ACM is officially closing their U.S. office and retreating back to Switzerland after failing to make any headway in the U.S. Of course the Savior has long suspected this Swiss broker wouldn’t last very long on this side of the pond in light of the increased capital requirements. Furthermore, I was right on the money in stating they clearly didn’t due their homework before opening an office here. The company was a registered NFA member for less than 12 months. What a wretched waste of money, time and man hours to set up an overseas office and then close it down in less than a year. This is not the sign of a company with a master plan. If they were publically traded I’d be shorting them with the intensity of a day trader dealing in shares of General Motors. Here is the official statement from ACM which you can find on the front page of their website:
Forex - Currency Trading - Forex Broker - ACM (USA) LLC
Quote:
ACM USA's white-label licensor, ACM – Advanced Currency Markets SA (“AC-Markets”), announces another milestone in its already impressive and successful history: the formation and creation of ACM Bank. The ACM Group proudly announces the planned reorganization of the ACM Family under the new ACM Bank.
In an effort to ensure greater security, safety, and enhanced banking and investment services to their clients, ACM Group is in the process of applying for its Swiss banking license.
As a result, for the short term ACM USA will no longer be an active NFA member. This means that ACM USA will no longer act as a counterparty to forex positions and will not continue to service client accounts. Instead, ACM USA will remain a licensed office to AC-Markets assisting in the opening of forex trading accounts directly with AC-Markets and in the future with ACM Bank. AC-Markets is not a National Futures Association (“NFA”) member firm and cannot accept U.S. customers until the approval of its Banking license.
Please note the coming date which is of importance to your ACM USA forex trading account.
• On January 8, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. EST, all open forex positions and accounts will be closed at the prevailing market price.
You may continue to trade or close your ACM USA account until the above mentioned date. However, should you not take any action before the above mentioned date, your account will be closed and the account balance will be returned to you by check.
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I love how these brokers close up shop and give their customers barely any notice before their positions are forcibly liquidated. One day you are trading with a long term strategy waiting for a position to retrace and the next your broker sticks a fork in your positions and blows up your account. And ACM celebrates this as a “Milestone,” (to be ranked right up there with the invasion of Normandy and the first man landing on the moon perhaps.) This is why it is so important for traders to make sure their broker is around for the long haul. And as the record shows, Swiss brokers are anything but safe long term bets.
We’ll be waiting to see if you get that bank license guys but as of now ACM is an unregulated Swiss broker and should be avoided until they once again submit themselves to real regulation.