Trading in Contracts For Differences (CFDs) carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may incur profits or losses of many times the amount of your stake or the money you originally deposit with us. Only trade with money that you can afford to lose. Debts incurred through CFD trading are legally binding and enforceable. Make sure you fully understand the risks involved and take advice if necessary. CFD trading may not be suitable for all individuals. We strongly recommend that you read the Risk Warning notice that forms part of these Terms and Conditions and is also available on our website.
If you are unable to understand any part of either these Terms and Conditions or the Risk Warning or Execution Policy you should contact ICM with your questions before agreeing to them.
1.1 These Terms and Conditions are made between you (the "client" or "you") and ICM Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, Beachmont, P.O. Box 1510, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and apply:
This includes any Transactions placed by an Authorised Third Party or any person giving the client's name, account number and/or password.
1.2 We will deal with you on the terms of:
Accounts and/or other terms issued in respect of transactions contemplated by these Terms and Conditions, which together are referred to as this "Agreement".
1.3 Clients should also be aware that the Contract Specifications contain important information in relation to the underlying products associated with Transactions and further information in relation to these is contained at Clause 11.
1.4 In agreeing to this Agreement you authorise ICM to telephone or otherwise contact you at any time whatsoever in order to discuss any aspect of your account with ICM or any aspect of ICM or its Associated Companies business.
1.5 Each time you enter into a Transaction you signify and agree that all statements concerning personal warranties and representations are repeated and that:
1.6 If any losses are incurred by you or by ICM due to your breach of any warranty as set out herein, you shall be liable for the total sum involved.
1.7 In agreement with you, ICM may waive or relax any of these Terms and Conditions from time to time. In particular, but without limitation, where these Terms and Conditions specify certain Transaction Size or Margin requirements, ICM may, but only on agreement with you, allow you to breach such limits. Any liability accrued due to such permission is your sole responsibility. Any agreement to waiver or failure to enforce any part of these Terms and Conditions shall not constitute a waiver by ICM to enforce such rules at a subsequent time.
1.8 The English translation and interpretation of this agreement takes precedence over all other translated versions of this agreement.
2.1 You must open an ICM account before us accepting any of your Transactions. You must fill out and send us an Application Form either electronically (online), or in print (form available on our website), or the one available with these Terms and Conditions. All mandatory sections must be filled out and any information supplied must be true and correct to the best of your knowledge. Any incorrect or unclear information supplied will result in either an outright rejection of the application or at the very least a delay in the opening of your client account.
2.2 In signing, or electronically remitting to us, the application form you are authorising ICM to make such searches as it sees fit to certify that the information that you have supplied is full and correct. Such searches will include, but may not be restricted to, information from the electoral register and any credit agencies approached by ICM .
2.3 ICM may periodically check your details to verify that the information supplied by you have not changed. However, you must immediately inform ICM in writing as to any material change in your financial circumstances or any change in the information provided on your Application Form (including change of employment, address, contact details and email). In ICM’s absolute discretion, it may accept such notification over the telephone or by email. Any losses that may be incurred by misdirection of contract details, due to incorrect or out of date email addresses supplied by you, are entirely your responsibility.
2.4 ICM reserves the right to accept or reject any application for any reason at its own discretion. ICM also reserves the right not to disclose the reasons behind such decisions to its clients.
2.5 ICM reserves the right to close or suspend your account at any time by sending you a written notice 5 working days in advance. Should ICM exercise this right, all open Positions shall be closed on ICM’s current quoted price and no new trades will be accepted. Any Position you may have in markets not quoted (i.e. that have closed for that day) shall be closed at the first price reasonably available to ICM on the next business day or, in case the market is suspended for any reason, closed under the terms contained herein.
2.6 ICM shall be entitled to disclose information concerning you or your account without prior reference to you, to any competent authority with jurisdiction over ICM’s business, or to any other person ICM reasonably believes to be seeking a reference or credit reference in good faith. ICM is specifically entitled to disclose such information to other similar companies who may be inquiring as to any bad debt or liability.
2.7 It is your sole responsibility to inform ICM as to whether information concerning your account Transactions should be reported to your employer, including its compliance officer, and as to whether contract notes and statements of your account should be sent to that compliance officer or to any other person authorised by your employer to receive such information.
3.1 Subject to you fulfilling your obligations under this Agreement, we may enter into contracts with you in respect of the following types of Transactions:
3.2 We will deal with you on an execution-only basis at all times.
3.3 We shall not provide you with any advice on the merits or suitability of you entering into this Agreement or any Transaction contemplated by this Agreement and, will never provide you with any investment advice although we may at our discretion provide you with generic or factual information from time to time on the nature, the terminology and of the procedures involved with such Transactions or concerning factual financial data information. You should rely on your own judgment when deciding whether or not to enter into any Transaction contemplated by this Agreement.
3.4 When we execute an order on your behalf, we will generally act in accordance with our order Execution Policy. A summary of our current Execution Policy has been provided to you.
3.5 We provide Contract Specifications in relation to the services that we provide and explaining various matters relating to this Agreement. You should read the Contract Specifications thoroughly before entering into any Transaction. If there is any matter that you do not fully understand then you should seek clarification from us before entering into the Transaction.
3.6 Any Transaction with ICM can only be made during ICM Quoting Hours for the market in question and within the Permissible Size(s) (unless otherwise agreed by ICM). These are further detailed in the Contract Specifications. The minimum and maximum limits are set by us with reference to the normal market size for which prices are available. Permissible sizes are also set according to any relevant exchange or market which offer live price information. We provide current minimum and maximum limits upon request, and are detailed in the Contract Specifications. We are entitled to vary these minimum and maximum limits and it is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of those alterations before entering into any Transaction. We also have the right to waive any Transaction Size limits with or without notifying you.
3.7 Our activities with you under this Agreement are likely to include margined transactions. Margined transactions are detailed further in Clauses 7 and 8 found below.
3.8 Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, in providing our services, we shall be entitled to take any action we deem necessary in our absolute discretion to ensure compliance with Applicable Laws. You agree to strictly abide by all Applicable Laws. If we reasonably consider that you have not so complied, we reserve the right to terminate this Agreement. Clients are especially reminded that this applies to all forms of market abuse such as insider trading and to directors trading in shares of their own companies.
3.9 ICM will not be liable for any losses incurred as a result of – and not limited to - any interruption of power supply, electronic communication, information system, or any event which prevents ICM from supplying such information in one or more of the markets in which it would ordinarily quote.
3.10 The client accepts that ICM, including its trading platform(s), other related systems, and relevant third parties may perform maintenance/updates or face a technical failure that may include shutting down, restarting or refreshing its systems/servers to ensure a more effective operation of its trading platform(s) and/or other related systems. During system maintenance/updates, the client accepts that this may cause the trading platform(s) or other related systems to be inaccessible for a period of time. In addition, the client accepts that there may be mechanical, chart, software, quote, computer, telecommunications and/or electronic system failure/issues. In the event of system issues/failure/maintenance/updates, the client accepts that ICM bares no responsibility for any loss, including financial loss, due to any of the actions referred to in this paragraph.
4.1 ICM is not obliged to accept any request to trade.
4.2 Transactions with ICM can only be made via an OTP or a DTP. The OTPs and DTPs have minimum computer software requirements (further information is available upon request). Platforms will be regularly updated and it is strongly suggested that clients should download and install aforementioned updates when prompted in order to achieve the most efficient platform functionality.
4.3 ICM quotes a two-way price in a Size acceptable to ICM which involves a spread between the buy and the sell price. As the Client you may buy at a higher price or sell at a lower price.
4.4 When placing a Transaction, you must share your name and account number or username, otherwise the transaction will not be permitted, even if it is to close an existing open Position. Transactions performed over the telephone will only be accepted by ICM upon Transaction approval. The verbal acceptance of a trade by ICM negates neither ICM's nor your rights in the event of a Pricing Error.
4.5 All calls to ICM telephone lines are recorded, and you hereby agree to the recording of such conversations. All OTPs and DTPs retain chronological histories of all Transactions conducted over that medium (including Transactions entered by ICM following an instruction by telephone) and an electronic audit trail of all client activity (although this is not guaranteed). All such records and recordings of telephone conversations are the exclusive property of ICM and may be used as evidence in any dispute.
4.6 Before access is permitted to an OTP or a DTP you will be obliged to enter your username or account number and password. When placing a Transaction via an OTP your confirmation will take place via an email contract note. Transactions on a DTP will be confirmed via an on-screen contract note. The contract is binding to both parties except for instances of a Pricing Error. ICM will treat Transactions placed via an OTP or a DTP as active on receipt of such an instruction and of its acceptance. Transactions placed via an OTP or a DTP will normally be confirmed at the time they are made by electronic means.
4.7 Your username, password and account number are extremely sensitive pieces of information. Any Transactions made on your account either over the telephone, an OTP or a DTP using either your username, account number or your password will be deemed as valid Transactions. You must not disclose your username, account number or password to any person (save disclosure of your account number to an Authorised Third Party pursuant to Clause 15). You must immediately inform ICM if you are aware or suspect that a third party has had access to your username, account number or password or that any person other than you (or your Authorised Third Party) is transacting on your account.
4.8 In the case of Transactions placed via an OTP or a DTP, ICM is under no obligation to recognise the domain from which a client is trading, and it is your sole responsibility to ascertain the legality of placing trades from your local jurisdiction.
4.9 A Transaction can only be placed on a current valid Quote. A price may change at any time after it has been quoted and before you have traded. A Quote made to you over the telephone is only valid for that conversation and may not be available on any subsequent telephone call. Quotes that have been given as 'indication only' are not valid and cannot be traded unless otherwise agreed on by ICM. Quotes that have been qualified or Quotes that you have been told are no longer valid before you place your Transaction are also not tradable.
4.10 In the case of Transactions placed via an OTP or a DTP you may only offer to place a trade on the prices currently quoted on an OTP or a DTP. Such prices are indicative and on receipt ICM may, in its absolute discretion, reject or accept your proposed Transaction. Due to the nature of online trading systems and the potential unreliability, delays, misquotes of market price feeds, ICM may in its absolute discretion remove or delete Transactions and any associated Transactions (i.e. any trades closing subsequently deleted trades) which have been made over an OTP or a DTP which in the opinion of ICM do not reflect the actual market prices at the time of the placement of the relevant Transaction. ICM will not be responsible for losses or potential losses you sustain due to trade on rejected or cancelled Transactions. ICM ICM is not responsible or liable for losses made with other companies on Transaction undertaken in reference to a rejected or cancelled trade.
4.11 The spot foreign exchange and commodities markets can experience extreme price volatility often referred to as "Hectic or Fast Market", it is particularly common during material economic or political events, such as news releases and monetary policy change. During such times it is common practice for the Capital Markets to execute orders manually and widen spread and place less reliance on automated systems. This practice can affect online price providers and may slow down their service to customers, increase re-quotes, human errors due to the extra time required to analyse the event and determine the fair market price. This may cause significant delays in trade execution and order processing while rates are cross-referenced to ensure valid execution. ICM relies more on automated systems and executes trades automatically using its servers to reduce delays, re-quotes and human errors and we maintain our fixed spread (except during very hectic market or holidays), therefore, protecting our clients’ stop-losses. Based on this, and to keep you informed of our policy in this regard, please note that ICM reserves the right to cancel any trade that has been confirmed by our automated system during major news, figure releases or fast market that does not reflect the actual market price or price delays due to inevitable latency issue, thus preventing traders from abusing our automated system or fixed spread.
4.12 ICM does not allow scalping where the trading style is abusing our Automated Services for short term gain. Such actions include sniping and hunting for on old price, wrong quotes, trading during illiquid market, trading during fundamental releases/news releases where the price on ICM Market watch could be delayed due inevitable latency issue or trade using expert advisors or other robots for abusive purposes. Customers are urged to trade ethically and not to try to take advantage of our competitive services. Customers will solely be held liable and will indemnify ICM from any damages or losses that may result from cancelling such trades. Clients are not permitted to Scalp or snipe.
5.1 Clients should note that they are trading on the outcome of the price of a financial derivative, and will not be entitled to the delivery of, or be required to deliver, the underlying product.
5.2 This trading does not occur on an exchange. Rather the trading occurs off-exchange or over-the-counter (OTC). As a result, ICM enters directly into a contract with you in respect of the financial instrument you wish to trade.
5.3 ICM reserves the right to discontinue an Islamic/SWAP-free account by sending a 24-hour notice. ICM will invoke this right in case of suspicion of abuse, in which case ICM may, at its sole discretion, decide to close all open positions in the account and deduct or add swaps for all transactions currently and/or previously made in the account. ICM also reserves the right to decline accepting any further requests from the Client to be exempted from SWAP.
5.4 The above provisions shall apply with respect to any constituent security of a securities basket or securities index, and are also subject to any such adjustment being scaled back in proportion to the respective weighting of the affected security within the securities basket or securities index as we reasonably consider appropriate.
5.5 If a share becomes subject to a takeover offer, suspension, merger and stock split, ICM reserves the right to close any or all trades at the closing of the day or the last closing trading price before the amendment.
5.6 Certain market conditions may make it impossible to close a single share Transaction with sizable market consideration in full at one price. Such a Transaction may instead be closed at a price reflecting the price at which ICM is able to transact any relevant underlying hedge, but only during the trading hours of the Underlying Market (whether or not the relevant Transaction was opened during or outside the Underlying Market trading hours).
5.7 If the Underlying Market in relation to an existing open Position held by you becomes illiquid in any fashion, leaves ICM unable to purchase a sufficient amount of either the underlying shares or contracts to cover your Transaction or Position or is unable to borrow the same in the open market, ICM reserves the right to close all or part of any such Transaction or Position at the current ICM Quote.
5.8 8 If a share or an Underlying Market is subject to dividends or fundamental news announcement, and the client with an existing open position in the same shares, ICM may close partial or all position in shares to bring the equity/margin level above 200%.
5.9 If you are trading in concert whereby multiple clients are placing identical trades, then ICM may at its sole discretion treat this as one Trade. Therefore, if the combined size is greater than the liquidity of the market and slippage occurs, all clients may be treated the same, regardless of their individual stake size and filled at the same level, which will be where ICM was able to realistically trade in the Underlying Market.
6.1 Positions may be closed at any time within ICM's Quoting Hours (except where the relevant market is suspended or not available for whatever reason) unless ICM notifies you otherwise. ICM may accept closure of Positions at other times dependent upon the market but is not obliged to do so.
6.2 You are not required to close a Position prior to the Expiry Date provided that your account is not in deficit. However, in certain circumstances and in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, ICM shall be entitled or may be required to close your Position prior to their Expiry Date notwithstanding that your account is not in deficit.
6.3 If the Expiry Date of a Transaction is not a recognised business day of the relevant Underlying Market, then the business day immediately preceding the one stated will be considered as the Expiry Date unless an alternative is specifically stated in the Contract Specifications or ICM notifies you otherwise.
6.4 Open Positions will automatically close on their Expiry Date and at their expiry time (as are detailed in the Contract Specifications) at the ICM closing price on that day. We ask our customers with existing open interest (futures) to take notice of our market information sheet and act accordingly.
7.1 There are generally two basic order types available:
7.2 New Orders are orders that are not connected to an existing open Position (although they may close existing Positions – unless ICM expressly agree otherwise. For more information, refer to 6.2) if, when executed, they create trades that are opposite to existing open Positions.) ICM will accept the following types of new orders:
7.3 All Good Till Cancelled/Good for Day/Good Until orders are based on an Our Quote basis.
7.4 Good Till Cancelled order will only be valid during ICM's Quoting Hours for the market concerned. If there is any gap between the close of the market as quoted by ICM on one trading session and its subsequent reopening, either on the next session or, in the case of a Force Majeure, whenever ICM reopens said market, the Client's Stop will be executed at the ICM Quote based upon the first price that ICM is reasonably able to obtain in the Underlying Market.
7.5 Any orders placed as Stop-Losses on open Positions shall:
7.6 In respect of markets quoted by ICM outside the trading hours of the relevant Underlying Market, all orders are based on ICM's Quote/Our Quote, and may be filled at the ICM Quote based on a price, which is in ICM's opinion, fair and reasonable in light of prevailing world markets at that time.
7.7 ICM will accept orders placed in any market during the hours in which ICM offers a Quote in said market. However, no orders stops of any kind in any market will be executed outside of the ICM quoting hours for that market except by agreement with ICM. Upon the opening of any market quoted by ICM any currently actionable Stop, Limit or New Order will be filled at the first Quote for the relevant market that ICM is reasonably able to obtain with reference to the Underlying Market, and the size of the order in question.
7.8 8 It is your responsibility to cancel any order that you no longer require. Any uncancelled order placed by you may be filled by ICM and may therefore cause losses to which you will be liable. In the case of Stop-Loss orders, if the related Transaction is closed by you, the Stop-Loss order will be deemed automatically cancelled. If the underlying Stop-Loss on any open Position was actionable before you closed the open Position, ICM may at its sole discretion adjust the closing price of your trade to reflect the Stop-Loss price.
7.9 An order will be executed when the ICM Quote reaches the price specified in your order or trades through the price specified. All Quotes are based upon an Underlying Market that is sourced from either a recognised global exchange (LSE, NYSE, LIFFE etc) or from a wholesale counterparty (a quoting bank or market maker). Our Quote may be higher or lower than the Underlying Market due to interest rate costs, dividends, scrip issues, stock splits, competitors' quotes or the weight of client business. The understanding of the definition of Our Quote is very important for the correct operation of your account. If you do not understand any part of its description we strongly recommend that you contact ICM for an explanation.
7.10 ICM is not obliged to inform you if an order is filled. It is solely your responsibility to ensure that you know at all times as to whether any order has been filled, or is still active, and if you are in any doubt whatsoever as to deal acceptance, it is your sole responsibility to contact ICM immediately, first by telephone in order to obtain clarification as to the validity of any Transaction.
7.11 Once a Stop, Limit or New Order level is reached ICM may, at its sole discretion, allow a client to amend this order before it has been actioned by ICM. Although, receipt of any confirmation of an order amendment is not binding to ICM, ICM may, at its sole discretion, decide to execute the original order if the activation of that order occurred before the amendment was made. ICM shall not be liable for any Positions generated by the clients' assumption of non-activation of a fairly executed order.
7.12 Unless otherwise stipulated, no orders are guaranteed, and are subject to Gapping (which is detailed below at 7.14).
7.13 If a New Order is subject to Gapping (see 7.14) on activation, and the order is actioned at a price that would also have activated any associated Limit or Stop orders, then the Position will immediately be closed with a loss to the client of the prevailing ICM quoted spread for that market.
7.14 In this Agreement, "Gapping" refers to an occurrence whereby the market moves from one quoted price to another, with the latter being significantly different from the first. Where such an event happens and the second quote is through an order level (Stop Loss, Limit or New Order), when the first quote was not, this may trigger a Gapping event.
There are a variety of reasons why this might happen. Some of the more usual are listed below, but this list is by no means exhaustive.
7.14.1 because the particular Underlying Market on which the order is placed has opened and started trading at a price significantly different from the previous session closing price;
7.14.2 Accordingly you must understand the potential impact of these events on any Order that you have on your account.
All orders (Stop, Limit or New Order) are subject to slippage on the open market. In a situation where slippage occurs during trading hours, any buy order (new or limit) below the market, sell order (new or limit) above the market, sell orders (closing or stop) below the market or buy orders (closing or stop) above the market may be subject to slippage. If any market gaps from one quoted price to another are due to market sensitive pieces of information (such as a profit warning or an economic data release), then any order in place between these prices will be activated.
7.15 Where a series of orders may be filled to close existing open Positions and/or open new Positions then these orders will be filled by ICM in any sequence determined by ICM. If this results in subsequent orders having insufficient Trading Resources for activation, then these orders will be cancelled. ICM will not look at an order filling sequences that may result in one order being filled and another failing ICM will fill orders as and when they are seen by ICM, and at our sole discretion.
8.1 In general ICM only allows its clients to trade on Deposit Accounts (where money must be deposited before trading can commence).
8.2 You agree to provide and maintain your account at all times such Margin as is necessary to cover the Margin Requirement. Your agreement is repeated for every Transaction entered by you and shall relate separately to each account, if you have more than one account with us.
8.3 The minimum level of cleared funds that you are required to maintain on your account at any particular time as margin – against any open positions – is referred to as the Margin Requirement. ICM may, at its sole discretion, alter the Margin Requirements on your account.
8.4 ICM will normally monitor the amount of Margin available for any Transaction, but reserves the right to demand further Margin than may have been originally requested. In circumstances during high market volatility or depending on the weight of customer business or the trading style or before an important fundamental releases or due to general increase of margin for an instrument in the exchange or at the closing of the week, ICM reserves the right to increase the margin requirement by reducing the leverage offered and/or to increase the stop out level (equity/margin) from the agreed level up to 100% by giving a written notice. In such cases if the stop out level is below 100%, then ICM will hedge the positions, or partially close them to bring the equity/margin to above 100%. Customers will solely be held liable from any damages or losses that may result from closing the position/positions.
8.5 ICM maintains the right to close any client position/positions when stop out level (equity/margin) falls to 0% of the total margin requirement, or the level agreed with the client. In case the balance or equity becomes negative as a result of stop out, ICM reserves the right to claim the balance from the client to adjust the equity back to zero. As stated in clause 8.4, ICM reserves the right to increase the stop out level by giving a written notice to the client.
8.6 An order placed as a Stop Loss for a position may not necessarily reduce the Margin Requirement.
8.7 Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, ICM is entitled, in its absolute discretion, to permit any trade for a Size which is above the recognised maximum single Size for a particular market.
8.8 The minimum IMR for any market and stop out level may be changed from time to time by ICM without notice to you (for example, during volatile market conditions, or due to the illiquid nature of any Underlying Market). These new margin requirements and stop out level will be applied to all your existing Positions as well as any new Transactions. Most contracts’ Minimum IMR is set out in the Contract Specifications, which are correct at the time of publication. Margin Requirements, which are not set out in the Contract Specifications or which have changed since the date of publication of the Contract Specifications will be quoted on request or posted on the website. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are using the most recent margin requirements applicable.
8.9 Occasionally, new or temporary markets are created. These markets attract their own margin requirement that may not be published, but will be available on demand.
8.10 You undertake to provide us with, and to maintain on your account, at all times, sufficient cleared funds in order to meet the margin requirement. Such undertaking shall be deemed to be repeated each time you open/enter into a Transaction. Failure to meet your margin obligations at any time is a Default Event and may result in us closing out your open Positions without prior notice.
8.11 Neither the funds on your account nor the margin applied to your Position(s) represent your total financial liability to ICM.
8.12 ICM reserves the right to increase margin requirements prior to the release of a dividend. If you hold long positions on the ex-div date, you will receive a dividend in the form of a cash adjustment (deposit). If you hold a short position on the ex-div date, you will be charged the dividend amount in the form of a cash adjustment (withdrawal).
9.1 It is your responsibility to monitor your open Positions and all other relevant factors used to calculate Margin payable. ICM is not obliged to make Margin Calls of you at all or within any specific time period. We shall not be liable to you for any failure by us to contact you or attempt to contact you.
10.1 In addition to Margin payments (as required and detailed above at Clauses 7 and 8 above), you agree to pay to us such sums of money as may from time to time be due to us as a result of a Transaction or Position (including any charges and/or commissions detailed from time to time in the Contract Specifications). Such sums as may be required in or towards clearance of any debit balance on any account.
10.2 You will pay:
10.3 You will be liable for any taxes or charges imposed by the credit or debit Card Company (or any other provider) used to deposit funds on to your account. ICM will not be responsible for any non-payment and will not be liable for any proceedings or further charges resulting from non-payment of such charges.
10.4 You agree that we may share commissions and charges with our Associated Companies, Trading Partners or other third parties or receive or pay remuneration from or to the same in respect of Transactions we have entered into with you. Details of any such remuneration or sharing arrangements (in the instance of you being introduced to us via a third party) will not be set out in the relevant contract note. Please note that such commissions and charges will only be paid where we deem it satisfactory that such payments do not impair our obligation to act in the best interests of our client.
11.1 The Contract Specifications provide important information in relation to each market offered by ICM. Clients are strongly advised to ensure they understand the totality of those specifications. The information provided in the Contract Specifications includes:
11.2 ICM has to the best of its ability insured that the Contract Specifications are correct but ICM reserves the right to amend any part of the Contract Specifications at any time.
11.3 Current spreads and/or commission rates on contracts will be quoted to you upon request. ICM reserves the right to vary spreads or commission rates on any contract or vary the Size specifications without notice especially in, but not limited to, volatile market conditions and/or illiquidity of the Underlying Market. At ICM's discretion, quoted spreads made via the telephone may differ from the spreads available on an OTP or a DTP.
12.1 ICM does not roll-over dated OTC Future contracts. All positions that remain open at expiration will be closed at the ICM closing price on that day. Next month’s contracts will be available for trading at least four days before front month expiration. Therefore, it is the sole responsibility of the client to take notice of expiries and act accordingly.
13.1 If your account Balance is in debit, the full amount of that balance is due immediately. Payment must be made in the currency in which the debit balance is denominated (or by agreement with ICM and at an exchange rate designated by ICM the amount may be transferred in a currency of your choice).
13.2 ICM will require immediate payment of any debit Account Balance. Accepted methods of payment are:
Payment are required to be made by 2:00pm on the same business day the debit account balance became due. ICM is entitled to refuse payment by cheque without notice and without giving any reason.
13.3 ICM reserves the right to, and shall be entitled to charge interest on all sums payable to ICM under these Terms and Conditions, which are not paid within 5 days of their due date until payment is made in full. ICM shall charge you 2% per calendar month or part thereof cumulative on the sum owed to ICM. ICM will require reimbursement for any and all costs it may suffer or incur if you fail to make payment in due time for any reason whatsoever.
13.4 ICM has the right to debit your account, or any other account in which you hold any interest, costs, interest or expenses incurred in recovering said debt. All debts to ICM are recoverable in law. ICM will actively pursue any due sum (notwithstanding the size).
13.5 Unrealised profits will under no conditions be paid or be available for electronic withdrawal or offset your obligation to pay your realised losses.
13.6 ICM shall be entitled to keep hold of funds which are required to cover adverse cash positions, Margin Requirement, any uncleared funds (i.e. cheques or credit card payments), realised losses and any other amount due under this Agreement.
13.7 ICM may at any time set off any liabilities owed by it to you against any amount owed by you to ICM. ICM reserves the right, without notice to you and in its absolute discretion, to consolidate any or all of your accounts of whatever type or description, or any accounts in which you have a part or management function or oversight interest.
13.8 Without prejudice to any part of this Agreement, ICM shall be entitled to require the settlement of all open Positions at any time and with immediate effect. Such settlement shall be made at the prevailing ICM Quote (Our Quote) for each trade at the time of settlement, or at the first time that such a settlement may be practicably made. The settlement amount, in respect of each open Position, shall be calculated by ICM at its sole discretion as the difference between the opening value of each trade and its value on the settlement price.
13.9 For the avoidance of doubt, we shall be entitled at any time to deduct, without notice or recourse to you, any monies deposited in or credited to your account in error by us or on our behalf.
14.1 ICM recognises that there is the risk that, under certain circumstances, directors (including non-executive directors), employees, associates, consultants or any other person directly or indirectly related to ICM may hold interests, financial or otherwise, and benefits that may be in conflict with the best interests of the clients possibly damaging the client’s interests. This is known as a conflict of interest.
14.2 To prevent and to minimise the risk of conflicts of interest, ICM has adopted a number of systems and procedures which set out how it will seek to identify and manage all material conflicts of interests. These are detailed in our Conflicts of Interest Policy which may be found online.
14.3 If you wish to have further information on our Conflicts of Interests Policy, or on any specific conflict of interest that you think might affect you, please contact us.
15.1 ICM recognises that in some circumstances it may be necessary or desirable for you to authorise someone to manage your account. You do so at your own risk, and both you and the person you wish to authorise to operate your account, will be required to execute and deliver to ICM a letter in the form of a signed Power of Attorney document authorising and appointing such person (an "Authorised Third Party") to operate your account.
15.2 If you have opened an account electronically, and we do not have your original signature, you will not be able to appoint an Authorised Third Party until such time as you furnish us with an independently verified example of your signature (i.e. photocopy of your passport or driving license).
15.3 You will be held fully responsible for all actions of the Authorised Third Party. ICM shall be entitled to accept instructions from such Authorised Third Party until receipt of a written notice from you stating that the authority of the Authorised Third Party is revoked. Such written notice must be sent to ICM Client Services department by registered mail or by personal delivery countersigned by an officer of ICM. Upon receipt of this instruction ICM shall change your account number and any passwords attributable to it. In any event, ICM shall be entitled, and without notice to you, to refuse accepting instructions from any Authorised Third Party, and to treat the appointment of any such Authorised Third Party as terminated.
16.1 You may terminate this Agreement immediately by giving written or verbal notice to us.
16.2 You can contact us at any time via email, writing or telephone to instruct us to close your account. We will only close your account if you have no monies owing to us. Any open Position shall be closed in accordance with Clause 9.5 above. Any losses incurred on your account prior to the closure of the account shall be deemed to be immediately payable by you.
16.3 You specifically and unconditionally agree that ICM has the right to close or suspend your account with immediate effect in any of the following events:
16.4 If either party terminates this agreement all open Positions shall be immediately closed on the current quote made by ICM or, in the case where any market is closed for any reason, at the next available quote reasonably made by ICM on the reopening of said market. No new trades shall be accepted by ICM.
16.5 No penalty will be payable by either party on termination of this Agreement and termination will not affect any accrued rights. On termination by either party, we may consolidate all or any of your accounts and may deduct all amounts due to us before transferring to you any credit balances to your account.
16.6 At any time after the termination of this Agreement, we may without notice, close out any of your Positions.
16.7 Further, if an Insolvency Event or Default Event occurs ICM may (but is not obliged to):
17.1 ICM will treat money received from you or held by us on your behalf in our Clients Monies bank accounts.
17.2 ICM will hold all Client Money in client bank accounts.
17.3 It is not our policy to pay interest to you on any of your money held by ICM.
17.4 In the event that there has been no movement on your account balance for a period of at least six years (notwithstanding any payments or receipts of charges, interest or similar items), and we are unable to trace you despite having taken reasonable steps to do so, you agree that we may cease to treat your money as client money, we shall make and retain records of all balances released and undertake to make good any future valid claims against released balances.
17.5 You may not assign any part of your profits or losses to a third party. A third party may not place any funds in your account or withdraw funds from your account. All withdrawals from your account balance must be payable directly to you (by means of a cheque SWIFT or debit/credit card payments).
17.6 Due to fraud prevention measures and in accordance with money laundering regulations ICM will only refund monies back to where they came from. Where monies have been deposited by card the funds will be returned to that card where possible and where not possible ICM may require sight of original bank statements showing original fund transfer to ICM before refunding to the said bank account.
17.7 Where monies have been deposited by bank transfer ICM may require sight of the original bank statement showing the deposit of the transfer before any refund is made.
17.8 Where bank accounts have been closed, ICM may require a letter from the originating bank stating that the account has been closed and there are no funds owed to the bank. Before ICM refunds the new bank account, it may require sight of the original deposit transfer statement from the closed account and sight of an original new bank account statement.
17.9 In reference to this Clause, if ICM's records show a discrepancy between card details and ICM's account details as supplied by you, ICM may require sight of original bank statements, or any other relevant evidence, to confirm your new status before processing a refund.
18.1 Force Majeure events are exceptional, unusual, or emergency market conditions which may prevent ICM from performing any or all of its obligations hereunder. They include, without limitation:
Transaction service.
18.2 If we conclude in our reasonable assessment that a Force Majeure situation exists then we may in our absolute and sole discretion:
18.3 In the absence of fraud or bad faith, ICM shall not be liable to you for any losses you may suffer by reason of any action it may take in accordance with this Clause.
19.1 Upon entering into any Transaction or order or amendment of an order, or any cancellation of an order, ICM contract notes will be:
19.2 Any material action affecting your account will trigger an email and/or an on-screen confirmation. The absence of an email confirmation or on-screen confirmation of an action on your account will not affect the validity of any Transaction or any placed order.
19.3 It is solely your responsibility to keep yourself fully up-to-date in respect of all your Transactions and Positions. As soon as you receive any contract note you must check it to make certain that it is correct. The sooner that ICM is made aware of any error or problem, the sooner we will be able to look into or correct it. Please make sure to regularly check your online statement.
19.4 Your account statement will be available online at any time unless ICM suspends your account, an OTP or a DTP are unavailable for any reason.
19.5 If you receive a contract note for a Transaction or filled order that you allege has not been transacted by or for you, ICM must be notified immediately. If you do not receive a contract note for a Transaction you have placed (or believe you have placed) you must notify ICM immediately.
19.6 If you think that any contract note or statement contains any error you must notify ICM immediately.
19.7 Any query or dispute in respect of any trade or conversation, together with details of the time and date of the trade or conversation must be communicated to ICM as soon as you become aware of it. If the dispute or complaint is not satisfactorily resolved it should be referred, again with all details, to the Client Services team of ICM.
19.8 In the event of any query or dispute ICM may, at its discretion, immediately close, at the prevailing ICM quote or the first such quote available, any Position that is in dispute. ICM will not reopen or reinstate any such closed trade regardless of the subsequent results of the dispute.
19.9 Client money will be deposited into a client bank account. In the event that ICM became insolvent, all client money held in the third party bank account would be protected. In the event that the third party bank became insolvent, you may be entitled to compensation from the Scheme if the third party bank were unable to meet their obligations. This depends on the type of business you undertake, your status, and the circumstances of the claim.
20.1 These Terms are subject to alteration by notice to you. Any alteration shall be effective immediately on service in accordance with Clause 21 and shall apply to all open Positions and unfilled orders as at and after the effective date of the change.
21.1 All notices will be sent to clients of ICM via the email messaging medium and unless ICM receives a 'failure to deliver' message all such messages will be deemed to have been received by you. Any alteration of your email address must be communicated immediately to ICM. Any losses incurred by you through non-receipt of notification or confirmation (in the case of trades or orders placed) are payable by you. ICM accepts no responsibility for non-receipt by you of any such notification or confirmation.
21.2 Any request by ICM that you make contact with us, for whatever reason, should be regarded as vital and should be acted upon immediately.
21.3 Where ICM is not notified, nor receives notification from the Client that any notice or other communication has been received by the Client, it shall be deemed to have been duly served the Client:
21.4 Any notice or other communication given or made under or in connection with the matters contemplated by this Agreement shall, except where oral communication is expressly provided for, be in writing and shall be sent to support@icm.com
22.1 These Terms do not limit or exclude any liability arising out of fraud or for death or injury arising by reason of ICM negligence.
22.2 Subject to all other provisions of these Terms and Conditions and the Agreement, ICM is liable to you to pay you your realised available profits. The foregoing is ICM's entire liability to you.
22.3 You shall indemnify us and keep us indemnified on demand in respect of all liabilities, costs, claims, damages and expenses of any nature whatsoever (present, future, contingent or otherwise and including legal fees) which we suffer or incur as a direct or indirect result of a breach by you of your obligations under this Agreement or under the laws and regulations in force or us exercising our rights under in relation to the Default Event provisions detailed in these Terms and Conditions, unless and to the extent such liabilities, costs, claims, damages and expenses are suffered or incurred as a result of our gross negligence or willful default. You shall indemnify us and keep us indemnified against all losses which we may suffer as a result of: any error in any instruction given to us by any Authorised Person or acting on any instruction, which is, or appears to be, from an Authorised Person.
22.4 Subject to Clause shall not be liable:
22.5 If any of these Terms and Conditions shall be found to be unenforceable or invalid, such unenforceability or invalidity shall not affect any other part of these Terms and Conditions (or the remaining portion of the affected part as the case may be), which shall remain in full force and effect.
22.6 You shall not assign, transfer, charge or sub-contract any of the rights or liabilities hereunder.
22.7 ICM shall be entitled to assign, transfer, charge, sub-contract or deal in any manner with all or any of its rights and/or liabilities hereunder including by way of transfer of the same to an Associated Company or Trading Partner.
23.1 At the present time, income from CFD Trading is not exempt from Capital Gains tax. However, there is no Stamp Duty on CFDs. Tax regulations may change at any time. It is your sole responsibility to ensure that your CFD activity complies with your local income tax regulations and any other applicable fiscal laws.
24.1 You acknowledge that by opening an account with us and placing Transactions you will be providing us with personal information. You consent to us processing all such information for the purposes of performing the contract and administering the relationship between us. You consent to our disclosing such information:
24.2 You authorise us or our associated companies or any trading partner to telephone or otherwise contact you at any reasonable time in order to discuss any aspect of our business or of our associated companies' business or of our trading partners' business. If you do not wish us or our associated companies or our trading partners to so contact you for any direct marketing activities, you must inform us in writing.
DEFINITIONS
In this Agreement (and in addition to expressions defined elsewhere on our website) the following words and expressions shall have the following meanings:
“Account Balance" is the "cash balance" on your account (your account balance does not include profits or losses on any open Positions).
“Applicable Laws" means any national, local or other statute, law, rule, code guidance, order or decision of a Governmental Authority.
“Application Form" means the application form supplied by ICM in relation to these Terms and Conditions.
“Associated Company" means any holding company or subsidiary company (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) within the ICM group and/or any subsidiary company of any such holding company or its subsidiaries.
“Authorized Third Party" means a person authorised by you to initiate trades or close existing trades using your account details, as referred to in Clause 15.
“Bet" (including "betting", "dealing”, and “trading") or other similar words express a reference to a client entering into a Transaction. "Bid" or "bid price" is the price at which the Client can sell.
“Buy" (including "Take", "Up Bet", "Go Long" “Long", and "Long Position") is defined as making a buy Transaction or buying the market quoted by ICM.
“Client" (including "you", and "your") means a person or company who has opened an account with ICM and has agreed to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.
“Client Money/Monies" refers to your funds in your account which is held by ICM.
Clients of ICM retain full titles to their monies, subject to usage requirements.
“Credit Account" is an account where ICM, at its sole discretion, has offered you a credit line to use as Trading Resources.
“Contract For Difference", "CFD" or other similar words express a reference to a client placing a CFD trade.
“Default Event" shall be deemed to have occurred where:
“Deposit Account" is an account where you need to deposit funds before you can commence trading.
“DTP" is any Downloadable Trading Platform provided by ICM for trading our markets.
“Execution Policy" means ICM's order Execution Policy, which may be amended from time to time. A summary of the current Execution Policy is available on our website
“Expiry Date" means the expiry date and time of a Transaction.
“FX", (including "Forex" refers to currency trading, "Gapping" as is detailed in Clause 7.
“If Done Order" means an order that is only triggered on the activation of another attached order. For example, if a New Order is activated, you may wish to pre-set a Stop Loss and/or a Limit order. These additional orders are deemed "If Done Orders".
“IMR" (including "Min IMR") means Initial Margin Requirement which represents the minimum Trading Resources (Free Margin) required to place an opening trade in the minimum trade size permitted by ICM. (i.e. if you have a Sterling Account and the Min IMR in a market was 50 then to place a unit trade size of £3 you would require at least £150 (£3x50) of available resources to do so) "Insolvency Event" means and shall occur:
“Limit Order" refers to an instruction to take a profit on an open trade if our quote reaches the level requested or as a contingent (‘If Done’) instruction on a New Order.
“ICM", "ICM" (including "we", "us", "our" and "ourselves" as appropriate) the retail division of ICM.
“LSE" the London Stock Exchange.
“Margin" a term that describes the cash required or being used on your account to either open Transaction or run your Positions. See Clause 7.
“Margin Call" a request for Margin payment as referred to in Clause 8.
“Margin Requirement" is the amount of cash or credit resources required to maintain your existing open Positions.
“Market" refers to indices, share, currencies, commodities, bonds and interest rates or any other product that may be quoted by ICM from time to time.
“Contract Specifications" refers to the document available online that details ICM's current Quoting Hours, Min IMR, Overnight Financing interest rates, other market specifications and other rates applicable to the Transactions and Positions as determined by us for you.
“New Order" is an instruction to open a new Transaction at a possible future price based in the ICM Quote.
“Offer" or "offer price" is the price at which the Client can buy.
“Order Book" the window on the OTP where your working orders are listed.
“OTP" is any Online Trading Platform provided by ICM for trading our markets.
“Overnight Financing" is the credit or debit applied to your account when you hold a Position in certain contracts overnight and including non-business days.
“Pricing Error" is defined as a misquote by ICM where the price quoted materially and clearly deviates from the prevailing market price (or the forward calculated market price) at the time that it was quoted. A Pricing Error as defined, but not exclusively, is a Bid price or Offer price which varies above or below the prevailing mid-market price of the underlying product by more than the size of the quoted bid/offer spread of that product. For example a bid/offer quote by ICM in the FTSE Quarterly contract of 4804 - 4808 when the correct quote should have been 4797 - 4801 may be considered to be a Pricing Error as the ICM Bid of 4804 is more than the quoted spread of the product (in this case 4) away from the midpoint (4799) of the correct quote.
“Position(s)" means open Transactions.
“Rolling Daily" refers to Positions that automatically roll into the next trading day without incurring any profit or loss. Such Positions usually have a long Expiry Date (sometimes many years in the future) and attract Overnight Financing.
“Quote", "Our Quote", “ICM Quote" is the price quoted by ICM via an OTP or a DTP or over the telephone. All Quotes are based upon an Underlying Market that is sourced from either a recognised global exchange or from a wholesale counterparty.
“Quoting Hours", "ICM Quoting Hours" are the times detailed in the Contract Specifications when ICM quotes its markets. ICM will not quote any markets outside of its opening hours.
“Sell", (including "Go Short", "Short", and “Short Position") is defined as making a sell Transaction or selling the market quoted by ICM.
“Size(s)" refers to the size of the buy or sell Transaction. The standard, minimum and maximum trade sizes and stake sizes that ICM allows can differ from market to market and product to product and are further detailed in the Contract Specifications.
"Stop", "Stop Loss" is an order to close an open Position at a pre-determined level.
"Trading Partners" are anyone with whom ICM has a contractual relationship, for example a joint venture relationship, partnership relationship, agency relationship, white label relationship or introducing broker relationship.
"Trading Resources" (or “Free Margin” or “available Margin”) is the amount of money available on your account that may be apportioned to new Transactions or to moving current Stop levels.
"Transactions" means any buy or sell trade or CFD trade made between you and ICM (including to close a Position) and includes any other such transaction made between ICM and you as may be agreed from time to time and on a case by case basis.
"Underlying Market" is the physical underlying assets from which our markets are derived, and the market in which those assets are traded.