17 C.F.R. § 5.5

Current through September 30, 2024

Section 5.5 - Distribution of "Risk Disclosure Statement" by retail foreign exchange dealers, futures commission merchants and introducing brokers regarding retail forex transactions

(a) Except as provided in § 5.23 of this part, no retail foreign exchange dealer, futures commission merchant, or in the case of an introduced account no introducing broker, may open an account that will engage in retail forex transactions for a retail forex customer, unless the retail foreign exchange dealer, futures commission merchant or introducing broker first:

(1)

(i) In the case of a retail foreign exchange dealer or a person required to register as an introducing broker solely by reason of this part, furnishes the retail forex customer with a separate written disclosure statement containing only the language set forth in paragraph (b) of this section and the disclosure required by paragraph (e) of this section;

(ii) In the case of a futures commission merchant or a person required to register as an introducing broker because it engages in the activities described in § 1.3 of this chapter, furnishes the retail forex customer with a separate written disclosure statement containing only the language set forth in paragraph (b) of this section and the disclosure required by paragraph (e) of this section; Provided, however, that the disclosure statement may be attached to other documents as the initial page(s) of such documents and as the only material on such page(s); and

(2) Receives from the retail forex customer an acknowledgment signed and dated by the retail forex customer that he received and understood the disclosure statement.

(b) The language set forth in the written disclosure statement required by paragraph (a) of this section shall be as follows:

RISK DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

OFF-EXCHANGE FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS INVOLVE THE LEVERAGED TRADING OF CONTRACTS DENOMINATED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY CONDUCTED WITH A FUTURES COMMISSION MERCHANT OR A RETAIL FOREIGN EXCHANGE DEALER AS YOUR COUNTERPARTY. BECAUSE OF THE LEVERAGE AND THE OTHER RISKS DISCLOSED HERE, YOU CAN RAPIDLY LOSE ALL OF THE FUNDS YOU DEPOSIT FOR SUCH TRADING AND YOU MAY LOSE MORE THAN YOU DEPOSIT.

YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF AND CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING POINTS BEFORE DETERMINING WHETHER SUCH TRADING IS APPROPRIATE FOR YOU.

(1) TRADING IS NOT ON A REGULATED MARKET OR EXCHANGE-YOUR DEALER IS YOUR TRADING PARTNER WHICH IS A DIRECT CONFLICT OF INTEREST. BEFORE YOU ENGAGE IN ANY RETAIL FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRADING, YOU SHOULD CONFIRM THE REGISTRATION STATUS OF YOUR COUNTERPARTY.

The off-exchange foreign currency trading you are entering into is not conducted on an interbank market, nor is it conducted on a futures exchange subject to regulation as a designated contract market by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The foreign currency trades you transact are trades with the futures commission merchant or retail foreign exchange dealer as your counterparty. WHEN YOU SELL, THE DEALER IS THE BUYER. WHEN YOU BUY, THE DEALER IS THE SELLER. As a result, when you lose money trading, your dealer is making money on such trades, in addition to any fees, commissions, or spreads the dealer may charge.

(2) AN ELECTRONIC TRADING PLATFORM FOR RETAIL FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS IS NOT AN EXCHANGE. IT IS AN ELECTRONIC CONNECTION FOR ACCESSING YOUR DEALER. THE TERMS OF AVAILABILITY OF SUCH A PLATFORM ARE GOVERNED ONLY BY YOUR CONTRACT WITH YOUR DEALER.

Any trading platform that you may use to enter off-exchange foreign currency transactions is only connected to your futures commission merchant or retail foreign exchange dealer. You are accessing that trading platform only to transact with your dealer. You are not trading with any other entities or customers of the dealer by accessing such platform. The availability and operation of any such platform, including the consequences of the unavailability of the trading platform for any reason, is governed only by the terms of your account agreement with the dealer.

(3) YOUR DEPOSITS WITH THE DEALER HAVE NO REGULATORY PROTECTIONS.

All of your rights associated with your retail forex trading, including the manner and denomination of any payments made to you, are governed by the contract terms established in your account agreement with the futures commission merchant or retail foreign exchange dealer. Funds deposited by you with a futures commission merchant or retail foreign exchange dealer for trading off-exchange foreign currency transactions are not subject to the customer funds protections provided to customers trading on a contract market that is designated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Your dealer may commingle your funds with its own operating funds or use them for other purposes. In the event your dealer becomes bankrupt, any funds the dealer is holding for you in addition to any amounts owed to you resulting from trading, whether or not any assets are maintained in separate deposit accounts by the dealer, may be treated as an unsecured creditor's claim.

(4) YOU ARE LIMITED TO YOUR DEALER TO OFFSET OR LIQUIDATE ANY TRADING POSITIONS SINCE THE TRANSACTIONS ARE NOT MADE ON AN EXCHANGE OR MARKET, AND YOUR DEALER MAY SET ITS OWN PRICES.

Your ability to close your transactions or offset positions is limited to what your dealer will offer to you, as there is no other market for these transactions. Your dealer may offer any prices it wishes, and it may offer prices derived from outside sources or not in its discretion. Your dealer may establish its prices by offering spreads from third party prices, but it is under no obligation to do so or to continue to do so. Your dealer may offer different prices to different customers at any point in time on its own terms. The terms of your account agreement alone govern the obligations your dealer has to you to offer prices and offer offset or liquidating transactions in your account and make any payments to you. The prices offered by your dealer may or may not reflect prices available elsewhere at any exchange, interbank, or other market for foreign currency.

(5) PAID SOLICITORS MAY HAVE UNDISCLOSED CONFLICTS

The futures commission merchant or retail foreign exchange dealer may compensate introducing brokers for introducing your account in ways which are not disclosed to you. Such paid solicitors are not required to have, and may not have, any special expertise in trading, and may have conflicts of interest based on the method by which they are compensated. Solicitors working on behalf of futures commission merchants and retail foreign exchange dealers are required to register. You should confirm that they are, in fact registered. You should thoroughly investigate the manner in which all such solicitors are compensated and be very cautious in granting any person or entity authority to trade on your behalf. You should always consider obtaining dated written confirmation of any information you are relying on from your dealer or a solicitor in making any trading or account decisions.

FINALLY, YOU SHOULD THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATE ANY STATEMENTS BY ANY DEALERS OR SALES REPRESENTATIVES WHICH MINIMIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF, OR CONTRADICT, ANY OF THE TERMS OF THIS RISK DISCLOSURE. SUCH STATEMENTS MAY INDICATE POTENTIAL SALES FRAUD.

THIS BRIEF STATEMENT CANNOT, OF COURSE, DISCLOSE ALL THE RISKS AND OTHER ASPECTS OF TRADING OFF-EXCHANGE FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS WITH A FUTURES COMMISSION MERCHANT OR RETAIL FOREIGN EXCHANGE DEALER.

I hereby acknowledge that I have received and understood this risk disclosure statement.

_______________________________

Date

_______________________________

Signature of Customer

(c) The acknowledgment required by paragraph (a) of this section must be retained by the retail foreign exchange dealer, futures commission merchant or introducing broker in accordance with § 1.31 of this chapter.

(d) This section does not relieve a retail foreign exchange dealer, futures commission merchant or introducing broker from any other disclosure obligation it may have under applicable law.

(e)

(1) Immediately following the language set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, the statement required by paragraph (a) of this section shall include, for each of the most recent four calendar quarters during which the counterparty maintained retail forex customer accounts:

(i) The total number of non discretionary retail forex customer accounts maintained by the retail foreign exchange dealer or futures commission merchant;

(ii) The percentage of such accounts that were profitable during the quarter; and

(iii) The percentage of such accounts that were not profitable during the quarter.

(2) Identification of retail forex customer accounts for the purpose of this disclosure and the calculation in determining whether each such account was profitable or not profitable must be made in accordance with § 5.18(i) of this part. Such statement of profitable trades shall include the following legend: PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Each retail foreign exchange dealer or futures commission merchant shall provide, upon request, to any retail forex customer or prospective retail forex customer the total number of non discretionary retail forex accounts maintained by such foreign exchange dealer or futures commission merchant, the percentage of such accounts that were profitable and the percentage of such accounts that were not profitable, calculated in accordance with § 5.18(i) of this part, for each calendar quarter during the most recent five year period during which such retail foreign exchange dealer or futures commission merchant maintained non discretionary retail forex customer accounts.

17 C.F.R. §5.5

75 FR 55432, Sept. 10, 2010, as amended at 83 FR 7996, Feb. 23, 2018