ig markets - a criminal broker

[Ingot54]

What I would dearly love to prove is whether or not IG markets use an algorithm to stall prices for a second or two when large reversals occur.

Such an algorithm would allow a quick balance of +/- positions, and spike out the ones that will harm them most when the reversal is posted on "live" prices (supposedly) streaming data.

Of course this can not be proven because it is a closed shop, and I had a 35 minute conversation with a consultant about this a few months back. IG are not stupid enough to be transparent about their pricing data, except to say it is "as is" the way they receive it.

I have been spiked out of 3 positions - two of them in OIL when oil was heading up. The price momentarily (and I mean 5 contracts only) traded at "just below" my SL, before the price streaked away by $$$ not cents!!

My gain on my Long position should have been $17,000 that night!
Instead I was spiked out on a "5 contract" trade at below market level (below my SL) just as a ripper rally occurred!!!

The consultant said this was coincidence only.

So I brought up my story about an Index trade a few months earlier ... again ... "coincidence."

I sent them screen shots, showing that the price did not actually touch my price on the tick data, or the 1 min chart. That was not good enough - he said the charts are only a guide - you have to go on the data according to the prices shown. Of course I did not have the screen shot of the data which supposedly "triggered" my SL. But I did have the tick data chart as I said, and it was not acceptable to them - their own company not accepting their own charts!!

I was told I was paranoid, and that the consultant had worked there for 15 years, and knew the data was truly live and not tinkered with by any algorithms.

Yeah?

Maybe you'd like to Google this: "Bernard Madoff Arrested Over Alleged $50 bln Fraud" and tell me if I am paranoid!

I have made some money and I have lost some with IG markets.

The jury is still out as far as I am concerned ... but I get letters (emails) from them asking me "Is something wrong? We haven't had you trading with us for awhile."

They should check to see if my name is on a list with their opposition!

If a dog bites you, stay away from that dog!

 

[jodycody]

What I would dearly love to prove is whether or not IG markets use an algorithm to stall prices for a second or two when large reversals occur.

Such an algorithm would allow a quick balance of +/- positions, and spike out the ones that will harm them most when the reversal is posted on "live" prices (supposedly) streaming data.

Of course this can not be proven because it is a closed shop, and I had a 35 minute conversation with a consultant about this a few months back. IG are not stupid enough to be transparent about their pricing data, except to say it is "as is" the way they receive it.

I have been spiked out of 3 positions - two of them in OIL when oil was heading up. The price momentarily (and I mean 5 contracts only) traded at "just below" my SL, before the price streaked away by $$$ not cents!!

My gain on my Long position should have been $17,000 that night!
Instead I was spiked out on a "5 contract" trade at below market level (below my SL) just as a ripper rally occurred!!!

The consultant said this was coincidence only.

So I brought up my story about an Index trade a few months earlier ... again ... "coincidence."

I sent them screen shots, showing that the price did not actually touch my price on the tick data, or the 1 min chart. That was not good enough - he said the charts are only a guide - you have to go on the data according to the prices shown. Of course I did not have the screen shot of the data which supposedly "triggered" my SL. But I did have the tick data chart as I said, and it was not acceptable to them - their own company not accepting their own charts!!

I was told I was paranoid, and that the consultant had worked there for 15 years, and knew the data was truly live and not tinkered with by any algorithms.

Yeah?

Maybe you'd like to Google this: "Bernard Madoff Arrested Over Alleged $50 bln Fraud" and tell me if I am paranoid!

I have made some money and I have lost some with IG markets.

The jury is still out as far as I am concerned ... but I get letters (emails) from them asking me "Is something wrong? We haven't had you trading with us for awhile."

They should check to see if my name is on a list with their opposition!

If a dog bites you, stay away from that dog!

thanks for this reply, i can well believe that ig got to you and there know how difficult it is to prove. i am still putting my case together and i have hours of trades to go through in a 3 week period to try and reconstruct it. it is very laborious. and i have my mobile bills as well to show them that just after they closed the platform on me, i phoned them.
i am going to try my best, there is a lot of money involved.

 

[Ingot54]

I think the onus is on IG Markets to show that they did NOT do as you allege. For too long the lack of regulation in the derivatives industry has allowed the Over-the-Counter market makers to get away with larceny.

IG markets are quick to trot out "facts" when it suits their purposes.

Have you thought of subpoena-ing them to produce evidence from their records to refute what you are saying, instead of forcing you to piece together a case from patchy/sketchy data?

It's about time the law began to scrutinise these thugs.

 

[jodycody]

I think the onus is on IG Markets to show that they did NOT do as you allege. For too long the lack of regulation in the derivatives industry has allowed the Over-the-Counter market makers to get away with larceny.

IG markets are quick to trot out "facts" when it suits their purposes.

Have you thought of subpoena-ing them to produce evidence from their records to refute what you are saying, instead of forcing you to piece together a case from patchy/sketchy data?

It's about time the law began to scrutinise these thugs.

that is not a bad idea. but first of all i am doing what the FSA have told me to do, put together a complaint and sent it them, then wait up to the statutory 8 weeks and then if i am not satisfied with the result, which i won't be, then the ombudsman takes over. but i will certainly check out the subpoena idea, however, as i am the plaintiff who has an issue with them rather than vice versa, i expect the onus will lie on me. but i will call the FSA on this idea because piecing together, or trying to, from the hundreds of scalping trades i made, is a very difficult thing to do in retrospect. my phone bill though will help. i was on the phone to them constantly. and yet with my new broker, and the one i had before, i have not had to telephone once.

 

[fibionacci]

Not surprised

I have just had bad bad experience with ig markets trading currencies. My platform kept closing just when i was going to take my profit or change a stop - on re-opening, I either had losses or less profit or been stopped out, usually by a pip or two.
when I tried to exit trades, the close box froze. Sometimes I could buy back a sell for instance but often I had to re-start the platform.
I am talking about normal trading times, not announcements.
I rang each time, as instructed by the help desk. Offers to close my trades manually don't make much sense when the horse has already left the stable.
Ig never noticed me until I started to make real money. On complaining, I was met with 'sympathy' and 'understanding'...both of which I do not need when I have just lost a lot of money because their platform 'malfunctions'. My firefox browser was blamed, my internet connection and basically it was all my fault. After having one of their IT guys in my computer for 3 hours, nothing changed. He could not find anything wrong anyway.
One evening they crashed me out and I had -7888USD on my ac count balance, technically impossible. They froze my platform and prevented me from trading for 16 hours until accounts could work out what was going on. I was told it was an 'electronic error' and later an 'oversight in the accounts department'. I asked why I had to foot the bill. No reply. When my account was finally unfrozen, my balance was zero. I asked where my money was and they said it had been sent to my bank account back home, a transfer I never authorized verbally or in writing. I was told to write a complaint, which I did and then my 'account manager' rang me and said I was to exit my trades, I would not be allowed to place new ones and my account would be closed because 'I continued to take issue with matters considered satisfactorily resolved'. I was told my money would be returned to my account back home within 2-3 bank working days - it took 2 weeks.

I had already joined a new broker by this time but I could not fund my account until the money from ig arrived. I sat and watched the market go by without me.

I am taking this further and would be grateful for any experiences others have had with these criminals. My email address is [email protected].

Had similar experiences with some other firm like the above mentioned

 

[fibionacci]

Had similar experiences with some other firm like the above mentioned

:clap:

 

[Aston1st]

Please don't tell me you migrated to CMC as they use the same techniques. Complaining to the FSA is futile.

All this "Self Regulation" imagine having a "self regulationary body" for thieves ? Ludicrious yet that's what the FSA really is, they get their funding from the very Companies they are supposed to regulate. Can we really say that the FSA has been effective over the last 10 years? The answer would be an empathtic YES ...........for the benefit of the Companies that support it not the general Public.

 

[mel_pub]

Why is the UK favouring bucketshops with the stamp duty and capital gain exemption ??

These bucket shops seems to make so many £££ that they can buy themselves any judges or MP !

IG Group’s interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2008 were announced on the 20 January 2009.

Main highlights of the results included:

Turnover up 47% at £126.5 million
EBITDA up 24% at £60.3 million
Strong EBITDA margin of 47.7%

Wow...

 

[Trader1UK]

To avoid these problems, what broker would you recommend?

 

[Ingot54]

Angry Money Can't Win

To avoid these problems, what broker would you recommend?

I wasn't going to contribute to this thread again because of my extreme bad feelings I have towards IG Markets. No one has such an intense loathing for bucket shops like IG Markets than I have.

But listen man, you have to get past the emotional burning you have in your guts against these criminals. I could have/have had a bl**dy good rant against them, but hey! this is their "business" model, and you have to play by the rules they make, if you want to play at all.

If you want to sleep at night with satisfaction, you have to stop allowing them to screw with your mind and your account.

This is how it is: There are many companies out there like IG Markets, CMC, GFT, GET, MAN, CITI, PLUS500, AVAINDEX and so on, who make it so dead-set easy to trade derivatives with leverage ... bucket shops. IG Markets is one of them - they happen to have taken it to the next level, that's all.

In order to be able to trade with a provider, you have to be able to TRUST them. In your case (Jodycody) and mine, we clearly do not trust the busteds.

So ... what to do?

1) STOP trading with them
2) Work out a method of trading where they:

a) Can not hunt for your stops
b) Can not manipulate price against you
c) Can not affect you by freezing your a/c

3) Stick to your Trading Plan come hell, hail or high water
4) Practice your trading method until it becomes second nature to you
5) Put a toe back in the water slowly under live trading conditions
6) When confident, increase your position size
7) Feel good about yourself

Look - let's face it - we are never going to beat them on their terms. They refuse to accept screen shots as evidence, and will ALWAYS argue away your case. To actually admit they made an error would probably shake their business and cause loss of suckers ... oops ... clients. The very last thing this bucket shop needs is for the public to understand their role in fleecing people, and losing confidence and trust in them.

IG Markets worked out long ago that they no longer need to ensure customer satisfaction. You (and I) will simply be branded as malcontents, and a quick nonchalant shrug of the shoulders and they turn their back on you.

Next please! They know there is a customer coming through their front door every minute - the loss of one ... the gain of two! At least I still have my a/c open, and in time - my time - I will be ready to trade with them again.

I have heard of CMC admitting a glitch and refunding losses AND restoring positions after spikes took traders out of their market positions. That is the decent thing to do. Work this out - if the Interbank provides an "average" price in their feed, and this feed is the average of the group of major International Banks trading Foreign exchange, how is it that a spike of 5 contracts can legitimately be called an "average"?

This HAS to be manipulation to trigger stops and contingent buy/sell orders, and again trigger stops on the way back to the original price - 5 contracts earlier!

Let me ask you a question - "Are you able to trade successfully in the shorter Time Frames?" If you are, then may I suggest you move to a LONGER TF, but take slightly smaller positions.

I say this because short term trading is fraught with tension, "noisy price action", trend reversals, and as we know, manipulation. LT trading is infinitely easier, slower and MUCH more lucrative.

Have a look at the enclosed chart ... NZDUSD DAILY ... could you do this trade??

Easy huh?

If you are a reasonable scalper of say the 15 min TF, why not move out to the 4H TF? And if you are a good 1H trader, why not move out to an even simpler TF like the DAILY?

I tell you this - IG Markets HATE traders who trade long term. Why? Because they know this is where the money is to be made. Someone mentioned above - Trader333 - that: "they do have customers placing huge trades with them". I would feel that these "huge trades" would be inclined to be in LONG TERM positions by and large. No one with a larget roll would plonk it all on red! You don't make fortunes in this endeavour by gambling on one short spin of the wheel.

What I am suggesting is that you will get your money back from the bucket shop by finding out more about yourself.

1) Understand the Time Frame in which you are having success
2) Drop back to a longer TF

There is a good reason for this.

Longer TF have a larger ATR (Average True Range) and require that you use a larger margin to accommodate the longer SL needed to secure the trade. Because of the increased margin required, you would need to trade a SMALLER number of contracts to suit your a/c size and risk management, position sizing yada yada.

But you will notice something strange happening. Your head will clear because you are less stressed - less screen time needed to manage the trade ... AND you will notice you are actually making MORE money than before, with less risk.

Consider this: In order to make 1000 pips, you would need to make 50 trades at 20 pips each, or 3 trades at (roughly) 330 pips.

Which method involves the most spread cost?
Which method allows for more free time to manage trades?

I hope I have helped some of you to see that it is harder for bucket shops to get you if you trade the higher TF. And I hope some of you are seeing the merit of getting into some of the big trends, free of the 5 min and 15 min "noise".

 

[pboyles]

Why not just trade with a direct market access broker and these problems would disappear. Granted you need a lot more money in your account but at least you know youre not getting messed about by a SB company. You can open a proper direct market access account with $5k for futures and it gives more leverage than you'd ever need. I dont think you'll ever beat the SB companies as they make up their own rules.

 

[xwz]

IG markets gave away my account. UNSAFE

I have accounts with IG from 2007. I was taken to Tennis several times at the Rod Laver and to a Football Grand Final. I stopped trading leaving in >$60,000 in August 2010. Statements stopped 2 years ago.

A week ago I found I could not login. That IG had no record of me and that my email was not the email associated with that account. My login had been changed, my email changed to a yahoo account under another name, and a new address and the account has been traded on. I suspect another bank account is attached. I found this out gradually in talks with staff.

Meanwhile my superannuation trading account under my name has been kept with my email address and the statements still arriving.. it has a thousand for so left after IGs charges.

I read on joining IG that money had to be returned to the account associated with the trading account, so assumed it meant that the account could not be changed. However I now know it can. Further the Head of Compliance told me that changes can be made over the telephone.

Your money is NOT SAFE in IGMarkets

I have been treated like a criminal by the Head of Fraud, who has asked for more and more information including certified drivers licence, certified passport, certified address, bank statement, all bank transactions (not just with IG) for an indeterminate time, maybe to 1972 when it was set up, and more, full identify theft information. My email is the same and my drivers licences were used in setting up and current were taken to shown to the Head of Compliance.


A polite staffer had queried if "your partner had access to the account" to which I said no I had no partner, was divorced, etc. When I asked the Head of Fraud if the fraud was done internally the HEAD OF FRAUD LIED and said I had told a staff member that my ex-husband had access to my trading account.

he wrote "As per your conversion with Ryan it was mentioned by you that your ex Husband had access to the account. Thus the details of the account has been compromised at your end. Someone who had access to your username and password logged in and changed the email address and has been trading on the account. '

HEAD OF FRAUD LIED so what protection do we have.


The Head of Fraud emailed that when I supplied all my identity my account would be re-instated. It has not happened.

I was blocked from speaking him on the phone re his demand for full bank history,

I phoned IG the next day, he answered and did not identify himself as head of fraud, and did not acknowledge knowing my name or recognising the account. He kept asking why I wanted to make an appointment with the head of compliance.

He would not give me an appointment to see the Head of Compliance, said she was not there, didn't know where, would not link me to her second or assistant. Told me I could come into Collins Street and just speak to anyone one around. After I reiterated that the Financial Service Omsbudsman required me to see the Head Of Compliance he finally admitted she was at lunch.
Latest response:
'We are currently investigating the matter and as I mentioned yesterday I will provide you with an update by the end of this week.' (Head of Compliance)


Your money is not safe in the account. I have been treated horribly.
My exhusband has been slandered. I have been lied about.

I have full email record of every statement and request from IG.

 

[notcher]

Update?

Can we have an update?

 

[xwz]

re IG markets, collins street Melbourne// acct given away

Update.
Eventually after going into Melbourne and speaking the Head of Compliance, which achieved zero other than my thinking they would refill my account, submitting a detailed Fraud Complaint to South Melbourne Police, them contacting IGmarkets Natalie Beirne, Compliance, sending this to Queensland because the money was transferred to a Queensland Bank account, address there and other places. .... IG let me have access to my account, now it 6000AUD left in it. They've not replaced the money.
Hearing nothing I contacted Queensland Police 5 months later and they knew nothing of the Fraud Case.No trace of the paper work. Contacted South Melbourne Police again, who were going to chase it up or re-submit. Nothing has has come thru, so now I have to speak the Snr Detective again who took the case on originally. Very weird.
I feel gutted.
I will post again when I get some progress. Sorry for not updating.
I am shocked at other information re IG on this site. The number of retail traders in the US have dropped by about 50% I read somewhere. The predators must be feeling the pinch. Martin Armstrong is warning that 2017 will be harsh.

 

[tar]

I dont understand , how someone could have taken money out from the account , withdrawals are only made back to a credit card in your name or to a bank account in your name , no one can take money out from the account . Unless someone was playing with your account causing you to lose money . And why you stopped logging into your 60K account for years ?

 

[xwz]

1. I did not login because I went thru tax office fight(lawyer, barrister etc) for 3 years, a divorce, sale of home, massive take down thru bad advice by accountant on investment ... so no trading for a few years. I thought that little bit was safe and unseen so not asset stripped by the ex husband.

2. Agree, I understood what you write also. Account was alphanumeric name and password also secret. Neither could be changed without going thru my password protected email account and then changed. Yet new name and new password, new bank account, addresses and new email account were set up.
About 55K taken out. The account was also traded with the small residue left.

3. Seems like an inside job. How else could they know it was not an active account plus get all the rest. Over the desk calls need secret information which one knows other than IG.

4. When I signed up I understood that money could only be withdrawn to the account it was set up with.

 

[tar]

1. I did not login because I went thru tax office fight(lawyer, barrister etc) for 3 years, a divorce, sale of home, massive take down thru bad advice by accountant on investment ... so no trading for a few years. I thought that little bit was safe and unseen so not asset stripped by the ex husband.

2. Agree, I understood what you write also. Account was alphanumeric name and password also secret. Neither could be changed without going thru my password protected email account and then changed. Yet new name and new password, new bank account, addresses and new email account were set up.
About 55K taken out. The account was also traded with the small residue left.

3. Seems like an inside job. How else could they know it was not an active account plus get all the rest. Over the desk calls need secret information which one knows other than IG.

4. When I signed up I understood that money could only be withdrawn to the account it was set up with.

Strange , no one can change the account holder name , dont give up go to a lawyer .

 

[xwz]

Thanks tar for the support and encouragement. I will keep going.

 

[Lightning McQueen]

do you still use the same computer and connect to the world with the same isp as when this fraud took place?

maybe an odd question I know, but as you are getting caught up in the t2w system and having all your postings approved then something clearly isn't right you see.

 

[tar]

do you still use the same computer and connect to the world with the same isp as when this fraud took place?

maybe an odd question I know, but as you are getting caught up in the t2w system and having all your postings approved then something clearly isn't right you see.

Maybe because she is a new member just 4 posts ...