Xtrade lashes out at protest outside its office, considers media reports to be a ‘fabrication’ – FinanceFeeds investigates
X-Trade has responded to the protest outside its offices, stating that it is based on fabricated claims. We investigate further.
This week, FinanceFeeds exclusively reported that a protest began being staged outside the offices of X-Trade in Limassol, Cyprus, in which placards were erected outside the firm’s offices alleging that a particular client had been the subject of a theft of funds.
The placard stated “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, as well as accusing X-Trade of manipulating trading accounts and stealing funds.
Xtrade 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 Xtrade’s office, and also to X-Trade in order to investigate the incident.
This particular protest is clear and visible to all who pass by, and in 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 banner of this nature would have a very substantial impact locally, and FinanceFeeds has been contacted by a large number of FX industry professionals who have taken note of the incident whilst passing by its location.
Subsequent to our exclusive report on the matter, the plot thickens.
FinanceFeeds spoke with Xtrade about this matter, and the company’s spokesperson stated “There is no evidence that angry protesters are descending on our Limassol office—none whatsoever or that any large group has claimed theft of client funds.”
There may be some ambiguity as to what ordinarily constitutes an ‘angry protest’, however these placards did not contain niceties or invite any members of the company’s management for a scone and a cup of tea to express appreciation for extremely good service. It is fair to say that the author of the placards was indeed displeased, and is staging an angry protest.
Xtrade’s statement on the matter continued “Several months ago, we had a single trader in Cyprus who filed a complaint regarding the loss of funds. Xtrade launched a thorough investigation, and handled this matter according to the strict regulation and compliance procedures to which we adhere. Our findings proved conclusively that Xtrade was without culpability in this matter.”
The statement continued “With all customer complaints, Xtrade strives to quickly resolve matters in good faith and in the trader’s favour. Should the client still be unsatisfied with the outcome, we are more than happy for them to contact our regulators and file a formal complaint.”
Bearing in mind that this particular individual took to staging a physical protest, including a visit from the Police as well as a full report in Greek which was published this week in Greek language mainstream media, such acts of ‘good faith’ may be measured by the length of time it takes to resolve this matter, and as to why a protest of this nature would ensue in the first place.
Finally, Xtrade requested that any reports on this matter could be removed, because apparently “it is based on fabricated claims and unjustifiably tarnishes are (sic) good name.”
Intriguing, especially when considering that this line was taken not by an internal member of Xtrade management or compliance department, but by an Israel-based outsourced corporate branding and marketing consultant that specializes in marketing and branding for Israeli FX companies, with correspondence sent via an Xtrade email address.
The protest continues, thus it will be of interest to note whether X-Trade finds itself without culpability in this case too.
A look at the website of Xtrade, which is an Israeli company with licenses in Cyprus, Australia, Italy and South Africa, will also demonstrate that the firm continues to provide a Belgian support and contact number (which redirects to Cyprus) for new business on its website, that being contrary to Belgian laws which prevent the sale of OTC derivatives to retail clients.
FinanceFeeds reiterates that retail traders should always read all terms and conditions before entering into an agreement with a broker, and should conduct business with large, reputable firms with large capital bases that are operated in bona fide regions by senior industry executives with an elevated career, and should make significant research with regard to where liquidity comes from, how trades are executed and what experience other traders have had.
FinanceFeeds remains committed to the support of the mainstream and high quality retail and institutional firms in bona fide jursidictions which operate a genuine electronic trading system, as well as the support of their technology partners. Our continued research alongside these firms aims to engender and facilitate the very top level of quality possible in today’s highly sophisticated electronic trading environment, and in order to do so, stands vehemently against the lowbrow and back street nature of non-mainstream firms that seek to circumvent the rules, thus we consider our efforts in this matter to have made a very positive difference to protect the high quality firms in this industry, and future customers.
