Brokers increase margin on forex trades
The 200 pips opening move on the first round of the French election has forex brokers eyeing a redux. The list of brokers we've seen who are raising margins includes:
- Hantec
- ADS Securities
- Pepperstone
- ActivTrades
- XTB
- Alpari
More are sure to come as we near the weekend. Some are raising margins by four-times and are including more than just euro pairs. Some are implementing the changes in the final hour of trading, others earlier.
What was interesting was that on the Friday before the first round of voting, there was a +30 pip climb in the euro in the final hours of trading. That might have been late bets on Macron advancing but given the large short interest in the pair, that may also have been shorts getting squeezed out by higher margins.
Watch for the same thing this week late on Friday.
