Exclusive: Angry X-Trade customers arrive in Cyprus, commence hunger strike and media campaign alleging manipulation and theft of funds
In Limassol, Cyprus, a placard has been erected accusing X-Trade of stealing 40,000 Euros from a client, with the client claiming that he has proof of manipulation. We photograph the protest and the man behind it. X-Trade reacted by calling the police, citing defamation. Police are now investigating.
Retail FX may well be a very online business, however whilst technologically it is most certainly part of the ether, the financial markets element of the business means that it is very dependent on relationships, whether those be business to business in the respect that firms need to maintain continual contact with their technology vendors, services providers and broker clients, as do brokers with their retail customers.
Indeed, conducting business in a less than bona fide fashion these days does not necessarily mean waiting for the (sometimes very weak) regulator to attempt to rectify any transgressions, but in the case of X-Trade, a visit from clients to the office in order to wage a media campaign against the company.
In Limassol, Cyprus, one of the world’s most populous regions for retail FX brokerages that offer MetaTrader 4 based trading to a global audience, a group of clients today arrived in Cyprus and hoisted a banner which is visible to members of the public passing by, accusing X-Trade making allegations that the firm has been manipulating their trading accounts and stealing funds.
Perhaps the most unusual form of protest in this case is that those concerned have actually begun a hunger strike and one individual is manning the area in which the protest is taking place, next to the hand-written placards.
The placards state that the protester is “starting a hunger strike on 4th October 2016, Cheated by X-Trade, a company which has licenses to operate in Cyprus, Britain, Italy and Australia.
The orchestrator of the protest claims that he has been cheated out of 40,000 Euros, and that he has 47 videos and photographs proving this to be the case.
X-Trade has alerted the police in Limassol, citing defamation, which resulted in an actual visit to the site of the protest, which is in the area near X-Trade’s office, and also to X-Trade in order to investigate the incident.
This is not the first time a campaign of this nature has taken place, the first example being just over two years ago when a battery of Chinese introducing brokers arrived at retail brokerage IronFX’s offices and erected a banner alleging very similar behavior and a lack of ability to withdraw client funds.
Photograph copyright FinanceFeeds
