Thread: IC Markets - public statements vs individual traders

As this seems like the perfect loion, I wish to see if anyone else is in the same boat.

Shortly after the CHF issues , of which I sadly had a position, IC Markets sent me an email stating CHF transactions are under review since their computers messed up and provided pricing that was not really avaialable. I had about 30 points of slippage, which was okay, however now it is going on a few days with this cloud hanging over me, wondering if my equilibrium will crash artwork any moment.

However, at the same time, 2 seperate emails have come out stating how they weathered the storm just fine. Of particular annoyance is the statement today which includes the following :

regardless of the significant volatility during the announcement we could keep pricing through periods of low liquidity.

They appear to be trying to have their cake and eat it to....reassuring possible or non-affected customers that all is hunky dory, meanwhile cleaning up their mess in the background, potentially at the expense of their present customers. In my computer goes awry one day and I make an order at some price that loses me a lot of money, I'd imagine IC Markets would not be forgiving....however their method screw up appears to be their customers' collective problem.

Is anyone else in the same boat. I shall include full messages below.

I can speak with him no issue. Just sent an email to help with the term angus.

The first step :

Dear Client,


This email is about the CHF position(s) on your trading account and the prices streamed across the CHF pairs which have influenced you today.

Now at 11:30 platform time (GMT 2) the Swiss National Bank removed the ground at 1.20 on the EURCHF currency pair which caused intense volatility in most CHF pairs and the market generally. Over this period we saw spreads grow significantly which subsequently resulted in the activation of price filters to stop pricing. Once pricing stopped on our main Integral price feed our copy price feed out of Currenex was permitted to price. It was now that some liquidity providers were able to stream erroneous prices to ICMarkets and execute client transactions at prices they should not have.

Now IC Markets will be amending the prices on transactions performed across the CHF pairs together with our liquidity providers. Once we've had these transactions amended we will begin the process of adjusting customers accounts. This will include but not be restricted to the actions under:

• Reinstatement of positions where appropriate and possible
• Amendment of open/close prices on transactions
• Assessment of client portfolios closed because of inadequate margin
• Fixing client cash balances to reflect the action above

IC Markets employees will be operating as fast as possible to complete the aforementioned and revive trading accounts to their state. We appreciate your patience as we complete this.


Kind regards,

IC Markets Trade Desk

Then :

Dear Traders,

We have obtained a large volume of trade inquiries in regards to places on CHF pairs (approximately 11:30, 15th Jan 2015, GMT 2) during unprecedented action taken by the SNB. Please be informed that we are currently reviewing ALL influenced transactions on CHF pairs and our team is currently working as quickly as possible to take crucial action. Trades will be assessed individually and transactions executed on incorrect prices will be adjusted by the most appropriate ways. We expect to complete all adjustments by the end of the week.

You can find further information about this at the 'Company News' section on the Site or via the below link:
http://www.icmarkets.com/blog/2015/0...or-ic-markets/

Best Regards,
Narayan Joshi | IC Markets Marketing

And this beauty this morning :
IC Markets Still Powerful
Dear Trader,

The sudden announcement by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) that it would draw the cap on the Swiss Franc's value against the Euro took many in the market by surprise and resulted in extreme volatility in the FX markets.

We were surprised by the extreme volatility following the announcement, however ironically in December, 2014 we assessed the risks associated with this pair and decreased the leverage provided to customers. As a result of this pre-emptive step we were able to minimise the impact of negative client equity and supply extra protection for our clients. Regardless of the significant volatility during the announcement we were able to keep pricing through periods of low liquidity.

The new paradigm at the FX market could be characterized by extended periods of low volatility followed by extreme episodic volatility since we saw with the Russian Rouble at December and now the Swiss Franc a week. Two events should be considered as a sign of the times. We're anticipating more volatility like this but not of the same magnitude throughout 2015. We'd like to assure you that we'll continue to focus on pre-emptive risk management to ensure our customers remain unaffected by future volatility.

Our financial position remains strong and over our regulatory conditions with trading unaffected. As always customer funds are held in segregated accounts with major Australian banks NAB and Westpac.

If you have any queries or require any assistance, please contact one of our support team members via http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ICMarkets/a3...858d2/groups=0, email: , or phone tel: percent2B61 (0)2 8014 4280.

Kind regards,
Andrew Budzinski
CEO

AS one of those effected by their data feeds. I have not received some of the above.
And in spite of attempting to learn where my situation was at, have received no answer.

Originally Posted by ;

AS among these effected by their faulty data feeds. I haven't got a number of the above mentioned. And in spite of attempting to find out where my situation was, have received no response.

Tried to live chat together. I find that is a lot faster way to get things done as you are talking to a live person and items could get explained straight away. Tried to talk together later 5:00 PM EST if their daytime team comes online. I find that their daytime staff is lot more informed and capable. And their back office and everything can be open during that time, so if there's anything, the CSR online chat could liaison with all the back office and get matters resolved straight away.

Good luck!

I've tried the chat 3 times just to be met with standard traces of doing what we could, followed by sorry and is there anything else...

I am in precisely the same boat as you Mess7777. In my case, getting margin called at a EURCHF price that not traded anywhere else in the world but their servers.


Frankly, coming ahead on precisely the same day acknowledging their IT mess with their LP's seemed both professional and reassuring at first. But after days of silence and now this new IC Markets Still Powerful announcement, I am beginning to think they just put on a series and are now trying to get off simple. In particular, that line Despite the significant volatility during the statement we were able to maintain pricing during periods of reduced liquidity. Is clearly erring on the side of deception once they were able to offer liquidity at a 2,400 (TWENTY FOUR HUNDRED) pip spread during the event!! You bet they were able to maintain liquidity, at this rate, who wouldn't want to provide it? Instant profit of your clients on the rear. Give me two that black swan and I will still stop my job to perform it.

The truth is that their LP's and/or the way they managed the quotes flow broke down badly. Unlike many brokers, they'd zero volatility kill switch protocol set up which compelled them to provide poor quotes (NOT liquidity) while kicking stops and margin call amounts left and at absolutely insane price amounts. No matter where you look i.e. broker quotes, technical media, Bloomberg BGN, Reuters EBS etc.. . Their price spreads and spikes from the world which in turn caused enormous losses which are far out of proportion with the size of the genuine aftermaths of the SNB decision.

The main point is they lost hands and dragging us as well as this does not bode well. Their introducing broker Ahmerkhan (whom I work with) and Layzards handily avoided to notice the way I recorded this mess in the official IC Markets thread at the commercial forum: https://www.nigeriaforextrading.com/...n/89-walk.html I got connected with among IC Markest live repetitions yesterday asking whether they were reconciling the CHF trades and I got a very informative Yes we are. Followed by the usual Do you require anything else? . It looks increasingly as if directions were given to silence the issue. I know for true this reconciling and account refunding could have been done days ago as did several brokers such as Axitrader and FX Primus. In the meantime, we are left without a way to handle the risk on our rankings and tens of thousands of dollars in undue losses.

I don't know yet if I must play a different ball game together but, given the cash at stake, I may need to if they don't straighten the managing of the madness by the end of the week.

We must record this mess somewhere. So let it be here and on the official thread. I won't go, they can trust me.

I am in the exact same boat. Forgot to put a halt and has been completly wiped out on prices which didn't exist.