Terms and Conditions
ICM Capital Limited: Terms and Conditions
Trading in Contracts For Differences (CFDs) carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may incur profits or losses of many times the amount of your stake or the money you originally deposit with us. Only trade with money that you can afford to lose. Debts incurred through CFD trading are legally binding and enforceable. Make sure you fully understand the risks involved and take advice if necessary. CFD trading may not be suitable for all individuals. We strongly recommend that you read the Risk Warning notice that forms part of these Terms and Conditions and is also available on our website.
If you are unable to understand any part of either these Terms and Conditions or the Risk Warning or Execution Policy you should contact ICM Capital Limited with your questions before agreeing to them.
1. SCOPE
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1.1
ICM Capital Limited is a company registered in England and Wales under registered number: 07101360. ICM Capital Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Registered address: Dauntsey House, 4B Frederick's Place, London, EC2R 8AB, United Kingdom
1.4
We will deal with you on the terms of:
- these Terms and Conditions;
- the Risk Warning notice;
- your completed Application Form;
- our Execution Policy;
- any relevant software license; and
- any additional terms and conditions issued by us, including those relating to
Accounts and/or other terms issued in respect of transactions contemplated by these Terms and Conditions, which together are referred to as this "Agreement".
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1.7
Each time you enter into a Transaction you signify and agree that all statements concerning personal warranties and representations are repeated and that:
- all information that you have provided us with (in your Application Form and subsequently) is true and accurate in all material respects;
- you agree to be bound by this Agreement;
- you have read and fully understood this Agreement, including the Contract Specifications and the Risk Warning;
- if you are an individual, you are over 18 years of age;
- the action of entering into a Transaction with ICM Capital Ltd is legal in the jurisdiction you are currently resident and that you will not violate any law relevant to you;
- you are, or your Authorised Third Party is, taking each and every Transaction on your own behalf as principal and not as a third party representative;
- if you are a company, in placing any Transaction or instruction you are duly authorised to do so; and
- any person authorised by you to trade or issue instructions on your behalf has read and understood the Agreement and the Risk Warnings.
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1.9
In agreement with you ICM Capital Ltd may waive or relax any of these Terms and Conditions from time to time. In particular but without limitation, where these Terms and Conditions specify certain Transaction Size or Margin requirements, ICM Capital Ltd may, but only on agreement with you, allow you to breach such limits. Any liability accrued due to such permission is your sole responsibility. Any agreement to waiver or failure to enforce any part of these Terms and Conditions shall not constitute a waiver by ICM Capital Ltd to enforce such rules at a subsequent time.
2. YOUR ACCOUNT AND TRANSACTIONS
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2.1
You must open an account with us before we will accept any of your Transactions. You must fill out and send to us an Application Form either electronically online, or on the printable form available on our website, or the one available with these Terms and Conditions. All mandatory sections must be filled out and any information supplied must be true and correct to the best of your knowledge. Any incorrect or unclear information supplied will result in either an outright rejection of the application or at the very least a delay in the opening of your client account.
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2.2
In signing, or electronically remitting to us, the application form you are authorising ICM Capital Ltd to make such searches as it sees fit to certify that the information that you have supplied is full and correct. Such searches will include, but may not be restricted to, information from the electoral register and any credit agencies approached by ICM Capital Ltd.
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2.3
ICM Capital Ltd may make periodic checks of your details to verify that the details supplied by you have not changed. However, you must immediately inform ICM Capital Ltd in writing as to any material change in your financial circumstances or any change to the information given on your Application Form (including change of employment, address, contact details and email). In ICM Capital Ltd's absolute discretion, it may accept such notification over the telephone or by email. Any losses that may be incurred by misdirection of contract details due to incorrect or out of date email addresses supplied by you are entirely your responsibility.
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2.5
ICM Capital Ltd reserves the right to close or suspend your account at any time by sending you a written notice of 5 working days in advance. Should ICM Capital Ltd exercise this right all open Positions shall be closed on ICM Capital Ltd's current quoted price and no new trades will be accepted. Any Position you may have in markets not quoted (i.e. that have closed for that day) shall be closed at the first price reasonably available to ICM Capital Ltd on the next business day or, in the case of a market suspended for any, reason, closed under the terms contained herein.
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2.7
It is your sole responsibility to inform ICM Capital Ltd as to whether information concerning your account Transactions should be reported to your employer, including its compliance officer, and as to whether contract notes and statements of your account should be sent to that compliance officer or to any other person authorised by your employer to receive such information.
3. SERVICES BY ICM Capital Ltd
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3.1
Subject to you fulfilling your obligations under this Agreement, we may enter into contracts with you in respect of the following types of Transactions:
- Forward CFDs on single securities, baskets of securities, stock or other indices, base and precious metals, commodities, and currencies (foreign exchange).
- Such other investments as we may from time to time agree to offer in writing or online.
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3.3
We shall not provide you with any advice on the merits or suitability of you entering into this Agreement or any Transaction contemplated by this Agreement and, will never provide you with any investment advice although we may at our discretion provide you with generic or factual information from time to time on the nature, the terminology and of the procedures involved with such Transactions or concerning factual financial data information. You should rely on your own judgment when deciding whether or not to enter into any Transaction contemplated by this Agreement.
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3.4
When we execute an order on your behalf, we will generally act in accordance with our order Execution Policy. A summary of our current Execution Policy has been provided to you. You should note that in some circumstances we shall not be obliged to comply with the rules of the FCA on best execution such as where we provide a quote for a particular Transaction and then deal with you as your transaction counter-party.
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3.9
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, in providing our services, we shall be entitled to take any action as we consider necessary in our absolute discretion to ensure compliance with Applicable Laws. You agree strictly to comply with all Applicable Laws. If we reasonably consider that you have not so complied, we may terminate this Agreement. You should be aware that the services we offer, including trading in CFDs, are regulated by the FCA and the applicable rules and regulations that related to the trading of equities and futures also relate to CFDs and other such products linked to underlying equities and futures. Clients are especially reminded that this applies to all forms of market abuse such as insider trading and to directors trading in shares of their own companies.
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3.11
The client accepts that ICM Capital, including its trading platform(s) and other related systems and relevant third parties may perform maintenance/updates or face a technical failure that may including shutting down, restarting or refreshing its systems/servers to ensure more effective operation of its trading platform(s) and/or other related systems. During system maintenance/updates, the client accepts that this may cause the trading platform(s) or other related systems to be inaccessible for a period of time. In addition, the client accepts that there may be mechanical, chart, software, misquotes, computer, telecommunications and/or electronic system failure/issues. In the event of system issues/failure/maintenance/updates, the client accepts that ICM Capital bares no responsibility for any loss, including financial loss, caused due to any of the actions referred to in this paragraph.
4. PLACING TRADES
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4.4
When placing a Transaction, you must give your name and account number or username. Without this information no Transaction will be permitted even if it is to close an existing open Position. When transacting over the telephone the Transaction will only be accepted by ICM Capital Ltd when we confirm that your Transaction has been accepted. The verbal acceptance of a trade by ICM Capital Ltd does not negate either ICM Capital Ltd's or your rights in the event of a Pricing Error.
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4.5
All calls to ICM Capital Ltd telephone lines are recorded, and you hereby agree to the recording of such conversations. All OTPs and DTPs retain chronological histories of all Transactions conducted over that medium (including Transactions entered by ICM Capital Ltd following an instruction by telephone) and an electronic audit trail of all client activity (although this is not guaranteed). All such records and recordings of telephone conversations are the exclusive property of ICM Capital Ltd and may be used as evidence in any dispute.
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4.7
Your username, password and account number are extremely sensitive pieces of information. Any Transactions made on your account either over the telephone, an OTP or a DTP using either your username, account number or your password will be deemed as valid Transactions. You must not disclose your username, account number or password to any person (save disclosure of your account number to an Authorised Third Party pursuant to Clause 15). You must immediately inform ICM Capital Ltd if you are aware or suspect that a third party has had access to your username, account number or password or that any person other than you (or your Authorised Third Party) is transacting on your account.
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4.8
In the case of Transactions placed via an OTP or a DTP, ICM Capital Ltd is under no obligation to recognise the domain from which a client is trading, and it is your sole responsibility to ascertain the legality of placing trades from your local jurisdiction.
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4.10
In the case of Transactions placed via an OTP or a DTP you may only offer to place a trade on the prices currently quoted on an OTP or a DTP. Such prices are indicative and on receipt ICM Capital Ltd may, in its absolute discretion, reject or accept your proposed Transaction. Due to the nature of online trading systems and the potential unreliability, delays, misquotes of market price feeds, ICM Capital Ltd may in its absolute discretion remove or delete Transactions and any associated Transactions (i.e. any trades closing subsequently deleted trades) which have been made over an OTP or a DTP which in the opinion of ICM Capital Ltd do not reflect the actual market prices at the time of the placement of the relevant Transaction. ICM Capital Ltd will not be responsible for losses or potential losses sustained by you in trading on a rejected or cancelled Transaction. ICM Capital Ltd is not responsible or liable for losses made with other companies on Transaction undertaken in reference to a rejected or cancelled trade.
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4.11
The spot foreign exchange and commodities markets can experience extreme price volatility often referred to as "Hectic or Fast Market", it is particularly common during material economic or political events, such as news releases and monetary policy change. During such times it is common practice for the Capital Markets to execute orders manually and widen spread and place less reliance on automated systems. This practice can affect online price providers and may slow down their service to customers, increase re-quotes, human errors due to the extra time required to analyse the event and determine the fair market price. This may cause significant delays in trade execution and order processing while rates are cross-referenced to ensure valid execution. ICM Capital relies more on automated system and execute trades automatically by our server to reduce delays, re-quotes and human errors and we maintain our fixed spread (except during very hectic market or holidays), therefore, protecting our clients stop-losses. Based on this, and to keep you informed of our policy in this regard, please be informed that ICM Capital reserves the right to cancel any trade that has been confirmed by our automated system during major news, figure releases or fast market that does not reflect the actual market price or the price has been delayed due to inevitable latency issue, thus preventing traders abusing our automated system or fixed spread.
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4.12
In cases of any indiscretion in trading, overleveraging, misuse of orders where "scalping" or “sniping” or “hedging” may be involved, such transactions will not be taken into consideration and will be treated as prohibited activity and may even be removed from participants accounts. ICM Capital reserves the right to disqualify any participant or cancel the trades found in violation of the trading rules or applying inappropriate trading strategies. Scalping defined as trade that was opened and closed within a very short period of time. Sniping defined as when the client trades on a delayed or “Stuck prices” on ICM Capital platform. Hedging means client over exposing his account with an opposite trade to an existing trade with the same trade volume with ICM Capital or externally another company to abuse the credit bonus on the account. In such cases ICM Capital reserves the right to cancel trades, profit or losses and disable the account.
5. TRADING
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5.1
Clients should note that they are trading on the outcome of the price of a financial derivative, and will not be entitled to delivery of, or be required to deliver, the underlying product.
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5.3
ICM Capital reserves the right to discontinue an Islamic/SWAP-free account by sending 24 hours notice. ICM Capital will invoke this right in case of suspicion of abuse, in which case ICM Capital may, at its sole discretion, decide to close all open positions in the account and deduct or add swaps for all transactions currently and/or previously made in the account and decline from accepting any further requests from the Client to be exempted from SWAP.
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5.5
If a share becomes subject to a takeover offer, suspended, merger and stock split ICM Capital Ltd reserves the right to close any or all trades at the closing of the day or the last closing trading price before the amendment.
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5.7
If the Underlying Market in relation to an existing open Position held by you becomes illiquid in any fashion, either leaving ICM Capital Ltd unable to purchase sufficient amount of the underlying shares or contracts to cover your Transaction or Position or is unable to borrow the same in the open market, ICM Capital Ltd reserves the right to close all or part of any such Transaction or Position at the current ICM Capital Ltd Quote.
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5.9
If you are trading in concert whereby multiple clients are placing identical trades then ICM Capital Ltd may at its sole discretion treat this as one Trade. Therefore, if the combined size is greater than the liquidity of the market and slippage occurs, all clients may be treated the same regardless of their individual stake size and filled at the same level which will be where ICM Capital Ltd was able to realistically able to trade in the Underlying Market.
6. OPEN POSITIONS
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6.2
You are not required to close a Position prior to the Expiry Date provided that your account is not in deficit. However, in certain circumstances and in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, ICM Capital Ltd shall be entitled or may be required to close your Position prior to their Expiry Date notwithstanding that your account is not in deficit.
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6.3
If the Expiry Date of a Transaction is not a recognised business day of the relevant Underlying Market, then the business day immediately preceding that stated will be considered as the Expiry Date unless an alternative is specifically stated in the Contract Specifications or ICM Capital Ltd notifies you otherwise.
7. NEW ORDERS, STOP LOSS ORDERS AND LIMIT ORDERS
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7.1
There are generally two basic order types available:
- New Orders; and
- Stop or Limit Orders.
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7.2
New Orders are orders that are not connected to an existing open Position (although they may close existing Positions (unless where ICM Capital Ltd expressly agree otherwise (see 6.2 above)) if, when executed, they create trades that are opposite to existing open Positions). ICM Capital Ltd will accept the following types of new orders:
- Good Till Cancelled" means that the order will remain in effect until cancelled by you or until the market expires and ICM Capital Ltd ceases to quote the relevant market;
- Good For Day" means that the order will remain in effect until the end of the ICM Capital Ltd Quoting Hours for the relevant market for that day;
- Good Until" means that the order will remain in effect until the time and date requested by you when placing the order or until ICM Capital Ltd ceases to quote the relevant market (whichever is the sooner).
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7.4
A Good Till Cancelled order will only be valid during ICM Capital Ltd's Quoting Hours for the market concerned. If there is any form of gap between the close of the market as quoted by ICM Capital Ltd on one trading session and its subsequent reopening either on the next session or, in the case of a Force Majeure, whenever ICM Capital Ltd reopens said market, the Client's Stop will be executed at the ICM Capital Ltd Quote based upon the first price that ICM Capital Ltd is reasonably able to obtain in the Underlying Market.
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7.5
Any orders placed as Stop Losses on open Positions shall:
- Be deemed Good Until Cancelled or until the contract expires or until such time as you close the relevant Position;
- Be deemed to be in respect of ICM Capital Ltd Quote/Our Quote; and
- Be valid in respect, solely, of the market in respect of which ICM Capital Ltd accepted the order and not for any other.
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7.6
In respect of markets quoted by ICM Capital Ltd outside the trading hours of the relevant Underlying Market, all orders are based on ICM Capital Ltd's Quote/Our Quote and may be filled at the ICM Capital Ltd Quote based on a price which is in ICM Capital Ltd's opinion fair and reasonable in light of prevailing world markets at that time.
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7.7
ICM Capital Ltd will accept orders placed in any market during the hours in which ICM Capital Ltd offers a Quote in said market. However no Stops or of orders any kind in any market will be executed outside of the ICM Capital Ltd quoting hours for that market except by agreement with ICM Capital Ltd. Upon the opening of any market quoted by ICM Capital Ltd any currently actionable Stop, Limit or New Order will be filled at the first Quote for the relevant market that ICM Capital Ltd is reasonably able to obtain with reference to the Underlying Market and the size of the order in question.
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7.8
It is your responsibility to cancel any order that you no longer require. Any uncancelled order placed by you may be filled by ICM Capital Ltd and may therefore cause losses to which you will be liable. In the case of Stop Loss orders if the related Transaction is closed by you the Stop Loss order will be deemed automatically cancelled. If the underlying Stop Loss on any open Position was actionable before you closed the open Position, ICM Capital Ltd may at its sole discretion adjust the closing price of your trade to reflect the Stop Loss price.
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7.9
An order will be executed when the ICM Capital Ltd Quote reaches the price specified in your order or trades through the price specified. All Quotes are based upon an Underlying Market that is sourced from either a recognised global exchange (LSE, NYSE, LIFFE etc) or from a wholesale counterparty (a quoting bank or market maker). Our Quote may be higher or lower than the Underlying Market due to interest rate costs, dividends, scrip issues, stock splits, competitors' quotes or the weight of client business. The understanding of the definition of Our Quote is very important for the correct operation of your account. If you do not understand any part of its description we strongly recommend that you contact ICM Capital Ltd for an explanation.
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7.10
ICM Capital Ltd is not obliged to inform you if an order is filled. It is solely your responsibility to ensure that you know at all times as to whether any order has been filled or is still active and if you are in any doubt whatsoever as to deal acceptance it is your sole responsibility to contact ICM Capital Ltd immediately, in the first instance by telephone, in order to obtain clarification as to the validity of any Transaction.
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7.11
Once a Stop, Limit or New Order level is reached ICM Capital Ltd may at its sole discretion allow a client to amend this order before it has been actioned by ICM Capital Ltd. Although, receipt of any confirmation of an order amendment is not binding on ICM Capital Ltd, ICM Capital Ltd may at its sole discretion decide to execute the original order if the activation of that order occurred before the amendment was made. ICM Capital Ltd shall not be liable for any Positions generated by clients' assumption of non-activation of a fairly executed order.
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7.13
If a New Order is subject to Gapping (see 7.14) on activation and the order is actioned at a price that would also have activated any associated Limit or Stop orders, then the Position will immediately be closed with a loss to the client of the prevailing ICM Capital Ltd quoted spread for that market.
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7.14
In this Agreement "Gapping" refers to an occurrence whereby the market moves from one quoted price and that this second quote is significantly different to the first. Where such an event happens and where the second quote is through an order level (Stop Loss, Limit or New Order), when the first quote was not, this may trigger a Gapping event.
There are a variety of reasons why this might happen. Some of the more usual are listed below, but this list is by no means exhaustive.
- 7.14.1 because the particular Underlying Market on which the order is placed has opened and started trading at a price significantly different from the previous session closing price;
- 7.14.2 Accordingly you must understand the potential impact of these events on any Order that you have on your account.
All orders (Stop, Limit or New Order) are subject to slippage on the market open. In a situation where slippage occurs during trading hours, any buy order (new or limit) below the market or sell order (new or limit) above the market and sell orders (closing or stop) below the market or buy orders (closing or stop) above the market may be subject to slippage. If any market gaps from one quoted price to another due to any market sensitive piece of information (such as a profit warning or an economic data release), then any order in place between these prices will be activated.
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7.15
Where a series of orders may be filled to close existing open Positions and/or open new Positions then these orders will be filled by ICM Capital Ltd in any sequence determined by ICM Capital Ltd. If this results in subsequent orders having insufficient Trading Resources for activation, then these orders will be cancelled. ICM Capital Ltd will not look at an order filling sequences that may result in one order being filled and another failing, ICM Capital Ltd will fill orders as and when they are seen by ICM Capital Ltd, and at our sole discretion.
8. MARGIN CALCULATIONS
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8.4
ICM Capital Ltd will normally monitor the amount of Margin available for any Transaction but reserves the right to demand further Margin than may have been originally requested. In circumstances during high market volatility or depending on the weight of customer business or the trading style or before an important fundamental releases or due to general increase of margin for an instrument in the exchange or at the closing of the week, ICM Capital reserves the right to increase the margin requirement by reducing the leverage offered and/or to increase the stop out level (equity/margin) from the agreed level up to 100% by giving a written notice. In such case if the stop out level is below 100% then ICM Capital will hedge the positions or partially close them to bring the equity/margin at to above 100%. Customers will solely be held liable from any damages or losses that may result from closing the position/positions.
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8.5
ICM Capital Ltd maintains the right to close any client position/positions when stop out level (equity/margin) falls at 50% of the total margin requirement or the level agreed with the client. In case the balance or equity becomes negative as a result of stop out, ICM Capital reserves the right to claim the balance from the client to adjust the equity back to zero. As stated in clause 8.4, ICM Capital reserves the right to increase the stop out level by giving a written notice to the client.
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8.7
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, ICM Capital Ltd is entitled, in its absolute discretion, to permit any trade for a Size which is above the recognised maximum single Size for a particular market.
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8.8
The minimum IMR for any market and stop out level may be changed from time to time by ICM Capital Ltd without notice to you (for example, during volatile market conditions or due to the illiquid nature of any Underlying Market). These new margin requirements and stop out level will be applied to all your existing Positions as well as any new Transactions. Most contracts’ Minimum IMR is set out in the Contract Specifications which are correct at the time of publication. Margin Requirements which are not set out in the Contract Specifications or which have changed since the date of publication of the Contract Specifications will be quoted on request or posted on the website. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are using the most recent margin requirements applicable.
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8.10
You undertake to provide us with and to maintain on your account at all times sufficient cleared funds in order to meet the margin requirement, and such undertaking shall be deemed to be repeated each time you open enter into a Transaction. A failure to meet your margin obligations at any time is a Default Event and may result in us closing out your open Positions without notice to you.
9. MARGIN CALLS
10. FEES AND PAYMENTS
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10.2
You will pay all applicable Value Added Tax (VAT) and other taxes and all other fees reasonably incurred by us in connection with any Transaction. Any changes to tax laws which result in future imposition of stamp duty, capital gains tax or other tax, which may from time to time be levied on Transactions shall be for your account. You may be liable for other charges and taxes that are not imposed by us. You are solely responsible for the timely payment of such charges and taxes. You should seek independent advice if you are in any doubt as to what further charges or taxes may apply to you as a result of you entering this Agreement.
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10.3
In the event that charges are imposed by the credit or debit Card Company (or any other provider) used to deposit funds on to your account, these may be charged by us to you. ICM Capital Ltd will not be responsible for any nonpayment of these charges and will not be liable for any proceedings or further charges resulting from non-payment of such charges.
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10.4
You agree that we may share commission and charges with our Associated Companies, Trading Partners or other third parties or receive or pay remuneration from or to the same in respect of Transactions entered into by us with you. Details of any such remuneration or sharing arrangements (for example where you have been introduced to us through a third party) will not be set out in the relevant contract note. Please note that such commissions and charges will only be paid where we are satisfied that such payments do not impair our obligation to act in the best interests of our client.
11. TRANSACTION SPECIFICATIONS
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11.1
The Contract Specifications provide important information in relation to each market offered by ICM Capital Ltd and clients are strongly advised to ensure they understand them. The information provided in the Contract Specifications includes:
- Contract months available in each market;
- ICM Capital Ltd buy/sell spread and/or commission rate for each market;
- Min IMR requirements for each market;
- Basis of settlement;
- Last day of dealing;
- Transaction Size specifications;
- ICM Capital Ltd Quoting hours (in normal trading conditions the various trading times are set out in the Contract Specifications and all times stated in the Terms and Conditions and Contract Specifications relate to UK time);
- The applicable interest rate for Overnight Financing; and
- Other matters pertinent to various markets.
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11.3
Current spreads and/or commission rates on contracts will be quoted to you on request. ICM Capital Ltd has the right to vary spreads or commission rates on any contract or vary the Size specifications without notice especially in, but not limited to, volatile market conditions and/or illiquidity of the Underlying Market. At ICM Capital Ltd's discretion quoted spreads made via the telephone may differ from the spreads available on an OTP or a DTP.
12. EXPIRY OF FUTURE CONTRACTS
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12.1
At ICM Capital we do not roll-over dated OTC Future contracts. All positions that remain open at expiration will be closed at the ICM Capital closing price on that day. Next month contracts will be available for trading at least four days before front month expiration, therefore, it is the sole responsibility of the client to take notice of expiries and act accordingly.
13. ACCOUNT SETTLEMENT AND SET OF
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13.1
If your account Balance is in debit, the full amount of that balance is due immediately. Payment must be made in the currency in which the debit balance is denominated (or by agreement with ICM Capital Ltd and at an exchange rate designated by ICM Capital Ltd the amount may be transferred in a currency of your choice).
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13.2
ICM Capital Ltd will require immediate payment of any debit Account Balance by either SWIFT transfer, debit/credit card, or any other method of immediate electronic funds transfer acceptable to ICM Capital Ltd and delivered to ICM Capital Ltd bank accounts by 2:00pm on the same business day that the debit account balance became due. ICM Capital Ltd is entitled to refuse payment by cheque without notice and without giving any reason.
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13.3
ICM Capital Ltd reserves the right to and shall be entitled to charge interest on all sums payable to ICM Capital Ltd under these Terms and Conditions which are not paid within 5 days of their due date until payment is made in full, ICM Capital Ltd shall charge you 2% per calendar month or part thereof cumulative on the sum owed to ICM Capital Ltd. ICM Capital Ltd will require you to reimbursement for any and all costs we may suffer or incur if you fail to make payment when due for any reason whatsoever.
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13.4
ICM Capital Ltd has the right to debit from your account or any other account in which you hold an interest any costs, interest or expenses incurred in recovering said debt. All debts to ICM Capital Ltd are recoverable in law. ICM Capital Ltd will actively pursue any sum (whatever the size) that is due.
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13.6
ICM Capital Ltd shall be entitled to keep hold of funds which are required to cover adverse cash positions, Margin Requirement, any uncleared funds (i.e. cheques or credit card payments), realised losses and any other amount due under this Agreement.
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13.7
ICM Capital Ltd may at any time set off any liabilities owed by it to you against any amount owed by you to ICM Capital Ltd. ICM Capital Ltd reserves the right, without notice to you and in its absolute discretion, to consolidate any or all of your accounts of whatever type or description or any accounts in which you have a part or management function or oversight interest.
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13.9
For the avoidance of doubt, we shall be entitled at any time to deduct, without notice or recourse to you, any monies deposited in or credited to your account in error by us or on our behalf.
14. CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS
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14.1
ICM Capital Ltd recognises that there is the risk that, under certain circumstances, directors (including non-executive directors), employees, associates, consultants or any other person directly or indirectly related to ICM Capital Ltd may hold interests, financial or otherwise, and benefits that may be in conflict with the best interests of the clients and as a consequence may damage the interests of the clients. This is known as a conflict of interest.
15. AUTHORISED THIRD PARTY
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15.2
If you have opened an account electronically, and we do not have an original of your signature, you will not be able to appoint an Authorised Third Party until such time as you furnish us with an independently verified example of your signature (i.e. photocopy of your passport or driving licence).
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15.3
You will be held fully responsible for all actions of the Authorised Third Party. ICM Capital Ltd shall be entitled to accept instructions from such Authorised Third Party until receipt of a written notice from you stating that the authority of the Authorised Third Party is revoked. Such written notice must be sent to ICM Capital Ltd Client Services department by registered mail or by personal delivery countersigned by an officer of ICM Capital Ltd. Upon receipt of this instruction ICM Capital Ltd shall change your account number and any passwords attributable to it. In any event, ICM Capital Ltd shall be entitled, and without notice to you, to refuse to accept instructions from any Authorised Third Party and to treat the appointment of any such Authorised Third Party as terminated.
16. TERMINATION
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16.2
You can contact us at any time via email, writing or telephone to instruct us to close your account. We will only close your account if you have no monies owing to us and any open Position shall be closed in accordance with Clause 9.5 above. Any losses incurred on your account prior to the closure of the account shall be deemed to be immediately payable by you.
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16.3
You specifically and unconditionally agree that ICM Capital Ltd has the right to close or suspend your account with immediate effect in any of the following events:
- you are in breach of this Agreement (the Terms and Conditions);
- you have made any material misrepresentation to ICM Capital Ltd;
- you fail to provide information requested in relation to any verification undertaken by ICM Capital Ltd;
- you act in a rude or abusive manner to employees of ICM Capital Ltd; or
- ICM Capital Ltd at its sole discretion decides to terminate your account.
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16.4
If either party terminates this agreement all open Positions shall be immediately closed on the current quote made by ICM Capital Ltd or, in the case where any market is closed for any reason, at the next available quote reasonably made by ICM Capital Ltd on the reopening of said market and no new trades shall be accepted by ICM Capital Ltd.
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16.5
No penalty will be payable by either party on termination of this Agreement and termination will not affect any accrued rights. On termination by either party, we may consolidate all or any of your accounts and may deduct all amounts due to us before transferring to you any credit balances on your account.
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16.7
Further, if an Insolvency Event or Default Event occurs ICM Capital Ltd may (but is not obliged to):
- close (in whole or in part) all or any open Positions held by the client and any profits or losses attributable to such trades shall be settled immediately;
- close all of your accounts and refuse to accept any new instructions or trades from you;
- impose stop orders on all open Positions; or
- take any reasonable action to safeguard the interests of ICM Capital Ltd such action to be judged solely by ICM Capital Ltd.
17. CLIENT MONEY
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17.4
In the event that there has been no movement on your account balance for a period of at least six years (notwithstanding any payments or receipts of charges, interest or similar items) and we are unable to trace you despite having taken reasonable steps to do so, you agree that we may cease to treat your money as client money, we shall make and retain records of all balances released and undertake to make good any future valid claims against released balances.
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17.9
In reference to this Clause, if ICM Capital Ltd's records show a discrepancy between card details and ICM Capital Ltd's account details as supplied by you, ICM Capital Ltd may require sight of original bank statements, or any other relevant evidence, to confirm your new status before processing a refund.
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17.10
ICM Capital Ltd may transfer client money to a third party as part of transferring all or part of its business if, in respect of each client with an interest in the client money that is sought to be transferred, it obtains the consent or instruction of that client at the time of the transfer of business.
18. FORCE MAJEURE
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18.1
Force Majeure events are exceptional, unusual, or emergency market conditions which may prevent ICM Capital Ltd from performing any or all of its obligations hereunder. They include, without limitation:
- markets that, in ICM Capital Ltd's reasonable assessment, are in an emergency or exceptional state;
- the suspension or closure of any market upon which we base our quotes, or the imposition of limits or special or unusual terms on the trading in any such market;
- the occurrence of any speculative movements which in our reasonable assessment distort the level of prices in any market quoted by us;
- compliance with any law or government order rule regulation or direction;
- an event which prevents ICM Capital Ltd from making orderly markets in any contract normally quoted by ICM Capital Ltd for the purposes of making Transactions;
- any abnormal loss of liquidity in any of the markets quoted or the reasonable anticipation of such occurring or the event of excessive volatility, as reasonably assessed by ICM Capital Ltd, in any market normally quote by ICM Capital Ltd or of the anticipation by ICM Capital Ltd that such a situation may occur; or
- any act, event or occurrence including any strike, riot or civil commotion, terrorism, interruption of power supply or electronic communication or information system technical or communication problems or other act of god caused through loss of power which prevents ICM Capital Ltd from providing a normal Transaction service.
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18.2
If we conclude in our reasonable assessment that a Force Majeure situation exists then we may in our absolute and sole discretion:
- suspend trading and/or amend ICM Capital Ltd Quoting Hours for all or any markets;
- increase deposit/Margin requirements and/or amend credit limits in the case of Credit Accounts;
- close any or all open Positions;
- refuse to take any further Transactions even if such Transactions would be closing trades;
- immediately require payment of Margin and/or any other amounts you may owe ICM Capital Ltd;
- cancel or fill any orders in each case at such levels as we consider in good faith and in our sole discretion to be fair and reasonable in the circumstances;
- reduce the maximum Transaction Size allowable;
- vary any spreads quoted by ICM Capital Ltd;
- suspend or amend any part of these Terms and Conditions to the extent that it is impossible or unreasonable for ICM Capital Ltd to conform to them; or
- take such actions as ICM Capital Ltd deem proper in the circumstances to defend our clients and ourselves as a whole.
19. CONFIRMATIONS, QUERIES ON ACCOUNTS, COMPLAINTS AND COMPENSATION
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19.1
Upon entering into any Transaction or order or amendment of an order or any cancellation of an order ICM Capital Ltd contract notes will be:
- displayed on screen in relation to a DTP Transaction; or
- In respect of orders placed via the telephone:
- (a) emailed to you where those orders are in respect of a product provided on an OTP; or
- (b) available to view on screen in relation to Transactions made via a DTP.
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19.3
It is solely your responsibility to keep yourself fully up to date in respect of all your Transactions and Positions. As soon as you receive any contract note you must check it to make certain that it is correct. The sooner that ICM Capital Ltd is made aware of any error or problem, the sooner we will be able to look into or correct it. You must also regularly check your online statement.
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19.5
If you receive a contract note for a Transaction or filled order that you allege has not been transacted by or for you, ICM Capital Ltd must be notified immediately. If you do not receive a contract note for a Transaction you have placed (or believe you have placed) you must notify ICM Capital Ltd immediately.
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19.7
Any query or dispute in respect of any trade or conversation, together with details of the time and date of the trade or conversation must be communicated to ICM Capital Ltd as soon as you become aware of it. If the dispute or complaint is not satisfactorily resolved it should be referred, again with all details, to the Client Services team of ICM Capital Ltd and, if not then resolved to your satisfaction, it should be further referred to the Compliance Officer of ICM Capital Ltd either by email to
compliance@icmcapital.co.uk or by post to Compliance, ICM Capital Ltd, Dauntsey House, 4B Fredrick's Place, London, EC2R 8AB, United Kingdom. If you are in any way dissatisfied with the final resolution of any dispute you have the right to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (the "FOS")
www.financialombudsman.org.uk/publications/consumer-leaflet.htm. The matter should be referred to the Ombudsman within six months of the Compliance Officer's final resolution of the dispute.
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19.8
In the event of any query or dispute ICM Capital Ltd may at its discretion immediately close, at the prevailing ICM Capital Ltd quote or the first such quote available, any Position that is in dispute. No matter what the subsequent result of the dispute, ICM Capital Ltd will not reopen or reinstate any such closed trade.
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19.9
Your business with us may be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme ("FSCS" or the "Scheme"). Client money will be deposited into a client money bank account opened at an approved bank. In the event that ICM Capital Ltd was to become insolvent all client money held in the third party bank account would be protected. In the event that the third party bank was to become insolvent you may be entitled to compensation from the Scheme if the third party bank were unable to meet their obligations. This depends on the type of business you undertake, your status, and the circumstances of the claim. Most types of investment business are covered for up to £85,000 (which is the maximum level of compensation). Further information about compensation arrangements is available from the FSCS. You can contact the FSCS by writing to them at 10th Floor, Beaufort House, 15 St Botolph Street, London, EC3A 7QU, or by emailing them at the email address provided on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme website at
www.fscs.org.uk.
20. ALTERATIONS TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
21. NOTICES
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21.3
Where ICM Capital Ltd is not notified nor receives notification from the Client that any notice or other communication has been received by the Client, it shall be deemed to have been duly served on the Client:
- if hand delivered at the Client's last known home or work address or when actually given in person to the Client;
- if given orally over the telephone or in a face to face exchange with the Client (or person claiming to the ICM Capital Ltd representative to be the Client), when it has actually been given;
- if given by leaving a telephone answering machine message, text message or voice mail message, two hours after the message being left on the relevant medium;
- if sent by first class post two business days after posting of same;
- if sent by fax, on completion of its transmission, provided that a transmission "successful" notification has been received by ICM Capital Ltd; or
- if sent by email upon receipt of a delivery notice by ICM Capital Ltd.
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21.4
Any notice or other communication given or made under or in connection with the matters contemplated by this Agreement shall, except where oral communication is expressly provided for, be in writing and shall be sent to the address below:
Name of Party: ICM Capital Ltd,
Address: Dauntsey House, 4B Frederick's Place, London, EC2R 8AB, United Kingdom.
22. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
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22.3
You shall indemnify us and keep us indemnified on demand in respect of all liabilities, costs, claims, damages and expenses of any nature whatsoever (present, future, contingent or otherwise and including legal fees) which we suffer or incur as a direct or indirect result of a breach by you of your obligations under this Agreement or us exercising our rights under in relation to the Default Event provisions detailed in these Terms and Conditions, unless and to the extent such liabilities, costs, claims, damages and expenses are suffered or incurred as a result of our gross negligence or willful default. You shall indemnify us and keep us indemnified against all losses which we may suffer as a result of: any error in any instruction given to us by any Authorised Person or acting on any instruction, which is, or appears to be, from an Authorised Person.
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22.4
Subject to Clause 22.5 shall not be liable:
- for any loss, expense, cost or liability (together "Loss") suffered or incurred by you unless and to the extent that such Loss is suffered or incurred as a result of our negligence or willful default;
- for any indirect or consequential loss or damage (whether for loss of profit, loss of business or otherwise), costs, expenses or other claims for consequential compensation whatsoever (howsoever caused) which arise out of or in relation to this Agreement; or
- for any loss suffered or incurred by you as a result of any error in any order, instruction or information given by you or an Authorised Person, or as a result of us acting on any order or instruction which is, or appears to be, from such Authorised Person.
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22.5
Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or restrict any duty or liability owed by us to you under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA") or FCA rules, which shall, in the event of conflict, prevail over these Terms.
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22.6
If any of these Terms and Conditions shall be found to be unenforceable or invalid, such unenforceability or invalidity shall not affect any other part of these Terms and Conditions (or the remaining portion of the affected part as the case may be), which shall remain in full force and effect.
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22.8
ICM Capital Ltd shall be entitled to assign, transfer, charge, sub-contract or deal in any manner with all or any of its rights and/or liabilities hereunder including by way of transfer of the same to an Associated Company or Trading Partner.
23. TAXES
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23.1
At the present time, income from CFD Trading is not exempt from Capital Gains tax. However, there is no Stamp Duty on CFDs. Tax regulations may change at any time. It is your sole responsibility to ensure that your CFD activity complies with your local income tax regulations and any other applicable fiscal laws.
24. LEGAL JURISDICTION
DEFINITIONS
In this Agreement (and in addition to expressions defined elsewhere on our website) the following words and expressions shall have the following meanings:
"Account Balance" is the "cash balance" on your account (your account balance does not include profits or losses on any open Positions).
"Applicable Laws" means any national, local or other statute, law, rule, code guidance, order or decision of a Governmental Authority and, for the avoidance of doubt includes any rule or principle of common law or equity, all the provisions of the FCA Rules recognised under the law of England and Wales.
"Application Form" means the application form supplied by ICM Capital Ltd in relation to these Terms and Conditions.
"Associated Company" means any holding company or subsidiary company (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) within the ICM Capital Ltd group and/or any subsidiary company of any such holding company or its subsidiaries.
"Authorised Third Party" means a person authorised by you to initiate trades or close existing trades using your account details, as referred to in Clause 15.
"Bet" (including "betting", "dealing", "trading") or other similar words express a reference to a client entering into a Transaction.
"Bid" or "bid price" is the price at which the Client can sell.
"Buy" (including "Take", "Up Bet", "Go Long" "Long", "Long Position") is defined as making a buy Transaction or buying the market quoted by ICM Capital Ltd.
"Client" (including "you", and "your") means a person or company who has opened an account with ICM Capital Ltd and has agreed to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.
"Client Money/Monies" refers to your funds in your account which is held by ICM Capital Ltd in accordance with FCA Rules.
Clients of ICM Capital retain full titles to their monies, subject to usage requirements, in accordance with FCA rules.
"Credit Account" is an account where ICM Capital Ltd, at its sole discretion, has offered you a credit line to use as Trading Resources.
"Contract For Difference", "CFD" or other similar words express a reference to a client placing a CFD trade.
"Default Event" shall be deemed to have occurred where:
- any statement either oral or written made by you to ICM Capital Ltd is or becomes untrue or misleading;
- you fail to carry out any of your obligations to ICM Capital Ltd under this Agreement (including failure to satisfy a Margin Call) or you fail to do anything that you have stated that you will do whether orally or over the telephone or by any form of written or electronic message;
- in the event of your death or become a patient within the meaning of any applicable mental health legislation;
- you are in default of payment of money owed to ICM Capital Ltd or any of its Associated Companies or Trading Partners;
- ICM Capital Ltd at its sole discretion believes that any of the circumstances set out in this definition are likely to happen.
"Deposit Account"
is an account where you need to deposit funds before you can commence trading.
"DTP"
is any Downloadable Trading Platform provided by ICM Capital Ltd for trading our markets.
"Execution Policy"
means ICM Capital Ltd's order Execution Policy which may be amended from time to time. A summary of the current Execution Policy is available on our website
"Expiry Date"
means the expiry date and time of a Transaction.
"Free Margin"
"FCA"
is the UK's Financial Conduct Authority.
"FCA Rules"
means the rules and regulations issued by the FCA from time to time.
"FSMA"
means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
"FX",
"Forex”
refers to currency trading,
"Gapping"
as is detailed in Clause 7.
"If Done Order"
means an order that is only triggered on the activation of another attached order. For example, if a New Order is activated, you may wish to pre-set a Stop Loss and/or a Limit order. These additional orders are deemed "If Done Orders".
"IMR"
"Min IMR")
means Initial Margin Requirement which represents the minimum Trading Resources (Free Margin) required to place an opening trade in the minimum trade size permitted by ICM Capital Ltd. (i.e. if you have a Sterling Account and the Min IMR in a market was 50 then to place a unit trade size of £3 you would require at least £150 (£3x50) of available resources to do so)
"Insolvency Event"
- if you are an individual, on the passing, or proposal, by you of a voluntary arrangement under the Insolvency Act of 1986 (specifically part VIII) or an agreement/composition with your creditors generally or the making of a bankruptcy order;
- if you are a company, the passing of any resolution, or order, for the winding up or dissolution of the company, or making of an administration order or the appointment of an official receiver or the sale under encumbrance of any asset of the company or the motion of any voluntary arrangement under the Insolvency Act of 1986;
- if, you as a client of ICM Capital Ltd under these Terms and Conditions, you are unable to pay your debts as they fall due or any act of insolvency or similar or analogous event or action taken in respect of you.
"Limit Order"
refers to an instruction to take a profit on an open trade if our quote reaches the level requested or as a contingent („If Done') instruction on a New Order.
"ICM Capital Ltd", "ICM Capital Ltd"
(including "we", "us", "our" and "ourselves" as appropriate) the retail division of ICM Capital Ltd Limited.
"LSE"
the London Stock Exchange.
"Margin"
a term that describes the cash required or being used on your account to either open Transaction or run your Positions. See Clause 7.
"Margin Call"
a request for Margin payment as referred to in Clause 8.
"Margin Requirement"
is the amount of cash or credit resources required to maintain your existing open Positions.
"Market"
refers to indices, share, currencies, commodities, bonds and interest rates or any other product that may be quoted by ICM Capital Ltd from time to time.
"Contract Specifications"
refers to the document available online that details ICM Capital Ltd's current Quoting Hours, Min IMR, Overnight Financing interest rates, other market specifications and other rates applicable to the Transactions and Positions as determined by us for you.
"New Order"
is an instruction to open a new Transaction at a possible future price based in the ICM Capital Ltd Quote.
"Offer"
"offer price"
is the price at which the Client can buy.
"Order Book"
the window on the OTP where your working orders are listed.
"OTP"
is any Online Trading Platform provided by ICM Capital Ltd for trading our markets.
"Overnight Financing"
is the credit or debit applied to your account when you hold a Position in certain contracts overnight and including non-business days.
"Pricing Error"
is defined as a misquote by ICM Capital Ltd where the price quoted materially and clearly deviates from the prevailing market price (or the forward calculated market price) at the time that it was quoted. A Pricing Error as defined, but not exclusively, is a Bid price or Offer price which varies above or below the prevailing mid-market price of the underlying product by more than the size of the quoted bid/offer spread of that product. For example a bid/offer quote by ICM Capital Ltd in the FTSE Quarterly contract of 4804 - 4808 when the correct quote should have been 4797 - 4801 may be considered to be a Pricing Error as the ICM Capital Ltd Bid of 4804 is more than the quoted spread of the product (in this case 4) away from the midpoint (4799) of the correct quote.
"Position(s)"
"Rolling Daily"
refers to Positions that automatically roll into the next trading day without incurring any profit or loss. Such Positions usually have a long Expiry Date (sometimes many years in the future) and attract Overnight Financing.
"Quote", "Our Quote", "ICM Capital Ltd Quote"
is the price quoted by ICM Capital Ltd via an OTP or a DTP or over the telephone. All Quotes are based upon an Underlying Market that is sourced from either a recognised global exchange or from a wholesale counterparty.
"Quoting Hours", "ICM Capital Ltd Quoting Hours"
are the times detailed in the Contract Specifications when ICM Capital Ltd quotes its markets. ICM Capital Ltd will not quote any markets outside of its opening hours.
"Sell",
"Go Short", "Short", "Short Position")
is defined as making a sell Transaction or selling the market quoted by ICM Capital Ltd.
"Size(s)"
refers to the size of the buy or sell Transaction. The standard, minimum and maximum trade sizes and stake sizes that ICM Capital Ltd allows can differ from market to market and product to product and are further detailed in the Contract Specifications.
"Stop", "Stop Loss"
is an order to close an open Position at a pre-determined level.
"Trading Partners"
are anyone with whom ICM Capital Ltd has a contractual relationship, for example a joint venture relationship, partnership relationship, agency relationship, white label relationship or introducing broker relationship.
"Trading Resources"
"Free Margin"
"available Margin")
is the amount of money available on your account that may be apportioned to new Transactions or to moving current Stop levels.
"Transactions"
means any buy or sell trade or CFD trade made between you and ICM Capital Ltd (including to close a Position) and includes any other such transaction made between ICM Capital Ltd and you as may be agreed from time to time and on a case by case basis.
"Underlying Market"
is the physical underlying assets from which our markets are derived, and the market in which those assets are traded.