1. Introduction
1.1 Acetop Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority(“FCA”) with registration number 767154. The FCA’s registered address is 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN. Acetop Financial is a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 10067568, our registered address is 1st Floor, 13 St Swithin’s Lane, London, EC4N 8AL.
2. This Agreement
2.1 This Agreement is between you, the client, and us, Acetop Financial Limited. In this Agreement we may refer to ourselves as ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’, ‘ours’, ‘ourselves’ or “the firm” as appropriate. Similarly, you, the client, may be referred to as ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘yours’ or ‘yourself’, as appropriate.
2.2 For the avoidance of doubt, your electronic acceptance or written acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Agreement and your use or continued use of our services will be taken as your consent to be legally bound by the Agreement. This Agreement will come into force on the date we open an Account for you, which will be after you have signified acceptance of this Agreement, either electronically or in writing.
2.3 The Agreement shall supersede any previous agreement, arrangement or understanding, whether written or oral, between us as to the basis on which we provide services to you. We may vary or amend the Agreement at any time upon notice to you, given or confirmed in writing (which variation or amendment shall be effective on the date specified in our notice or, if no date is specified, immediately) which may include displaying such notice on our website, online trading platform and account review facility. Our services are provided subject to any disclosures or disclaimers found in the Agreement, on our website and on the online trading platform.
2.4 You agree to be legally bound by this Agreement if you:
a) Check that you agree to our Terms & Conditions when applying for an account on our Website
b) Sign the account opening documentation or;
c) Trade on your Trading Account(s)
This Agreement, as may be amended from time to time, applies to all your Trading Accounts without any separate agreement.
2.5 The agreement between us in relation to your trading with us consists of:
a) The application that you submit to open an account;
b) The terms and conditions set out in this Agreement (including any Schedules);
c) Any specific terms and conditions in relation to our Website, which are displayed on our Website;
d) Any other document we may provide to you and expressly state that it forms part of the agreement between us.
2.6 There are additional documents and information available to you on our Website that provide more details on us and your activities carried on with us. These include:
a) Best Execution Policy
b) Conflicts of Interest Policy
c) Privacy and Security Policy
d) Risk Warning Notice
e) Complaints Procedure
2.7 For your own benefit and protection, you should take sufficient time to read this Agreement, as well as the additional documents and information available on our Website, before you apply to open an Account and place any trade with us. If you do not understand anything you should contact us to ask for further information or seek independent professional advice.
2.8 Our Transactions carry a high level of risk and can result in losses that exceed your initial deposit. Our Transactions are not suitable for everyone. You should not deal in these or other products unless you understand the nature of the contract you are entering into and the extent of your exposure to risk. A full explanation of the risks associated with our Transactions is set out in the Risk Disclosure Notice. You should ensure you fully understand such risks before entering into this Agreement or any Transaction with us.
2.9 Subject to our duties and liabilities under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and FCA rules, we shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by you in connection with the provision of any services to which these Terms apply except to the extent that such loss or damage results directly from our negligence, fraud or wilful default
2.10 It is our intention that this Agreement contains all the terms and conditions that govern our relationship and your activities carried on with us. This Agreement supersedes any prior oral or written representations, arrangements, understandings and/or agreements between you and us. Any acts, omissions or representations (oral or otherwise) made by you or us (including by any of our staff who you have dealings with) shall not amend or take priority over the Agreement.
2.11 We may provide one or more of our services in other EU countries on a cross-border basis (known as “passporting”) in accordance with the EU Directive on Markets in Financial Instruments (known as “MiFID II ”), as amended or replaced from time to time. If we provide client services in other EU countries with the establishment of a local branch, we will be required to comply with the rules of conduct governing such services under the relevant local regulatory authority and regime.
3. The Services We Will Provide
3.1 This Agreement sets out the basis on which we will enter into Transactions with you and governs each Transaction entered into or outstanding between you and us on or after the date that this Agreement comes into effect.
3.2 We will treat you as a Retail Client unless we have informed you otherwise in writing. You have the right to request a different client categorisation;
a) if you satisfy the definition of Professional Client or Eligible Counterparty, we may notify you that we will treat you as such;
b) you may request a different client categorisation from the one we have allocated to you. However we are under no obligation to consent to such request. However, if you do request a different categorisation and we agree to such a request, you will not be entitled to certain protections afforded to Retail Clients.
c) if we elect to treat you, or you request to be treated, as an Eligible Counterparty, the terms of this Agreement will be supplemented and modified by the Supplementary Schedule of Conditions for Eligible Counterparties, by which you hereby agree to be bound.
3.3 Acetop Financial Limited is an execution only broker. As such all Trades are performed by us upon the receipt of instructions from you and on an ‘execution-only’ basis only. Trades will be entered into on a principal to-principal basis and we will deal with you as an arm’s length counterparty and on a non-advised basis. This means that unless we agree otherwise in writing neither you nor we can act as agent, attorney, trustee or representative for any other person in respect of a trade. We are under no obligation to satisfy ourselves as to the suitability of any Trade, to monitor or advise upon its performance.
4. Your Account
4.1 Your application must be accepted and verified before you are entitled to the use of our services. We have the right to refuse your application at any stage, for any reason and we are under no obligation to disclose to you any reason for doing so.
4.2 The information you have submitted to us in your application from, or any thereafter, may be used in our sole discretion to conduct further enquiries about you. You consent to us acquiring personal data from third party agencies where necessary in order to conduct further checks on you. These agents (who may keep a record of the search) include credit and fraud prevention agencies or other financial institutions (comprising but not limited to validating your identity, sanctions screening, and/or references from your bank or employer as necessary). We may also carry out further checks where we reasonably consider, within our own discretion, are needed in order to battle either fraud and/or money laundering. You agree to co-operate with us and supply us with the relevant information should we request it. We are obliged to periodically review and assess details you have provided to us, and we reserve the right to provide this information to third party agencies (as applicable) where we have legitimate reason to do so.
4.3 You acknowledge that the information provided to us in your application form is accurate at all times, except if you have notified us otherwise in writing. If any of your details have changed, which you have supplied to us in your application form or thereafter, you must notify us as soon as possible in writing.
4.4 Any information we have about you may be used to make an evaluation of whether or not we deem the trading account and the risks involved suitable for you.
4.5 Once we accept your application and your account has been approved, we will notify you of this in writing with the details on how to access the website and the Electronic Trading System. Please do not attempt to deposit or send us any funds before you have received approval that your trading account has been approved, as your payment may be rejected. We will not be liable for any delay in funds being returned in this instance.
4.6 If you opted to open a Joint Account;
a) you and all the other members of the account will be jointly and severely liable for any financial obligations (including but not limited to losses, fees or charges) from the account, and shall be payable in full by you or any members of the Joint Account.
b) Any references as ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘yourself’ or ‘our client’ are referring to as one or all members whose name the Joint account is held in. Each joint account member has full authority over the account and can act on behalf of the other members to give or receive any instruction, notice, request or acknowledgement without the notice of the other members.
c) Any notice or communication provided to any one of the members from the Joint Account will be deemed as having the notice or communication made to all Joint Account holders.
d) Within our discretion, where we see reasonably necessary, we may require an instruction, notice, request or acknowledgment from all Joint Account members before any action is taken.
e) In the event of a death of any of the Joint Account holders, the trading account will be closed and the remaining balance (minus and due fees or charges) will be paid evenly to the members of the account, the survivors and the relevant person’s supplementary details.
f) Once a Joint Account is opened, no other members can be removed nor added to the account. If you wish for any of the account holders to be amended, the current account will be closed and a new account will be created.
4.7 You must ensure that all of your passwords are kept secure and confidential. You must inform us immediately if you feel or suspect that your account details have been compromised (unless agreed already by an authorised person appointed by yourself with regards to your account) and is trying to access your account without your approval.
4.8 You acknowledge and agree that we may rely on your username/account number to identity you and will ensure these details will not be supplied to a person who is not authorised by you. In no circumstance will any of our employees ask you for your password, and in no case should you reveal it.
4.9 We are not liable for any unauthorised activity of your account and/or passwords except if it is due to our malign fraud or default or negligence. We are not liable for any usernames or passwords you record on your personal devices.
5. Conflicts of Interest
5.1 You acknowledge that we and our Associated Companies may have an interest or relationship which conflicts with your interests or our duties to you. We provide a diverse range of financial services to a broad range of clients and counterparties and circumstances may arise in which we, our Associated Companies, or a Relevant Person may have a material interest in a Transaction with or for you or where a conflict of interest may arise between your interests and those of other clients or counterparties or of ourselves, our Associated Companies or a Relevant Person. For further information please refer to our Conflict of Interest Policy which can be found on our Website.
5.2 We provide a Trading Platform for dealing in CFDs and Spread Bets and do not carry out any competing activities which could give rise to a conflict of interest with clients or between clients. At no time can the interests of a client be harmed by the exchange of information or any other factor as envisaged under Article 22 of the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.
5.3 If there is any conflict between this Agreement and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the “Act”) or Applicable Regulations, the Act and Applicable Regulations will prevail. Nothing in this Agreement will exclude or restrict any duty or liability owed by us to you under the Act or Applicable Regulations under which we are not permitted to exclude or restrict.
5.4 In the event of a conflict between any provision of this Agreement and any relevant legislation and regulations, the relevant legislation and regulations shall prevail.
6. Fees, Charges and Tax
6.1 Before you begin to trade, you should ensure that you are fully aware of all charges for which you will be liable. If any charges are not expressed in money terms (but, for example, as a percentage of contract value), you should obtain a clear and written explanation, including appropriate examples, to establish what such charges are likely to mean in specific money terms.
6.2 In addition to our charges you will be responsible for payment of any stamp and other duties, taxes of whatsoever nature, impositions and fiscal charges (in each case wherever in the world imposed), all other liabilities, charges, costs and expenses payable or incurred by us on your behalf, and any applicable value added tax or similar charge. Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances and differ dependant on your jurisdiction.
6.3 Open positions which are held overnight could be subject to Overnight Financing/Swaps in accordance with the underlying market’s specifications. Depending on the type of position held, you may either be credited or debited. Interest will be calculated based on the prevailing interest rates for the specific underlying instrument, inclusive of our own administration charge. Whilst your position remains open, the amount of interest will be calculated and accrue on a daily basis. The operation is performed automatically by our systems at the end of our business day (22:00 UK time), and will be converted into the client’s account base currency. Detailed information on our Swap fees, on a per instrument basis, are available through our trading platform.
6.4 The spread is the difference between the price at which a contract can be bought or sold at a point in time, and may significantly widen in certain circumstances at our discretion. You are aware that the spread may be larger or smaller from the point you opened a position to the point that you close it.
6.5 A Trading Account will be considered dormant or inactive where there has been no activity on the account for a consecutive period of 1 year or more. We reserve the right to charge an account maintenance fee in relation to inactive or dormant accounts until activity resumes. This fee will be £10.00 (or its equivalent in another currency) per month after one year, until your balance reaches zero; or the Account is closed by us or you instruct us to close your account . Where possible we will notify you (by email) in advance of any account deactivation. Upon notification, or if your account has been previously deactivated, and you wish for your account to remain open, please contact our Customer Service Department.
6.6 We may impose certain additional charges as set out in our published rates which you shall be liable for in the event that you fail to comply with your obligations under these Terms. In particular, if you default in paying any amount when due, interest will be payable by you at the rate specified in our published rates, and in addition you will be charged for each letter concerning your breach of your obligations.
6.7 In addition to paying any charges due to us you will reimburse us for any costs and expenses which we may incur which are directly attributable to you. These charges may include (without limitation) the costs of providing information to third parties (such as your accountants or auditors), valuations, or our involvement in legal proceedings brought against you
7. Electronic Trading Systems
7.1 Where you are given access to an Electronic Trading System, provided by us, to facilitate the placing of orders and the processing of instructions, you will be aware that:
a) There is no obligation for us to accept an instruction to execute or cancel a trade that is submitted through the Electronic Trading System. Once sent, the instruction will be irrevocable, and we will have no obligation to reverse or edit the transaction.
b) We have no responsibility for instructions that that are inaccurate, and will execute any transaction based on the instructions received.
c) You will be responsible for cancelling or amending any transaction.
d) The order will be confirmed as effective once you have received onscreen notification from the system as acceptance by us.
e) You shall notify us immediately in the event of any loss or theft of your password, or any suspected unauthorised use, or where there is a suspected breach of security or confidentiality of the password.
f) You must trade primarily through our MT4 or mobile platforms, unless you are unable to trade due to technical difficulties. In this case, you may contact our Dealing Team via telephone to facilitate a trade
7.2 You are responsible for providing the required systems in order to use our Electronic Trading Services and ensure they are compatible and meet the minimum requirements. Due to the inherent risks of using these services you will be aware that systems may not be secure and there are possibilities of failures.
7.3 We may suspend or terminate, at any time, any Electronic Trading System at our discretion, without prior notice. We will not be liable for interrupted access or where systems have been made unavailable due to circumstances outside of our control. We will hold no liability in relation to any loss that is suffered by you due to failures of our systems.
7.4 You will be responsible for taking reasonable steps to prevent the introduction of any computer viruses, worms, software bombs or similar items into the system, or through any software you use. Provided that we have taken the steps needed to prevent such an introduction, we shall have no liability to you.
8. Basis of Trading
8.1 When using our services, we are the counterparty to all executed trades. We deal with you as an arm’s-length counterparty, and all trades are on a principle-to-principle basis. Trades are performed by us on an ‘execution-only’ basis upon instructions received by you. We are under no obligation to advise on the suitability of any financial instrument or to monitor and advise on its performance.
8.2 You acknowledge that you are responsible for assessing the suitability, risk and nature of any trade entered into under this agreement, and that you will not rely on us for any advice. Any information supplied by us or on our behalf should not be constituted as advice. We do not advise on any tax consequences, which will be your responsibility dependant on your jurisdiction. If necessary, independent advice should be sought in relation to trading financial instruments, including but not limited to pursued strategies, charges and tax implications.
8.3 Any trade you place will not create any rights or ownership in any underlying market. No underlying market or associated rights will be transferred to you
8.4 By entering an agreement with us, you agree that:
a) You are 18 years of age or older.
b) All information supplied to us during and after the application process is accurate, complete, true and current.
c) Any trades pursuant to this agreement are on your own behalf as principal and not as an agent for another party.
d) You are responsible for making your own investigations into the risks and suitability of any trades.
e) You have sufficient knowledge and experience to make your own evaluation on the risks and suitability of any financial instrument, or have received sufficient professional advice to enable you to make an informed decision.
f) There are no contraventions of any legislation in the country from which you are placing trades from.
9. Trading
9.1 We provide a number of financial instruments on an ‘execution-only’ basis, including but not limited to, FX, commodities and indices. Individual product specifications are available on both our website and trading platform. You should read these thoroughly before you action your first trade on that type of market.
9.2 You are trading on the financial instrument’s price and will not be entitled to physical delivery of, or be required to deliver, the underlying instrument.
9.3 We will provide you with a trading platform, giving you access to trade on the price of various financial instruments based on the underlying markets, with various contract specifications. It is your responsibility to understand the contract specifications prior to taking a trade
9.4 You may trade through your trading account throughout our business hours from 22:00 (UK time) Sunday until 22:00 (UK Time) Friday, dependant on the relevant trading times of the requested market. You should note the specific trading times of the required financial instrument prior to taking a trade
9.5 When you request a quote on a financial instrument you will be given both a lower and higher figure, known as the ‘bid’ and ‘ask’ prices, which form our own spread based on the underlying market, determined solely by us at our complete discretion
9.6 You acknowledge that in certain circumstances our spread can be significantly widened from those advertised, with no limit on how large they can be
9.7 Our quotes are reflective of the underlying market which are provided by a liquidity provider, exchange or carefully selected 3rd party market maker. Our prices may differ to that of the underlying market as quoted by other parties
9.8 Due to the nature and speed of pricing on the underlying market, our quoted price may not be the exact price available to open or close a transaction
9.9 You agree that our bid and ask prices are provided to you solely for the purpose of you entering into transactions with us, and that you shall not rely on our bid and ask prices for any other purpose
9.10 When opening a trade, you will be either ‘buying’ or ‘selling’. A trade that is opened by ‘buying’ is referred to as a ‘buy’ position but may also be referred to as ‘long’ or ‘long position’. A trade that is opened by ‘selling’ is referred to as a ‘sell’ position but may also be referred to as ‘short’ or ‘short position’
9.11 When you open a trade to ‘buy’, the opening level will be the current ‘ask’ price for the relevant financial instrument, subsequently, when you open a trade to ‘sell’, the opening level will be the current ‘bid’ price for the relevant financial instrument
9.12 When you close a transaction that is a ‘buy’, the closing level will be the current ‘bid’ price for the relevant financial instrument, subsequently, when you close a trade to ‘sell’, the closing level will be the current ‘ask’ price for the relevant financial instrument.
9.13 When you close a transaction, trading losses will be debited from your account balance and any profits will be credited to your account balance.
9.14 Trades can only be opened and closed during the relevant market hours of the particular financial instrument, on the price quoted by us at that time.
9.15 Each transaction will be binding on you notwithstanding that by opening or closing the trade you may have exceeded any credit or other limit applicable to you in respect of your dealings with us. It will also be binding on you regardless of whether it was opened or closed as a result of a mistake by you or any inaccuracy.
9.16 Price gaps can occur at any time during trading hours, often with the release of price sensitive information, or at the market open. When the specific price requested by you is not available when an order is presented for execution, the order is executed as close as practical to your requested price which may lead to Positive or Negative Slippage. The indicated price may not necessarily be the exact price available to open or close a trade, due to the nature and speed of price movement in the underlying market. We will not be liable for any loses or costs which may be incurred as a result of a trade not being able to be opened or closed at a particular on-screen price.
9.17 We may set minimum and maximum Quantities for opening and/or closing Trades in each Market and different minimum and maximum Quantities for Trades placed on the Trading Platform or by telephone. We may be unable to execute Trades at Our Price which are larger than our maximum Quantity or smaller than our minimum Quantity
9.18 In terms of automated trading tools, the Expert Advisor function will be auto-enabled on your trading account. We reserve the right to ban or prohibit the use of any particular Expert Advisor or Script at our discretion, or disable the Expert Advisors function from your account
9.19 If an Expert Advisor or script is creating a higher than normal volume which we believe is impacting on the performance of our systems and servers, we reserve the right to disable the Expert Advisors function from your account
9.20 The use of automated trading tools are your sole responsibility, and you must make sure you maintain a sufficient level of funds available in your account at all times to cover the possible generation of a high number of trades.
9.21 As required by Law or best practice, we may be obliged to report any trade or transaction undertaken by you to any relevant regulatory authority. You acknowledge and agree that we are entitled to disclose such information and that such information held by us shall be our sole and exclusive property.
9.22 We reserve the right to refuse the provision of any trading service to you, at any time, and are not obliged to inform you of our reasons to do so, to protect the legitimate interests of both you and the Firm.
10. Margin
10.1 Upon opening a transaction you will be required to pay us the ‘Initial margin’ for that position, and you must ensure that your free margin is sufficient for the trade to be executed. The Initial margin will be based on a percentage of the cost of the contract and is due and payable to us the moment the transaction is opened. You acknowledge that this margin payment does not indicate or in any way limit your potential trading losses.
10.2 Once a trade has been opened you have a continuing margin obligation to ensure that all necessary margin payments are made. If there is a shortfall between your balance and your margin requirement, you will be required to deposit additional funds to your account. Your failure to pay any margin required in relation to your positions will be regarded as an Event of Default.
10.3 You acknowledge that it is your responsibility to be aware of the Margin required at all times for all open positions, and of your obligation to pay that required margin.
10.4 We are not under any obligation to make Margin Calls, or keep you informed of your account balance and margin required, within any specific time period or at all. We will not be liable for any losses, costs, expenses or damages incurred or suffered by you due to any failure or delay on our part to make a margin call at any time, and this will not act as a waiver of any of our rights or remedies under this agreement. The margin call will have been made as soon as you are deemed to have received such a notice electronically, orally or in writing.
10.5 We may close out one or more of your open Positions if the total Margin in your Account falls below 50% of your Initial Margin. Where we do this, we will close your open Positions at the current market price and this may result in you incurring a loss on the Transaction(s). We are required by law and regulation to provide this protection to Retail Clients only.
10.6 We reserve the right to change the way in which we calculate Margin Requirements at any time, for example and without limitation, in response or anticipation of the following:
a) Economic news
b) Changes in volatility or liquidity of the underlying market, or general financial markets
c) A changing in your dealing patterns
d) Your exposure being concentrated in a particular underlying market
e) Any change in applicable regulations
10.7 We may alter Margin Requirements at any time and any change will become effective immediately. We will provide you with at least 24 hours’ notice by email of any increase in Margin Requirement. It is your responsibility to know at all times the current Margin Requirement applicable to your Account and your Open Positions.
11. Manifest Error
11.1 We reserve the right to either void or amend the terms of any transaction executed at prices which are the result of any error, omission or misquote which we reasonably believe to be obvious or palpable (a “Manifest Error”), without your consent. An example would be where a trade is executed at a wrong price or misquote, where it is clearly at odds with the fair market price at that time in the current market.
11.2 If we chose to amend the terms of any erroneous transactions based on a manifest error, we may, acting reasonably:
a) Amend the details of each affected trade to such a level we believe would have been fair at the time the transaction was entered into, as if the trade was executed in the absence of the manifest error.
b) Close the trade at our current price at the time of closing.
c) Declare any or all affected trades void, as if it had never taken place or been entered into.
11.3 Following a Manifest Error or in relation to a manifestly erroneous transaction, we will not be liable to you for any loss, cost, claim, demand or expense, except to the extent that such Manifest Error resulted from our own wilful default, fraud or negligence. If we choose to execute our rights under this clause, you agree that any such amount received from us in connection with the Manifest Error, is due and payable to us, and you agree to return such amount to us without delay.
12. Orders
12.1 We have a range of different orders to open and close a position and our acceptance will be decided by us at our absolute discretion. We will take all reasonable steps to obtain the best possible outcome for you during execution. Please contact us immediately if you do not have a full understanding of any order type, and do not proceed to trade until you do so
12.2 Once orders have been triggered, we will attempt to fill them in reasonable time at the next available price, in accordance with our duty of best execution. Orders can be triggered by our price solely during our market hours and not the opening hours of the underlying market
12.3 Types of order:
a) A Stop Loss order is a pending order to deal at a specific pre-set level if our price becomes less favourable to you. This type of order is generally used for your own risk management, for example if your trade moves into a loss.
b) A Trailing Stop order is similar to a stop order but it allows you to set a floating stop level that automatically moves as our price moves in your favour. Trailing stops are only active while the MT4 platform is open. Once the platform is closed, trailing stops will not be triggered. As it is an automated tool, it must be used with caution and constantly monitored by you. We cannot guarantee the performance of a trailing stop due to the nature and speed of the underlying markets.
c) A Limit Order is a pending order to deal at a specific pre-set level if our price becomes more favourable to you. A type of limit order is a ‘take profit’ order, which can be attached to an open position.
d) A Market Order is an instruction to deal instantly at the best available price and in accordance with our duty to best execution. A market order will be triggered as soon as the instruction is received by us, and you acknowledge that your trade could be executed at a price that is worse than the quoted bid or ask price at the time of the request.
12.4 The duration of the order can be set by you through the trading platform. You can chose a fixed date and time for it to expire, or alternatively, you can choose to leave it open for an indefinite period, also known as a ‘GTC’ order or ‘Good till Cancelled’
12.5 It is your responsibility to understand how each order type operates before you place such an order, including the attached terms and conditions. Details on how each order type works are available on request
12.6 We do not guarantee that a transaction will be processed, nor do we guarantee that if it is processed, it will be done at your requested size, level or limit
13. Netting and Set-Off
13.1 The agreement and all trades and transactions between you and us in respect of your trading account shall form part of a single agreement. We acknowledge that we enter into the agreement and any trades under it in reliance upon the fact that these are part of a single agreement between us.
13.2 Without prejudice to our rights under this agreement to close your open positions and/or your trading account, we may:
a) Combine and consolidate your trading account with any or all of the accounts you may have with us in your name, even if any of those accounts have been closed.
b) Set off against each other the amounts referred to in both (i) and (ii):
(i) Any amounts that are payable to us, including your cash (if a credit balance), unrealised profits and any credit balance held on your account with us, even if any of those accounts have been closed.
(ii) Any amounts that are payable to us, including, but not limited to, unrealised losses, interest, costs, expenses, and/or charges incurred in respect of any debit balances in any account you hold with us, even if those accounts have been closed.
13.3 In relation to your account, if any losses incurred or debit balance to us exceeds all amounts held by us, you must pay such excess to us whether demanded or not. We reserve our right to require payment from you, and will at any time have the right to set off any losses in respect of any account held by you with us, under this agreement, against any sums, instruments or other assets, held by us, under this agreement.
13.4 If the rights under this clause are exercised, all payment obligations will be consolidated into one obligation for you to pay a net sum to us, or for us to pay a net sum to you.
14. Corporate Actions, Dividend and Other Situations
14.1 If a Corporate Action or Insolvency Event takes place in relation to any underlying instrument, we may, acting in a reasonable manner, make adjustments to any open positions and/or orders you have in that instrument, to reflect those actions and put you in a position as close as possible to that of a direct holder of the underlying instrument.
14.2 We may make dividend adjustments if a dividend is declared to be paid to holders of the underlying instrument. The adjustment to your trading account will normally be made on the ex-dividend date to reflect the dividend event. If you hold a long position, you will receive a credit to your account. If you hold a short position, your account will be debited.
14.3 We will make any relevant adjustments to your positions, with respect to these actions, as soon as we are reasonably able to do so, and this will normally be as soon as is reasonably practicable after the relevant event has occurred.
14.4 Depending on the event concerned, we may take any of the actions set out in this clause without prior notice. If we do so, we will give you notice at the time we take the action or as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter.
15. Communications
15.1 It is important that you provide us with updated communication details for us to maintain in contact with you, and it is your responsibility to ensure that at all times the contact details that we hold in respect of your account are complete and up to date.
15.2 All requests to open, close or amend a transaction (or an order), or with regards to other trade matters must be given to us either; via our Trading platform or; via the telephone by calling us on the numbers provided to you for this intention. You will be able to provide trade instructions by telephone directly with a broker during standard Trading hours. Any trade instructions left on an answering machine will not be executed. Written trading instructions either via email, text message or live chat, will not be accepted or executed for the purpose of this Agreement.
15.3 We will not usually accept an offer to open or close a transaction received other than in accordance with the above, but if we choose to do so we will not be responsible for any loss, damage or cost that you endure as a result of any error, delay or absence in us placing the transaction, or failing to place the transaction.
15.4 If at any time you are incapable, for whatever reason, to communicate with us, or we do not receive any communication by you, or you do not receive any communication by us under this Agreement, we will not:
a) Be accountable for any loss, damage or cost caused to you by any act of error, delay or omission, resulting therefrom in where such loss, damage or cost is a consequence on your inability to place a transaction; and
b) Except where your incapability to communicate with us results from our fraud, wilful default or negligence, be accountable for any loss, damage or cost endured by you as a consequence of any act of error, omission or delay resulting therefrom including without limitation, where such damage or loss is a consequence on your inability to close a transaction
15.5 You acknowledge that all communication must be received by you or on your behalf at your risk, and you approve us to rely and act on, and handle as fully approved and binding by you, whether received by telephone, electronically, or in writing that we reasonably believe to have been provided by you or on your behalf by any person whom we believe to have been appropriately authorised by you
15.6 You acknowledge and approve that we will identify you with your username, account number and/or security questions and you accept that you will not supply this information to any person who is not authorised by you. If you believe the above details have been compromised by any other person unauthorised by you then you must notify us of this immediately.
15.7 You consent that we may record any communications either electronically, via email or telephone made by or to you or on behalf of you being recorded. These recordings will be our private property and may be utilised to confirm instructions, in the case of a quarrel or as requested by the FCA, and may be used for training purposes. As required by the FCA we will preserve all call recordings.
15.8 You acknowledge to the receipt of documents electronically either via email, through our website or any other way.
15.9 In line with Applicable Regulations, you will be supplied with information about each transaction that is made by providing you with a trading account statement. Statements will be provided via email or posted to you at the end of each month on the last day of the month or the first or second day of the following month. If you choose to obtain your statements by post, you may be liable for an administration charge. Individual transactions will be visible to you via the Electronic trading platform.
15.10 You acknowledge that the information supplied to you in the statement is correct, unless you notify us of the contrary two (2) business days after the statement has been deemed to be provided to you.
15.11 Failure to provide you with a transaction confirmation or a statement does not quantify nor make voidable a transaction that you and we have agreed and we have confirmed in accordance with the terms above. You acknowledge that in the case whereby you are not provided with evidence of an opened or closed transaction, you must only query this as long as: (i) you notify us within two (2) business days that you have not received such after the alleged transaction took place, and (ii) you are able to provide correct specifics of the time and date of the alleged transaction, to our reasonable satisfaction, and evidence to support the claims.
15.12 You consent that we may communicate with you via telephone, letter, email, text message, or electronically and we may contact you at any time
15.13 The information which has been supplied by you at the account registration stage, or as notified by you once updated, such as address, phone or email address will be used, unless you have communicated to us otherwise, to provide you with:
a) Statements;
b) Notification to any amendments made to the terms of this Agreement;
c) Notification to any amendments made to the way in which our service is supplied to you, like changes to commissions, spreads, charges, margin rates, taxes etc (list is not exhaustive);
d) Offers, product information, marketing, news and other useful information
15.14 All communications in relation to this agreement, including documents, written notices, confirmations, statements, legal notices or messages will be deemed properly supplied:
a) If sent by first class post to the address informed by you to us, on the next business day after being posted;
b) If delivered to the address last informed by you to us, immediately at the time of being deposited to you at such address;
c) If sent by text message or fax, as soon as it had been transmitted to the last fax or mobile number informed by you to us;
d) If sent by email, as soon as we have transmitted it to the email address last informed by you to us; and
e) If posted on our electronic platform or website, as soon as it has been posted
15.15 We are obliged by law to disclose to you certain information about us, you consent that this information can be provided by means of our website, alternatively you can contact one of our client service team and this information can be supplied to you.
15.16 It is solely your responsibility to ensure that all warnings and notices uploaded or posted on our website or the electronic trading platform are checked from time to time.
15.17 You consent that albeit the means of communicating with you via email, electronically or all other forms of communication are habitually reliable, no electronic contact with you can always be available or dependable. In the event whereby there may be a malfunction either due to software, computer, mechanical, telecommunications or other electronic systems failure, and you cannot receive any communication or transaction it may relate to; we will not be liable for any loss or damage, however it may have been caused, resulting directly or indirectly out of an issue by you or us to receive any communication. More-over, you are aware that any communication sent to you by us via email, text or any other form of electronic communication may not be encrypted and as a result not entirely secured.
15.18 You consent that there are risks involved in electronic communications and there could be instances whereby they may not reach the intended destination or may be delayed for reasons which we cannot control. If for whatever reason we are unable to receive or accept your communication electronically, we may, without any obligation, disclose to you that the communication can be made alternatively via phone, and under our discretion inform you of this.
15.19 You acknowledge that we preserve the right to provide you with documentation and communication in the English language for as long as this Agreement is upheld, but where commercially reasonable and when we are able to, we will provide you with the such in your chosen language. In the case of a dispute between the version of this Agreement in the English language and any other language this has a version of, the English version will prevail.
15.20 Use of our services via a mobile version will still be upheld by this agreement, and to any additional mobile terms advised on our website as amended from time to time.
16. Queries, Complaints or Disputes
16.1 It is your responsibility to alert us to any queries regarding your trading account or any of the services we offer, as soon as possible. You can do this by contacting our customer service department and liaising with one of our staff.
16.2 If you wish to make a complaint or a dispute develops between Acetop and yourself as a result of our services, you must immediately contact our customer service department. We advise that in order to help solve your complaint or dispute quickly, you provide us with full details of the issue, as promptly as possible and preferably in writing.
16.3 During the investigation into a complaint or dispute we reserve the right to suspend your trading account(s) for the term of the investigation until it is resolved.
16.4 As an FCA regulated firm, we take complaints very seriously and follow our Complaints Procedure in accordance with the FCA rules for complaints handling. A copy of this can be found on our website or are available on request if you require it. If you are unhappy or do not agree with the outcome of the response, you can refer your complaint for further investigation to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), an independent dispute resolution service. Any information on the FOS, including how to make a complaint, the procedures and the eligibility criteria can be found from the FOS website at:www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk or by contacting them at: The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR. If you reside in a European Union country, you can also contact the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution Platform at:www.ec.europa.eu/odr
16.5 We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). If a regulated firm is unable to meet their obligations, including if the firm becomes insolvent, the FSCS scheme in certain circumstances, may pay compensation to those clients who are eligible and entitled to receive it. For investment business, compensation can be worth up to 100% for eligible investors up to a maximum of £50,000. Each customer’s entitlement to compensation will differ dependant on the type of investment made and individuals’ circumstance. The FSCS only pays compensation for Financial loss and are limited per person, per firm and per claim category. Further information about the FSCS compensation scheme can be found on their website at: www.fscs.org.uk or by contacting them at: Financial Services Compensation Scheme, 10th Floor, Beaufort House, 15 St Botolph Street, London ECA3 7QU.
17. Client Money
17.1 We will always treat any money received from you or held by us on your behalf in accordance with the Client Money Rules.
17.2 If you have been categorised as a Retail Client your money will be held at designated third party banking institutions in pooled client bank accounts in accordance with the Client Money Rules. Designated client money is segregated from the assets of the Firm and is deemed as client money for the purposes of the FCA rules. We will exercise all due skill, care and diligence in selecting a third party bank to use to hold Client Money and will periodically review the adequacy and appropriateness of any bank where your money is deposited, in accordance with the Client Money Rules.
17.3 You agree that all funds and currencies belonging to you shall be held by us in our designated client money account. Your funds are subject to a right of off-set for all liabilities that you owe to us.
17.4 No interest is due or will be paid in respect of Client Money. It is not our policy to pay interest to you on any client money that we hold on your behalf. By entering into this Agreement you acknowledge and agree that you waive any entitlement to receive interest on any money that we hold for you. In the event that we incur interest charges to hold money on your behalf with a third party banking institution in accordance with the Client Money Rules, you agree that we may charge you for holding client money on your behalf.
17.5 You agree that we may transfer client money to a third party as part of a transfer of all or part of our business. In this circumstance any sums transferred will be held by that third party either in accordance with the Client Money Rules and we will exercise all due care and diligence in assessing that adequate measures have been applied by the third party to protect the client money. We will not be responsible for any acts, omissions or default of the third party bank.
17.6 Any balances due to you which are unclaimed by you on an account which has not been active for six years will cease to be client money and will be retained by us. We will take reasonable steps to locate you and give you reasonable notice should we intend to exercise these rights and should we do so we undertake to make good any valid claim that may be subsequently made against any balances we have retained in this way.
17.7 If you have been categorised as a Professional Client or Eligible Counterparty the following will apply:
a) A separate agreement must be in our agreed form and signed by you
b) You may lose the protection of certain FCA Rules, which we will inform you of. As a Professional Client or Eligible Counterparty when you transfer money to us or money is paid to us on your behalf or is credited by us to your Trading Account, you acknowledge and agree that the full ownership of the money is transferred to us for the purpose of covering your obligations as provided in this Agreement.
c) We will treat any transfer of money by you to us as a transfer of full ownership of money to us for the purpose of securing or covering your present, future, actual, contingent or prospective obligations, and we will not hold such money in accordance with the Client Money Rules
d) The Client Money Rules will not apply to you as a Professional Client or Eligible Counterparty and your money will not be segregated from money held in our accounts.
e) In some circumstances your money may be used in the course of our business
f) You should not place any money with us that is not for the purpose of securing or covering your present, future, actual, contingent or prospective obligations to us
g) In the event of our insolvency, you will rank as general creditor in respect of such money. We will not be liable for the solvency, acts or omissions of any bank or other third party holding your money.
h) You acknowledge and agree that as a Professional Client or Eligible Counterparty you waive any entitlement to receive interest on any money that we hold for you. We shall be entitled at any time with or without notice to you to debit your Account for any amounts due to us. We will be entitled to set off any amount due to you against any amount due to us, paying you or you paying us the resultant net balance.
18. Payment and Withdrawal of Funds
18.1 We may refuse to accept payment by a particular method and if so we may require you to use alternative methods of payment.
18.2 We do not accept cash or payments from, or make any payments to, third parties or other client accounts unless agreed in advance. Any such agreement will be at our discretion and under such terms as we may require from time to time. Funds deposited by way of transfer of monies between client accounts can only be carried out, with all due care, after signed written authority has been received from the paying client.
18.3 The lesser of your Cash Balance, your Liquidation Value or Trade Funds Available, will be paid to you according to your instructions, unless we are prevented from doing so by law. Please note that in some circumstances it may be necessary for you to provide additional documentation to prove the origin of your deposit and your ownership of the destination bank account or card in order to protect you and us against fraud.
18.4 To make a withdrawal, you must submit a request either in writing, by email or via your profile page on our Website. Acetop Financial enforces a return to source policy, therefore where possible all funds will be returned to the same account, or source, from which they were originally deposited.
18.5 In determining whether to accept payments from you, we will have utmost regard to our duties under law regarding the prevention of fraud, countering terrorist financing, insolvency, money laundering and/or tax offences. To this end, we may reject payments from you or a third party and return funds to source. We may not accept payments from a bank account if it is not evident to us that the bank account is in your name.
18.6 Payments due (including Margin payments) will, unless otherwise agreed or specified by us, be required in currencies specified by us. We provide all of our retail clients with negative balance protection. This means that your aggregate liability for all Products connected to your Account is limited to the funds held on your Account.
19. Dealing Procedures and Reporting
19.1 You agree to provide us with all information that we may request for the purpose of complying with our obligations under Applicable Regulations or Terms of this Agreement. You furthermore consent for us to provide to any third party such information if necessary about you and your relationship with us pursuant to this Agreement (including but not limited to your Transactions or money on your account). You acknowledge and agree that we are entitled to disclose such information and that such information held by us shall be our sole and exclusive property.
19.2 We reserve the right to modify, suspend or discontinue, whether temporarily or permanently, all or any of our dealing services with or without notice. You agree that we will not be responsible or liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of any of our dealing services.
19.3 Without prejudice to our right to rely and act on communications from your agent, we will not be under any duty to open or close any trade or accept and act in accordance with any communication if we reasonably believe that such agent may be acting in excess of its authority.
20. Indemnity and Liability
20.1 Nothing in this Agreement shall limit or exclude our liability to you in respect of:
a) your death or personal injury caused by our negligence; or
b) Loss caused by fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
20.2 Subject to our duties and liabilities under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and FCA rules, we shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by you in connection with the provision of any services to which these Terms apply except to the extent that such loss or damage results directly from our negligence, fraud or wilful default.
20.3 You agree that the only duties or obligations we owe you are those set out expressly in these Terms and that we do not owe you any other or further duties or obligations (whether arising from the fact that we are acting as your fiduciary or otherwise).
20.4 Under no circumstances whatsoever shall we be responsible or liable for any claim, loss, damage, expense, or cost howsoever suffered arising in consequence of any breach, failure to perform or delay in performing any of our obligations to you arising from:
a) any matter outside our control;
b) breakdown in communications whether between us and you or between us and any exchange or any intermediate broker through whom we are dealing on your behalf or the failure or defective operation of any computer system; and
c) anything done or omitted to be done by us or the performance or the failure or delay in performance of any of our obligations arising from the absence or inaccuracy of any information provided to us by you or on your behalf or any exchange or any intermediate broker through whom we are dealing on your behalf.
20.5 Under no circumstances will we be responsible or liable for any consequential loss including but not limited to any loss of business opportunity arising directly or indirectly out of or in consequence of anything done or omitted to be done by us or the breach by us of any obligation due to you. Nor shall we be responsible or liable for the tax consequences of any transaction which we may affect for you. We shall not be held responsible or liable to you for any loss, liability, costs, expenses or damages suffered relating to this Agreement or any trading activities undertaken by you using the Services, except where caused directly by the wilful default, fraud or breach of this Agreement by us or our employees, agents or sub-contractors.
20.6 We shall not be liable to you for any indirect Losses which you suffer, except in the case of our wilful default or fraud. “Indirect loss” would include, for example, loss of profit, loss of opportunity, loss of business, loss related to reputational damage and any other indirect losses.
20.7 We will not be liable to you for incidental, special, punitive or consequential damages caused by any act or omission of ours under this Agreement, unless prohibited from excluding liability by law. This includes claims relating to loss of business, loss of profits, loss of opportunity, failure to avoid loss, loss of goodwill or reputation or the corruption or loss of data.
20.8 Without prejudice to any other limitation of our liability the maximum amount of our liability in respect of any Loss that you may suffer in relation to any one Trade will be the amount equal to the Margin you placed with respect to that Trade.
20.9 If and to the extent that we are found liable for any losses or damages in relation to a Transaction then, unless we are prohibited from limiting such liability by law, the maximum amount of our liability will be limited to four times the amount of Commission or Spread paid or payable by you in respect of that Transaction.
21. Market Abuse
21.1 By trading with us you are likely to be subject to various market abuse regimes. Accordingly, you must not carry out any trading activity on the basis of inside information or carry out any trades in order to create a distorted market or misleading impression in relation to the price of financial instruments.
21.2 You undertake to familiarise yourself and comply with any Applicable Regulations concerning the short sale of securities if you seek to execute a CFD or Financial Spread Bet Trade with a short securities position which we may hedge with a short sale of securities you will ensure that your use of the Electronic Service will not result in a breach by us of any Applicable Regulations concerning the short sale of securities.
21.3 We may hedge our liability to you by opening analogous positions with other institutions or in the Underlying Market. The result of our doing this is that when you open or close a Transaction relating to a Financial Instrument with us, your Transactions can, through our hedging, exert a distorting influence on the Underlying Market for that Instrument, in addition to the impact that it may have on our own prices. This creates a possibility of market abuse and the function of this Term is to prevent such abuse.
21.4 For the purpose of complying with legal and regulatory obligations we may in our absolute discretion, and without being under any obligation to inform you of our reason for doing so, close any Trades that you may have open and may, if we so elect, treat all Trades closed under this clause 20 as void.
21.5 We will treat all your Transactions that meet the circumstances set out in this Term as void if they are Transactions under which you have secured a profit, unless and until you produce evidence that satisfies us that you have not, in fact, committed the breach of warranty and/or misrepresentation the suspicion of which was the ground for us taking action under this Term. For the avoidance of doubt, if you do not produce such evidence within the period of three months from the date on which action is taken by us under this Term, all such Transactions will be finally null and void as between you and us; or
21.6 You acknowledge that it would be improper for you to deal in the Underlying Market if the sole purpose of such a transaction was to impact on our bid or offer prices, and you agree not to conduct any such transactions.
21.7 You will not use any device, hardware, software, algorithm, strategy, collusion or deception, the use of which is intended, whether directly or indirectly, to cause or influence us to provide our Platform or accept any trade in a way in which or on terms on which we would not otherwise do so.
22. Improper Behaviour
22.1 We do not permit the use of the Platform for unfair arbitrage activity or otherwise taking advantage of internet delays, using any other manipulative or abusive behaviour which could adversely impact on fair and orderly trading.
22.2 You will not take any action that could create a false impression of the demand for or value of a Product, or send orders which you have reason to believe are in breach of applicable law or regulations.
23. Market Disruption
23.1 For the purposes of this Agreement, a “Disruption Event” is the occurrence of any of the following circumstances or events:
a) the Underlying Market related to the Market you are trading in or the Exchange on which the Underlying Market trades, whether directly or indirectly (example: on a future of or option on such Underlying Market), is the subject of a takeover offer or a merger offer; or the issuer of such Underlying Market or operator of Exchange has entered into or is the subject of insolvency or liquidation proceedings (or any Act of Insolvency has occurred in relation to such issuer or operator); or
b) any event which disrupts the trading of the underlying market or trading on the Exchange including the suspension of or limitation of trading by reason of movements in price exceeding limits permitted by the relevant Exchange, or of regulatory or other intervention, or early closure of the Exchange or otherwise, and/or any other event causing market disruption and which is a material disruption.
23.2 If we in our sole and absolute discretion determine that a Disruption Event has occurred on any day on which a market is scheduled to be open for its regular trading session, then such day shall be a “Disrupted Day”.
24. Force Majeure Events
24.1 We may, in our reasonable opinion, determine that an emergency or an exceptional market condition exists (a “Force Majeure Event”), in which case we will, in due course, inform the FCA and take reasonable steps to inform you. A Force Majeure Event will include, but is not limited to, the following:
a) any acts of God, event or occurrence (including without limitation any strike, riot or civil commotion, act of terrorism, war, industrial action, acts and regulations of any that, in our opinion, prevents us from maintaining an orderly market in one or more of the Instruments in respect of which we ordinarily deal in Transactions)
b) the suspension or closure of any market or the abandonment or failure of any event on which we base our quotes or to which our quotes may relate or the imposition of limits or special or unusual terms on trading in any such market or on any such event; or
c) the occurrence of excessive movement in the price of, or loss in the liquidity of, any of our indices or Products and/or any corresponding market, or our reasonable
d) anticipation of such, or any other cause whether or not of the class or kind referred to above which affects performance of this Agreement arising from or attributable to acts, events, omissions or accidents beyond our reasonable control. See also clause 23 as to Market Disruption
24.2 If we determine that a Force Majeure Event exists, we may, at our absolute discretion, without notice and at any time, take one or more of the following steps:
a) increase your Margin requirements;
b) close all or any of your open Transactions at such Closing Level as we reasonably believe to be appropriate;
c) suspend or modify the application of all or any of the Clauses of this Agreement to the extent that the Force Majeure Event makes it impossible or impracticable for us to comply with the Term or Terms in question; or
d) alter the Last Dealing Time for a particular Transaction.
24.3 Neither we nor you shall be responsible or liable to each other for any delay in performing, or failure to perform any obligation under the Agreement if such delay or failure results from events, circumstances or causes beyond the affected party’s reasonable control (for example, including as a result of any acts of God or acts of terrorism). In such circumstances, the affected party shall be entitled to a reasonable extension of the time required to perform such obligations.
25. Amendments, Waivers and Rights
25.1 We may amend this Agreement and any arrangements made hereunder at anytime by written notice to you, unless such amendment or variation is required sooner as a result of a change of Applicable Regulation. You will be deemed to accept and agree to the amendment unless you notify us to the contrary within ten (10) business days of the date of our amendment notice.
25.2 By continuing to use the Services following such notification, you will be deemed to accept and agree to the amendment or variation. If you do object to the amendment or variation, the amendment or variation will not be binding on you, but your Trading Account(s) will be suspended and you will be required to close your Trading Account(s) as soon as is reasonably practicable. Any amendment or variation will supersede any previous agreement between us on the same subject matter. Any such amendment or variation will apply to all open Trades and all Orders as at and after the effective date of the relevant amendment or variation.
25.3 Any failure by us (whether continued or not) to insist upon strict compliance with any provision of the Agreement shall not constitute nor be deemed to constitute a waiver by us of any of our rights or remedies. The rights and remedies conferred upon us under the Agreement shall be cumulative and the exercise or waiver of any part thereof shall not preclude or inhibit the exercise of any other additional rights and remedies.
26. Events of Default and Closure
26.1 The following shall be construed as Events of Default if at any time:
a) Failure to make any payment of any amount you owe us in accordance with this Agreement;
b) Failure to maintain sufficient margin in your account;
c) Failure to comply with any term of this Agreement;
d) If any information supplied by you during the application process or at any time is found to be misleading or false;
e) If we have reasonable grounds for believing you do not have adequate comprehension of the trades which you are placing or the risks involved;
f) If we reasonably believe that it is necessary for our protection that there might be an infringement of any laws, Applicable regulations, or good standard of market practice, including the FCA rules in relation to suitability and appropriateness, market abuse, money laundering or any criminal activity;
g) If we believe there is a threat to your trading account security or there has been a breach in your account;
h) If we have reasonable grounds of suspicion that you are taking unfair advantage of our services and are/or acting in an unlawful manner such as using server, algorithm, software, electronic devices or trading strategy that works with the intention to take advantage or manipulate our services to you, abusing any loopholes, faults or error in our software or systems;
i) If there is an ongoing dispute and we decide we are unable to no longer offer our services to you;
j) You are abusive to our staff;
k) If the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against you, or the making of arrangements or composition with your creditors, or any similar proceedings against you take place
l) you fail to comply fully and immediately with any obligation to make any payment to us
m) you default in any other obligation to us under the Agreement or in relation to any transaction or commit any breach of any other obligations under the Agreement;
n) any representation or warranty made by you was or has become or subsequently would, if repeated at any time, be incorrect;
o) where we consider you have abused the protection afforded to our detriment which without limitation includes, a situation where a client has acting in bad faith by pursuing a strategy whereby the client would benefit from such protection, whilst holding other positions with us which benefit you in the event that the protection is or might be triggered;
p) we consider it necessary or desirable to prevent what we consider is or might be a violation by you;
q) we reasonably anticipate that any of the foregoing may occur; then we may exercise our rights under this clause
r) You (or if you are joint account holders if any of you) die, be-come of unsound mind, are unable to pay your debts as they fall due or are bankrupt or insolvent, as defined under any bankruptcy or insolvency law applicable to you; or any indebtedness of yours is not paid on the due date therefor, or becomes capable at any time of being declared, due and payable under agreements or instruments evidencing such indebtedness before it would otherwise have been due and payable, or any suit, action or other proceedings are commenced or any action is taken for any execution, any attachment or garnishment, or distress against, or an encumbrancer takes possession of, the whole or any part of your property or assets (tangible and intangible);
26.2 In the case that an “Event of default” occurs with relation to your account, we may, at our absolute discretion, without prior notice take one or any of the following number of actions:
a) Oblige you to pay immediately any amounts you owe us;
b) Close out all or some of your trades;
c) Cancel any of your pending orders and open trades;
d) Suspend or limit/restrict your account and the ability to place an order/trade or any instruction on relation to your account;
e) Terminate this agreement instantly or at a specified date chosen by us;
f) Close all or any of your accounts, exercise our rights of set-off and refuse to enter into further dealings with you.
26.3 Where reasonably possible, if any action under this section is taken, we shall endeavour to notify you before exercising such rights. Nonetheless, we are not obliged to do so, and we retain complete discretion to take any action with regards to this clause without any notification to you.
26.4 If at our complete discretion, we allow you to continue trading with us regardless of any of the clauses in this section, you acknowledge that your open transactions may remain open and may result in you incurring further losses which we shall not be liable for.
26.5 You acknowledge that in the case where we are unable to close out some or any of your transactions, we may be required to close your trade(s) in tranches at a different price and possibly in multiple transactions. This may incur further losses in your account. You agree that we shall not be liable to you as a result of any losses in closing out your transaction in this way.
26.6 If we have provided you with notice of our intention to close your account(s), you will not be able to open any new trades, and only have the right to close any open positions remaining on your account by contacting us. There will be a period of ten (10) business days, after we have given you notice, to exercise the such, after where there are remaining trades on the account, we may close them at our discretion, and you agree we will not be liable for any incurred losses
26.7 We may on or at any time following the occurrence of an Event of Default, cancel any outstanding orders, terminate our services and liquidate all or any of your open positions.
26.8 Should a Bankruptcy Event of Default occur we shall be deemed to have exercised our rights immediately before the time of the occurrence of the Bankruptcy Event of Default.
26.9 On the Liquidation Date and following it we shall (on, or as soon as reasonably practicable) close all your open positions and apply all monies held by us towards the costs of such closures.
26.10 If as a result of the actions taken by us your account is in credit, we shall pay such an amount to an account directed by you as soon as reasonably practicable. If there is insufficient money in your account to cover the actions undertaken by us, the difference between the amount of money in your account and the cost of closing your open positions will be covered by negative balance protection for retail clients only.
26.11 Our rights under this clause (26) are in addition to, and not in limitation or exclusion of, any other rights which we may have under the Agreement or otherwise whether by agreement or operation of law. We are authorised and entitled, without notification to you and at our absolute discretion, to take such action to protect our own position, including without limitation, one or more of the following actions (whether in whole or in part):
a) cancel all or any unexecuted orders;
b) close out, perform, cancel or, if applicable, abandon any of your open positions or enter into offsetting positions;
c) combine accounts, set-off between accounts or convert one currency into any other currency (for the avoidance of doubt, we may do this where there has been an Event of Default or where there is a deficit on one or more of your accounts and a surplus on one or more other accounts); or
d) satisfy any obligation that you may have to us, either directly or by way of guarantee or suretyship, out of any of your monies in our custody or control.
27. Data Protection
27.1 We may collect, use and disclose personal data about living identifiable individuals (Individuals), including personal data you may voluntarily disclose to us in any manner, so that we can:
a) carry out our obligations under the Agreement;
b) carry out our everyday business activities and dealings with you;
c) compile statistical analysis of the pages of the Online Facility visited;
d) monitor and analyse our business;
e) participate in crime prevention, legal and regulatory compliance;
f) market and develop other products and services
g) transfer any of our rights or obligations under the Agreement; and
h) process any personal data for other related purposes.
27.2 You acknowledge and consent that by opening an account with us and trading with us, you will be providing personal information to us that is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998, and/or any other applicable legislation.
27.3 You consent to us and our associated companies processing your information for the administering of your relationship with us and the services we provide to you in accordance with this Agreement and our privacy policy, which can be seen on our website and may be amended from time to time.
27.4 You acknowledge and agree that for the stipulation of this Agreement and the service we provide to you, your information may be disclosed to agents who provide services to us, including those which may be outside the European Economic Area. You consent to our processing of such data is with accordance with this Agreement and our privacy policy measures to protect your personal information.
27.5 Whereby any third parties share any of your information with us with relation, but not limited, to credit referencing, debt recovery, fraud exposure and prevention and money laundering exposure and prevention, you consent that we may share this information with such organisations. You agree that we will be allowed, if requested to do so, we may disclose relevant information with relevance to you or your account, to any person in whom we have reasonable grounds to believe is in search of a reference or credit reference in good faith.
27.6 You acknowledge that all information with relation to your account, including emails and letters that we provide you with, will be confidential at all times.
27.7 You have the right to access the information we hold about you, if you do wish to access you must notify us of this request in writing
28. Intellectual Property
28.1 Our website, platform, all its software and any and all the information or materials which are supplied or made available to you are and will continue to be our property or that of our service providers. You acknowledge these are guarded under copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws, and any other applicable law.
28.2 You acknowledge and agree that must not provide any electronic service or our website (or any part of them) to anybody nor may you emulate or copy the products, services or website. You consent that we are supplying you with intellectual property for your personal use, and solely for the aim, and subject to the terms, of this Agreement.
28.3 You acknowledge that any material or software supplied to you in connection with our services or that of our providers will not be tampered, destroyed, copyrighted or published to any third parties. The use of such material is for the sole purpose of the operation of your account, and upon closure of your accounts, any such material is to be returned to us.
28.4 We reserve the right to terminate any usage of any product, software, electronic service, website or any material we supply or make available to you.
29. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
29.1 This Agreement will be construed and is governed by the laws of England and Wales. The Agreement is governed by and shall be construed in accordance with the laws of England. Each party irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts to settle any suit, action or other proceedings relating to the Agreement (proceedings). Nothing in the Agreement shall prevent us from bringing proceedings against you in any jurisdiction.
29.2 The provision of our services to you is subject to all applicable laws, regulations and other provisions or market practices to which we are subject (collectively applicable laws or regulations). If any conflict arises between the Agreement and any applicable laws or regulations, the latter shall prevail. We are not required to do anything or refrain from doing anything which would infringe any applicable laws or regulations and may do whatever we consider necessary to comply with them.
29.3 The parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts located in London to settle any disputes (including non-contractual disputes or claims) which may arise in connection with this Agreement, although at our sole discretion we may (or where required by Applicable Regulations), commence and pursue proceedings in any other jurisdiction and you hereby waive any objection to our so doing on the grounds of venue or forum.
30. Assignment
30.1 You may not assign or transfer any of your rights or obligations under this Agreement, whether by operation of law or otherwise, either on a permanent or temporary basis without our prior written consent.
30.2 You acknowledge and agree that we may assign our rights or obligations under the Client Agreement to a successor of all or substantially all of our business or assets without any obligation to obtain consent from you. Any such transfer or assignment shall be subject to the assignee undertaking in writing to be bound by and perform our obligations under this Agreement.
31. Authorised Persons
31.1 If you wish to authorise a third party (for example a money manager) ) to make Orders or place Trades on your behalf in connection with your Trading Accounts, this individual will be known as an “Authorised Person”. You can authorise another person to make orders or place trades on your behalf by notifying us in writing, in a form satisfactory to us, and we must have provided our written consent to this arrangement. We may require you to formalise the appointment of an Authorised Person by executing, as a deed, a power of attorney (“POA”). We reserve the right to withhold our consent (or, if previously given, revoke our consent) and shall not be obligated to provide you with reasons. If you permit any third party to make Orders or place Trades on your behalf without our consent, it will be deemed a security breach on your Trading Account and we may invoke our rights under clause 26.
31.2 We may revoke or refuse to accept the appointment of an Authorised Person if we know or reasonably suspect that such appointment would result in a breach of the Agreement and/or Applicable Law. You must immediately notify us in writing of any changes to the appointment and/or authority of any Authorised Person.
31.3 You will be liable for all acts or omissions on the part of any Authorised Person. We will have no duty to monitor the Trades, Orders or other acts or omissions or to establish the authority of any such Authorised Person.
31.4 You will be responsible for any trading apparently carried out on your behalf. We may act on any instructions we believe in good faith are received from an Authorised Person.
31.5 The provision of funds by a third party, and their acceptance by us, in respect of trading on your account in no way relieves you of your obligations or affects your liability to us under this Agreement.
31.6 For the avoidance of doubt, we may close your open Trades and all of your Trading Accounts upon notice of your death. Your estate will remain liable for any sums owed to us. We may (but, prior to any grant of representation, are not bound to) act on the instructions of your personal representative(s).
32. Rights of third parties
The parties do not intend any term of this Agreement to be enforceable pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 except that any Associate or Associated Company of ours is entitled to enforce the terms of this Agreement pursuant to that legislation
33. Severability
If any part of any provision of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable, then the remainder of such provision and all other provisions of this Agreement will remain valid and enforceable
34. Termination
34.1 In order to close your account and/or terminate this Agreement with us, you must notify us in writing. If there are any trades, pending orders or funds on your account, you should close and withdraw these before providing us with notice of your termination. If you do not do this, we reserve the right to cancel any trades or pending orders remaining on your account and attempt to return the funds back to you
34.2 Your account and this Agreement may be terminated immediately by us if we have reasonable grounds to believe clause 26 (Events of default and closure) has been breached or at any point at which there are not open trades on your account.
34.3 We may close your account(s) upon giving you notice in writing on the specified date of such notice, which will be no longer than ten (10) business days. Immediately upon providing you notice of the termination to you, we may set the account to a restricted view only access. Unless disclosed otherwise on the notice, you will not be able to open any new trades and will only be permitted to close them yourself either:
a) when we notify you; and
b) when the account is due to close with relevance to the notice provided.
Failure to do this on your behalf or where giving you notice is not possible, we reserve the right to cancel or close any trades on the account and return any funds back to you. The termination of an account and/or this Agreement will not impact any obligation or liability that may have already been incurred in line with any trades, charges, commissions or any legalities that may have already arisen in connection with this Agreement or any dealings.
34.4 If we have reasonable grounds or justified reasons whereby we suspect there is improper use of the account, we may terminate the terminate Agreement and/or change the settings of the account to a restricted access to a notice period of ten (10) business days or less.
34.5 In the case of death of any individual, the Agreement will be immediately terminated. Upon receipt and acceptance of the necessary documentation, if any trades or pending orders are active on the account, these will be closed and any remaining funds will be sent to the account holder’s administrator or beneficiary (as applicable).
34.6 There is no minimum duration for this Agreement, however unless agreed otherwise, it will automatically terminate once all of your accounts have been closed by you or us.
35. Definitions and Interpretation
35.1 The headings are included for convenience only and will not affect the interpretation or construction of this Agreement
Act means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended);
Act of Insolvency means, in relation to a party:
a) its making a general assignment for the benefit of, or entering into an arrangement or composition with, creditors; or
b) its stating in writing that it is unable to pay its debts as they become due; or
c) its seeking, consenting to or acquiescing to the appointment of any trustee or analogous officer of it or any material part of its property; or
d) the presentation or filing of a petition in respect of it in any court or before any agency alleging or for the bankruptcy or insolvency of such party (or any analogous proceeding) or seeking any arrangement, composition, readjustment or similar relief under any present or future statute, law or regulation, such petition not having been stayed or dismissed within thirty (30) days of its filing (except in the case of a petition for winding-up or any analogous proceeding in respect of which no such thirty (30) day period shall apply); or
e) the convening of any meeting of its creditors for the purpose of considering a voluntary arrangement.
Agreement is defined in clause 2.
Applicable Regulations means as appropriate; the FCA Rules; rules of a relevant regulatory or other governmental authority; the rules of a relevant Exchange; and all other applicable laws, rules and regulations as in force from time to time, as applicable to this Agreement or the Products and Services.
Associate has the meaning given to it in the FCA Rules. Associated Company means any holding company or subsidiary company (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) and/or any subsidiary company of any such holding company or its subsidiaries. Authorised Person means any person authorised to make Orders or place Trades on your behalf under clause 31.
Base Currency means, subject to our agreement, the currency in which you choose to have your account denominated.
Bid Offer Spread means the difference between the price at which a contract can be bought and sold at a point in time.
Business Day means a day (not being a Saturday or Sunday) when banks are open in London for the transaction of general banking business.
Cash Balance means the balance of your account including all debits/credits and the profit/losses from closed Trades.
CFD or Contract for Differences is an agreement to exchange the difference in value of a financial instrument between the time at which the contract is opened and the time at which the contract is closed.
Client Money Rules refers to the rules as set out in chapter 7 of Client Assets (CASS) of the FCA’s Handbook of Rules and Guidance.
Complaints Procedure means our written policy governing complaints regarding any aspect of the Services as published on the Website from time to time.
Conflicts of Interest Policy is available on our Website or by request.
Corporate Action means any event initiated by a corporation which impacts its shareholders. (examples: stock splits, consolidations, mergers and spinoffs).
Customer Profile means the customer profile with individual login details of a client such as username and password which gives a client access to all of his/her Trading Accounts.
Disruption Event is defined in clause 23.
EEA means the European Economic Area (namely Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the UK).
Electronic Service means any electronic service, including without limitation, Trade-through Charts, MT4, direct market access, order routing or information service that we grant you access to or make available to you either directly or through a third party service provider.
Eligible Counterparty means a client categorised as a per se or elective eligible counterparty in accordance with chapter 3.6 of the FCA’s s Conduct of Business Sourcebook (COBS).
Event of Default means (a) an Act of Insolvency occurs in relation to you; (b) you are an individual and you die or become of unsound mind; ( c ) you act in breach of any of your obligations under this Agreement; (d) any representation or warranty made by you under this Agreement and/or any information provided to us in connection with this Agreement is or becomes untrue or misleading; (e) any amount due to us is not paid in accordance with this Agreement; and (f) at any time and for any periods deemed reasonable by us where you are not contactable or you do not respond to any notice or correspondence from us.
Exchange means any securities or futures exchange, clearing house, self-regulatory organisation, alternative trading system or multilateral trading facility as the context may require.
Expert Advisor or EA means an automated trading system used in conjunction with a trading platform. Expert Advisors are commonly known as trading robots.
Expiration in reference to and option means the date and time at which the option expires and all rights or obligations relating to the option cease.
Expiring Trade means a Trade that expires at a determined point in the future.
Expiry Date means the last date and time that trading in a contract can occur. After this date all open Trades will be closed (settled) by us.
FCA means the Financial Conduct Authority, the regulator for the UK’s financial services industry, and its agents or any successor body or bodies, which can be contacted at 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN or through its website: www.fca.org.uk.
FCA Rules means the rules of the FCA as from time to time varied amended or substituted by the FCA and as set out in of the FCA’s Handbook of Rules and Guidance. For further information please visit the FCA website at www.fca.org.uk or http://fshandbook.info/FS/html/FCA.
Financial Spread Bet means a bet on the difference between the opening and closing prices of a contract. The opening and closing price of a contract is determined by reference to the price of the Underlying Market. A Financial Spread Bet is a legally enforceable contract by virtue of section 412 of the Act. Financial Spread Betting is only available to persons resident in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland.
Force Majeure Event is defined in clause 24.
FX means foreign exchange.
Hedging Disruption means circumstances where we are unable, after using commercially reasonable (but no greater) efforts, to: (a) acquire, establish, re-establish, substitute, maintain, unwind, or dispose of any transaction or asset it deems necessary to hedge any risk related to or in connection with the relevant Trade; or (b) realise, recover or remit the proceeds of any such transaction or asset;
Indicator means a technical analysis object imposed onto a chart which is used to forecast the future price movement of the relevant market. Typically there are two types of indicators: trend indicators and oscillators.
Initial Margin Requirement means the minimum sum required to be deposited in order for you to open a Trade.
Intellectual Property Rights has the meaning given to it in clause 27.
Joint Account has the meaning given to it in clause 4.6.
Limit Order means an instruction to deal in a particular Market if our price in that Market becomes more favourable to you.
Liquidation Value means the sum of your Cash Balance and the profits/losses from your open Trades.
Losses in respect of any matter, event or circumstance includes all demands, claims, actions, proceedings, damages, payments, trading losses, costs, expenses or other liabilities, and any consequential indirect or special loss, including, but not limited to loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss of anticipated savings and loss of opportunity.
Maintenance Margin means the amount of funds required to maintain an open Trade.
Manifest Error is defined in clause 11.
Margin means Initial Margin Requirement and/or Maintenance Margin and is sometimes referred to as ‘variation margin’. Margin Call means a request or deemed request for funds to bring your Trade Funds Available to zero (0) or above.
Market means a unique set of Products based on the price movement of an Underlying Market.
Market Order means an Order at the price of the current prevailing Market price.
Negative Slippage means slippage which leads to an execution price that is worse than the price requested by the client.
Order means an instruction to open or close a Trade at a price, the same as, or higher or lower than the current Market price and includes: an initial Order, a Limit Order, a Stop Loss Order, Trailing Stop, and a Market Order.
Order Execution Policy means the document that describes the reasonable steps that we will take to ensure that, when executing Order, we treat you fairly and in accordance with the FCA Rules.
Positive Slippage means slippage which leads to an execution price that is better than the price requested by the client.
Privacy Policy means the privacy statement posted on the Website as amended from time to time.
Product means each type of financial contract we make available under this Agreement and includes CFDs and Financial Spread Bets.
Professional Client means a client categorised as a professional client or an elective professional client in accordance with COBS 3.5.1 R.
Retail Client means a client categorised as neither a Professional Client nor an Eligible Counterparty Client in accordance with COBS 3.4.1 R.
Risk Warning means the notice we are obliged to give Retail Clients and Professional Clients in relation to the risks associated with the Products and Services provided under this Agreement.
Robotic Trading Tools include, but are not limited to, tools commonly known as Expert Advisors, Scripts and Indicators.
Services mean the services offered by us to you in respect of CFD trading and/or Financial Spread Betting as specified on the Website and governed by this Agreement.
Script means a program written which is solely used to perform a single action and then stops once that action has been executed. A script differs from an Expert Advisor, because a script can only be executed on request, whereas an Expert Advisor will function on its own accord once activated.
Slippage means that the specific price requested by a client is not available when an order is presented for execution so the order is executed as close as practical to the client’s requested price which may lead to Positive Slippage or Negative Slippage.
Stop Loss Order means an instruction to deal in a particular Market if our price in that Market becomes less favourable to you. These orders are commonly used to provide some risk protection, but are not guaranteed.
Time Value means the value of the option after deducting any Intrinsic Value from the Market price. This extrinsic premium reflects the probability that the option will move further into the money prior to expiration.
Trade means any transaction entered into under this Agreement (including: Financial Spread Bets, and trades in CFDs).
Trade Funds Available means the amount of money in your account that is free to be used for satisfying Margin requirements.
Trading Account means a trading account for any of the trading platforms offered by us which a client can access through individual login details such as username and password for that specific trading account or the Customer Profile, depending on the underlying technology system.
Trailing Stop means a Stop Loss Order where you have elected to have the level of your stop price follow the movement in the price of the Underlying Market.
Underlying Market means the relevant financial instrument, index, currency, or other instrument, whose price or value provides the basis for us to establish the price we quote you for a Market.
Website means the website operated by us for the purpose of providing the Services to you.
No part of this document may be copied or reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express written permission of Acetop Financial Limited. All rights reserved.
- Privacy Policy
- Cookies Policy
- Best Execution
- Terms and Conditions
- Complaints
- Risk Warning
- Conflicts Of Interest
- Protecting Client Funds
- Website Terms and Conditions
- PRIIP CFD on Commodity
- PRIIP Spread bet on Commodity
- PRIIP CFD on Currency
- PRIIP Spread bet on currency
- PRIIP CFD on Indices
- PRIIP Spread bet on Indices
- RTS 27 Reports
- Risk Disclosure Notice