Losses beyond what's in your account

I've read that with a Forex account you're dealing with a lot of leverage and that you can be liable for losses beyond the money that you have in the account. I remember someone saying though, with some Forex companies you'd just lose what's in your account, nothing beyond that.

I've just opened an account with FXCM for a few thousand dollars to experiment with some risky trading methods. Does anyone know if FXCM would hold me liable for losses beyond what's in my account? I don't mind if I lost everything in the account but I wouldn't want to be liable for more than that.
 
With Forex and Futures you can lose more than your initial investment. Under normal market conditions your broker will most likely take you out before you go negative but under chaotic market conditions, like the ones following 9/11, there may not be any buyers for you to sell your contracts to because the market keeps going limit down. I suspect something like that could happen in the Forex market as well.
 
FXCM Trading Agreement :
https://secure2.fxcorporate.com/FxtrServlet/?signal=show_trading_agreement

7. LIQUIDATION OF ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENT OF DEFICIT BALANCES.

In the event of (a) the death or judicial declaration of incompetence of Trader; (b) the filing of a petition in bankruptcy, or a petition for the appointment of a receiver, or the institution of any insolvency or similar proceeding by or against Trader; (c) the filing of an attachment against any of Trader’s accounts carried by FXCM, (d) insufficient margin, or FXCM’s determination that any collateral deposited to protect one or more accounts of Trader is inadequate, regardless of current market quotations, to secure the account; (e) Trader’s failure to provide FXCM any information requested pursuant to this agreement; or (f) any other circumstances or developments that FXCM deems appropriate for its protection, and in FXCM’s sole discretion, it may take one or more, or any portion of, the following actions:
(1) satisfy any obligation Trader may have to FXCM, either directly or by way of guaranty of suretyship, out of any of Trader’s funds or property in its custody or control; (2) sell any or purchase any or all Spot currency positions held or carried for Trader; and (3) cancel any or all outstanding orders, or any other commitments made on behalf of Trader. Any of the above actions may be taken without demand for margin or additional margin, without prior notice of sale or purchase or other notice to Trader, Trader’s personal representatives, heirs, executors, administrators, trustees, legatees or assigns and regardless of whether the ownership interest shall be solely Trader’s or held jointly with others. In liquidation of Trader’s long or short positions, FXCM may, in its sole discretion, offset in the same settlement or it may initiate new long or short positions in order to establish a spread or straddle which in FXCM’s sole judgment may be advisable to protect or reduce existing positions in Trader’s account. Any sales or purchases hereunder may be made according to FXCM’s judgment and at its discretion with any interbank or other exchange market where such business is then usually transacted or at a public auction or private sale, and FXCM may purchase the whole or any part thereof free from any right of redemption.

Trader shall at all times be liable for the payment of any deficit balance of Trader upon demand by FXCM and in all cases, Trader shall be liable for any deficiency remaining in Trader’s account(s) in the event of the liquidation thereof in whole or in part by FXCM or by Trader. In the event the proceeds realized pursuant to this authorization are insufficient for the payment of all liabilities of Trader due to FXCM, trader shall promptly pay upon demand, the deficit and all unpaid liabilities, together with interest thereon equal to three (3) percentage points above the then prevailing prime rate at FXCM’s principal bank or the maximum interest rate allowed by law, whichever is lower, and all costs of collection, including attorney’s fees, witness fees, travel expenses and the like. In the event FXCM incurs expenses other than for the collection of deficits, with respect to any of the account(s) of Trader, Trader agrees to pay such expenses.

Any questions?
 
Quote from skepticaltrader:

You'll get a margin call from FXCM and they'll automatically liqudate your position before you lose more than what's in your account.

An over the weekend gap could cause a greater loss than the account balance, stops or no stops.
 
I know they liquidated the seats of Duke and Duke at the end of Trading Places when they couldn't pay up at the end of the trading session.
 
Some dealers like Oanda explicitly state in their user agreement that you wont be liable for negative balances. There have been incidents where users did end up in the reds, and oanda reset their account to zero (there was a discussion on their forums about that).

In my opinion, if you trade that near at a margin call, that this is a realistic posibility, you are doing something wrong anyways.

Also, margin call procedures are often somewhat unpredictable. I have read quite a few forum posts where people thought of a margin call as some sort of 'built in stop loss', with unfavourable results.
 
Quote from Sam Mcgee:

I've read that with a Forex account you're dealing with a lot of leverage and that you can be liable for losses beyond the money that you have in the account. I remember someone saying though, with some Forex companies you'd just lose what's in your account, nothing beyond that.

I've just opened an account with FXCM for a few thousand dollars to experiment with some risky trading methods. Does anyone know if FXCM would hold me liable for losses beyond what's in my account? I don't mind if I lost everything in the account but I wouldn't want to be liable for more than that.

Dear Sir

1.Best of result ,which was observed was 855% from anonymous from Australia per month on capital 3000$
by FXMC King of the mini -approx 4000 competitors each month

He started with 150 k GBP/JPY

You can observe alsov

http://www.interbankfx.com/Contest/ContestResults.aspx

this contest have advantage against fxcm king og the mini ,that 250$ of start capital enough ,price money are better as by FXCM

2. Better make that on paper ...
for real price (margin capital on account)

http://www.fxsol.com/contest/test-drive/leader-board.html
without charge

http://www.mgforex.com/eng/forex-demo-account/content/forex-demo-contest-benefits.htm

45$ per month

www.marketzar.com without charge (with price 300$) or with charge 50$ (with price 1500$)

3. Best what was by testing by author with real quote paper game

700% per day 3 operations with margin 1:800 GBP/JPY
3100% with margin 1:200 GBP/JPY for 15 days .

But that was related to multiple attempts with loss 100%
 
Also, margin call procedures are often somewhat unpredictable. I have read quite a few forum posts where people thought of a margin call as some sort of 'built in stop loss', with unfavourable results.
################################

GFT forex offer initial margin 1:400 and liquidation margin
1:1600 from initial (25% in agreement) ,but all on solely discretion of the broker .

Demo work with liquidation margin 1:1600 ,but not planned to test real money account


Your respectfully ....

P.S. To GTS - thank you .Was before opinion that CFTC related instruments trading is not so secure from legal and technical point of view as SEC related instrument trading .

Share and options account have SIPC protection ,
future account not . Refco ,public noted future broker
dissapeared for 5 days .
 
Back
Top