Trading updates – 24 Feb 2022 edition

The situation in Ukraine – geopolitical development, sanctions, and markets

As you might be aware, there is a geopolitical conflict and war declaration accompanied by military intervention in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine. The situation development causes uncertainty in the markets, accompanied by increased volatility on many assets, along with the possibility of price spikes, whipsaws, flash crashes, spread widening and liquidity supply issues. Traders are advised to pay extra caution while trading during these times. Risk management and capital preservation should be the key focus of every trader, just as being aware and adaptive to the market conditions that might be unpredictable or risky.

Unfortunately, at this time, we are not allowed to process payments to the Russian Federation and regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea in Ukraine and our clients from there, as per the latest sanctions imposed in connection with the geopolitical developments in Ukraine. Payouts to our clients from/in the subject locations will be possible once the imposed sanctions are lifted. Crypto payouts are included in the restrictions.

Trading on RUB pairs (EUR/RUB and USD/RUB) will be suspended starting from Thursday, 24 February 2022 at 6:00 pm platform time (GMT+2 / CET +1) until further notice due to exposure risks and low liquidity at the present moment. The symbols will be set to Close-Only mode with immediate effect in order to allow traders to exit their current position. It will not be possible to open new positions. All open positions after 6:00 pm (GMT+2 / CET +1) will be automatically closed.

We have scheduled maintenance on our MetaTrader platforms MT4 and MT5, planned for Saturday, 26 February 2022 from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm platform time (GMT+2/CET+1). Trading will be halted during the above-specified timespans. Therefore, kindly manage your trades accordingly.

Please note that all assets with Swiss franc (CHF) will have the margin requirement amended as our Liquidity Providers anticipate risk in markets associated with a possible rate intervention by the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The leverage on CHF assets will be reduced to 1:33 for normal account types and 1:10 for Swing account types. This will affect new and existing positions starting on Monday, 23 August 2021, at 11:00 CEST (09:00 GMT). If you have currently open positions on CHF, please make sure to manage them accordingly. We advise caution as there is a likelihood of possibly increased volatility in the markets. This measure is in place until further notice and is being monitored by our risk team.