FAQ
We've gathered the answers to the most common questions we get from our customers. If you cannot find an answer or you want to clarify some details, we're here to support you.
Company
1Where is Scandinavian Capital Markets located?
Scandinavian Capital Markets SCM AB has its headquarters at Torshamnsgatan 27, Kista 164 40, Sweden.
Scandinavian Capital Markets Ltd. has its headquarters at Law Partners House, Kumul Highway, Port Vila, Vanuatu.
2Where is Scandinavian Capital Markets registered?
Scandinavian Capital Markets SCM AB is registered with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) under No. 80438. Company Registration No. 556863-5972.
Scandinavian Capital Markets Ltd. is registered with and regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) under No. 700472.
3Is there a company register where I can confirm your status?
Please use this link to the Swedish Financial Inspection (Finansinspektionen) corporate register to confirm the status of Scandinavian Capital Markets SCM AB: https://www.fi.se/sv/vara-register/foretagsregistret/details?id=115111
Please use this link to the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) corporate register to confirm the status of Scandinavian Capital Markets Ltd.: https://www.vfsc.vu/vanuatu-international-companies/viewInstance/view.html?id=a5c1e83ff0a6678be468f768b72c2c5ad6ecf10f6570eef6f7363cc841fcd5cc1ec775c3436ecc1a
4What does it mean: registered, not under FI's supervision?
It means that FX is not classified as a financial instrument in Sweden and is thus not subject to supervision like other asset classes.
5Who founded Scandinavian Capital Markets?
Scandinavian Capital Markets was founded by a group of senior trading professionals from Sweden with extensive experience in the FX market. The management has held many senior roles in institutional financial companies and has been able to utilize that knowledge in Scandinavian Capital Markets.
6Does Scandinavian Asset Management form part of Scandinavian Capital Markets?
Correct, Scandinavian Asset Management runs its trading strategies through Scandinavian Capital Markets and the companies are indeed linked to one another.
7Do you accept clients from all countries?
We offer our services to residents of all countries except for the U.S., Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Moldova, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Due to the Dodd-Frank regulation we only accept US clients if they meet the criteria of an Eligible Contract Participant (ECP).
8Do you accept clients from the US?
Please be advised that we can only consider accepting US-based clients if they meet the criteria of an Eligible Contract Participant (ECP). For individuals, the criterion is $10M+ aggregated discretionary investments in their own name or $5M if hedging.
9Do you report taxes?
It is your responsibility to report and pay your tax according to the laws of your local jurisdiction.
10Do you operate a dealing desk?
No, Scandinavian Capital Markets does not operate a dealing desk. Scandinavian Capital Markets business model is strictly an agency model that facilitates STP trades to the market.
11Do you have a compensation scheme like the FCA?
We are not a part of a compensation scheme, however we have been in business for 8 years and the company is very well capitalised. We are also a purely STP brokerage which means we do not take any risk in the business and we keep the funds segregated with some of the most well-capitalised banks in the world.
12Is your company is a 100% Direct Market Access (DMA) broker?
There are usually no re-quotes and Scandinavian Capital Markets does not take the other side of any client trades. All orders are sent to our liquidity providers for execution. Sometimes there can be re-qoutes if there is no market at the specific price.
Funds
1What liquidity providers do you use?
Scandinavian Capital Markets is a true STP/ECN Forex broker. This means that we aggregate the best bid and ask prices from deep liquidity pools in the underlying FX market. These prices are provided by top-tier investment banks.
2How are my funds protected?
Scandinavian Capital Markets holds client deposits in segregated accounts with Tier One banks, which means client funds are never commingled with the company assets. As such, client funds are only used to cover margin for the clients trading purposes and are never used in the company’s balance sheet.
3Are the client funds segregated?
Yes, client funds are fully segregated from our corporate funds.
4Which banks are client funds held in?
Client funds are held in top-tier European banks.
5What is the minimum deposit?
For accounts opened with the Swedish entity the minimum deposit is $10,000. In case you are affiliated with one of our partners it is $3,000.
For accounts opened with the Vanuatu entity the minimum deposit is $250.
6What funding options is available?
Accounts opened with the Swedish entity can be funded only by bank wire transfer.
Accounts opened with the Vanuatu entity can be funded by Skrill (including by credit card via Skrill) and by bank wire transfer.
7Do you charge any conversion fees?
Scandinavian Capital Markets always convert at the spot rate.
8Do you charge withdrawal or deposit fees, any interest or monthly maintenance fees?
We do not charge any kind of withdrawal or deposit fees, interest or monthly maintenance fees. Our bank applies a flat fee on withdrawals: USD 25, EUR 25 and GBP 27. Please also bear in mind your bank might charge some fees for these operations. We recommend you to check with your bank. If you deposit by Skrill we process your withdrawal as a refund to your Skrill account. No bank fees apply in this case.
9Can I deposit EUR into a USD account?
Yes, but the bank will convert your funds upon arrival at not the most favourable rate.
10How long does it take for withdrawals to be processed?
Provided that all trades in the account are closed, withdrawals are processed within one business day.
11Can I move funds between my trading accounts?
The client portal allows you to move funds between your different trading accounts yourself. Click the Move Funds button that appears below your trading accounts and execute your transfer.
12What should I write in payment details when funding my account?
Please write your name and your trading account number.
Accounts
1What accounts do you offer?
Scandinavian Capital Markets forex accounts are designed for retail and institutional traders, money managers, introducing brokers and professional (active) traders. We offer several account types, please see the Accounts page for additional information.
2In which currency can I deposit to my account?
Deposits are accepted in USD, EUR, and GBP.
3How do I sign up for a corporate account?
Please proceed to our application page (app.scandinavianmarkets.com). Start filling out your application and select Corporate Account on the second step.
4How long does it take for my application to be approved?
Account registration applications are approved within 1 business day.
5Does it cost anything to open or maintain an account with you?
Scandinavian Capital Markets does not charge any fees for opening or maintenance of accounts.
6How much you charge as a dormant account fee and how long without trading does this need to be in order to become dormant?
Scandinavian Capital Markets does not charge any dormant fees on client accounts.
7I had to reset my account password this morning. I can log into your portal but I cannot trade. How long does it take for cTrader to acknowledge that password change?
You should receive your password reset link instantly once you request it from Spotware. After you have reset your password, you can log in with your new password right away. If your new password does not work, you should just request a new password reset link and create a new password.
8How do I submit a withdrawal request?
To request a withdrawal, log in to your account click on the "withdrawals" tab, and submit the form.
9How can I close my account?
Send an email to support@scandinavianmarkets.com. If your account is managed, you also need to submit an LPOA revocation.
10Do you offer PAMM accounts?
We offer MAMs (Multi Account Manager) accounts. Please refer to this page for more information.
Trading
1What are your trading hours?
The market is open from Sunday at 22:00 to Friday at 21:55 GMT with certain differences on other instruments. Also, in order to protect customers between 21:59 – 22:01 daily pricing is non-executable.
2Where are your trading servers located?
At the Equinix LD4 Data Centre in London.
3What is the maximum leverage?
The maximum leverage for FX, commodities and indices is up to 200:1.
The maximum leverage for cryptocurrencies is up to 200:1.
4How can I change my leverage?
You will need to submit a leverage change request in your client portal. Click the "leverage change button" next to your accounts and enter the leverage you wish to use.
5What is the minimum lot size I can trade?
0.01 lot.
6Are all my trades STP?
Scandinavian Capital Markets never takes the other side of our clients trades. We send 100% of our order flow to the liquidity providers.
7Which currency pairs do you offer?
We offer about 60 FX trading pairs and over 100 cryptocurrencies. To see all the available pairs, please open a demo account or email us at support@scandinavianmarkets.com for a full list of available pairs.
8What are your average spreads?
You can view the list of our indicative spreads for different assets on the respective pages: Forex, Crypto, Indices and Commodities. These spreads are indicative because as an ECN-STP broker we feed our spreads directly from our liquidity providers. To test the actual spreads we recommend that you sign up for a live account and monitor the spreads from our live account. You do not need to fund the account right away.
9Do spread and swap conditions in the demo account match those in the live account?
In general this is true. This being said, the main purpose of a demo account is to test the platform functionality. You should not rely on them for testing spreads or swaps. We recommend that you open a live account and monitor the spreads from our live account. You do not need to fund the account right away.
10Do you allow EAs?
Scandinavian Capital Markets welcomes the use of EAs.
11Do you support FIX API?
Correct, we do offer FIX API. For the smoothest experience with FIX API we recommend that you use the cTrader platform.
12How much time in milliseconds is order execution in a cTrader real account?
From our end, it can be as low as 2 milliseconds, because the servers are co-located to our liquidity providers. But that does not factor in the time it takes for your order to be sent to us and for us to send back the confirmation. This delay is impossible to determine. However, please be assured that we pride ourselves in providing world-class execution to professional traders and institutions which are very dependable on rapid order execution.
13Why do you close pricing 5 minutes early on Friday?
By stopping pricing during this time it saves clients from getting stopped out due to spread widening, and also save them from seeing massive slippage during this period of time.
14Why do you not allow traders to execute 1 minute before and after the daily rollover?
This is to protect clients so they won’t get stopped out due to spread widening, and they also will not receive slippage.
15Can I trade precious metals, such as gold and silver, with your account?
It is absolutely possible to trade precious metals, such as gold and silver, with our company.
16Can I trade cryptocurrencies with you?
Absolutely. You can trade over 100 crypto pairs with 5:1 leverage on both cTrader and MT4.
17Can I trade indices or commodities with you?
Indices and oil can be traded by opening an account with our regulated Vanuatu entity (Scandinavian Capital Markets Ltd.).
18Can I trade stocks, futures or options with you?
Unfortunately, we do not provide stocks, futures or options.
19What is the maximum trade size?
On MT4 it is 50 lots per client, on cTrader it is $5 million per click.
20Is the account you offer hedging or netting?
Both MT4 and cTrader accounts that we offer are hedging.
21Do you allow scalping?
Yes.
22Is it possible to hedge positions?
Correct, you are able to hedge trades on both MT4 and cTrader.
23What are the conditions for Margin Call and Stop Out?
At Scandinavian Capital Markets Margin Call is generated when the available margin utilization reaches 100%. This information is displayed directly on the trading platform. If after a Margin Call the trader took no action (add funds; close some trades) and the available margin drops to 80% of the amount needed to maintain the positions (“negative margin”), Stop-Out occurs. The largest positions are being closed first.
Platforms
1What platforms can I trade on?
We offer cTrader and MT4. cTrader is accessible on any operating system since it provides web access, which means you can access it using your web browser. MT4 is available on Windows and the Mac (with an OS version earlier than MacOS Catalina).
2How do I access the web version of cTrader?
In order to access the web version of cTrader you need to go to ct.scandinavianmarkets.com.
3Can I trade on a Mac?
It is absolutely possible to trade on Mac OS. You can either choose the cTrader platform which has web-based access fully compatible with Mac OS or download MT4 software for Mac. Please be aware that MT4 for Mac does not work on MacOS Catalina and later, because of the end of support of 24-bit applications.
4Do you have a download link for MT4 for Mac?
In order to set up the MT4 trading platform on Mac OS, please refer to the following instructions: www.metatrader4.com/en/trading-platform/help/userguide/install_mac Please be aware that MT4 for Mac does not work on MacOS Catalina and later, because of the end of support of 24-bit applications.
5Where can I download MT4 for my mobile phone?
Please use the links below to download MetaTrader 4 for your mobile device:
iOS: apps.apple.com/us/app/metatrader-4/id496212596
Android: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.metaquotes.metatrader4
6Where can I download cTrader for my mobile phone?
Please use the links below to download cTrader for your mobile device:
iOS: apps.apple.com/app/scm-ctrader/id1490558606
Android: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.scm.ct
(they can also be found on the platform under Links).
7Why can I not see all the currency pairs in the symbols menu in MT4?
To see all the available symbols you simply need to right-click on the symbols menu and select 'Show all'.
8How do I extract the journal from MT4?
In your MT4 terminal, open the Journal tab at the bottom. Right-click in the middle of the tab, select open, a folder with your logs will open up.
9How can I change my MT4 password?
To change your MetaTrader 4 password, go to Tools>Options and under the 'Server' tab, select 'Change Password'.
Affiliate Program
1Do you have an affiliate program?
Yes, we offer an affiliate program for both corporations and individuals. Please contact us for more details.
2What is your compensation scheme?
Introducing brokers receive 20% of revenue generated from their referrals.
3How can I start referring people?
After you open an affiliate account you can refer customers by sending them your affiliate link. When they click the affiliate link and open a trading account, they are recorded as your referrals in your IB portal. You can also ask them to send an email with their full name, account number, and your affiliate account number to support@scandinavianmarkets.com. You will be receiving your rebates at the end of each day.
4Are there any restrictions for the affiliate program?
There are no particular requirements for joining the affiliate program.
5How often can I withdraw funds from my commission account?
There is no limit. You can withdraw funds at the end of each day if you wish.
MAM/Fund Managers
1Are there any particular requirements in order to receive a MAM?
To be set up for MAM you need to have at least two funded accounts.
2What does the process for onboarding and trading client accounts look like?
Your client will have to sign up for a live account on our website. Once the application is approved, our compliance team will draft an LPOA (Limited Power of Attorney) for you and your client to sign that will also set out the fees you will be charging.
3When and where do I receive my performance fee?
Performance fees are usually paid out on a monthly basis and are credited to your account on the trading platform.
Ready to start trading?
Open your Scandinavian Markets trading account for true STP forex trading.