Euro Pacific Bank

March 2016 New Products & Platform Updates

Products

– Options for Volatility Traders Expand with VIX Weeklys

– Croatian Kuna Pairs to be Discontinued

Platform Enhancements

– Enhancements to Instrument Overview in GTS

– Movable Trade Tickets in GTS

– Improvements to Charts in GTS

– Listed Options Supported in GTS Pro Watchlists

– Open Orders to be Renamed to Orders in GTS Pro

– Technical Analysis Tool to be Discontinued in GTS Pro

Operations

– Market Data Changes


Products

Options for Volatility Traders Expand with VIX Weeklys

Weekly options on VIX have been added to our product offering, so clients can trade volatility on the short term instead of only monthly or longer dated options.

New VIX Weeklys can be traded from the Contract Options Chain in GTS Pro and from Trade and Order tickets in all platforms.

New weekly expirations are listed on Thursdays (excluding holidays) and expire on Wednesdays but have a Last Trading day on the business day before. CBOE may list up to six consecutive weekly expirations for VIX options.

Because of this short-term maturity and the accelerated time decay, most traders prefer to sell Weeklys rather than buy them. Covered calls and naked puts are examples of some selling strategies that attract investors to these listings. Spreads are also frequently used with the instrument, especially credit spreads as well as calendar and diagonal spreads.

Croatian Kuna Pairs to be Discontinued

The Croatian Kuna will no longer be available for trading on Global TradeStation due to illiquidity in the market. The affected pairs are EURHRK and USDHRK and the change is effective immediately.


Platform Enhancements

Enhancements to Instrument Overview in GTS

The instrument Overview module in GTS has been extended to display additional data for instruments across all asset classes. Resize the module or navigate through the blue arrows on the far ends to see more relevant instrument data.

Movable Trade Tickets in GTS

The trade ticket in GTS can now be moved around the screen, enabling users to view data underneath the ticket. Once the ticket has been dismissed, it will once again appear as a centered popup the next time it is triggered.

Improvements to Charts in GTS

New Price Channel Study

Price Channels are lines set above and below the price of an instrument. The upper channel is set at the x-period high and the lower channel is set at the x-period low. For a 10-day Price Channel, the upper channel would equal the 10-day high and the lower channel would equal the 10-day low. Price Channels can be used to identify support and resistance and break out Price Channels can also be used to identify overbought or oversold levels within a bigger downtrend or uptrend.

Annotations

The order of the Annotations has been changed from alphabetic to a more intuitive order starting with Lines, then Fibonacci, Figures, Measure tools, and Texts.

A new annotation has also been added to the Annotation Menu – Infinite trendline.

Collapse of Panels and Main Window

Panels and the main window in charts can now be collapsed. Just click – next to the X in the top right corner of a panel and it will collapse. To expand it again, click +.

Movable Configuration Settings for Studies and Annotations

Similar to trade tickets, the configuration dialogue for both studies and annotations can now be moved around the screen.

Listed Options Supported in GTS Pro Watchlists

Contract Options and Stock Options can now be added to a Watchlist in GTS Pro. This is done through drag-and-drop or right click -> Watchlist or Copy from Contract Options Chain, Trade Ticket, Order Ticket, Positions, Orders and other applicable modules.

This improvement will be rolled out with the next GTS Pro update on 8 March 2016.

Open Orders to be Renamed to Orders in GTS Pro

The Open Orders module in GTS Pro will be renamed to Orders in March 2016. The change will be applied to all languages supported in GTS Pro.

Technical Analysis Tool to be Discontinued in GTS Pro

The Technical Analysis Tool found in the News and Research toolbar in GTS Pro will be discontinued from 30 April 2016.

We are working on a new and improved solution TBA.


Operations

Market Data Changes

Real-time market data subscription for Xetra Stars instruments required

As of 1 April 2016, real-time market data for Xetra Stars instruments require a separate subscription:

Deutsche Börse Xetra Stars Private Users Professional Users
Real-time Level 1 6.00 EUR/Month 16.90 EUR/Month
Real-time Level 2 9.00 EUR/Month 26.00 EUR/Month

Real-time market data subscriptions for ICE instruments

Please be advised that real-time market data for ICE instruments require the respective subscriptions.

ICE Futures Europe Commodities Private Users Professional Users
Real-time Level 1 110 USD/Month 110 USD/Month
Real-time Level 2 110 USD/Month 110 USD/Month
ICE Futures Europe Financials Private Users Professional Users
Real-time Level 1 110 USD/Month 110 USD/Month
Real-time Level 2 110 USD/Month 110 USD/Month
ICE Futures US (NYBOT) Private Users Professional Users
Real-time Level 1 110 USD/Month 110 USD/Month
Real-time Level 2 110 USD/Month 110 USD/Month

London listed ETF instruments moving from London Stock Exchange to London Stock Exchange (ETFs)

London listed ETF instruments currently offered on the LSE_SETS – London Stock Exchange will be migrated to LSE_ETF – London Stock Exchange (ETFs). The change to LSE_ETF – London Stock Exchange (ETFs) is effective as of 1 April 2016.

Real-time market data subscriptions are not affected by this change. Data for those instruments will remain available under the London Stock Exchange subscription.

London Stock Exchange Professional Users Retail Users
Real-time Level 1 41.90 GBP/Month 4.10 GBP/Month
Real-time Level 2 165.05 GBP/Month 6.00 GBP/Month

February 2016 Platform Updates and New Products

New Features in TradeStation

A number of enhancements have been released to the Global TradeStation platform in February 2016.

INTER-MARKET SPREADS NOW AVAILABLE

Global Trading now offers one of the most traded inter-market spreads allowing you to easily trade the spreads between Wheat and Corn futures traded on CBOT.

Brief explanation about inter-market spreads

When markets are uncertain as they certainly are here at the beginning of 2016, it makes good sense to focus on relative value plays. One value play which is gaining increasing popularity is the spreads between Wheat and Corn.

Wheat/Corn spread

The Wheat/Corn spread reflects the supply and demand developments between these two major crops. After three years of good crop weather, global inventories are booming, both crops are trading their lowest since 2010 and hedge funds have amassed huge short positions in them. In the coming months, focus will switch to the new seasonís production and farmersí planting intentions and weather developments will also help set the tone in the market. During this time the range-bound nature seen in recent weeks is expected to continue and this should offer some interesting trading opportunities.î

Trading Intra-market spreads

The Wheat/Corn spread contract is available under ZW (ZWH6-H6 for the March contract for example):

NO SLIP FX STOP ORDERS TO BE DISCONTINUED

From 12 February 2016, the ëStopí order type available for major FX crosses (for trade sizes below 3 Million) will be discontinued. ëStop if Bidí and ëStop if Offeredí orders which trigger on the respective Bid or Ask price are available instead.
Please cancel any open ‘Stop’ orders or change them to ‘Stop if Bid/Offered’ orders before 12 February 2016.

ULTRA 10-YEAR US TREASURY AND EURO BONO FUTURES NOW AVAILABLE

Global Trading now offers:

  • Ultra 10 year US Treasury Note traded on CBOT
  • Euro BONO futures (Spanish 10 year Government Futures) traded on EUREX – FBON
  • MSCI World Index (EUR) traded on Eurex

NEW IN GTS

New Dividends and Interest Details Reports

The Dividends Report has been redesigned and improved with a number of new features to give you a better overview of the dividends payed on your stocks.

Interest Details give an overview of interest payments and deductions on your accounts.

The Dividends and Interest Details Reports can be filtered by date or by free-text search to filter by specific postings.

EXPORT TO EXCEL SUPPORT FOR REPORTS

Financial Statements, Account Statements, Trades Executed, Dividends and Interest Details reports now support export of the filtered results to an Excel sheet.

DISCONTINUATION OF IE 10 SUPPORT FOR GTS

Following Microsoft’s end-of-support of Internet Explorer 10 from January 2016, we will discontinue support of GTS in IE 10 in the near future.

We recommend the use of Chrome or IE 11 for GTS on Windows PCs.

Operating Systems and Browsers supported by GTS will be:

SQUARE AND REDUCE NET POSITION ENHANCEMENTS IN DESKTOP TRADER

It is now possible to reduce as well as square net positions in Desktop Trader.

The position overview now notes any open orders on the account for the instrument.

Square / Reduce Net Position is now also available for all products in addition to FX and CFDs.

RETIREMENT OF THE OLD GTS WEBTRADER

Following the successful rollout of the new Global TradeStation, the old GTS WEBTRADER has now been retired.

GTS WebTrader is in maintenance mode only, and we expect to fully discontinue this platform in Q2 2016.

MARKET DATA CHANGES

SPX.I substituted by SP500.I

The redundant symbol code SPX.I (S&P 500 Index) will be removed from the platform as of 1 March 2016. The cash index values are available on the symbol code SP500.I.

Please note that delayed and real-time data on S&P cash indices require a fee liable subscription as mentioned in our September 2015 notification.

The subscription is also necessary to view the index values in the Contract Option Chains in case S&P indices are underlying instruments for Listed Options.

FX Margin changes on SAR and AED

EFFECTIVE: FRIDAY JAN 22nd 2016 at 11:00 GMT

Due to an increasing pressure on pegs against the US Dollar, the margin requirement for Saudi Riyal (SAR) and UAE Dirham (AED) will be increased to 20%. The margin change will be effective Friday, January 22nd 2016 at 11:00 GMT.

For your reference, the affected pairs by these margin changes are the following:

Saudi Riyal (SAR)

  • USDSAR

UAE Dirham (AED)

  • USDAED

FX Margin changes on ZAR and RUB

EFFECTIVE: FRIDAY JAN 15th 2016 at 14:00 GMT

Due to recent changes in the market conditions observed for the South African Rand (ZAR), Global Trading will increase the default margin requirement to 8%. The margin change will be effective Friday, 15 January 2016 at 14:00 GMT.

Additionally, the default margin requirement for the Russian Ruble (RUB) will be lowered to 8% effective the same time.

For your reference, the affected pairs by these margin changes are the following:

South African Rand (ZAR)

  • AUDZAR
  • CHFZAR
  • DKKZAR
  • EURZAR
  • GBPZAR
  • NZDZAR
  • TRYZAR
  • USDZAR
  • XPTZAR
  • ZARJPY

Russian Ruble (RUB)

  • EURRUB
  • USDRUB
  • XAURUB

January 2016 Platform Updates & New Products


Chart Improvements in TradeStation

Pop-out chart (multi-screen) support:

The chart in the Global TradeStation platform can now be opened in a separate browser window and located on a separate screen.

New studies will be available mid-January 2016

Donchian Channel

Donchian Channel is a trend-following breakout study developed by Richard Donchian consisting of two bands derived from the highest high and lowest low over a defined period (default 10 periods).

The Donchian channel offers information about volatility – Bollinger Bands. The more the price fluctuates the wider the bands. Most traders, however, use it to establish long positions when the price breaks above the upper band or short positions when the price breaks below the lower band.

Keltner Channel study

Keltner Channel is a volatility study developed by Chester Keltner. The study is very similar to Bollinger Bands but where Bollinger Bands use standard
deviation to determine the bands, Keltner channels are based on the Average True Range (ATR). Bollinger Bands draw the bands around a Simple Moving Average
whereas Keltner use an Exponential Moving Average.

Keltner channels can be used to identify trends, reversals, breakouts, overbought and oversold levels.

Studies on studies:

From 16 January 2016, the chart in GTS will support studies on studies, for example, making it possible to add a Moving Average on a Volume.

In the study configuration dialogue, the trader will be able to select which chart panel he wants the study to appear in or to choose a new panel.

Shared Price Axis

From 16 January 2016, the chart in GTS will allow the display of two instruments on the same chart sharing the Price Axis (Y Axis) between the two charts.

Instrument Search Improvements in GTS

Search in the GTS platform has been improved by collapsing secondary listings of an instrument beneath a primary listing:

  • Simplifying the search results
  • Making it easier to select primary listings
  • Offering easy access to secondary listings by un-collapsing the results.

Secondary stock listings

Secondary stock listings are collapsed beneath the primary listings.

Futures contract expiries:

Different Futures expiries are collapsed beneath the front-running contract (with the nearest expiry).

Futures Spread months:

Different month combinations of Futures Spreads are collapsed beneath the front-running Spread (with the nearest expiry).

New Features in GTS Pro

Improvements to FX Liquidity Depth:

Forex trade tickets have now been enhanced with interactive Liquidity Depth.

  • Each row shows the price levels available for accumulated amounts
  • Horizontal bars indicate the relation of the amounts at each level
  • Clicking a level populates an aggressive Limit Order with:
    • Sell for Bid/Buy for Ask levels
    • The price at that level
    • The accumulated amount at that level.

Chat in GTS and GTS Pro

The chat module is now available in GTS and GTS Pro. This would be the most convenient and direct channel for addressing issues related to trade execution. Our support staff will be available to help answer questions and/or direct you to the best channels to resolve them.

Trading from the Watchlist, Trade Board and Forex Board:

We have recently improved trading support from Watchlists, Trade Boards and Forex Boards in GTS Pro:

  • Instruments with non-green prices (yellow or purple prices) will now launch a trade ticket for the instrument.
  • Instruments with green prices will continue to execute on the live price.

Changes to Unrealized Margin Profit/Loss Calculation

From 1 February 2016, the Unrealized margin profit/loss shown throughout the platform will include conversion fees for FX, CFDs & Futures making it a more accurate representation of the P/L on the client’s account. This change to the Unrealized margin profit/loss will affect the client’s Account value and Available for margin.

All Stock CFDs Routed Directly to Market (Reminder)

As announced in December Notification, due to the improvements in speed of execution, Smart Routing and changes in the regulatory environment, Euro Pacific Bank is no longer a Market Maker for stock CFDs since 14 December 2015. Instead, we are offering stock CFDs on a pure Direct Market Access (DMA) basis where all stock CFD orders are routed directly to the market.

This means that stock CFDs are no longer available on Live (green) tradable prices but are traded through Market, Limit and Stop orders.

Non-stock CFDs not affected

Trading in other CFD types will be unaffected and will continue to be available on live green prices including:

  • CFD Indices
  • CFD Commodities
  • CFD Forex
  • CFD Interest Rates and Bonds.

Side-based P/L Calculations for Forex (Reminder)

From January 2016, P/L on open Forex positions shown in Positions lists will be calculated using the actual Bid or Ask close price instead of the mid-price in all GTS. This means that:

  • The close price shown in the Positions list will show the price to close the position (Bid for long position, Ask for short positions)
  • P/L will be calculated using the Bid/Ask close price
  • % Price will be calculated using the Bid/Ask close price.
  • This will give a more accurate representation of the P/L that will be booked on the account.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

Removal of the Price Feed from Australian Stock Exchange after December 31st, 2015

RE-ENABLING ACCESS TO ASX AS OF JAN 26 2017

We are please to announce that the ASX data feed has been resestablished as of January 26, 2017. For more information see the notice here.

EFFECTIVE: DEC 31 2015

Please be advised that we are no longer going to be supporting price quotes for the Australian Stock Exchange due to substantial increases in pricing associated with offering trading on this exchange.

A. The prices will not be visible

Having the prices removed will mean that none of the Australian Stock Exchange traded products will have a visible price; this applies not only in the trading views but also in the account holding views:

Trading Module:

Open positions in Account Summary:

B. The margin calculation will still work

Although the prices are completely gone from the trading platform(s) Global Trading still has the internal use of them for the margin calculation. The upper part of the Account Summary will therefore still show correct unrealized P/L and Margin Utilization, however it will not be possible to match these values with anything in the open positions view:

C. Clients will still be able to close positions

Given that internally we can still see the prices, it is the overall general recommendation that the end clients contact us via the online banking portal to close any open positions.

However, technically it is possible for the end-client to close the position on the trading platform(s) via a limit order, if the end client is aware of the current market price:

Please contact your private banker if you have any further quesitons about these changes.

December 2015 Platform Updates and New Products

New Features in TradeStation

A number of enhancements will be released to the TradeStation platform in December 2015.

Multi-screen support for charts in desktop browsers:
TradeStation will allow the chart to be opened in a separate browser window and located on a separate screen.

Chat in TradeStation: Chat will be released on the TradeStation platform on 13 December 2015, allowing users to chat directly with Trading Support.

Instrument search improvements in TradeStation: Search throughout the TradeStation platform will be improved by collapsing secondary listings of an instrument beneath a primary listing:

  • Simplifying the search results
  • Making it easier to select the primary listing
  • Still offering easy access to secondary listings of the stock by un-collapsing results.

Secondary stock listings: Secondary stock listings will be collapsed, simplifying the search results.

Futures contract expiries: Different expiries of futures contracts will be collapsed beneath the front-running contract with the nearest expiry date, greatly simplifying the search results.

Futures spread months: Different month combination of futures spreads will be collapsed beneath the front-running spread with the nearest expiry dates, greatly simplifying the search results.

Retirement of GTS WebTrader & MobileTrader

Following the successful rollout of the new and improved Global TradeStation, the GTS WebTrader & MobileTrader platforms will be discontinued on 31 December 2015. We therefore urge you to move to the updated Global TradeStation platform and Global TradeStation Pro desktop platform as soon as possible.

All Single Stock CFDS Routed Directly to Market

Due to improvements in speed of execution, Smart Routing and changes in the regulatory environment, Global TradeStation (GTS) will no longer be a Market Maker for stock CFDs from Monday 14 December 2015. Instead, we will be offering single stock CFDs on a pure Direct Market Access (DMA) basis where all stock CFD orders will be routed directly to the market.

This will mean that single stock CFDs will no longer be available on Live (Green) tradable prices but will be traded through Market, Limit and Stop orders.

Non-stock CFDs not affected

Trading in other CFD types will be unaffected and will continue to be available on live green prices including:

  • CFD Indices
  • CFD Commodities
  • CFD Forex
  • CFD Interest Rates and Bonds.

Stop Orders to be Decommissioned on Exchange Traded Options

Stop orders will be decommissioned on Exchange Traded Options (ETOs) from 12 December 2015.

Stop orders are triggered if a minimum trade of one lot in the instrument is actually traded in the market. As option prices are calculated on the underlying stock or futures price, the ETO can reach the stop price but not be triggered as no one is actually trading at that expiry/strike/price. To avoid unexpected trading behaviour, we will remove Stop order types (stops and trailing stops) on ETOs (stock options, futures options and index options) from 12 December 2015. ETOs will then only be tradable using market and limit orders.

After the close (NYSE) on Friday 11 December 2015, all existing stop orders on ETOs will be cancelled.

Side-based P/L Calculations for Forex

From January 2016, P/L on open Forex positions shown in Positions lists will be calculated using the actual Bid or Ask close price instead of the mid-price in all GTS. This means that:

  1. The close price shown in the Positions list will show the price to close the position (Bid for long position, Ask for short positions)
  2. P/L will be calculated using the Bid/Ask close price
  3. % Price will be calculated using the Bid/Ask close price.

This will give a more accurate representation of the P/L that will be booked on the account.

Updated Margin Policy for GTS and GTS Pro

All clients should ensure that they are familiar with the margin policy of Global Trading Limited (GTL). when trading on Global TradeStation, Global TradeStation Pro, or any legacy platforms (WebTrader, MobileTrader).

There are three levels of margin notices, 80% use of equity for margin, 90% use of equity for margin and 100% use of equity for margin. The notices will be sent to your GTL account via a popup inside your trading account.

In order to ensure that you will not be stopped out of any positions (positions automatically closed) you should always ensure that you are always utilizing less than 100% of your available margin utilization. As stop-out levels can change based on market conditions it is important that you monitor your margin levels closely so that you are not in breach.

If your account goes above 150% use of equity for margin, all margin positions will be liquidated and converted to cash (stop-out). All open orders will be cancelled.

Any exposure that is continuously under margined (margin utilization above 100%) for a period of 47 hours will trigger a stop-out. This will not overrule the 150% stop-out trigger, if this level should be reached in the 47 hour period.

You alone are responsible for monitoring your margin position(s). GTL has no responsibility to notify you. Please take great care when entering your orders to make sure it is what you intend to do and that you do not leave any open orders that you do not wish to be executed.

November 2015 New Products and Platform Enhancements

SQUARE NET EXPOSURE IN GLOBAL TRADESTATION PRO

A Square Net Exposure feature was introduced for Forex Spot, Forex Forwards and Forex Options in April 2015.

Square Net Exposure allows you to square net positions in one quick, efficient operation. When no related stop or limit orders are present on the sub-positions, the feature is available from the close button on the Net position level. This button opens a Square Net Exposure dialog to initiate squaring the net position.

It has recently been enabled for more instruments in Global TradeStation Pro: Index CFDs, Commodity CFDs, Forex CFDs, Bond CFDs, and around 300 Single Stock CFDs traded on green prices.

KEYWORDS FOR CFD INDEX TRACKERS IN GLOBAL TRADESTATION PRO

The symbol codes for CFD Index Trackers have recently been changed (e.g. DAX.I is now GER30.I). We have updated the search algorithm in Global TradeStation Pro to ensure clients can easily find CFD Index Trackers. A number of keywords are now mapped to the relevant CFD Index Tracker. Click here to see them.

October 2015 New Products and Platform Enhancements

NEW FX SPOT CROSSES IN CNH (OFFSHORE CHINESE RENMINBI)

With the current global interest in trading CNH (Offshore Chinese Renminbi), Global Trading is pleased to announce that we are now adding additional crosses to our CNH offering in FX Spot:

  • CADCNH
  • CHFCNH
  • GBPCNH
  • NZDCNH

Minimum trade size is 5,000 USD and margin at 8%.

For information, please contact your Account Executive.

DISCONTINUATION OF FX SPOT IN FIVE MIDDLE EASTERN CURRENCIES

Global Trading is discontinuing the FX offering in the following Middle Eastern currencies as of 1 October 2015:

  • BHD
  • JOD
  • KWD
  • OMR
  • AR

All open positions end-of-day on 30 September 2015 will be closed on 1 October 2015.

For information, please contact your Account Executive.

IMPROVEMENTS TO TRADE TICKETS IN GLOBAL TRADESTATION PRO

In the beginning of October 2015 Global Trading will roll out a set of improvements to the trade tickets for Stocks, Single Stock CFDs, and Futures in Global TradeStation Pro. New features include:

  • The Order tab has been enhanced with an interactive Market Depth module
  • Clicking in the Market Depth populates a Limit Order
  • Horizontal bars indicating the relation between Sizes have been added
  • Last Updated timestamp has been added throughout the trade ticket
  • The ticket now indicates if the displayed prices are Delayed or Live (subscription required).