Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
In the aftermath of Britain’s “Leave” vote and the continuing market volatility, some companies offering currency exchange services to small retail clients have suspended or highly limited it.
Britain’s largest travel company Thomas Cook, for example, said it is suspending the “travel money” online service with which people could buy foreign currencies online and collect them at a Thomas Cook shop. The company has also limited the amount that can be purchased in said shops to GBP 1000. In a statement it clarified the reason for the measure is that there is a surge in demand for euros
“We have temporarily suspended our travel money website following unprecedented customer demand for foreign currency overnight and this morning. We apologise to all customers affected,” the company said in a statement quoted by the Financial Times. “Our immediate priority is to ensure that we have enough currency in store to fulfill outstanding orders. We hope to be back up and running as soon as possible.“
According to the BBC, throughout the night Thomas Cook’s website was offering euros at Thursday’s high GBP rate of 1 euro1.27 to the pound, in spite the fall of the GBP on the wholesale forex market. On Friday morning the Thomas Cook’s shops saw long lines of worried Brits who were stocking up on euros. By the early afternoon on Friday, the pound has recovered somewhat from the morning plunge and was selling for 1.24 euro.
While Brits at home were trying to buy euros, their compatriots on holiday in Greece took to the social networks to complain that they cannot exchange their pounds. One tourist posted on Twitter a photo of the notice he came across this morning in his resort complex.
Meanwhile, by the early afternoon the GBP has recovered some of its value to the US dollar, after a 10% drop in the morning, and stood at around $1.3725.
At the same time some of the forex brokers such as Dukascopy and Hantec Markets, said they are extending the period of their anti-market volatility measures, while others, like Saxo Bank, were delighted with the dramatic market events.
