Broker Defrauded Investor Through Manipulation and Blamed “Market Volatility”

Exposed broker: Blueberry Markets

Regulatory status: regulated

Complainant: Portuguese investor

Cause of complaint: losses due to irregularities of the broker

Global financial market has been in a chaos during the first quarter of 2020, with countless investors coming in and out of the market. In order to make profits in such a time of volatility, investors not only need to plan their trading strategies, but also have to be very careful about the broker they pick. Recently, a Portuguese investor reported Blueberry Markets to WikiFX, as the brokers system irregularities caused him losses during trading.

Event recap

Investor began trading at the platform of Blueberry Markets since the beginning of 2020 and made some profits. However, his trading ran into problem in March.

The investor held 3 short positions, two on Dow Jones Index and one on S&P 500, from March 12th-13th .

On the 13th at 0:43, he placed an order on US30 at the price of 20550.00, making a profit of nearly €1,000 at that time.

He was tracking that order live, and noticed that the market wasn't moving, so he went to the TV to check if the markets had come to a halt and saw nothing. When he came back to the computer he saw a loss of -€1,449.12 on that position, while all his orders were closed.

Investor then noticed that when he entered the position he stopped receiving data from 00:41 to 01:01, when that candle of 01:01 open, the price was €21,089.20, rendering him a loss of €1,449.12 and all his positions were closed. The remaining balance, as far as he recalled, was -€1,090.43. He didn't have a chance to manage the position, nor did he receive any warnings of his margin from the broker.

Later he contacted the broker‘s client manager, who said nothing about the irregularities of the platform but simply suggested that investor’s losses were due to market volatility and were justifiable.

Currently he has stopped trading at this platform, while reminding other investors to watch out for this brokers trap.

About Blueberry Markets

Through investigation, WikiFX team found that Blueberry Markets is a trading name of the well-known broker and only has an ASIC Appointed Representative license, suggesting a certain degree of risks for investors.

Conclusion

According to WikiFX App, Blueberry Markets is currently in regulated. However, the brokers rating on WikiFX App is only 4.60, while its license offers relatively weak regulation, both suggesting a low credibility of Blueberry Markets.