CFD Account Closure

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 1:41pm

I got this message 5 minutes after creating this thread.

Then received a private message from a mod.

Apparently this post was misleading the community so it was deleted. So I said I’d create a new post without any account specific information to inform the community on what was happening. This post was also deleted.

At this point my account was suspended.

Interestingly, this original post we are commenting on went back up the following morning.

This is highly concerning and worrying behaviour from Trading212, and also nothing short of shocking. Trading212 are a financial institution in custody of many thousands worth of my money. I simply raised a concern about the safety of my finances due to actions taken by Trading212, and tried to warn other users who may also be affected, and the response from Trading212 is to silence me and suspend my account. It really puts the legitimacy of Trading212 into question as a financial service provider and is causing serious reputational damage, as evident from reading post on other forums online of users who had their topics on this matter deleted from this community forum.

With regards to the initial screenshot at the top of this thread on trading behaviour and client profile, it seems that essentially you cannot hold CFDs long term. I got this message from a customer care representative via e-mail.

‘In a nutshell: keeping big stock CFD positions for a long time is incompatible with our business model. We’ve launched our zero commission share-dealing service for that purpose.’

The same e-mail assured me that funds and my account are secure on the Invest side and Trading212 are profitable in this regard, due to the share-dealing service.

Ultimately, I’m not looking for a solution to any problem by posting all this, but more-so just highlighting to the community the absolute lack of customer management Trading212 have recently displayed to me. This is no way a business should be treating its customers as a business like Trading212 is only as strong as its clients grant it to be. Be warned, you may feel like you are a valued customer today (I definitely did), but Trading212 have demonstrated to me that they can act in a way that disregards their customers confidence in them completely. I sincerely hope this is a once-off incident. And yes I will continue to support newcomers to this forum and take part in discussion, and yes I will continue to use the invest side, but Trading212 have completely lost me as a CFD customer and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 1:52pm

I’m annoyed how much effort I put in to helping the community in handling their margin change, only to have my account suspended

It is worrying though. There is a great forum here for trading related discussions, and I do love the T212 interface and it’s ease of use. It’s just such a shame how they’re handling their customers in the change and risk management side of their CFD business stream. It doesn’t reflect well on them.

I’m done with CFDs myself on T212. I just hope the Invest and ISA side is as self-standing and secure as the customer support agent made it out to be! It’d be a shame to have to leave that also.

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 1:54pm

https://www.etoro.com/posts/0__entry__59471521-8df7-4e99-b754-d7200c3b32a4?utm_medium=Direct&utm_source=55714&utm_content=0&utm_serial=SocialSharePostcopyLink_15359488&utm_campaign=SocialSharePostcopyLink_15359488&utm_term=

Could be worse. There was chaos over on the eToro farm.

Dao · January 11, 2021, 2:03pm

that thread over there is a mess

James2 · January 11, 2021, 3:02pm

Seems my Posts regarding CFD trading account closure has been removed for as dubious a reason as the termination of CFD accounts. There is no clear explanation as to why CFD accounts are being closed. This is a casino booting you out because you had too good a run.

Cashurkash · January 11, 2021, 3:31pm

two questions from myself,

Why does the CFD account need to have mutliple positions opened so as not to be looked at as an “Investment” account? They are both investment accounts except, one offers a leverage the other does not. CFD positions can do a u-turn and cost you a downside x leverage.
With T212 adjusting the CFD platform to an extent that forces customers not to use the platform as we cannot for example, open a long position only a short. How can T212 justify saying this isn’t their target client profile? What exactly is your “target client profile”? A losing one I would assume as winning ones are not making money.

cavanhagan · January 11, 2021, 3:41pm

I really wish Trading 212 would rebrand its Invest and ISA. The CFD side has been so controversial, and it’s bringing negativity over to the good invest and ISA Side. And now that it’s self-sustaining it doesn’t need CFD. It could go completely independent and actually appeal much more to the mass market.

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 4:13pm

I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut the CFD side completely. It’s totally not fit for purpose! I’m not sure how T212 operates as a business, but the CFD side is just total madness and their approach to client management and risk control is poor at best, and suspicious/shady at worst. Which is totally different from the way things function are run on the Invest/ISA side. It’s like dark and light, polar opposites.

cavanhagan · January 13, 2021, 9:53am

My ideal world would be separate the two sides of the business and let the CFD die. They can try revamp and rebrand the CFD if they want, I just hate having my invest account tied to the CFD which really hasn’t been good

ryan9921 · January 11, 2021, 4:03pm

My ideal world would be replacing the CFD side with options, charging tiny commission to monetise in place of current CFD spread income, removes 90% of the complaints people have with CFDs currently… definitely just a dream right now though

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 4:14pm

We’ve all seen the posts here too about people unsure what a CFD is but yet put a load of money on it!!

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 4:15pm

I wouldn’t even mind paying a small monthly fee for the CFD service if it meant no more surprise changes.

ryan9921 · January 11, 2021, 4:18pm

Maybe that’d work, but I’m not sure if revenue they’d gain from that would cancel out the currently huge costs of hedging the resulting exposure in this market, especially considering there would probably be an exodus to some other slightly smaller still-free CFD broker - where I’m sure the same situation would eventually develop as their CFD client base grew.

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 4:22pm

Agreed. I imagine it’d be a fraction. If somebody is making bank on a big YOLO on Nio or Tesla, their 10 dollar a month subscription won’t cover that!!

An exodus mightn’t be so bad though. T212 wouldn’t be over leveraged themselves hedging positions as they are currently.

ronikeh · January 11, 2021, 4:57pm

I’ve been more than just actively trading, probably more than you can imagine. Yes, obviously sitting on some positions- nothing wrong with that and never saw a problem in the past nor have I been notified with it being an issue. All was well and had very god and positive vibes being a client with Trading212, until November end 2020 where things started to show negative signs, when the margin decrease was implemented and some positions removed, etc… I have posted a legitimate comment andTrading212 decides to hide it. Myself and to my belief, other clients here who posted similar comments and aware of this issue, know the real reason behind all these claims such as I received:
“We made our yearly client transactions review and noticed that your trading behaviour for stock CFDs does not fall within our target client profile in terms of trading activity and position size. Your account is not actively trading, and holds instruments we no longer offer…”
It’s not rocket science.
The question is- Why point to account closure as a result and not maybe ask to close all related positions. Why totally block/terminate your client’s entire future trading with CFD? There wasn’t even a warning or advance notice as such, to say for example- We noticed your current behaviour is inappropriate… If you don’t act upon it we would have no alternative but to close your account…" That’s the least expected.
But to just point for immediate termination??..
This is by no means being offensive, it is merely expressing my opinion regarding a somewhat serious issue.
Is this post going to be hidden too? I wonder…

Dao · January 11, 2021, 8:59pm

T212 didn’t hide your post. Some in the community will have flagged it for one reason or another and the result is it getting hidden until moderators check and decide whether or not the flag is valid.

amansoor1995 · January 11, 2021, 9:11pm

NIO is gonna crash imminently so hopefully T212 make back money as people will be selling that.

obrienciaran · January 11, 2021, 9:29pm

To be honest, the entire market is going to crash imminently! We are in a full blown bubble right now.

Kentmoore · January 11, 2021, 9:59pm

Hope it crashes in Feb I want my stocks to run up for earnings hype first

Cashurkash · January 11, 2021, 10:23pm

Why would it crash?? Lol love these posts

Also… with the CFD option only allowing short positions on pretty much all the best stock picks at moment, if a lot started shorting it and it went that way it’s gonna be a double whammy to company as no one has been able to get on and hedge that direction for them.