Alpari, the leading Forex broker in Russia, was one of the first companies to react to the sharp appreciation of the Swiss Franc following the snap decision of the Swiss National Bank this morning to abandon the limit on the exchange rate of the CHF against the EUR. In response to the increased volatility and the dried-up liquidity for the Swiss currency, the Russian FX broker reacted by temporarily suspending trading with the instruments that feature the CHF.
The measures that went into effect early today affect the following currency pairs: EURCHF, USDCHF, GBPCHF, CHFJPY, AUDCHF, NZDCHF, CADCHF, CHFSGD, CHFPLN, with the move affecting all servers and account types.
Existing positions with these pairs have been set to “Close Only” mode, meaning that they can be closed as a trader finds fit. No new positions or pending orders can be placed with these instruments, however.
We should probably recall that only a week ago, Alpari cut leverage on EURCHF pairs five times. A move on which it did not elaborate back then. Obviously, the current market situation now has prompted the company to take more far-reaching measures.
UK-based Alpari also voiced its reaction to what was happening after the SNB decision. The UK company has not yet announced any suspension of trading with the CHF but it has warned that:
“Due to this volatility in the market we have been experiencing a high volume of client enquiries, which may result in delayed responses as we work through the backlog. We apologise for any inconvenience this might cause.”
You can read the official announcement by Russia’s Alpari on the CHF trading restrictions here.