Alpari discussion and help thread

[scitech]

Important announcement

The recent move on the Swiss franc caused by the Swiss National Bank’s unexpected policy reversal of capping the Swiss franc against the euro has resulted in exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity. Retail client funds continue to be segregated in accordance with FCA rules. For the avoidance of any doubt and notwithstanding previous announcements by the company, Alpari (UK) Limited has not entered a formal insolvency process. The board of directors are urgently considering all options including a sale and are liaising closely with the FCA. We hope to make a further announcement shortly.

 

[tomorton]

Must have found some money in a shoe box under the stairs.

 

[scitech]

We hope it does have some money left to pay my balance

 

[terriegym]

dont suppose they'll act on any withdrawl requests made on friday?

 

[Dentalfloss]

just bought the business for $1...now i am goin to screw you all...

 

[scitech]

Guys please contact the press, cnn, bbc and other websites . That is what i am doing at the moment, already been in contact with some. Increase some pressure please ))

 

[scitech]

http://forexmagnates.com/fxcm-emerges-potential-buyer-business-alpari-uk/

 

[DT]

They are stating (on alpari web) that client monies at this time 12.00 mid day , today, are properly segregated. As per UK law. So one assumes clients with positive balance , just need to wait for that aspect of it to be administrated etc..

I mean, no need for compensation scheme IF they administrate back the segregated funds to each client.

that isn't really the issue - clients aren't usually segregated from each other - if sufficient clients have taken large losses then you can still have a problem there

 

[DT]

FCA insists that firms regulated by it need to provide best execution.
So if a stop loss is trigerred 900 pips or lower clearly is poor execution.
Hence fca covers for as much 50,000 gbp.Nothing sure though.

if you're trading with a bucket shop then what can you really expect - what does 'best execution' even mean in that context? You're trading in a parallel market they provide and if the liquidity isn't there then good luck getting anything executed - not sure the FCA would compensate you for anything.

 

[DT]

The SNB has a lot to answer for !!

, i.e. Did they know in advance the impact this news would have on the world markets ? most likely yes !

Could the news of been drip fed released to give the market time to absorb it and react ? Again, most likely yes !

Who benefited bigtime (financially) from "black Thursday" ? we will probably never know !

how do you drip feed the news? CHF either has a limit relative to the EUR or it doesn't - there isn't any news to 'drip feed'

 

[mike.]

how do you drip feed the news? CHF either has a limit relative to the EUR or it doesn't - there isn't any news to 'drip feed'

Ok, possibly released the news over the weekend, raised the peg instead of taking it away completely. There was market turmoil when the floor was introduced in 2011, they knew exactly what would happen at 9.30 on thursday morning.

 

[scitech]

http://www.cityam.com/207386/trader-shock-alpari-s-swiss-franc-problems

 

[vasemaz]

www.barx.com

try .www.barx.com

Do you know what the minimum deposit requirements are for opening a fx trading account with barx?

Thanks.

 

[highbury fx]

Do you know what the minimum deposit requirements are for opening a fx trading account with barx?

Thanks.

it depends whether you want to be a retail client and trade on retail spreads or an institutional client and trade on interbank spreads.

Usually with a top tier PB you'll be paying around 3% to 3.5% margin on G10 and depending on volatility the margin requirement for the other products will start around 5%. If Barclays don't know you or you cant provide evidence of trading at least a few yards a month they'll probably want a minimum $10k per month from you as well.

This compares to spreadbet and CFD companies who generally offer 0.5% to 1% margin and require no minimum revenue from you.

funding client margin is one of the biggest problems facing SB/CFD firms as they cannot use segregated client funds for anything, including margin at their liquidity providers. It means they have to fund their trading positions from their balance sheet and not from client deposits.

If you're an institutional or professional client at Barclays you could (will) lose the FSCS compensation protection which is provided to retail classified clients only.

 

[vasemaz]

it depends whether you want to be a retail client and trade on retail spreads or an institutional client and trade on interbank spreads.

Usually with a top tier PB you'll be paying around 3% to 3.5% margin on G10 and depending on volatility the margin requirement for the other products will start around 5%. If Barclays don't know you or you cant provide evidence of trading at least a few yards a month they'll probably want a minimum $10k per month from you as well.

This compares to spreadbet and CFD companies who generally offer 0.5% to 1% margin and require no minimum revenue from you.

funding client margin is one of the biggest problems facing SB/CFD firms as they cannot use segregated client funds for anything, including margin at their liquidity providers. It means they have to fund their trading positions from their balance sheet and not from client deposits.

If you're an institutional or professional client at Barclays you could (will) lose the FSCS compensation protection which is provided to retail classified clients only.

Thanks..

 

[Pat494]

Will the Russians rescue their company Alpari ?
I doubt it. Putin has a Cold War mentality which should make the situation worse as he blusters and threatens.

 

[BestBrokerDeals]

It's still not entirely clear what's going on here.

I received a message from an Alpari employee on Friday stating that they were closing "we worked through a handful of potential acquirers and exhausted all potential options", but the message subsequently displayed on their site makes it clear that they are not yet formally insolvent.

It appears their accounts (though probably not the brand?) may be acquired by FXCM.

There has been no suggestion thus far that anything improper has gone on at Alpari, and the broker is understood to have been fully compliant with FSA regulations, with client funds held in segregated accounts. Recovering funds in the event of a broker's insolvency can be a drawn out process, but currently there is no reason to believe that positive account balances won't be repatriated to retail clients.

Forex Magnates have a good live feed summary here: http://forexmagnates.com/forex-industry-battles-eurchf-meltdown-real-time-updates/

I do hope this plays out in the best interests of everyone here.

Kind regards,

Nick

 

[spinola]

I reckon, they'll be absorbed by another co. perhaps. See what happens this week.

Anyone looked at their annual accounts to see size of their typical gross revenues prior to this black swan ?

 

[highbury fx]

It must put the slightly wobbly Greek/Cyprus brokers at risk ?
AAAFX etc.
Those hiding in The Maldives and other faraway places too I expect

I don't see why it puts them at more risk than any other broker that's in trouble now Pat.

Cyprus brokers are EU regulated and contribute to an insurance fund in exactly the same way that FCA firms do. Under MiFID one EU regulators permissions are accepted in any other EU member country. That couldn't happen unless they were all aligned properly in terms of collecting due diligence from the firms they license.

Cyprus do things quicker than the FCA because they have a fraction of the applications to process but that doesn't make it a cheaper route or a less difficult one to successfully apply too.

What happened wasn't anything to do with client funds not being segregated or B book dealing desk firms taking too much risk. The clients have lost money they haven't got because they used too much leverage and because a major currency moved more than 30% in one day with thousands of pips gapping in the price action and now the firms they lost money to will struggle to get it back. Its bad debts that will kill these brokerages not where there regulated.

some of your posts are good but some show a real lack of understanding. For example what do Cyprus brokers have in common with Greek or Maldivian ones? Cyprus has a completely separate banking system to Greece and likening them is akin to likening London with Frankfurt.

thumbs down on this one mate.. you're a mile off.

 

[spinola]

Trading accounts. Alpari UK limited.

According to recent filings by Alpari UK for its 2013 year with the Company House in the United Kingdom (UK) – which is a requirement for all limited UK companies, Alpari UK experienced improvements over its 2012 totals yet remained with a reported loss for its 2013 income as per its latest financial statement dated April 16th, 2014 and signed by the firm’s CEO David Hodge.

Alpari UK saw an increase in the number of its customer accounts from 116,320 in 2012, to 138,831 in 2013, an expansion of 19% year-over-year (YoY). During that time total trading volumes amounted to increase from $692 billion in 2012, to $1.161 billion in 2013, a 68% rise YoY. In addition, Alpari UK said that there was a 12% reduction in marketing costs and rebates to brokers, as marketing efforts we refocused in-house to help with cost savings.

Despite these figures, administrative expenses totaling £59,792,232 outweighed revenues of £55,655,244 resulting in a net loss for the company’s income for 2013, and adding an exceptional item such as the writing down of Alpari Financial Services (India) Pvt. Limited which had taken a hefty chunk out of the brokers earnings – after it said it exited that business due to a lack of income generated from the region.

Had it not been for its total exceptional items, that amount would have reduced its loss of £6.2 million further by £1.9 million, yet would have still not been enough to make it into a positive net income figure.

Nonetheless, improvements were seen, as before the India write-down, the loss reported was reduced by 61% at £6.02 million before tax, compared to £10.6 million a year earlier. Income was little changed down 1% YoY, as the company reorganized its management and focused on its hybrid model and expansion of its ECN into MT4, as covered by Forex Magnates in Q4 of last year. Total assets according to the financial reported indicated around £134 million, while gross revenue stood at £55.6 million as of December 31, 2013.

The company recently had a change of direction over its binary options strategy as the landscape for the dually-sided contracts remains uncertain in the UK.

- See more at: http://forexmagnates.com/alpari-uk-...any-positive-net-profit/#sthash.Ov7ZxihW.dpuf