Closing Only

[Malcolmbell1]

I think if IG is a reputable company and wishes to exit small caps spread betting it ought to close to new bets but allow customers three months to exit their positions at their own speed. 
 

I personally use spread bets to avoid capital gains so would still be interested in trading these stocks even with 100% margin requirements. 

[Malcolmbell1]

@CharlotteIGi would be interested in your views. 

 

I think if IG is a reputable company and wishes to exit small caps spread betting it ought to close to new bets but allow customers three months to exit their positions at their own speed. 
 

I personally use spread bets to avoid capital gains so would still be interested in trading these stocks even with 100% margin requirements. 

[BFMan]

I agree with MalcolmBell1

there have been several occasions where I have been unable to open a position on an aim company. I have then resorted to buying via a broker. Defeats the purpose of having an account with IG if your only interest is in AIM. 

 

[StormChaser]

The real question here is not product availability, but changing margin requirements for already open positions. 

IG needs to respond on this ASAP.

On Twitter it looks like a disinformation campaign, not a genuine IG position.

[Malcolmbell1]

If IG is a genuinely responsible company which I believe it is then it must treat customers with open positions fairly - its one thing to cease allowing customers to open new positions but if a customer has a position in a stock open they must be allowed to exit when they want over 3-6 months. It would be responsible to increase margin rates only a certain amount (why not 50% so its half way / treating customers fairly?), give a month's notice and not to impose a deadline on having to exit the stock any less than 3 months away. It seems outrageous after this three month period not to then allow open positions at 100% margin. The FCA would surely be horrified at hundreds of customers being forced sellers of stocks with a few days notice.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Malcolmbell1

[StormChaser]

This is hypothetical unless/until IG actually confirm this is their intention.  At the moment they have not.  All of the commentary about 100% margin on Twitter, Hotcopper, etcetera is unverified.  Looks highly suspect.

[Caseynotes]

 

Reddit, Lime, Bird, Toast, Viber could be SPAC targets. Plus ...

 

*TOAST PLANS IPO VALUING RESTAURANT-SOFTWARE CO. AT ~$20B: DJ

'Isn't that more than the entire restaurant industry?'

(zerohedge @zerohedge)

[StormChaser]

Is there a point to posting OT posts on the thread?

[Caseynotes]

2 minutes ago, StormChaser said:

Is there a point to posting OT posts on the thread?

who are you asking and what are you saying?

[StormChaser]

@CaseyNotes:

I am asking you and I am saying that a post about men's Jean pockets has nothing got to do with the very serious question of IG setting positions to "closing only" nor the hypothesis being promulgated on social media that up to 1000 IG product offerings will be set to 100% margin on 26 February thus requiring clients to deposit money to fully fund positions or potentially suffer forced closure.

Now if you are trying to obfuscate the thread it would say something for itself.  We have had IG on the thread already and we do need IG coming back in the thread to clarify what their intention is.

[Caseynotes]

3 minutes ago, StormChaser said:

@CaseyNotes:

I am asking you and I am saying that a post about men's Jean pockets has nothing got to do with the very serious question of IG setting positions to "closing only" nor the hypothesis being promulgated on social media that up to 1000 IG product offerings will be set to 100% margin on 26 February thus requiring clients to deposit money to fully fund positions or potentially suffer forced closure.

Now if you are trying to obfuscate the thread it would say something for itself.  We have had IG on the thread already and we do need IG coming back in the thread to clarify what their intention is.

And the point I am making is that IG has always shied away from markets if they become high risk, that's what their traditional client base expects. 

I and most other IG clients expect IG to close the book on any particular market if and when risk endangers all clients.

I was glad everytime IG closed the book on Bitcoin during late 2017 and on many other markets since.

There are plenty of other brokers who exercise a higher risk business model. Use them.

 

.

[StormChaser]

It is NOT OKAY to close the book on open positions AND increase the margin with virtually NO NOTICE.  That is what is being discussed here.  Clients enter into a trade with certain expectations about their cash flow and to suddenly change that is unacceptable.  I have already said that.

I doubt you would be so glad if the book was closed on something that caused you to have to prematurely liquidate or raise cash to keep open.

I'd rather the Administrators respond to this rather than an IG forum fan boy.

[Joo]

I too was contacted about the 100% margin change and the force close of positions after 30 days. This is not a rumor but a fact. It's happening.

[Caseynotes]

8 hours ago, StormChaser said:

It is NOT OKAY to close the book on open positions AND increase the margin with virtually NO NOTICE.  That is what is being discussed here.  Clients enter into a trade with certain expectations about their cash flow and to suddenly change that is unacceptable.  I have already said that.

I doubt you would be so glad if the book was closed on something that caused you to have to prematurely liquidate or raise cash to keep open.

I'd rather the Administrators respond to this rather than an IG forum fan boy.

Actually the OP of this thread was about 'closing only' and SPACs, you must be meaning a different thread. IG have always used closing only when markets suddenly go one way and high risk and the margin requirement does change for the same reasons, they have only ever said they will try to give advanced notification.

Are you sure you're not in the wrong shop? Maybe you should try Robinhood, oh wait, they're nearly bust aren't they.

[Joo]

6 minutes ago, Caseynotes said:

Actually the OP of this thread was about 'closing only' and SPACs, you must be meaning a different thread. IG have always used closing only when markets suddenly go one way and high risk and the margin requirement does change for the same reasons, they have only ever said they will try to give advanced notification.

Are you sure you're not in the wrong shop? Maybe you should try Robinhood, oh wait, they're nearly bust aren't they.

IG will force close all those positions after 30 days, it's not just a margin requirement thing, they will not allow us to keep our positions even if we have the margin. Doesn't make any sense at all.

[Caseynotes]

What fun when a broker goes bust, remember IronFX and the Chinese traders who charted a plane to take them to protest outside the regulators office for weeks on end? Didn't do them any good though.

What about that slow mo car crash that was FXCM, wiped out in the SNP peg move, had to borrow massive to try to keep going til SEC finally shut them down as the were just running on fumes.

Took years to sort out clients money, some got some back some got nothing, tough.

One of the big changes introduced by ESMA in 2018 was the introduction of negative account protection, that shifted a lot of risk onto the broker and there was always going to be a price for that.

Personally I have always avoided the higher risk markets, remember late 2017 when everyone was piling into crypto? Go long, couldn't lose - except most did because the intraday swings were so violent poor peeps were continually getting stopped out on the bounce. I was reminded of that when looking at the intraday GameStop chart, on the daily it looked like a one way ride but intrady price was swing 150% up AND down. Hard to control risk on that sort of market.

Most of IG's current clients would leave IG if they were ever seen to be a high risk broker.

 

.

[Malcolmbell1]

I am a premium client and was not contacted. I am very angry about this and the false market that was created - i phoned last week to ask why my stocks were close only but was told completely incorrect information. These are equities  - i absolutely do not get forced closure under the spread bet wrapper with a few days notice and differential disclosure to different clients, fair enough increasing margins. There is no doubt Ig moved these markets in the last few days as a result. A reputable company would have allowed customers 6 months to close. Maintaining dealing account dealing in these stocks suggests they should have maintained spread betting for the tax benefits at 100% margin.

[CharlotteIG]

20 hours ago, StormChaser said:

Charlotte: There's commentary doing the rounds on Twitter that IG is going to raise the margin on a whole range of stock SBs to 100%?  Is this true?  I have received no notice to this effect.

Here is the information you need regarding the stocks we've set to closings only on leverage: 

We constantly review the products we offer in line with client demand. We have reviewed associated returns across our 12,000 leveraged share markets and decided to withdraw around 900 small-cap shares for spread betting and CFD accounts. These markets will continue to be available for share dealing – find out how to open a share dealing account below.

The list of affected shares that will be withdrawn from spread betting and CFD accounts are listed in this PDF. Please read on for details about the process, but in summary:

1.We are increasing margins so that all positions on these shares will have a margin requirement of 100% at 3pm on Friday 26 February

2.Please close positions by Monday 29 March 2021, from which point we will start to close any remaining open positions

3.You will still be able to buy the majority of shares outright using our share dealing service

What happens next?

For a small subset of the affected markets (listed as ‘set 1’ in the PDF), margin requirements are already at 100%. For the remaining markets (listed as ‘set 2’ in the PDF), margin requirements will increase to 100% from 3pm (UK time) on Friday 26 February.

You have until Monday 29 March 2021 to close your open positions on affected markets, from which point we will start to close any positions still open. Positions will be closed as soon as practical from this point, while ensuring that all reasonable steps are taken to obtain the best results for our clients. This action is taken in accordance with Term 28(3) of the latest version of the applicable customer agreement governing your account(s) with IG.

We encourage you to review your exposure and consider how best to manage your position(s). Should you wish to maintain your existing position(s) with IG in the short term, please ensure that you have enough money on your account(s) to cover the new margin requirements.

We understand that you may need time to decide what to do, or to seek alternative exposure. Nonetheless, we urge you to close your position(s) before Monday 29 March to ensure that you have discretion over the closure.

Can I invest in these markets via share dealing?

Yes, most of them will remain available via share dealing. While you won’t be able to transfer existing leveraged position(s) from a spread betting or CFD account to an IG share dealing account, you can use an IG share dealing account to buy the majority of affected shares outright.

To add a share dealing account if you don’t already have one, log in to My IG and click ‘add account’, then ‘share dealing’ – or simply click the button below.

[StormChaser]

4 minutes ago, CharlotteIG said:

Here is the information you need regarding the stocks we've set to closings only on leverage: 

We constantly review the products we offer in line with client demand. We have reviewed associated returns across our 12,000 leveraged share markets and decided to withdraw around 900 small-cap shares for spread betting and CFD accounts. These markets will continue to be available for share dealing – find out how to open a share dealing account below.

The list of affected shares that will be withdrawn from spread betting and CFD accounts are listed in this PDF. Please read on for details about the process, but in summary:

1.We are increasing margins so that all positions on these shares will have a margin requirement of 100% at 3pm on Friday 26 February

2.Please close positions by Monday 29 March 2021, from which point we will start to close any remaining open positions

3.You will still be able to buy the majority of shares outright using our share dealing service

What happens next?

For a small subset of the affected markets (listed as ‘set 1’ in the PDF), margin requirements are already at 100%. For the remaining markets (listed as ‘set 2’ in the PDF), margin requirements will increase to 100% from 3pm (UK time) on Friday 26 February.

You have until Monday 29 March 2021 to close your open positions on affected markets, from which point we will start to close any positions still open. Positions will be closed as soon as practical from this point, while ensuring that all reasonable steps are taken to obtain the best results for our clients. This action is taken in accordance with Term 28(3) of the latest version of the applicable customer agreement governing your account(s) with IG.

We encourage you to review your exposure and consider how best to manage your position(s). Should you wish to maintain your existing position(s) with IG in the short term, please ensure that you have enough money on your account(s) to cover the new margin requirements.

We understand that you may need time to decide what to do, or to seek alternative exposure. Nonetheless, we urge you to close your position(s) before Monday 29 March to ensure that you have discretion over the closure.

Can I invest in these markets via share dealing?

Yes, most of them will remain available via share dealing. While you won’t be able to transfer existing leveraged position(s) from a spread betting or CFD account to an IG share dealing account, you can use an IG share dealing account to buy the majority of affected shares outright.

To add a share dealing account if you don’t already have one, log in to My IG and click ‘add account’, then ‘share dealing’ – or simply click the button below.

So in reality what will happen is that IG will catch your clients out because many will not have the funds available to meet the 100% margin required by 26th February.

They will then go on margin call and be forced to close on Friday or Monday rather than having until March 29th.  This is likely to force some clients to have to liquidate and accept losses on positions which might have pending newsflow which would make them come good.

Whether or not this is within IGs terms or not, it is going to make IG look very bad.  If there are 900 stocks there are likely to be many hundreds, if not thousands, of affected clients.

It would be difficult to justify maintaining a relationship with IG following this action.

[Joo]

As I already said to my account manager, if I'm forced out of any positions I'm leaving. It doesn't matter if the decision comes from the CEO or not, this is my personal choice. I want to be doing business with a company that has my interests at heart too, not just theirs. To ask me to close out my positions while I still have the money in my account doesn't make any sense at all. If IG doesn't have the money to hedge just issue senior notes or a common offering to raise funds. It's very easy to come up with funds. At least leave us the choice to transform the CFD to a common stock, this choice is not available to me. Why ? You should give us more time than just 30 days, at least 6 months to close our positions. 30 days will force many of us to close trades at very unfavorable prices, booking losses. 

[CharlotteIG]

1 hour ago, StormChaser said:

So in reality what will happen is that IG will catch your clients out because many will not have the funds available to meet the 100% margin required by 26th February.

They will then go on margin call and be forced to close on Friday or Monday rather than having until March 29th.  This is likely to force some clients to have to liquidate and accept losses on positions which might have pending newsflow which would make them come good.

Whether or not this is within IGs terms or not, it is going to make IG look very bad.  If there are 900 stocks there are likely to be many hundreds, if not thousands, of affected clients.

It would be difficult to justify maintaining a relationship with IG following this action.

 

47 minutes ago, Joo said:

As I already said to my account manager, if I'm forced out of any positions I'm leaving. It doesn't matter if the decision comes from the CEO or not, this is my personal choice. I want to be doing business with a company that has my interests at heart too, not just theirs. To ask me to close out my positions while I still have the money in my account doesn't make any sense at all. If IG doesn't have the money to hedge just issue senior notes or a common offering to raise funds. It's very easy to come up with funds. At least leave us the choice to transform the CFD to a common stock, this choice is not available to me. Why ? You should give us more time than just 30 days, at least 6 months to close our positions. 30 days will force many of us to close trades at very unfavorable prices, booking losses. 

I'm going to pass all feedback onto our senior team regarding these changes.

Apologies again for the inconvenience but know these comments are getting pushed to senior teams so thank you for posting them. 

All the best. 

[Malcolmbell1]

Nobody answers the phones, I have no idea who my client manager is any more. This is very messy and enough to make me take my business elsewhere also.

[Guest Magnolia]

Why would anyone want to open a position in a market that is still available if IG might decide to terminate that market with no notice in the future? It isn't just small caps that are affected, Hikma is a FTSE100 company - why is that on the list?  and there are several FTSE250s that I've spotted e.g. Hiscox, Hochschild

[Mazz99]

I've just heard the rumour about this. To not yet give notice and expect 100% margin by Friday is not on!

I would be non the wiser had I not stumbled across it.

Please do rethink the timescales to cover.

[Fingersxxd]

IG sent an email out this morning. I'm guessing to those affected. The link to the affected assets is: https://www.ig.com/content/dam/publicsites/igcom/uk/210219_IGM_UK_Affected Markets - Non TT.pdf

[Fingersxxd]

I've already had to close a number of positions which were significantly up today, but which I expected more to come - mainly commodity related ETF's. This has hurt my trust in IG and the damage is already done as far as I'm concerned as i've now been forced to make a decision in preparation for Friday.

[Guest Bye]

PS: By my count, it's closer to 1000 than 900. 

[Neill1]

Good evening everyone.

Are  the SA40 Cash and Future contracts affected by this ?

[StormChaser]

1 minute ago, Neill1 said:

Good evening everyone.

Are  the SA40 Cash and Future contracts affected by this ?

There's a link to the affected assets two posts back.

[Neill1]

1 minute ago, StormChaser said:

There's a link to the affected assets two posts back.

I don't see these 2 contracts there but I don't know if they have tickers that I might not recognise.