Put money in, change your mind, and T4Trade can keep 3% of it. Clause 19.9 applies this charge when you deposit and withdraw without trading in between. T4Trade decides how much trading is enough.
Why this matters
A $1,000 deposit you decide not to trade can come back as $970. The agreement calls the test a normal trading threshold and never tells you what that threshold is.
Exhibit 1Every flagged clause gets its own number so you can point at this one. The number does not change, so a link to it keeps working.CriticalHow much this clause can cost you, in our reading. Critical can take your money or your profit. Warning can delay or limit it. Notice is simply worth knowing before you sign.Rarely seenHow ordinary this wording looks next to the contracts we read. This is our reading of the clause, not a count of other brokers.3%The figure this clause puts a number on, taken from the broker's own words.
The Client further acknowledges and agrees that in cases where deposits and withdrawals are conducted on the Client account without any trading activity, the Company reserves the right to charge an administration fee of 3% of the deposited funds to cover any fees/transaction costs incurred by the Company.
What it costsThe same clause worked out on a round number, so you can see it in money or in days. It is an example, not a quotation.Deposit $1,000, trade little or nothing, then ask for it back. The 3% charge is $30, so $970 returns to you.
Firms licensed by the FCA or CySEC must tell a retail client the costs and charges of a service before that client trades. This charge lives in clause 19.9, and T4Trade's account types page lists no fees at all.
t4trade is not licensed by these regulators, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.
Our readingOur own comment on the clause, not the broker's words. Anything we quote is marked as a quotation.Brokers normally treat payment costs as a cost of doing business. Charging a percentage of your own money back to you for not trading enough, on a threshold the firm sets and does not publish, is unusual in a retail agreement.
- Worse together with Exhibit 11Read these two clauses together. Each one costs more because the other exists.The account types page advertises zero commissions while this charge sits in the contract behind it.