ESMA Intervention

1. What is ESMA?

   ESMA is an independent Authority of the European Union, which contributes to maintaining the stability of the EU financial system by enhancing investor protection, and promoting stable and orderly financial markets.

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2. What are ESMA’s new requirements?

   ESMA’s new requirements consist of reducing the available leverage limitations for Retail clients of financial organisations. The new limitations depend on the volatility of an underlying asset, and are the following:

   Major Currency pairs - up to 1:30.
   Non-major Currency pairs, Gold, major Indices - up to 1:20.
   Commodities, other than Gold, non-major Indices - up to 1:10.
   Other individual assets - up to 1:5.

   According to ESMA's new requirements, apart from the changes relating to leverage limitations, financial organisations are obliged to provide Margin Call and Stop Out features on a per account basis, as well as Negative balance protection on a per account basis. They are also obliged to implement the standardised risk warning.

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3. When will these new requirements take effect?

   ESMA’s new requirements have taken effect as of August 1st 2018.

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4. Which category of clients fall under the new requirements?

   New requirements are applicable only to Retail clients. For the "Professional Client" category, all the conditions and limitations remain the same.

   Read also: How to become a Professional client

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5. Clients from which countries fall under the new ESMA requirements?

   The new ESMA requirements apply to all RoboMarkets Retail clients, regardless of their country of residence.

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6. What will happen with my open positions after the new limitations take effect?

   The new leverage limitations will not be be applied automatically to open positions, and their margin requirements will remain the same until you close them.

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7. Can I keep the current leverage?

   Only clients who have been qualified as "Professional clients" can keep the current trading conditions.

   RoboMarkets provides its clients with an opportunity to undergo a "re-categorisation" procedure, after which you will be upgraded from the "Retail" to the "Professional" level. Find out more about the re-categorisation conditions on the "How to become a Professional client" page of RoboMarkets website.

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8. How can I become a Professional client?

   To be qualified as a Professional Client, you have to meet at least two of the criteria below:

   • The size of your financial instrument portfolio, which includes both cash deposits and financial instruments, exceeds 500,000 EUR
   • You have worked or have been working in the financial sector for at least one (1) year in a professional position, which requires the relevant knowledge of performing transactions or using offered services
   • You have performed large transactions on the relevant market with an average frequency of 10 (ten) per quarter over the previous four (4) quarters

   Please, note that you will have to provide supporting documents to pass the re-categorisation procedure. You can send your request right now in your Members Area.

   Find out more about the re-categorisation conditions on the "How to become a Professional client" page of RoboMarkets website.

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9. Will I be able to continue trading on my accounts after the re-categorisation?

   Yes.

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10. Are there any time limitations to passing the re-categorisation?

    No. The possibility to change the client category from "Retail" to "Professional" is not linked to the implementation of the ESMA’s new requirements.

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