Captain Jack » Fri Nov 06, 2015 3:54 pm wrote:I had an hour long conversation with Joe Carney, manager at Traders Way this afternoon. It was a good conversation and all of the issues discussed here, as well as some others, were addressed.
Some of the problems are caused by programming issues both on Traders Way website and internal problems associated with the Empty4, or Empty4 platform as we know it. I'll address the deposit delays first.
I have not funded accounts for some time now as I have not been trading. I chose to send some credit card deposits as well as some small bitcoin deposits in, to see how long they took to be credited to the account. CC deposits were instant, every time. I sent some small bitcoin deposits in and they were credited within 30 minutes or so. All good so far and I began trading on these deposited amounts. As I begin to push margin limits, additional deposits were sent, all via the bitcoin option. Again, a small one hit the account quickly. I encountered the delay with the larger deposit that I wanted in the account before the major news events yesterday. It never made it until far after all the fireworks and some of my orders had to be tossed to manage margin. No problem, its a cost of doing business as I do. I did not make larger deposits early as I did not want any gains pushing me past the limits for the higher margin amounts. Traders Way site says bitcoin deposits take from a few minutes to a few hours. In talking to Joe Carney, he informed me that the bitcoin process is automatic and incoming coins are sold, and proceeds are then deposited into client accounts. There is no human intervention that would or could cause delay. He also stated that we should EXPECT a bitcoin transaction to take 12 hours when choosing this method of deposit. This is one place on the site that could be fixed by simply adding that sentence, which will help traders plan deposits.
We then proceeded to the next issue which was the margin level being reduced, which affected all open orders in the account. You have seen my trades before, there were many. The website lists the margin schedules for the various accounts and the balance limits on the accounts for each level. My leverage was 500:1 for the account I was trading as the balance was below 10K at that time. According to the schedule, attached here, max leverage on account balances between 10,000 and 50,000 is capped at 200:1, below 10,000, they are capped at 500:1 My leverage was reduced on my account, which included all open orders, from 500:1 to 200:1 when one of my deposits pushed the account balance above 10,000. I noticed that, even though Empty4 was showing available margin, I could not place any trades, so I figured the account was limited due to the margin change. What I did not know was that the cut was automatically done by the system, and that the Empty4 platform does not update or display this change to the trader. You may even have to restart the platform to see this change. Later in the day is when Empty4 decided to show me that the margin had been adjusted and this is when it dropped below 100%. Margin had been cut much sooner. This is a problem with Empty4 and as for now, there is no solution. I spoke to Joe about the peril that had placed my account into. If you were trading well and your balance was near the schedule limit for margin cuts, and closed an order out for gain, you could end up cutting your margin level and not even know it. This would affect every open order as it did mine. I said that this is not mentioned anywhere on the site, that the cut was auto and applied to open orders placed when leverage was higher. Joe thought that is was posted in their terms, and I ask for a link to a notice saying this applied to all open orders. He just sent me an email with the following:
Regarding lowering of leverage, while it is not made explicit from what I can see, it is implied by the leverage schedule as it says that when the balance is between two levels, the maximum leverage ratio is as such. I will see where the description went and have this added as appropriate.
There is no notice that this applies to open orders or that it is instant when you cross a balance threshold, as listed in the margin schedules. From Joe's email, it appears they will add this so all clients are aware.
We then had a good talk about how this change can cause great harm to a traders account, simply by taking profit on your trades. Joe is going to work on changing the margin schedule so that the cut will still apply, but the drop in leverage will not be as severe. Reducing the amount of the leverage reduction and making it clear that this is done automatically to your account, including all open orders, should help reduce the possible damage done to an account that sees its balance increase past a margin schedule limit.
Some of the issues with customer service was discussed but these are minor and Traders Way will strive for continued improvement in this area.
After we introduced ourselves during the conversation, Joe Carney offered full compensation for any lost funds caused by these issues even before we began our discussion.
I told Joe that no compensation was required nor none ask for as the account is up nearly 50% this week. That was with the limits, margin cuts and thrown away orders.
Joe is now my account manager, and I will be adding funds to a higher level here after my conversations with him today. I can also advise anybody that has an account with Traders Way, to contact Joe Carney should you need assistance. He can be reached at the number listed on the website, at extension 142.
I take responsibility for my trading actions and I routinely push my margin to the max. It is my responsibility to make deposits to maintain that margin. This account was traded in accordance with their T/C but the implication that margin change is auto and affects open orders was not clear to me. Hopefully the changes will make it so it is clear to all.
-CJ-
