WARNING: Greek elections this weekend

Several brokers have been sending out warnings to their customers regarding this Sunday's Greek elections as it could have a big effect on your open positions this weekend:

Email from LMAX:
Dear Trader,

With the current uncertainty in Europe and in particular the forthcoming Greek elections, LMAX feel it is prudent for our clients to analyse positions and any contingent orders going into this weekend, to ensure you are comfortable with your exposure.

LMAX, being a true exchange model is reliant upon our market makers to provide pricing at all times, with these prices coming from Tier 1 Banks and industry leading market makers. During discussions with our market makers, we believe Sunday night opening might see unprecedented volatility, naturally enhancing risk of market gapping, margin call and position stop out scenarios.

Kind regards,

The LMAX team

Email from Pepperstone:
Dear Valued Pepperstone Client,

This coming Sunday, June 17 2012, will be the Greek legislative elections. This event is important for the future of Greece as part of the Eurozone. While Pepperstone does not give financial advice, we believe these elections may result in periods of extreme volatility in the currency markets. We urge you to take every step possible to protect yourself from potential price spikes or market gaps, including but not limited to:

    - Adding funds to your account to avoid liquidation and/or margin call
    - Curtailing unnecessary exposure, by closing some or all existing positions prior to the market close
    - Placing stop orders*

*Please be aware that stop orders may slip or not be filled if the market gaps or if there is extreme volatility.

The events unfolding in the Eurozone in the following weeks will be pivotal for the future of the Euro currency and the nations involved. Stay current with news announcements so you are aware of potentially volatile market conditions.

Pepperstone recommends that clients seek professional financial advice on this matter.

If you have any questions, our customer support team will be happy to help.

Kind regards,

The Pepperstone Team

Email from FxPro:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Possible Extreme Volatility expected due to Greek Elections

Dear Client,

As you are aware on Sunday 17th of June, Greece will be holding another election in a second attempt to form a government. In contrast to the previous elections on 6th of May, these will have major consequences linked to them and it is highly expected that they will result in exceptional market volatility regardless of the outcome.

The threat of a significant gap during market opening, combined with the likelihood of the Banks and other liquidity providers to the forex market substantially widening their spreads and/or even suspending trading completely for an amount of time, indicates almost certainly that this is not a suitable trading environment to speculate.

It is strongly suggested that you consider closing and/or reducing positions prior to close of the market on Friday and take serious consideration of the risks you may face by trading during the early hours of Monday morning, prior to the markets settling. If you are planning to trade, it is highly recommended that you ensure you have sufficient information on the possible outcomes of the election, how these outcomes could affect the market and seek independent advise if necessary.

For your convenience please find below some useful information and the likely timeline relating to the Greek Elections:

    On Sunday 17th of June at 19:00-21:00 the first exit polls will be announced.

After 21:00 the first official results will start to come out.
Around midnight we will have the first official results (estimated that 10%-15% of the votes will have been counted)

    Early in the morning on Monday 18th of June the final results of Greek Elections will be known.

Later on in the afternoon the Greek President, Karolos Papoulias, according to the constitution of Greece, will give the order to the leading party to form a coalition government.

This is a procedure that could take anything from a few hours to two or three days, if we take in consideration the last elections that we had three attempts over a period of one week before they gave up the efforts of forming a coalition government.

You have to keep in mind that for a new government to exist, it needs to have at least 151 of the 300 seats in the Greek Parliament. The party with a plurality of votes gets a bonus of 50 seats and the remaining 250 are distributed proportionally according to the percentages obtained by those parties that received at least 3% of the vote. Therefore, the outcome is dependent on the party that comes in first, the number of parties that get into Parliament with at least 3% of the vote and the percentage that each party achieves.

Kind Regards,

Vanessa Spyrou,
Head of Global Sales and Support

Email from Tadawul FX:

Dear Valued Client,

In light of the upcoming Greek elections on Sunday 17th June 2012, we would like to draw your attention to the potential impact of this event, particularly as concerns Greece's future in the Eurozone. Based on the outcome of the elections, the forex market may experience acute volatility. Tadawul FX does not provide direct investment advice, however, in the best interests of our clients we would ask that extra caution be exercised during this election period.

In the coming weeks we would ask you to remain vigilant and keep up to date with economic news announcements that may affect the market. It is of the utmost importance that you take action to safeguard yourself from any possible spikes or gaps in the market.

Some prudent steps you can take to protect yourself during this period include:

    - Avoiding liquidation by ensuring that your account contains sufficient funds. Click here to fund your account now.
    - Utilising stop orders in your trading, having in mind of course that gaps in the market resulting from increased volatility may cause your stop orders to slip.
    - Closing as many of your positions as possible before the market closes on Friday 15th June 2012, in order to minimise your exposure to any potential market fallout occurring as a result of the Greek elections.

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