Become an Elective Professional Client with Skilling
You can become an Elective Professional Client with us, as long as you meet 2 out of these 3 eligibility requirements and waive regulatory restrictions that are in place to protect inexperienced traders.
1. Size of portfolio
The size of your financial instrument portfolio, defined as including cash deposits and financial instruments, exceeds €500,000 (or equivalent in your local currency).
Acceptable documents:
Recent account statements issued by a credit or financial institution showing your cash savings, stock portfolio, stocks and shares ISA, trading accounts, mutual funds, SIPP (excluding non-financial instruments).
Unacceptable documents:
Company pension, non-tradable assets, property, luxury cars, jewellery etc.
2. Trade size & volume
You have traded in significant size* in the Forex / CFD markets or in other leveraged products (e.g. indices, shares, spot FX, futures, options, other derivatives etc.) at an average frequency of 10 transactions per quarter over the previous four quarters (with Skilling and/or other providers).
* Significantly sized trades are classified as having a notional value of €10,000 for equities and €50,000 (or equivalent in local currency) for forex, indices and commodities.
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Acceptable documents:
Recent account statements issued by a credit or financial institution showing your trade size and volume in leveraged financial assets.
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Unacceptable documents:
Account statements indicating transactions in bonds, physical bitcoin (ETN), physical commodities (WisdomTree Copper ETC), etc.
3. Professional experience in the financial sector
You work or have worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position, which requires knowledge of trading transactions or services. We may ask you for details of your role and how it has provided you with sufficient knowledge and experience in the industry, and may also require you to provide evidence of this.
Acceptable documents:
Recently issued letter of character by another credit institution or financial institution showing that you have worked with financial services firms and/or you have professional experienceUnacceptable documents:
A reference letter or résumé (Curriculum vitæ) without supporting documents.
Professional Client margin rates
By becoming an Elective Professional Client you are able to trade with greater flexibility. However, you also waive protections, put in place by regulations, which are designed to protect inexperienced traders.
| Asset Class | Skilling Professional Clients | Skilling Retail Clients | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FX (majors) | 0.5 % | 1:200 | 3.33 % | 1:30 |
| FX (minors) | 1.0 % | 1:100 | 5.0 % | 1:20 |
| Index (majors) | 0.5 % | 1:100 | 5.0 % | 1:20 |
| Gold | 1.0 % | 1:100 | 5.0 % | 1:20 |
| Stocks | 10.0 % | 1:10 | 20.0 % | 1:5 |
| Commodities | 2.0 % | 1:50 | 10.0 % | 1:10 |
What you need to understand about the protections that you waive:
- Leverage restrictions applicable for Retail Clients do not apply to Professional Clients, however, please note that higher leverage may increase losses.
- Negative Balance Protection (NBP) is not applicable to your Professional Client Account. This feature protects Retail Clients from losing more money than they deposit into their trading account.
- Standardised risk warnings related to trading complex financial products designed for Retail Clients is not applicable to your Professional Client Account.
- Professional client is not eligible for compensation under the Investor Compensation Fund Scheme (ICF).
- Transaction costs and charges may vary for Professional Clients as it is for Retail Clients.
How to apply for Elective Professional Client status:
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Create an account
Open an account as a retail Skilling client.
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Complete the form
Download and complete the form at this link
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Send
Send the form and any supporting documentation to [email protected]
