Online FX broker XM today announced that it will implement temporary margin changes in an effort to protect clients from the financial market turbulence anticipated due to the United Kingdom’s EU referendum Brexit vote next week.
XM explained in an update to clients that from 23:00 (GMT+3) this Friday June 17th, it will increase margin requirements on all its currency pairs to 1% which will effectively reduce Leverage to 100:1, as well as on gold and silver. The company noted that all other instruments it offers will not be affected. In recent days, Finance Magnates has reported on a slew of FX brokers that have joined in the trend of hiking margins ahead of Brexit week.
Weekend purge
Interestingly, this measure will be waived prior to the market opening on Monday June 20th and required margin levels on all currency pairs including gold and silver will revert back to each client’s specific account setting, meaning that the changes could purge over-leveraged traders without enough free margin to meet the weekend requirements.
It appears that this approach may help the firm reduce its clients' exposure going into this weekend, as clients will need to tie up additional margins to meet the 1% requirement or face position closures, whereas next week traders can take a refreshed approach. XM did add that it may announce additional measures early next week with regard to the referendum day as June 23rd approaches.
XM noted that clients who wish to keep open positions in the affected instruments over the coming days should make sure that their accounts have adequate funds in order to avert potential margin calls and/or stop-outs in their trading which occurs when equity falls to or below the 20% margin level and trades are closed out one-by-one starting with the largest loss.
