FOREX RELATED QUESTIONS:
ACM RELATED QUESTIONS:
ACCOUNT RELATED QUESTIONS:
TECHNICAL QUESTIONS:
FOREX RELATED QUESTIONS:
Q: What is margin?
A: In financial trading, the word margin is used to describe a deposit used as collateral for taking positions in the market. Trading with margin allows traders to basically open positions on credit – increasing the client's buying power. ACM allows clients to use 100:1 leverage, thus requiring a 1% margin requirement (for tickets up to $30M) See Spreads and Conditions for more details.
The amount of leverage refers to the maximum a client may buy on "credit" and the minimum he must maintain as collateral. Dividing 1 by 100, the minimum margin requirement is found to be 1% [converted to a percentage]. If a client were allotted 50:1 or 25:1 leverage, the maintenance margin levels would be 2% and 4% respectively.
Q: What is margin level?
A: Margin level is a reflection of one's available margin determined by the ratio of one's total exposure, open profit or loss and equity on a trading account. If a client were trading with 100:1 leverage, he/she must maintain a margin level above 1%. Should this level fall below the 1% threshold, all open positions and orders will be closed automatically.
The reason for this automatic closure is that the client has exceeded his available leverage and no longer satisfies the margin requirement. Under this system, the client's account will never overdraw (incur a negative balance) even under volatile, fast-changing market conditions. In the event a force majeure and a negative balance, the client's account would be zeroed out, so a client will never owe the market money.
To calculate margin:
Account Balance +/- Open Profit/Loss x 100 = Margin Level
Absolute Positions in USD
Example:
Trader X is long 6 standard lots of USDCHF. His account balance is $20,000 with an open loss of $1000.
20,000 USD - 1000 USD x 100 = 3.17% Margin Level
600,000 USD
Q: What is scalping?
A: Scalping is a trading system that attempts to quickly enter/exit the market, catching small, profitable price movements. A scalping strategy can range from a few trades a day to thousands. ACM allows clients to trade as they wish – there is no dealing desk intervention.
Q: What time does Forex trading open and close?
A: The Forex trading opens on Sunday at 23.00 and CET closes on Friday at 23.00 CET.
Q: How does ACM handle overnight positions?
A: Positions held overnight are automatically rolled to the next trading day. The cost of carry for holding a position overnight can either be a credit or debit to the client's account, depending on the assets and orientations of their positions. ACM's overnight rates are derived from interbank swap rates. For more information, please see Overnight Positions.
Q: What happens if, during the overnight/weekend period, there is a price gap, will a pending order still be executed at the specified price?
A: ACM will execute your order at the best price available. In the event of a market gap, the order will be triggered with the market open and executed as close to the specific price as possible.
Q: Are there any situations when the spread will increase?
A: As ACM does not make the market on currency pairs, our clients cannot have fixed spreads. Spreads may increase in times of extreme market volatility or lack of liquidity. However, ACM connects to more liquidity providers in North America and Europe than any other STP broker. This added liquidity keeps advertised spreads fairly consistent and diminishes the risk of spread widening.
Q: What are conditions surrounding Gold and Silver Trading?
A: ACM offers spot Gold and Silver trading against the US dollar. The pairs are represented on the trading platform similar to currency pairs: Gold – XAU/USD Silver – XAG/USD. Spot Gold/Silver trading is available to ACM clients during liquid hours, from 0730 - 2230 CET, Monday-Friday. The standard dealing amounts are 100 ounces for Gold and 5000 ounces for Silver. On Mini Accounts, the minimum trade sizes are 40 and 2000 ounces respectively.
Q: What are the minimum dealing amounts for ACM accounts?
A: To trade FX, standard accounts must trade in lots of 100k - Mini accounts may trade in lots of 10k.
Q: On the internet, I keep seeing references to DD and NDD. What do these terms refer to?
A: DD stands for Dealing Desk and NDD for No Dealing Desk. A Dealing Desk firm is also known as a market maker, sometimes abbreviated MM.
Q: What is a Market Maker?
A: A Market Maker is a dealer who provides prices directly to clients and is prepared to buy or sell at these rates. Often times, firms that make markets for their clients may provide very tight spreads or no spreads at all. The negative connotation with these firms is that the company serves as the other side of their client's trades, thus giving the firm a vested interest in client's profits or losses.
Q: Is ACM a market maker?
A: No. ACM maintains a dealing desk for live client use, but uses STP technology to route trades from the market, to the client and vice versa. ACM's dealing desk is an added support feature for clients unable to access their accounts for any reason. For questions related to trade execution, rates or market happenings – live clients may call the dealing desk for instant service. ACM is compensated through the bid/ask spread.
Q: Is ACM an ECN (Electronic Communication Network) broker?
A: No. ACM digitally clears our client's trades with liquidity providers. An ECN broker electronically matches client's trades with other clients taking opposite positions. Similar to an ECN, ACM's revenue is generated from the spread; however with ACM, major institutions act as the counterparty and not other clients. Our business model provides more liquidity than the ECN model, giving the client better execution conditions in trending markets.
ACM RELATED QUESTIONS:
Q: What regulatory body is ACM supervised by?
A: ACM's global operations are supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority – FINMA. ACM's Middle East offices are further regulated by Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority. ACM's offices are audited by Ernst & Young.
Q: Where does market news come from?
A: ACM's market news is provided by Dow Jones News Wires and Bloomberg International. ACM also offers FX Insider to live clients. This feed is linked directly into the Advanced Trader platform and the information is provided by our Strategy Desk, led by Peter Rosenstreich.
ACCOUNT RELATED QUESTIONS:
Q: Do clients pay fees on a deposit when opening an account?
A: ACM does not charge fees for client deposits nor withdrawals. However, banks may charge wire transfer fees. It is important to ask your bank what their applicable fees will be when initiating a wire transfer.
Q: How does one withdraw their funds?
A: Clients may withdraw their funds by sending an email to the Back Office (bo@ac-markets.com). Each request must provide their full name, phone number, e-mail address and account number. Once the Back Office has received the request and all security checks are in order, the client will receive the money by standard wire transfer to his/her account. In accordance with Swiss Anti-Money Laundering practices, ACM will only send funds to a registered account under the client's name or business.
Q: Is there a minimum amount of trades a customer must do?
A: No. ACM charges no inactivity fees nor penalizes customers for their trading habits.
Q: What is the procedure for switching from one account type to another?
A: Clients may change their account type by sending an email to the Back Office (bo@ac-market.com). Upon request they must provide their full name, phone number, e-mail address, account number and the change they'd like to make.
Q: Is it possible to keep an account open with no funds?
A: The totality of a client's funds may be withdrawn without penalty. However, in this case the account will be flagged inactive. The account will remain open until the client decides to reinvest with ACM or close their account.
TECHNICAL QUESTIONS:
Q: How do I troubleshoot problems with the Advanced Trader platform?
A: The Advanced Trader platform is a Java-based program. If the platform is unusually slow or a problem occurs, often times this is because the client's Java Cache is overloaded; many programs/websites store information on a person's computer within their cache. To quickly resolve this issue, a person must simply clean out their Java cache.
Q: How do I empty my Java cache?
A: Windows: First, click on the start menu and open your Control Panel. Within the Control Panel, switch to "Classical View" and select the icon titled Java. Under the "General" tab, you will find a section titled "Temporary Internet Files". Click on the "Settings..." button.
The following "Temporary Files Settings" window will open, and then click on the "Delete Files..." button at the bottom of the window.
Another window called "Delete Temporary Files" will open, make sure both options are selected and click OK.
B: Mac: Open the Java Control Panel. In the "General" tab, you will find a section called "Temporary Internet Files". Click on the "Delete Files..." button.
A window called "Delete Temporary Files" will pop up, select all 3 options and click OK.
Q: Why is their sometimes a difference between prices on ACM’s charts and the prices provided in the Live Trading windows?
A: Unlike other brokers, ACM's charting data is provided by an independent 3rd party. The prices on the charts do not show all the highs and lows of the markets and can loosely be considered the average price that ACM is able to offer. The ACM graphs do not show the prevailing spread at a given time, while showing the highest Bid and lowest Offer.
Q: Is the Mobile Trader Platform compatible with the Blackberry and iPhone?
A: Yes. ACM’s mobile platform is compatible with all internet-enabled mobile devices. ACM does provide a separate platform specifically design for iPhone usage.