Trading platform- advice please

Reaper

They do appear to be a legitimate company and are registered with the FCA. If you feel they have done something wrong then you can try complaining but from what you have said I'm not sure they have.

Premium Bonds aren't a great option unless you are a higher rate tax payer and have used up all the other options first. They are at least safe.

I hope you have some mainstream savings and investments as the only 2 you have mentioned both involve some degree of gambling.

moneyhelpuser5

Thanks all. Well after seeing repeated ads day after day about this, months on end, unfortunately that's where it begun. I haven't lost everything, but I learned the lesson the hard way. Some suggested blocking them but it's hard when they are all over Youtube (the app), and other apps which contain ads. Personally I feel this is improper to say the least, as ANYONE - with or without experience can go on and risk potentially everything on this.

Still, I won't do it again, and ended this last year anyway. It's only because I saw gambling sites being penalised lately that I thought this may be something I can look at.

eskbanker

moneyhelpuser5 wrote: »

Thanks all. Well after seeing repeated ads day after day about this, months on end, unfortunately that's where it begun. I haven't lost everything, but I learned the lesson the hard way. Some suggested blocking them but it's hard when they are all over Youtube (the app), and other apps which contain ads. Personally I feel this is improper to say the least, as ANYONE - with or without experience can go on and risk potentially everything on this.

Still, I won't do it again, and ended this last year anyway. It's only because I saw gambling sites being penalised lately that I thought this may be something I can look at.

Any advertising by any company is obviously designed with the express intention of attracting potential customers, and there are all sorts of rules and regulations about what wording needs to be included, but clearly there's a limit to how much meaningful information can be disseminated in an advert.

When considering gambling/trading, there is an argument that some customers will have less self-control than others (for whatever reason) and so would be susceptible to losing significant amounts, but short of banning gambling advertising altogether I'm not sure how it can be changed further? In the context of mainstream high street or online bookies there are already all the warnings about 'when the fun stops stop' and 'please gamble responsibly', etc, but regulated trading sites do also contain mandated warnings, hence (at https://www.trading212.com/):

Investments can fall and rise. You may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

and that linked risk page has far more extensive warnings, using wording that I imagine will be compliant with the relevant regulations. However, you might wish to research that compliance if you feel that it's questionable and worthy of a complaint?

moneyhelpuser5

Thank you for your constructive advice, it's very much appreciated.
I took a screenshot of the ad in question, as you can see no warnings regarding risk etc. Is this technically legal? (sorry can't post full links) https:// ibb.co/R4MzQD6

eskbanker

moneyhelpuser5 wrote: »

Thank you for your constructive advice, it's very much appreciated.
I took a screenshot of the ad in question, as you can see no warnings regarding risk etc. Is this technically legal? (sorry can't post full links) https://ibb.co/R4MzQD6

That'll show the full link now in the above quote!

As to its legality, the FCA handbook at COBS 4.2.4 requires that:

A firm should ensure that a financial promotion:

(1) for a product or service that places a client's capital at risk makes this clear

but I don't know if there's any prescribed wording specified anywhere....

moneyhelpuser5

There's nothing on the ad which suggests this, so based on that lack of any warning on the promotion itself, could I have a valid complaint?
I really appreciate the advice. Thank you

DrSyn

moneyhelpuser5 wrote: »

Thanks all. Well after seeing repeated ads day after day about this, months on end, unfortunately that's where it begun. I haven't lost everything, but I learned the lesson the hard way. Some suggested blocking them but it's hard when they are all over Youtube (the app), and other apps which contain ads. Personally I feel this is improper to say the least, as ANYONE - with or without experience can go on and risk potentially everything on this.

Still, I won't do it again, and ended this last year anyway. It's only because I saw gambling sites being penalised lately that I thought this may be something I can look at.

I use an ad blocker and do not see ads when I look at Youtube. You should at least give it a try.

Suggest you do research before jumping into these things.

moneyhelpuser5

I saw these ads via the Youtube app on mobile as well as ads within other apps (Google Adsense service). As far as I know, these can't be blocked.

bowlhead99

moneyhelpuser5 wrote: »

Thank you for your constructive advice, it's very much appreciated.
I took a screenshot of the ad in question, as you can see no warnings regarding risk etc. Is this technically legal? (sorry can't post full links) https://ibb.co/R4MzQD6

I can't see any part of the screenshot that would constitute a misleading financial promotion.

As you can see from eskbanker's link, a financial services business should not make an 'an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity' without it being fair, clear, and not misleading.

The ad that you've screenshotted says that Trading 212 offer an app through which you can "learn to trade and invest for free". It has a free practice mode. This would not put client capital at risk.

The ad does not mention that you can invest real money with them or give you encouragement that you would or could make money with a low risk of loss. It says you can learn to trade for free, with a free practice mode, which would not put any capital at risk.

You could also learn to trade for free by reading a book, or watching a youtube video, or simply imagining what might happen to financial instruments on the stock exchange if you bought them at different prices and their values moved to other different prices.

Presumably after you followed the advertisement for a free trading environment to their actual website or app, you were able to register to play around for free, but there was a risk warning that said if you wanted to trade for real money you might lose that real money (or even lose more than you deposited, if you had committed a large amount of money and the market moved too far against you).

Unfortunately I'm not seeing any legs to stand on here if you are looking to make a complaint that they induced you to bet real money without you knowing that you could lose that real money. For better or worse, they offer a free practice environment so that if you didn't know much about trading you could while away a few hundred hours imagining what might have been if it had been real money.

capital0ne

moneyhelpuser5 wrote: »

..... I decided to try it. I had no experience. Long story short, it did not work out and unfortunately, the amount I lost was quite close to 6 figures.

Ummm, this looks like it's your fault - would you try to fly an A380 if you had no experience?

It's tough I know, but you've learnt your lesson, just move on and don't do it again.