Traders Court FAQ - Other Questions (2011 version)

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I'll add to this as necessary. Please be aware that the rules are new and may need to be adjusted.

1. Do I need the rank of Private to file a Traders Court case?

No. That requirement doesn't apply to the FPA Traders Court.

2. What about companies already rated SCAM?

Please don't file cases against those companies. They've already been declared to the scams by the FPA, so a bunch of Guilty verdicts won't help.

Instead, please leave a 1 star review for the company and also get a thread opened in the Scam Alerts folder. This can get you advice on how to recover your funds and also suggestions on how to complain to the regulators.

3. What does a Guilty verdict do?

It turns your 1 star review into a Zero star review. It gets listed on the company's review page at the FPA. Traders Court announcements get mailed out to the entire FPA membership.

4. I still want to declare the company to be a scam. What do I do?

First, do a Traders Court case. The Scam Investigations Committee is still around and will take on cases selectively where they think the most good can be done.

Usually, 3 or 4 guilty verdicts is needed for a scam finding. The number needed can be greater or smaller depending on the circumstances.

5. Shouldn't there be more questions in this FAQ?

Probably. I'll try to add more as they come up.
 
6. What does and doesn't qualify for a trader's court case.

Scams come in many forms. The FPA does have some limits.

If you experience some slippage or requotes, this isn't a scam. It happens in reality. If you can prove by arduous statistical analysis that your broker is cheating on trades, that does qualify. The standard of proof will be high. One or two trades is not proof of the use of malicious cheating software.

If the slippage is large or spread is large around news time, that is normal market behavior and does not qualify for a Traders Court case.

If you have slippage or get a margin call because of a gap opening after the weekend, that is almost always normal market behavior and does not qualify for a Traders Court case.

The FPA is about forex. If you have an issue specifically for a trade on something other than a forex pair on a forex, binary, or CFD broker, that doesn't qualify for a Traders Court case. If a forex or binary options broker refuses to process a withdrawal without a valid reason, that does qualify.

UPDATE: Cryptos may claim to be currencies, but they do not meet the definition of a government backed currency. Disputes over trades involving cryptos are not within the scope of the FPA Traders Court. Traders are also warned that real liquidity pools for cryptos are very limited. Trading anything with extremely limited liquidity is dangerous.

Bonuses are at a broker's discretion. A broker declining to award a bonus or cancelling a bonus is almost always within the terms of that bonus. Since bonuses are voluntary on both sides, the FPA will generally not get involved in this sort of dispute. If all trading terms needed to collect a bonus have been completed and the broker then refuses to honor the terms, the FPA will consider allowing a Traders Court case.

The FPA strongly recommends that you have all of your documents approved by the broker before you deposit money with the broker. If you trade without having your documents submitted, you may have trouble collecting your profits. The FPA will look into cases like this, but warns that these cases may require more evidence. If anything about your documents makes the FPA even slightly suspicious that the documents have been altered, the FPA will dismiss your case.

Refusal to process a withdrawal without a valid reason is one of the most common forms of scam done by forex brokers. As long as your case is not tied into a documents or bonus issue and you have given the broker a reasonable amount of time to process the withdrawal, this sort of case is nearly always accepted.

The FPA Traders Court is primarily about protecting traders against scams. Company employees and associates may complain in Scam Alerts and on review pages, but the FPA is not equipped to get into contract disputes of this sort. Associates includes IBs and affiliates.

Other forms of scam, fraud, and extreme unethical behavior by forex companies do qualify. Since there are so many variations, some of these will need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.


7. What can I do if I can't file a case or my case is dismissed?

You are no worse off than before you read this. You still have or can leave a 1 star review for the company. You still have or can post your thread in the Scam Alerts Folder. You can still file complaints with regulators.


8. What's the fastest way to get my case dismissed?

That's easy. File the case and then disappear. If you don't respond to questions in your case file or Scam Alerts thread, your case will be dismissed. Unless you can show you were a prisoner of war, stranded on a desert island or were confined to a hospital, your case is unlikely to be reactivated. Filing the same case again when your case has been dismissed will result in the new case being dismissed.

This policy is necessary. If your case goes public and you aren't around, how do you expect the FPA to deal with your issue if the company decides to answer? How would a judge in a court of law would react if you filed a complaint and then you didn't bother to show up for pre-trial questioning?

People really have filed complaints with the FPA, disappeared for months, and then come back and blamed the FPA for not doing anything. The FPA can't help people who can't cooperate and help themselves.
 
9. What's the slowest way to get my case dismissed?

There are several steps to this. First, become convinced the world revolves around you. You can show this by demanding instant service from the FPA, even over weekends. The FPA is a free service to traders. If you want instant service, go find a lawyer or private investigator and see how much instant answers 24/7 will cost you.

Continue by accusing the FPA of protecting the company for not instantly taking your case to a vote, even when the company is communicating in the forums. This makes it look like you are on a crusade for vengeance instead of wanting help in getting your situation resolved. The FPA is here to try to help get the situation resolved. Voting is never the first step if the company is talking.

Finally, to waste the maximum amount of time, ignore or deflect any FPA requests for evidence.


I've been dealing with Traders Court for a long time. If I ask for a piece of evidence, it's not because I'm bored. It's not because I want to waste your time or mine. It's because I feel the evidence is needed for your case.

You may not always know why a certain piece of evidence is requested. This doesn't make it irrelevant. You are entitled to ask why a piece of evidence is needed and to get an answer. "I don't think it's relevant" is not a valid reason to refuse to provide evidence. You are entitled to remove your full name and any private information from any evidence before posting it. You are not entitled to become rude and insulting while ignoring requests for evidence.


I've just dismissed a case from a trader who refused 4 times to upload a trading statement. He also seemed to feel I owed him instant responses, even on weekends. More than once, I told him why I wanted the trading statement. I consider the statement critical because his story conflicts with the story the company told. The statement would make it much simpler to determine the truth. The statement will also make it easier to determine the exact amount, if any, owed to the trader. The Traders Court exists to try to resolve issues whenever possible. Determining how much money is legitimately owed is necessary, since that's the amount the company would need to pay to resolve the case. This trader evidently felt his written claims and demands for an instant vote even while the company was responding in his thread superseded the need for evidence.

This trader accused me of selling out to the broker. He also made threats to reveal to the world how the FPA sided with the broker. The only thing I and the FPA sided with was getting all the facts to try to get the issue fixed. Once the facts were in, if discussions with the broker failed, the case would have gone to a vote. Instead, this trader wasted large amounts of my time, the time of the FPA Forums Team, and even the Supreme Admin's time, but still did not provide the evidence.


The FPA Traders Court cannot fight for a trader while the trader fights against the FPA. No court, regulator, law enforcement agency, or other investigator can operate honestly if it allows the person bringing a complaint to refuse to provide evidence. No court, regulator, law enforcement agency, or other investigator can work efficiently if the person complaining spends more time attacking those they want help from than in cooperating with the investigation.

In fairness to myself and to others who need FPA services, this isn't going to happen again. A Traders Court vote is not an automatic right. It is a privilege which is granted to a specific range of issues between traders and companies. It requires the active cooperation of the trader who filed the case.


If a trader wants to use his case thread to repeatedly attack the fairness of the FPA, that trader has no right to expect the FPA to bring the issue to a vote. A Traders Court case is not a place to vent their frustrations and attack the organization which is trying to help. There are so many scams to fight and FPA resources are better used working with traders who want assistance or want to help warn fellow traders.

No one will ever get 4 requests for the same piece of evidence in a Traders Court case again. In the future, as soon as a trader refuses to provide evidence for a case in the Court Case Preparation folder, that person will be sent a link to this post. If the trader has a valid reason for refusing to provide evidence, that can be discussed. In the end, I am the one who decides if a case moves forward or not, so my decision on any argument over whether a requested piece of evidence can be declined will be final. If the trader continues to refuse to provide evidence, the case will be dismissed immediately.
 
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