Really?

Following on from my previous post about the pan-European financial regulator  ESMA (Let’s Talk Leverage) proposals, its’ introduction and the reduction of leverage across the board for those categorised as ‘Retail’ traders, I thought I would highlight something of importance to you.  I have received several emails from the different brokers I use, asking if I would like to categorise myself as a Professional Trader, a title I would consider myself to be.  This would then allow me to trade with leverage up to the maximum those brokers offer (400 – 500 to 1 rather than 20 or 30:1 under the new ESMA rules).  However, to meet the new ESMA criteria of a so called ‘Professional Trader’ one has to meet 2 of the 3 of the following criteria: Continue reading →