My experience with avatrade

On October 25, 2024, I registered on the avatrade.fr website.

For the first few days, I was able to deposit money using my credit card without any problems.

This was my first experience of trading. I didn't understand much and thought, for example, that after a buy order, in order to liquidate the position, I had to make a sell order. You can see these mistakes on my first positions, generating a few losses.

Despite these errors, I soon began to accumulate gains. On the evening of October 30, 2024, my account showed a profit of CHF 5,076.39.

Betting on a Donald Trump victory, I bought cryptocurrencies between October 30 and 31, 2024.

As these positions began to fall, and in order to comply with my margin and hedging obligations (see above: general conditions concerning margin), I attempted to make deposits on October 30 and 31, 2024, to hedge my positions. Suddenly, my deposits failed, the reason given being “insufficient funds”. My various card accounts were well funded, and I had a high limit (CHF 10,000 per day) which was far from being reached.

On 1.11, there were a total of 33 attempts: 2 successful.

On 2.11, there were a total of 3 attempts: 0 successful.

On 3.11, there were a total of 15 attempts: 0 successful.

On 4.11, there were a total of 7 attempts: 0 successful.

The race against time began, as my positions were plummeting and the elections were just a few days away, on 5.11.

I first contacted my bank on October 30, then the next day, the day after that and so on. No problem on their side, no restrictions on trading (I have a certificate from them for the trial). The proof is that I've used my card for other internet purchases.

I contacted Avatrade by chat and then by phone, as well as by e-mail. All had the same answer: contact the card issuer, the problem is with the supplier/bank...

After insistence, the Avatrade French team finally indicated that my card had been blocked on their side and blacklisted, which still didn't explain why the other cards hadn't worked. But anyway, after they whitelisted it, I tried again to make payments: only one worked on 1.11, then it was failure, failure, failure!

Positions continued to fall.

I was in a state of panic and couldn't sleep. I called on my husband, father and mother, who tried with their cards: failure!

On November 4, 2024, at around 10pm, I was notified of a margin call with two options: make an immediate deposit or close certain positions. Otherwise, all my positions would be closed if the margin fell to 10%.

I contacted Avatrade again, to no avail. I tried in vain to make deposits. I was going through hell!

In order to save my positions, I resigned myself to closing four ETHUSD positions manually at around 10.50pm on November 4, generating a loss of CHF 9,310.66.

The next day, all positions were rallying thanks to Trump's victory. I'll leave you to observe the cryptocurrency prices: ETHUSD, BTCUSD, etc.

I filed a complaint with Avatrade.

Their response:

"AvaTrade has fully investigated the Complaint and having regard to all the circumstances cannot find any fault on the part of AvaTrade. AvaTrade acted in accordance with all relevant Terms and Conditions. As you are aware, you indicated your agreement to Terms and Conditions governing the relationship between Customers and AvaTrade during the online registration process. You stated that you read, understood, and accepted those Terms and Conditions as part of your account registration process. Please note that capitalised terms used but not defined in this Final Response letter (the “Final Response”) but defined in the Terms and Conditions, shall have the same meanings in this Final Response as are given to them in the Terms and Conditions.Summary of ComplaintFrom your complaint form, we have summarised your complaint as follows:

• • That you were not able to deposit with your credit cards on 01.11.2024.

• • That you felt compelled to close manually 4 positions due to the failed deposit attempts.

• • That this resulted in a loss of CHF 12'730.19

 Kindly note that we investigated your complaint. We would like to confirm that there were no technical issues regarding the deposit process on our side.Regarding your deposit attempts, your MasterCard 0227 was blocked automatically due to an attempt to deposit after the card had already reached the transactions limit. This card was whitelisted from our side. All failed transactions with VISA card 0025 were rejected either with "Max number of transactions reached, please use an alternative method" or with "Insufficient funds", which are both limitations on the card issuer's side. The deposit attempts with card *5181 were rejected due to "insufficient funds". You were margin called when margin dropped below 10%. We would like to confirm that all positions you manually closed prior to the stop out were correctly executed at market price. Your Engagement with AvaTradeWe have conducted a thorough review of your trading history with AvaTrade and would draw attention to the following relevant facts:

• • We have determined that you executed all trades on your account via our online trading platforms.

• • You are fully responsible for making all decisions as to the transactions executed on your account and for assessing the merits and risk of each and every trade you place.

• • All trades entered by Customers represent an independent decision by Customers to trade with AvaTrade.

• • We confirm that you were provided with all the necessary information regarding risk in our Terms and Conditions and Risk Disclosure Statement, both of which are always available on our website.

• • We confirm that AvaTrade acted in accordance with the Terms and Conditions and applicable regulations.

• • We confirm that all trades were executed correctly in according with our Terms and Conditions.

• • We confirm that all deposits were transferred in accordance with our Terms and Conditions.

• • We confirm that our IT department did not discover any technical issue during the period specified and that no other client reported an issue regarding our platforms.

• • You are fully responsible for making all decisions as to the transactions executed on your account and for assessing the merits and risk of each and every trade on your account. All trades entered by Customers represent an independent decision by Customers to trade with us.

 ConclusionHaving regard to all the relevant Terms and Conditions together with the Risk Disclosure Statement brought to your attention therein we have determined that AvaTrade cannot be made responsible for any losses resulting from your own self-directed trading activity and in particular information sourced by you from a third party. Final ResponseThis constitutes AvaTrade’s final response to the Complaint. If you remain dissatisfied, we advise that you seek independent legal advice. The Terms and Conditions in their entirety form the basis of your agreement with AvaTrade. Notwithstanding that, we have sought to identify the Terms and Conditions most relevant the Complaint:Customer understands and hereby agrees that Customer is capable of, and solely responsible for, assessing the merits and risks of any trade it may enter with AvaTrade.The Customer agrees that Customer is fully responsible for making all decisions as to transactions effected for Customer’s account.AvaTrade’s margin policies and/or the policies of those banks/clearing houses through which trades are executed may require that additional funds be provided to properly margin Customer’s account and Customer is obligated to immediately meet such margin requirements. Failure to meet margin calls may result in the liquidation of any open positions with a resultant loss. AvaTrade reserves the right to refuse to accept any order. IT IS THE CUSTOMER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND OUT ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION ABOUT TRADING IN FOREX, CFDs, OPTIONS AND SPREAD BETTING AND AVATRADE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND MAKE SURE THAT ALL RISKS AND ARRANGEMENTS ARE DISCUSSED AND CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD PRIOR TO ANY TRADING ACTIVITY.8.MARGINS AND DEPOSIT REQUIREMENTS8.1 Customer shall provide to and maintain with AvaTrade margin in such amounts and in such forms as AvaTrade, in its sole discretion, may require.8.2 Such margin requirements may be greater or less than margins required by those banks or brokers with which trades are executed.8.3 AvaTrade may change margin requirements at any time.8.4 Customer agrees to deposit by immediate wire transfer, or other payment method acceptable to AvaTrade, such additional margin when and as required by AvaTrade and will promptly meet all margin calls in such mode of transmission as AvaTrade in its sole discretion designates.8.5 AvaTrade may at any time proceed to liquidate Customer’s account and any failure by AvaTrade to enforce its rights hereunder shall not be deemed a waiver by AvaTrade to enforce its rights thereafter.8.6 AvaTrade retains the right to limit the amount and/or total number of open positions which Customer may acquire or maintain at AvaTrade, and to increase margin requirements in advance of earnings or other news or events, with or without notice, either before such events or retroactively or at any other time that it deems at its sole discretion.8.7 Orders must be placed allowing sufficient time to execute and to calculate margin requirements.8.8 Profits deriving from a transaction shall be added to Customer's account as additional margin, as long as the transaction is open, and upon the closing of the transaction, as an addition to the available balance for withdrawal.8.9 Losses deriving from a transaction shall be deducted from Customer's account. 18.DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES / LIMITATION OF LIABILITY18.1 AvaTrade and/or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates or agents shall not be responsible for any loss or damage caused, directly or indirectly, by any events, actions or omissions beyond the control of AvaTrade including, without limitation, loss or damage resulting, directly or indirectly, from any delays or inaccuracies in the transmission of orders and/or information due to breakdown or failure of transmission or communication facilities, or electrical power outage.18.2 Neither AvaTrade nor any of its subsidiaries, affiliates or agents warrants that the trading platform or any services provided (including Third Party Licenses) will be available without interruption or will be error free and such trading platform and services are being provided "AS IS" without any representation or warranty of any kind whatsoever except as otherwise set forth herein.18.3 Under no circumstances shall AvaTrade or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates or agents be liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, or consequential damages that result from the use of, or inability to use, AvaTrade’s trading platform or services (including Third Party Licenses) including but not limited to lost profits, loss of business, trading loss, loss of data or use of data, any unauthorized access to, alteration, theft or destruction of Customer's computers, computer systems, data files, programs or information, or costs of procurement of substitute goods or services.18.4 Customer agrees that this section represents a reasonable allocation of risk, that this section is an essential element of this Agreement and that in its absence; the economic terms of this Agreement would be substantially different.18.5 This limitation applies whether the alleged liability is based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or any other basis, even if AvaTrade or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates or agents has been advised of the possibility of such damage.18.6 Neither AvaTrade nor any of its subsidiaries, affiliates or agents has liability or duty of indemnification related to unusable data, lost or corrupt Customer transactions or data, by whatever means, in whatever form.18.7 This limitation of liability additionally eliminates any duty or liability on the part of AvaTrade or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates or agents related to unusable data, lost or corrupt Customer transactions or data, resulting in part or in whole from third-party software or networking goods or services or from internet related problems or from actions or events outside of AvaTrade's control.18.8 AvaTrade and its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents disclaim any and all liability resulting from or related to any breach of internet security or disruption, distortions or delays of Customer's connections to the internet, due to any reason.18.9 As OTC is not an exchange traded market, prices at which AvaTrade deals at or quotes may or may not be similar to prices at which other OTC market makers deal at or quote.18.10 Should a quoting or execution error occur, which may include, but are not limited to, a mistype of a quote, a quote that is not representative of fair market prices, an erroneous price quote from a dealer or erroneous price quote due to failure of hardware, software or communication lines or systems or inaccurate external data feeds provided by third-party vendors, AvaTrade will not be liable for the resulting errors in account balances. Without derogating from the above, in the event that transactions shall be closed or opened based on the Erroneous Quote, AvaTrade’s trading room attempts to recognize such event and to act promptly to reset such event. Customer acknowledges that the reset process may take time, during which Customer may not be able to use its trading account, and outstanding orders may not be executed.18.11 In case AvaTrade will identify an erroneous quote or an outdated quote, it may offer the Customer an alternative quote or alternatively to continue the transaction, all at the sole discretion of AvaTrade.18.12 Customer further acknowledges that Ava, its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents shall not be liable for any loss or damage caused due to or in connection with such reset process.​"

​So I didn't respect my duty to cover the account and maintain the margin... (of course)

On November 15, 2024, I miscarried.

On December 1, 2024, I decided to fight the case and start legal proceedings, which will take place in England because of the choice of forum in the contract. A law firm is currently drafting an action.

To be continued​...