cate

Is there a central thread that IG is using for bug reporting now we have to use the new system? I really hate the design and for me it's so much worse than the old trading platform, but there are also actual bugs that need fixing. It would be good to have an official channel to report them when users find them.

Thanks very much, @KoketsoIG. That's much better than I thought it might be. Best wishes, Cate

Hi @neueneuen, I'm so grateful for you commenting on this thread! And for the advice on where to find a record of what the margin percentage used to be. So looking at my statement of the 20th March, I held a position in EUR/TRY and the notional value (in TRY) was 344,731.70 and the deposit required was 26,558.20 which means the margin was 7.5% of the notional, which explains why the margin requirement has now doubled. @KoketsoIG could you investigate this? There was no warning from IG that there was going to be a change to the margin requirement, and so I'm still worried about what would have happened to open positions when that change came in. Normally, when we're notified in advance that there's going to be a change, the requirement on open positions increases which is fine if we know that's coming and can make sure we have enough margin available. Thanks again, @neueneuen! Cate

Hi @KoketsoIG, Now I'm really puzzled! If the margin rate hasn't changed the only other reason for the margin required to have doubled would be if the old deal tickets used to be for a 0.5 contract. But I've just checked my transaction history, and the last position I closed in the EUR/TRY (a week ago) shows as -1, so a full mini contract. But the margin requirement was quite definitely six hundred and something pounds, half what the deal tickets are showing now. I've also just investigated the TRY/JPY where I currently have three positions open. It shows as requiring a 15% margin too, like EUR/TRY, and when I open a deal ticket I discover that again the margin required is about double what it was when I opened the positions a couple of weeks ago. Because the notional is TRY10,000 for these contracts, each one is tiny, so I wouldn't have noticed a big change in my capital "available to deal" if the margin on each one had doubled, so unless there's some way of seeing how much margin each position is currently using I can't check whether that has doubled from when I opened them. (Is there some way of doing that?) But the margin required on the deal tickets has definitely changed in exactly the same way as the EUR/TRY . If the margin rate hasn't changed in the last week, can you explain what's happened? The only other possible explanation is that previously the system was calculating the 15% margin incorrectly and now someone has noticed and corrected the code, but that seems unlikely. Can the tech team see into my past trades and be able to work out what happened? The reference for my last EUR/TRY trade was PP4VTGAY if that helps them to identify it. I understand that the TRY is an "exotic" currency, and I'm not questioning why the rate should be set at 15%, I'm just worried about what the sudden change means about an instability in the system, and a hidden risk that I'm not aware of. Thanks, Cate

Hi @TheGuru12, Thanks for your comment. I think of EUR/MXN as fairly exotic too, and that's had a constant margin requirement for as long as I've traded it (a couple of years). Up to a few days ago they both had about the same requirement, which was already higher than more mainstream pairs like EUR/USD, and then suddenly without warning EUR/TRY jumped. Generally low liquidity just results in the spread blowing out - EUR/TRY jumps from about 120 pip spread to 700 or 800 in the approach to 10pm roll, but that's not unexpected. If it's true that some currencies are liable to go from about 5% to 15% without warning it's a bit alarming, and it would be good to hear from IG which currencies that might apply to. What I'm worried about is what happens to open positions and to orders when the margin changes? Cate

It doesn't seem to have recognised @KoketsoIG as a valid username. So I'm trying it again and also tagging @JamesIG. Strange, this time it seems happy with the name. Thanks, Cate

Hi @WarickLewis, Maybe we should try tagging someone at IG like @KoketsoIG . Fingers crossed we get an answer! Cate

Hi, Last time I traded EUR/TRY about a week ago, the margin required for one mini contract was about £660 but tonight I see it is £1.286. The contract size hasn't changed, so I'm assuming it must be the margin rate that has gone up. It's 15% now, but unfortunately I didn't notice what it used to be - I'm assuming it must have been about half that. Can I just check what would have happened if I'd left a limit order to trade EUR/TRY? I'm worried that I might have opened the order thinking I only needed £660 margin, and then suddenly it would have taken the new higher amount and I might not have had enough free margin in my account and ended up with a margin call. Is that what would have happened, or would the system have automatically cancelled my order when the margin requirement changed? Thanks very much, Cate

Thanks very much, @KoketsoIG. I hadn't discovered the drop down menus - it all makes much more sense now! It's odd about the E1 contracts - it must be a new change, because I'm in the UK and I currently hold some of the E1 positions that I opened a few weeks ago. Anyway, at least now I understand what's going on. I'll try not to bother you with too many questions as I get used to the new platform! Best wishes, Cate

Hi, I've been holding onto the old platform as long as I could, because I really don't like the new one, but now it's being decommissioned I'm trying to use the new one finally. ☹️ On the old platform I had a choice of WTI either as a 1 euro or a £1 contract, and the same for Gold. But when I search on the new platform all I get is the £1 contract as well as an absolute ton of ETFs. It doesn't even say it's the £1 version, it just calls itself "spot gold" which is a bit confusing because it looks as though you might be buying a full lot, not just a mini contract. Can anyone tell me how to find the 1 euro contracts, or are they just not available on the new platform? Many thanks, Cate

Thanks very much @KoketsoIG. Hope you have a good day too!

@AshishIG Thank you!

Thanks, @KoketsoIG!

Hi @MongiIG or anyone else at IG, Could I check what is going on in the worked example of how the TomNextrate is defined?https://www.ig.com/uk/glossary-trading-terms/tom-next-definitionThe worked example on the IG site says "To roll your position, you wouldbe selling at 1.1378 and then buying back at 1.1380 – effectively paying 2points"However from that it then says "that the tomnext rate is 0.5/2.5".Should this not be "0.0/2.0" in this worked example?This would be consistent with the worked example shown here, for example:https://www.babypips.com/forexpedia/tom-next Just trying to get my head round this stuff so I can run my backtest! Thanks very much, Cate

Thanks @AshishIG Two questions: 1. Is there anywhere IG announce that they're planning to make these changes? It would be nice to know in advance when a big change like this is coming. I had a strategy that depended on being able to trade lots of small VIX positions, so that I can keep averaging my position as spot moves. It's not a big deal this time, but I'm worried if I'm expecting to use an instrument to hedge and suddenly without warning it might become much more expensive to trade. 2. Is there any risk that IG will close out the positions I currently hold based on the old position sizes? Or does the new size limit only apply to new positions that get opened? Thanks, Cate

Hi @MongIG or anyone else at IG, I'm backtesting some FX strategies. Is there anywhere I can find historic Tomnext rates so I can get an accurate picture of how my strategies would have performed including the carry costs? Many thanks, Cate

I realise I should probably have tagged someone from IG when I asked this question. Maybe @MongiIG? Thanks! Cate

Hi, Until yesterday, the minimum size for trading the VIX via either the Volatility Index £1 or Volatility Index 1 euro was one contract. But this morning I found the minimum size was 100 contracts. Is this a permanent change? And is there anywhere we can see in advance when these changes are being planned? Thanks, Cate

Thanks @OfentseIG. I didn't want to bother you with all that. I'm not worried about what happened, just wondering if tonight was going to be the 5x since it wasn't last night. But probably safest to close things down now before Easter anyway because things can be a bit unpredictable, so I've closed out my EUR/MXN positions. Thanks again, Cate

Hi @OfentseIG, Would you be able to check what is happening with EUR/MXN this week? Last night they applied only a single day of FX funding, and the night before none. I'm wondering which night the 5x rate will apply. I lifted all my other negative carry positions before 10 last night because I didn't want to be hit by the 5x charges so I don't know whether it was just EUR/MXN that was different or whether none of them did what you expected. I don't want to put everything back today and get hit with 5x interest tonight. Thanks, Cate

Thanks, @OfentseIG that's very helpful. Still wondering why there was no FX interest applied to EUR/MXN last night though. Do you know?

Hi @MongiIG or any one else at IG, Just a quick question. There was no overnight FX interest applied to my EUR/MXN last night, and I also noticed on gold it was for 5 days. I presume this week is a bit different because of Easter. Do you know if tonight is the usual Wednesday night 3X, and particularly what happens to the EUR/MXN this week? Normally I try to avoid having any positions open that have big negative carry on a Wednesday night but wondering when that will hit this week. Many thanks! Cate

Thanks so much, @AndaIGThat's really helpful! Best wishes, Cate

Sorry! Just realised I had a typo in @MongiIG

Hi @MongIG, or anyone else who knows! There was a tiny dividend adjustment on my FTSE position yesterday, a day earlier than usual. Is that it for this week or will there be the normal adjustment this afternoon as well? I also had 4x funding costs on my EUR/MXN short overnight which I would have expected a day later as well. It's not that either of these is a problem, I'm just wondering what it means about the rest of the week. It's the sort of thing I'd expect with a bank holiday but there hasn't been one. Thanks very much, Cate