Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
US forex broker FXCM announced on Wednesday it is temporarily raising margin requirements on some forex pairs in anticipation of high market volatility around the US presidential election on November 8.
Margin requirements will be increased from 1% to 2% on the following pairs: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD and USD/CAD, plus nine other pairs.
The margin requirement on USD/MXN will rise from 4.6% to 10%, the USD/SEK requirement will double from 3% to 6%, while that of USD/NOK will increase from 1.5% to 3%.
The new margin levels come into effect on Friday, November 4, after 5 PM EDT (2100 GMT), FXCM said. They will be reduced to their usual levels as soon as market conditions allow.
With the approaching of the US presidential election, the list of brokers who are taking precautionary measures against eventual high market volatility is expanding. Among them are Dukascopy Bank, Hantec Markets, LCG, Blackwell Global, Vantage FX, MTBankFX, Alpari, OctaFX, CapitalIndex, IG Group and Saxo Bank. Another major forex broker – Forex.com – said it may hike the margin requirements, while Forex Club announced it will limit positions and might also cut leverage, if necessary.
