Hours
The dealing desk is continually open between Sunday 5 p.m. New York time and Friday 4 p.m. New York time.
Mode of Trading
Quotations, Order Placement and Confirmation available over the telephone or via the Internet.
Order Sizes
On the Capital Trader trading platform all trades are executed in standard sizes of 100,000 base currency per one lot. There is no maximum trading volume on the Capital Trader Trading Station, however, for trading sizes larger than $10 million, traders must request a quote over the telephone.
Margin
Capital Trader enables currency trading to be conducted on a highly leveraged basis. You are able to select the degree of leverage or gearing that the client wishes to employ in trading. Unless you specify otherwise, Capital Trader sets your leverage level at Capital Trader's most lenient requirement. The requirements for leverage vary with account size.
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Accounts Under $50,000: minimum $1,000 in equity per open lot (1%) |
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Accounts $50,000 - $200,000: minimum $2,000 equity per open lot (2%) |
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Accounts $200,000 - $500,000: minimum $3,000 equity per open lot (3%) |
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Accounts Over $500,000: minimum $5,000 equity per open lot (5%) |
Equity is the value of funds in the account adjusted for floating profit/loss on open positions. One lot has an approximate market value of $100,000. A requirement of $1,000 in equity per open lot is, therefore, approximately equal to a maximum leverage or gearing of 100:1.
Dealers constantly monitor the leverage levels of all accounts. Although Capital Trader makes no guarantees, the dealing desk may attempt to contact clients whose accounts are near the minimum equity requirement for their open positions. Clients are fully responsible for monitoring the activity in their accounts.
In the event that an account exceeds its maximum allowable leverage, the dealer has the right to liquidate all positions in the account, without notice.
Rollover/Interest Policy
In the spot forex market, trades must be settled in two business days. If a trader sells 100,000 euros on Tuesday, the trader must deliver 100,000 euros on Thursday, unless the position is rolled over. As a service to our traders, Capital Trader automatically rolls over all open positions to the next settlement date at 5 p.m. ET. Rollover involves exchanging the position being held for a position expiring the following settlement date. The positions being exchanged are usually not valued at the same price. The amount of the difference varies greatly based on the currency pair, the interest rate differential between the two currencies, and fluctuates day to day with the movement of prices. For instance, on any given day, the rollover can be $2 per lot for USD/JPY and $15 per lot for GBP/JPY.
At 5 p.m. ET, funds are subtracted or added to accounts with open positions because of the automatic rollover. For accounts that have a margin requirement of 2% or more, funds are added to the account for positions in which the client is long (holding) the currency bearing the higher interest rate. Funds are deducted in the opposite circumstance. For accounts that do not have a 2% margin requirement, the rollover amount is deducted from the account for each position, regardless of the account's holdings. This 2% margin requirement is the most generous policy available to traders in the forex industry, as many firms require 3-5% minimum margin before traders can benefit from rollover.
Note: On Wednesdays, the amount added or subtracted to an account as a result of rolling over a position tends to be around three times the usual amount. This "3-Day" rollover accounts for settlement of trades through the weekend period. |
Forex
