Trader sues broker after his deals are voided in ‘demo’ platform mix-up

A junior trader who made €10m (£8.8m) on what he thought was a training platform is suing a British brokerage after it tried to take away his profits.

French trader Harouna Traore opened an account with UK firm Valbury Capital after using simulation software to try his hand at trading equity futures.

After depositing €20,000 in an account, Traore placed an order for $1bn of securities in what he thought was his practice account, eventually losing €1m, according to the Financial Times.

Traore steamed ahead to try and win back his losses, and eventually built himself back up to a profit of €10m.

But when he called his brokerage to explain the situation, Valbury said he had breached his contract and voided all his positions.

The out-of-pocket trader fought back by filing a writ of summons in Paris in January, claiming that the firm should pay him back the winnings he had made.

But Valbury argues that Traore breached trading limits, and that the winnings he made were a clear error on his part as he was under the impression he was using a simulated marketplace.

In response, Traore's lawyers say the trades could not have been made in error, as he made his winnings after realising that he was actually buying and selling with real money.

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CityAM

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