LeapRate has learned that FCA regulated Forex broker / asset manager Darwinex is set to take its investing platform live this Wednesday, December 9, after several years (!!) of being in beta testing.
On its blog, the company noted that the following changes will be made to the live platform from the beta testing phase:
1. Performance fees
Darwinex’s beta phase investors were charged a 20% quarterly performance fee. 15% (i.e. 75% of the total) was passed on to DARWIN providers and Darwinex kept 5% of the total. Going forward, Darwinex is waiving its 5 % performance fees so that DARWIN Providers receive 20 % performance fees in full.
Performance fees are still calculated on a high watermark basis and are payable quarterly. Quarters are calculated individually for each investor (i.e. if Investor 1 starts investing on 1 January 2016 and Investor 2 starts investing on 1 March 2016, performance fees for Investor 1 are paid out to the DARWIN Provider on 1 April 2016, whereas performance fees for Investor 2 are payable on 1 June 2016).
2. Minimum amount allowed per DARWIN
During the beta phase, the minimum investment allowed per DARWIN used to be 50 EUR / USD / GBP. Now that the company has added indices and further commodities to its offering, the minimum investment amount in a DARWIN has changed to  200 EUR / USD / GBP.
3. Maximum amount allowed per DARWIN
The maximum amount varies across DARWINs, depending on investor demand and how that DARWIN’s performance scales as assets under management grow.
The priority is for investor performance to closely replicate trader performance, so the max. investment amount per investor in a given DARWIN is 25,000 EUR / USD / GBP. However, should an investor be interested in investing more than 25,000 EUR / USD / GBP in a specific DARWIN, their case can be reviewed to increase their limit.
The total investment allowed per DARWIN ultimately depends on each DARWIN’s scalability – a measure of how investor performance worsens as funds invested in a DARWIN grow.