th July.
So the combination of arbitrage on the 4th July + 29th July led the Trading Practices department at AvaTrade to deduct profit and/or losses on all illicit trades opened at off market prices on the 30th July.
The other issue I have is with account #2, you can't see it on the statement, but I actually submitted a withdrawal request for the whole account balance before the trades were cancelled. Which makes me believe that they received the withdrawal request looked at the profit I've made and decided to take some of the profit off.
In order to protect client privacy we cannot go into specifics of client withdrawals.
However - The account was being monitored by the Trading Practices department continually from the first instance of arbitrage trading on the 4th July. There is no correlation between the time ANY client makes a withdrawal request and the deduction of funds from illicit trades.
As stated above, the Trading Practices department continued to monitor the clients account for future off market trading as there was a suspicion the client was using an EA that targets rates outside the market at times of high volatility which gave the trader the ability to obtain illegal profits, which are clearly forbidden in AvaTrade’s Terms & Conditions.
The reason that this client received all the deductions on the 30th July is because the Trading Practices department found illegal trading on the 29th July as mentioned above. Based on the fact the client arbitraged on the 4th July, and was monitored by the Trading Practices department for future illegal trading, which was committed on the 29th July, the decision was made to cancel the trades and deduct this illicit profit from the client on the 30th July.
If the trades were off market, why did it take almost a month to catch that?
As stated above, it did not take one month to ‘catch’ the trades that were opened at prices out of the market. The client was being monitored from 4th July after the first cases of off market trading and after a second case presented itself on the 29th July, all trades that were opened at rates outside the market were cancelled and the illegal profits were deducted on the client’s account on 30th July.
It should be noted that the client was able to make legitimate profits on legitimate trades with illicit profits made from these arbitraged trades.
Why were the trades cancelled rather than adjusted to market prices within 24 hours of the trades?
AvaTrade does not manipulate/change/correct prices on clients open or close trades.
Why does AVA see it as totally normal to cancel trades beyond a reasonable time after the trade was closed.
Every client of AvaTrade must agree to the company’s Terms and Conditions.
Within these T&C’s are specific details about prohibition of arbitrage and manipulation.
This particular client agreed to the terms and conditions when they opened two accounts with AvaTrade.
‘AvaTrade reserves the right to investigate and review any account AvaTrade suspects of manipulation and withhold funds suspected of being derived from such activity. AvaTrade reserves the right to void any transaction which it has determined to be a result of any of these practices and will have no liability to the customer whatsoever for any losses incurred’