TNFX gives every account swap-free status by default and asks nothing for it. Clause 21 then lets TNFX decide your gain came mainly from not paying overnight interest. It can cancel those trades, record your profit as nil, and keep the money in the account, including what you deposited.
Why this matters
You never applied for this status, so you cannot avoid the clause by declining it. If TNFX acts under clause 21, you have 14 days to complain, and clause 21.12 says TNFX owes you nothing for the profit you lost.
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.14 daysThe figure this clause puts a number on, taken from the broker's own words.NewThis wording was not in the version we read last time. It was added or changed since then.
It is not a right, it does not transfer with the Account, and we may grant it for a limited period only.
Buried at section 41 of 50 in the Term and Conditions (FSA), 82% of the way through.We counted the numbered sections in the Term and Conditions (FSA). This clause sits in section 41 of 50, about 82% of the way through. A fee written on the first page and the same fee written near the end are not the same disclosure.
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.On a $1,000 deposit grown to $1,600 on swap-free trades, clause 21.7 can reset the $600 profit to nil. Clause 21.9 can then keep the $1,000 too.
Our readingOur own comment on the clause, not the broker's words. Anything we quote is marked as a quotation.Brokers commonly reserve the right to remove swap-free status or charge the swap back. Going further, to voiding the trades, treating withdrawn profit as a debt and retaining deposited capital, is a mechanism we rarely see attached to a religious concession. Clause 21.10 does require any retention to be proportionate, but TNFX judges what is proportionate.
What happens, and whenThe Trigger column is what has to happen first. Once that point is reached, the broker may do what the next column says. Every rung names the clause it came from, so you can check it.
| Trigger | What the broker may then do | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| Status reviewed | TNFX can suspend or withdraw your swap-free status at any time, without telling you first. | 21.3 |
| Swap charged back | TNFX can take the overnight financing you never paid out of the account. | 21.6 |
| Trades voided | TNFX can cancel the trades and record your profit on them as nil. | 21.7 |
| Profit already withdrawn | Money you took out becomes a debt, payable from any account you or a connected person holds. | 21.8 |
| Serious or repeated conduct | TNFX can keep the funds in the account, including your deposit, and close it. | 21.9 |
| Withdrawals stopped | TNFX can refuse every withdrawal until the correction satisfies it. | 21.11 |
- Worse together with Exhibit 4Read these two clauses together. Each one costs more because the other exists.Clause 21.8 collects the debt from a connected person's account, and clause 22.1 makes anyone sharing your address or connection a connected person.