Yeah, any broker that is offering less than full exchange margins is just asking for trouble in the current environment. Even the mafia bookie knows when to cut off degenerate gamblers
AMP Futures email this morning. "Due to the Extreme Market Conditions, we have decided to maintain Exchange Maintenance Margin for BOTH Day & Overnight Sessions. This will remain in effect until we send out notice that is has changed. "
I am a former customer of AMP, I closed my account after some bad experiences, but I still get their emails for some reason. It has been interesting to read about their frequent changes out of the blue. I am glad I have not had to deal with them when the market is volatile enough as it is! I prefer my current FCM, who assumes that futures traders of any long standing are mature adults who specialize in skilled risk management to make a living ... I have never had a margin call in over a decade of futures trading. Anybody who survives this dangerous battlefield for years knows that you voluntarily reduce your leverage under conditions of extreme volatility as a general rule, although there are rate exceptions ...
I'm looking at Amp now for a second account . What problems did you have? Any problems getting withdrawals ? I can find no US phone # on their web site to talk to anyone.
Phone calls ... good luck, they appear to be under staffed in some departments. You might be on hold forever and give up. Keep in mind that there is no free lunch, extreme low cost often means lower quality. I will never go back to a cut rate broker myself, I prefer being able to talk to a personal broker or tech, now more than ever in our current volatility and occasional tech glitches due to system overloads, etc. Tech support there was fine, and I had no problems with withdrawals. But out of the blue you might get treated like a child with condescending rudeness.
My main account is with IB who i've been with for over 20 yrs . Hardly ever one problem . I really don't need to ever talk to anyone. I don't use fancy charts or platforms . I just want a basic platform to enter orders and a system that doesn't go down and be able to withdraw my money whenever i want
I also don't don't need hand holding, but if problems arise I do want to be able to address them in a timely and mutually courteous manner. I don't use fancy charts nor platforms either, I find less is more, especially under extreme volatility. Infinity has a fine, stable, reliable, free platform, and fine customer service. Never had a problem with withdrawals, and no constantly changing margins either via the Transact FCM. Also Stage 5 has a variety of simple platforms, great service, and the FCM I use there, Advantage, I like very much
Stay where you’re at, then. If you’re doing quite a bit of spread trading there are better firms - but otherwise IB is tough to beat.
Yes, we are here - fully staffed and ready to help if needed. We are monitoring customer support load and balancing staff to meet our customer demands. Due to the Extreme Market Conditions, while taking into consideration our customers need to hedge their stock portfolio - we have made the following Margins Available during the US Day Session. We are currently at 25% Exchange Margin During US Day Session and 100% during the Overnight - https://news.ampfutures.com/tempora...ins-increase-effective-immediately-march-2020 We are doing our best to help our customers - while maintaining prudent risk management.