FXCM invalid margin call

[shahroor]

I had a very bad experience with FXCM recently , it all started when they took over ODL and started providing a no dealer MT4 service .
I wonder if any body had similar issues with their MT4 platform.

Briefly my issue was with invalid margin call due to having a huge discrepancy between MT4 and TS platform. My leverage on MT4 was double what it was on TS !!
They only acknowledged the problem on MT4 after a lot of convincing and after I showed them a shot of MT4 screen but they said that would not change the outcome of my complaint !!

anyone with similar problem

Thanks

 

[4xpipcounter]

It happens a lot with them. They could be the worse broker in the business.

I had a very bad experience with FXCM recently , it all started when they took over ODL and started providing a no dealer MT4 service .
I wonder if any body had similar issues with their MT4 platform.

Briefly my issue was with invalid margin call due to having a huge discrepancy between MT4 and TS platform. My leverage on MT4 was double what it was on TS !!
They only acknowledged the problem on MT4 after a lot of convincing and after I showed them a shot of MT4 screen but they said that would not change the outcome of my complaint !!

anyone with similar problem

Thanks

 

[Jason Rogers]

I had a very bad experience with FXCM recently , it all started when they took over ODL and started providing a no dealer MT4 service .
I wonder if any body had similar issues with their MT4 platform.

Briefly my issue was with invalid margin call due to having a huge discrepancy between MT4 and TS platform. My leverage on MT4 was double what it was on TS !!
They only acknowledged the problem on MT4 after a lot of convincing and after I showed them a shot of MT4 screen but they said that would not change the outcome of my complaint !!

anyone with similar problem

Thanks

Hi shahroor,

Did you request a trade audit for the margin call?

If you have any questions or need any help, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] .

-Jason
FXCM

 

[shahroor]

I did request an audit review which took few days before the live chat person did it while I was chatting to him and unfortunately he provided no explanation of what has happened and how I had a margin call on the system but not on MT4 . his brief reply was that it is a valid margin call .
For that reason I went on to investigate the problem myself by opening small positions and comparing those to what appeared on TS read only to realize that the leverage I was given on MT4 was double what it was on TS hence I needed half the margin to cover my positions on MT4 so clearly the margin call was not valid according to my MT4 platform.
I did take a screen shot and showed it to that person , he replied by saying I can see there is a problem on MT4 which we will sort out soon but that doesnt change the outcome of the audit which was basically denial of responsibility of the loses incurred.

I then refereed the case to the complaint department but after 2 weeks they failed to address my complaint despite numerous reminders so I took the case to the FOS.
A few days later FXCM finally addressed the complaint and yesterday I had a response from them which was again very unhelpful.

The person who investigated the complaint went on to give e lessons about my trading and how my losses would have piled up-which is a complete nonsense- rather than addressing the main issues with MT4 , his analysis was clearly very shallow because of the discrepancies between his margin calculations and the ones quoted by the audit team. also not knowing a lot about my account which was clearly apparent in his reply.

I am going to take this all the way to court if needs be and I do have more evidence of FXCM failure and denial which I will show when needed.

By the way I had the very same problem few months back and the audit team were very helpful at the time because the losses were only $200, and they did an adjustment and corrected the error on MT4, but now despite having exactly the same issue they first did not bother to explain why this has happened in the first place despite having enough equity to cover my positions as showed on MT4, and they kept denying responsibility despite me proving what the problem ...

Do you have an answer to that ?

Thanks for reading

 

[JDTRADER]

:help:

Sorry about your problem with FXCM but I think you need to look deeper.

Why did you let yourself get near to a margin call ?

Surely you should of cut well before by not letting losers run with a stop loss and sticking to it. Trading requires Entry, Exit, Stop Loss.
:smart:

 

[shahroor]

I appreciate your advice n accept it but it is irrelevant. FXCM is obliged to provide clients the service they ought to which is a brokerage service.
I have my trading issues but we are not here to talk about them and FXCM replies always seem to deviate away from the core of the problem , which is their rubbish MT4 platform and its faults do you know why !! casue they do not care about their clients , I paid the price for their faulty platform so they do not care.I will pursue this further and I will get my money back.

I am not trying to blame a broker for my trading errors but this a very real example of their denial and refusing responsibility for their faulty platform.

 

[arabianights]

Er... if you had the same problem a couple of months before I can't see how you can argue you were unaware of it this time. Or did I misunderstand you?

 

[shahroor]

I think you misunderstood the issue. let me clarify it . Few months back I had the same problem and when I raised the issue with the audit department they replied that it was an error on margin calculation on MT4 platform and they corrected it and refunded my money. it has been working fine up until this margin call . I was watching my positions at the time and I had enough equity to cover but suddenly my positions were closed one by one. when I contacted their customer service they said I had a margin call on their system therefore my positions were being closed. The margin call never happened on MT4 platform because the leverage on MT4 was double what it should have been . so it is MT4 platform error on their side which they corrected again but this time never refunded the losses incurred by closing those positions. they did not even bother explaining why this has happened, only because I had the same problem before I thought it could have happened again so I opened small positions to check the margin required to realize it was indeed the same error , I did show them screen shots of my platform but they refused to refund the losses incurred.

 

[arabianights]

Right.

In this case you're completely in the right morally (I not going to say legal position cause not a judge of that), and I suspect as a retail client FSO will take a very dim view of this. Document all costs.

Get onto FSO now actually, not sure if you've actually been in touch, but as it'll be a difficult issue for them to understand it may take some time. However, fortunately for you, they can make the FXCM give you costs, interest, and compensation, both to restore you to the position you would have been in with the trade not cancelled and for inconvenience

If you ain't read it before, take a look at Ombudsman's news. I was once very bored at work and read every single case study that has been in every issue, so I have a reasonable handle on how they think.

 

[shahroor]

Thanks for your advice, I got the ball rolling and spoke to the FOS .They sent me a form to fill and I am sure I will get there eventually , I will keep this thread updated for the benefit of others.

 

[JDTRADER]

:help:

Sorry about your problem with FXCM but I think you need to look deeper.

Why did you let yourself get near to a margin call ?

Surely you should of cut well before by not letting losers run with a stop loss and sticking to it. Trading requires Entry, Exit, Stop Loss.
:smart:

You know what I need to take my own advice :!:
Going into Day 2 holding Euro shorts

Excuse me while I go bash my head against the wall

 

[ns1000]

Which margin call was correct, according to their T&Cs - the one on MT4 or TS?

 

[shahroor]

The margin call was correct on TS but not on MT4 and because I was trading ion MT4 I had enough equity to cover my positions.
here is the details of the same problem that happened few months back but was compensated for the losses, the only difference is that this time is a lot more money

****
Your case has been forwarded to my attention for review. I have now investigated your complaint fully and the details of the matter are as follows:

Issue: Client's leverage on MT4 was 300:1. Leverage on TS2 was 200:1. Got a margin a call on FXCM side at 4:01p while MT4 was showing free margin.

FXCM Account: *************

MT4 Account:********

Resolution: At time of the margin call, client needed $3,120 in account. Account balance was $3,113.50.

Margin call was correct on the FXCM side, however there was a confirmed issue with the MT4 display.

Adjustment: FXCM will wash the loss on the trades.

Total Adjustment: $*********

********
can anybody tell why this time they refused to act in the same way and refund the losses despite having exactly the same issue, I am directing this question to FXCM representative who seems to have disappeared after offering help ..

 

[Jason Rogers]

The margin call was correct on TS but not on MT4 and because I was trading ion MT4 I had enough equity to cover my positions.
here is the details of the same problem that happened few months back but was compensated for the losses, the only difference is that this time is a lot more money

****
Your case has been forwarded to my attention for review. I have now investigated your complaint fully and the details of the matter are as follows:

Issue: Client's leverage on MT4 was 300:1. Leverage on TS2 was 200:1. Got a margin a call on FXCM side at 4:01p while MT4 was showing free margin.

FXCM Account: *************

MT4 Account:********

Resolution: At time of the margin call, client needed $3,120 in account. Account balance was $3,113.50.

Margin call was correct on the FXCM side, however there was a confirmed issue with the MT4 display.

Adjustment: FXCM will wash the loss on the trades.

Total Adjustment: $*********

********
can anybody tell why this time they refused to act in the same way and refund the losses despite having exactly the same issue, I am directing this question to FXCM representative who seems to have disappeared after offering help ..

Hi Shahroor,

In regards to your particular case, I'm not able to publicly discuss the details of any clients trading activity as mentioned on my profile bio. Also, because you've already had the audit completed and spoken with our compliance department there is nothing that I can do from my side, but your next option is the FSO if you are unsatisfied as I see you have contacted.

However in general, whenever trading with the MT4 platform through FXCM or ODL it's important to keep in mind that reports generated via the read-only log in on the FXCM Trading Station II or MyFXCM.com have the most current and accurate trading activity. This is caused by the slight delay in synchronization between the Trading Station and the MetaTrader4 platform. You may notice account-syncs on the MT4 platform which increase or decrease your account balance. This occurs because any increases or decreases in your FXCM account balance, whether they be due to deposits, withdrawals, rollover, etc., have to be reflected on the MT4 platform. Whenever your FXCM balance changes due to this, you will see an account sync on MT4 to bring your MT4 balance in line with your actual account balance. Even if your MT4 balance has not been synced yet with your actual balance, a margin call or any other order execution will still occur properly as it should on FXCM's system based on your actual account balance.

-Jason

 

[shahroor]

well, it is nothing to do with synchronization, the problem which I explained clearly is the leverage on MT4. it was completely different to what I was told it is by FXCM. they admitted the error with regards to margin calculation and leverage and corrected it next day but denied responsibility for the losses incurred by this error.

I have attached a screenshot of my MT4 platform to demonstrate to FXCM that their margin requirement calculations was completely different to what I was getting on their MT4 platform. It was exactly half of what they said it should be, which means when I had the margin call on their system I had more than enough equity to cover my positions.

 

[Ross Spur]

Strange that SBs/brokers can't just admit they made a mistake in cases like this, when they know it'll cost them far more if the FOS gets involved. I suppose they just assume that most people won't bother to follow it through.

 

[JDTRADER]

Really time to move on

Did you get a refund ?

Whether yes or no I feel you should vote with your feet and move to another broker

 

[shahroor]

it surprises me too, but I am a type of person who never gives up and if I lose a penny this way I will follow it up all the way to china .....lol
The complaint has gone in the post to the FOS now

 

[shahroor]

Really time to move on

Did you get a refund ?

Whether yes or no I feel you should vote with your feet and move to another broker

do you think I would have made all this fuss if I had a refund !!

 

[Ross Spur]

it surprises me too, but I am a type of person who never gives up and if I lose a penny this way I will follow it up all the way to china .....lol
The complaint has gone in the post to the FOS now

Good for you. I'm about to set the FOS cavalry onto another firm. The form-filling is a hassle and complaints take ages to process, but win or lose it's satisfying to know, a) that the company won't get away with doing the same thing again, and, b) that it costs them money.