au_trader

Its because the clearing houses also have to front the collateral for our non-leveraged purchases until settlement, even if our broker has the money in our account, the clearing house has to cover the transaction with their own capital. They have no capital burden on a sale. Usually they only need to cover 2% of the trade, but that has been raised to 100% on these equities and thus the capital requirements to support these trades has increased massively. That said, this is now old news. This was imposed last week. There has been plenty of time to prepare for this and increase capital to cater to this new requirement. If this new requirement is too hard for the clearing houses to honor (which is apparently happening all across the world now) then trading in those equities should be halted as the only entities affected by these restrictions are retail investors while the institutional market makers can still freely trade being insulated from this liquidity crisis by virtue of the fact that they do their own clearing. No matter the technical issue - the way this scenario has been allowed to play out effectively takes an entire team off the field while the game is allowed to continue with the other side on field kicking the ball around however they see fit. Market. Manipulation.

@PhilPhilPhil No doubt this is a liquidity issue at its core. But if with all your knowledge and intellect you cant see how engineering unidirectional trade on an equity will cause significant downward pressure on its price that disproportionately damages retail and benefits wall street then im afraid the abuse you are spewing should really just be redirected to yourself. No matter the 'technical' justification, if those are truly the facts then trade should be halted on the stock until such time as the liquidity issue can be rectified. There should not be a restriction on only one side of the trade while wall street can freely BUY and SELL to cover their losses and in some cases load up even more short positions which is further stacking the game.... If the equity cannot even be purchased, then of course its value will decrease. The friction that would otherwise support the price action has been artificially eliminated. That is not a free market. That is clear market manipulation. Whether nefarious or not, to argue otherwise is absurd. If there is a systemic technical issue then trading on those equities should be halted. Not this one sided BS we are witnessing play out in plain sight. If you cannot see nor comprehend or acknowledge that, then there is no hope for you. You've been sipping the Kool-Aid too long.

I would like a detailed statement from IG outlining the reason for this action which prevents me from being able to participate in the free market. Is it because IG (or its clearing house) are not sufficiently capitalised to service their customer base? (an entirely predictable issue that could have been addressed over the weekend) OR Is there pressure from US market makers to help mitigate losses for those on the wrong side of these trades by actively distorting price action? It could be one or both, but I cannot conceive any other reasonable explanation. The exchange has not halted trading on these equities. A unilateral decision by IG to limit only purchases (not sales) is a direct interference with the normal friction of the markets price action. After witnessing the seemingly criminal actions of brokers in the US in recent days I am disgusted to see those same restrictions now imposed on international buyers through IG's platform without any meaningful justification. The increase on margin requirements is reasonable and understandable, but restricting the purchase of the equities with non-leveraged capital that customers have in their account defies logic. Forcing unidirectional trading on the stock will clearly depress its value which amounts to blatant market manipulation. What is the explanation from IG on the reasons and or mechanics behind this decision? 'Extreme volatility' and 'for our protection' are invalid and frankly, condescending excuses. If a sufficient explanation is not forthcoming OR this restriction is not lifted from my account prior to market open I will have no choice but to: -move my entire portfolio off this corrupt platform and cease all future business. -report this action to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. -encourage everyone within my network to do the same and spread the word on IG. -re-post this across all social media platforms. If this perverse action is not overturned or explained, I urge all my fellow investors here who believe in a free market to do the same. Take your money elsewhere and spread the word. For Australians, this is the link to the ASIC page where you can report actions you believe represent misconduct. https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/contact-us/how-to-complain/report-misconduct-to-asic/