The French presidential election is getting closer and more brokers are announcing measures to curb risks for clients and for themselves. The geopolitical risks have been increasing in recent weeks and the French presidential election is the next uncertainty factor to get in focus by traders and brokers alike.
Admiral Markets is the next big broker to highlight the risks around the French election and take measures. The company announced to its clients that it will reduce the maximum leverage for all accounts to 1:50, which corresponds to 2 percent margin.
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“It could be reasonably suggested that the National Front's leader, Marine Le Pen, may have a certain percentage of silent supporters backing her political programme. Because of this support, she may eventually go on to win the election. Such an outcome may shake the financial markets on a wide scale,” Admiral Markets highlighted in its note to clients.
Last week, Danish brokerage Saxo Bank announced that the company is preparing to hike margin requirements around the French election, depending on the risks surrounding the event.
Admiral Markets Margin Changes to Apply from Friday
The changes in margin requirements at Admiral Markets are going to take effect on Friday, the 21st of April 2017 at 22:00 GMT and will last until 10:00 GMT on the 24th of April 2017.
The likelihood for a runoff election in May adds another set of important dates on the calendar of clients of the brokerage - Friday, the 5th of May 2017 and Monday, the 8th of May 2017. The changes in trading conditions will remain the same and will take effect on the same hours as in the first round of the French presidential election.
Different accounts will be affected in different ways with clients who are holding bigger positions being impacted more substantially. The changes affect Admiral.markets, Admiral.prime, Admiral.mt5 and Admiral.classic accounts with leverage on different levels being reduced by a factor of 10.
Alpari Could Take Various Measures
Alpari sent out a note to clients, informing them that a variety of changes may be introduced by the brokerage around Volatility in the aftermath of the first round of the French presidential election. The timeframe which the broker is highlighting for now is between the 21st and the 25th of April 2017.
The company is informing its clients that aside from changes to margin requirements on all instruments it could also increase limit and stop levels, spreads and and some assets may be switched to "close-only" mode.
The company will also suspend some timeframes for binary options trading. Additional information will be supplied by Alpari later during the week.
Dukascopy
Dukascopy has announced that the company will retain its weekend margin policy into the market opening hours on Monday, the 25th of April. The company provides 1:30 for clients that have selected a default level of 1:100 and 1:60 for clients that are using 1:200.
The Swiss brokerage will restore margin conditions once the volatility from the initial reaction of the market is reigned in and market conditions go back to normal. The measures extend to Forex , commodities and indices.
FxPro
FxPro will change trading conditions for clients that are willing to open new positions on European Indices, including both spot and futures. The collateral required to open and maintain positions will be increased to 4 percent, or 1:25. The changes are taking effect starting from the market close on Friday.
The company is also urging clients to take into account that increased spreads may be observed around the market open on Monday and extreme volatility and/or illiquidity can lead to enabling of "close only" functionality.
Existing positions won't be affected by the change in margin requirements.
OctaFX
OctaFX has announced to clients that it will increase margin requirements on several instruments. Leverage on currency pairs will be limited to 1:200, metals to 1:50 and indices to 1:10.
The company is also sharing that depending on market volatility it might could take more measures.
