IC Markets Class Action

IC Markets Class Action

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On 6 February 2024, Piper Alderman filed a Class Action in the Federal Court of Australia against International Capital Markets Limited (IC Markets) on behalf of investors who traded contracts for difference (CFDs) with IC Markets.

A CFD is a ‘leveraged’ financial product that enables investors to take a position on the movement of an underlying asset – such as a share, a share price index, a commodity, a currency or even a crypto currency – without owning the asset itself. CFDs are often highly leveraged, with an investor paying only a fraction of what the underlying asset is worth and betting on whether the asset will increase or decrease in value. Everyday Australian investors have collectively lost hundreds of millions of dollars trading controversial financial products called CFDs.

CFDs are legal in Australia but have been banned in some other countries with the Federal Court of Australia describing these products as “financial heroin hits” in the hands of unsophisticated retail investors.

In March 2021, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) imposed strict new conditions on CFDs by way of Product Intervention Order in order to protect inexperienced investors, following findings from their reviews that 72 per cent of retail clients who traded CFDs lost money.  Prior to this intervention, an investor’s losses could far exceed the amount of their initial investment due to the high leverage ratios offered for the CFDs.

In recent years, ASIC has also successfully brought proceedings for breach of the Corporations Act against a number of CFD licensees operating in Australia, with penalties awarded in excess of $75m.

Piper Alderman’s class action alleges that investors suffered losses in circumstances where IC Markets did not adequately assess their objectives, financial situations and where the risks of investing were inadequately disclosed.   The class action also advances allegations of unconscionable conduct and misleading and deceptive conduct against IC Markets during the period 6 February 2018 to 6 February 2024 (the Relevant Period of the Class Action).

The claim is being funded by Woodsford, a leading global ESG and litigation finance business.

Individuals who have suffered losses by way of trading CFDs with IC Markets and feel that their objectives and financial situation were not considered, or where the risks of investing in CFDs were not adequately disclosed to them, are encouraged to register their interest using the form below:

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