XTrade powerful and innovative trading platform offers you competitive spreads and margins on our extensive range of CFD instruments. The Client acknowledges and understands that the Company will not provide the Client with any advice relating to CFDs, the underlying assets for CFDs and (if applicable) the exchanges where the underlying assets are traded, or make investment recommendations including occasions where the Client shall request such advice and/or recommendation. The Client shall take any and all investment decisions alone.
Maximum Possible Loss
By definition CFDs (Contracts for Difference) do not confer any rights (or obligations) upon the underlying asset. The Company shall deliver to (or where appropriate subtract from) the Client’s trading account the monetary value of a concluded CFD contract. This monetary value shall be the difference between the opening and closing price of a CFD position (opened and closed at the initiative of the Client) less any incurred premium charges. This net result may be either negative (loss) or positive (profit). The maximum possible loss for any Client is not only the margin used to open a CFD position but may extend to part or the entirety of the Client’s deposited amount in his/her trading account.
When the Client’s losses extend to the entirety of his deposited amount, all open positions will be liquidated and his available balance will be equal to 0. In case where the Client’s balance extends to below 0 (i.e. negative balance) the Company shall revert said balance to 0 (negative balance protection), pursuant to regulatory requirements. Refer to the numerical example below.
Volatility
The price of a CFD is derived from the price of the underlying asset (including shares, indices commodities and ETFs; please refer to our CFDs listsection for details) which can be highly volatile. The prices of financial instruments and the underlying asset may fluctuate rapidly and over wide ranges beyond the control of be the Client or the Company. Under certain market conditions it may be impossible for a client order to be executed at declared prices. The prices of financial instruments and the underlying assets will be influenced by, among other things, changing national and international political and economic events and the prevailing conditions of the relevant marketplace.
Off-exchange transactions in Derivative Financial Instruments
CFDs offered by the Company are off-exchange transactions (i.e. over-the-counter) while the online trading platform(s) the Company offers is not linked to a regulated market or a multilateral trading facility, such as authorised stock exchanges.
The trading conditions are set by the Company, subject to any obligations we have to provide best execution, to act reasonably and in accordance with our Client Agreement and with our Best Interest and Order Execution Policy. Each CFD and that the Client opens through our trading platform results in the entering of an order with the Company; such orders can only be closed with the Company and are not transferable to any other person.
Leverage
In order to place a CFD Order, the Client is required to fund and maintain a margin. Margin is usually a relatively modest sum proportional to the overall contract notional value in money terms. This means that the Client will be trading using "leverage". Therefore relatively small market movements can lead to a proportionately much larger movement in the value of the Client’s position, either in favour or against the Client.
If the market moves against the Client’s position and/or margin requirements are increased, the Client may be called upon to deposit additional funds on short notice to maintain his position. Failing to comply with a request for a deposit of additional funds, may result in closure of his position(s).
Clients should monitor their trading accounts and take appropriate actions, as leverage multiplies losses and/or profits. The Company does not monitor Clients’ accounts and cannot take any decisions with respect to open positions on the Clients’ behalf.
Example
Assume the Client has deposited in his trading account 2000 USD and the effective leverage applied is 1:100. Therefore the maximum possible notional value that the Client trade with is 200.000 USD (100 leverage X 2000 USD). Assume that the Client has opened a CFD position with a notional value of 100.000 USD (initial margin used for this position is 1000 USD) if the underlying market moves by 2.1% against the Client this will result in a reduction to the Client’s equity by 2100 USD and as a consequence the position will be closed automatically resulting in the Client losing the deposited amount. As the Client’s deposited amount was 2000 USD while the losses extend to 2100, the Client will lose his deposited money but will not be liable to repay the remaining 100 USD. Conversely a market movement of 2.1% in favour of the Client will result in an increase in equity of 2100 USD that will not be credited to the Client’s trading account until such times as the Client closes the position.
Please note that for simplicity purposes in the above example the effects of commissions (such as premium charges) were not considered. To learn more about the Company’s charges and or commissions please click here.
Risk Mitigation
The Company offers risk mitigation tools such as stop loss that can limit the amount the Client is going to lose. The Client is responsible to place a stop loss instruction on his own initiative. When a stop loss is placed following the opening of a position, such position will close automatically based on the limits chosen by the client.
Nevertheless the Client acknowledges and accepts that these risk mitigating tools are not guaranteed to properly operate always and especially when there are e.g. adverse market conditions. In addition, under certain market conditions the execution price of a Stop Loss Order may be worse than its price set by the Client and the realized losses can be larger than expected.
Nature and Characteristics of the product
Trading in CFDs is very speculative and highly risky and is not appropriate for all members of the general public but only for those investors who:
- understand, acknowledge and are willing to assume the economic, legal and other risks involved.
- taking into account their personal financial circumstances, financial resources, life style and obligations are financially able to assume the loss of their entire investment.
- have the knowledge and experience to understand CFDs trading.
The financial instruments the Company offers are CFDs in their totality, i.e. derivative financial instruments whose value is derived from an array of underlying assets (such as shares traded on exchange, currency pairs, commodity futures and ETFs).
CNMV has determined that CFD and Forex are difficult products to understand and are not suitable for retail investors due to its complexity and the high risk involved.
