Commodity trading is the purchasing and selling of commodity contracts at a specific price for a specific date in the future. Hedgers use such contracts to avoid the risk associated with the price fluctuation of a futures’ underlying product or raw material.
Commodity trading is the purchasing and selling of physically deliverable products and derivatives at a marketplace by traders.
Commodity prices are primarily determined by the supply and demand relationship.
A commodity market is a system whereby commodities are traded. Prices are primarily determined by supply and demand relationships and trading activities are governed by strict rules and regulations. Commodities are products that may be physically delivered by the seller to the buyer. Commodity market participants are commonly known as traders; these traders can be producers, users, or speculators
A futures contract is a trading vehicle that allows traders to exchange large amounts of commodities for delivery at later date with relatively less cash than the overall value of the underlying deliverable. For example, in February, a farmer notices that corn prices are high and he knows he will have a crop yield of 10,000 bushels which will be harvested in September. So, he sells 2 September corn futures contracts at $5/bushel to lock in his price. If the price drops below $5/bushel, his physical corn yield price will typically fall, but he will profit from the corn futures contract position. If the price rises, he will typically profit from his physical crop but will lose on his corn futures position. This is commonly referred to as a hedge.
Phillip Capital Inc. business hours are Monday through Friday from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm CST.
Phillip Capital Inc. is located at the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) building at 141 W Jackson Blvd, Suite 1531A, Chicago IL 60604.
Phillip Capital Inc. is a full clearing CFTC registered futures commission merchant (FCM) since February of 2011, with direct exchange & clearing memberships at the CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX, ICE Futures US, ICE Futures EU, NFX, CFE, DME, ICE Clear US, ICE Clear EU and OCC, and access to all major futures markets worldwide. Additionally, we are a registered Securities Broker Dealer and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member. PhillipCapital’s services include self-clearing corporate equity and debt securities. We are a member of the PhillipCapital group of companies (The PhillipCapital Group) headquartered in Singapore since 1975. The PhillipCapital Group has over $1.5 Billion US in shareholder’s equity, no long-term debt, over a million clients worldwide, more than 5000 employees and $35 Billion US in AUM.
Our decision to start an FCM in the United States was motivated by the desire to reduce counterparty risk and to directly control where customer segregated funds are held for our customers based in Asia. We also saw opportunities to offer global markets to all participants and develop long term clearing businesses in the U.S., Asia and abroad.
Our goal is to provide global products to participants worldwide; where by offering a variety of products and platforms for customers to trade globally. In 2015, we expanded our current financial services beyond futures to include self-clearing corporate equity and debt securities. Our first securities trades were executed in February of 2016. Also, in February of 2016, we were granted membership to ICE Europe exchange.
Phillip Capital Inc. is a direct clearing member of the following US and Non US Exchanges: CME, CBOT, COMEX, NYMEX, NFX, ICE US, CFE (CBOE). ICE EU and DME (Dubai). Our affiliates around the globe clear the following exchanges: DGCX, HKEX, ICDX, NCDEX, MCX, MCX-SX, NSE, BSE, NSPOT, IEX, OSE, TOCOM, TSE, BMD, SGX, SMX, TFEX and Borsa Istanbul.
Customers’ money is held in segregated and or secured accounts per CFTC and SEC regulations (as applicable). As a policy, PhillipCapital carries an excess amount of its own money in these secured and segregated accounts.
Phillip Capital Inc. is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), National Futures Association (NFA) and each commodity futures exchange for which we are members. The CME Group is our designated self-regulatory organization (DSRO). Additionally, as a registered Securities Broker Dealer, we are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and applicable U.S. states.
Phillip Capital Inc. plan was always to become a multi asset financial institution providing a one stop shop for investors and traders.
If you are a US domiciled resident, the minimum initial deposit to open an account is $5,000 US. If you are a non-US domiciled person, then your minimum initial deposit is $5,000 US. Of course, depending on what you are trading, you will be required to deposit additional amounts of Initial Margin for the different products that you trade. If you are a proprietary trading firm or professional trader requiring direct market access to the exchanges, your minimum requirements will range from $100,000 US to $1 Million US depending on which exchanges and which platforms you use.
You can open Individual, Joint, Corporate, LLC, LLP, Trust, IRA, Pension Plan and Discretionary Trading accounts.
Yes you can! To apply online, just go to newaccount.phillipusa.com.
We pride ourselves on typically responding to any requests within one business day. The total time it takes to open an account would depend on the type of account you would like to open. If we receive all the necessary documentation, we can typically open an individual account within one business day.
You can fund your account by wire, check, or ACH transfer. Please go to our documents page for more information on funding.
For segregated accounts, we accept: US Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Swiss Franc, Japanese Yen, Euro, Chinese Renminbi, British Pound, Australian Dollar & New Zealand Dollar. For secured accounts, we accept: US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Singapore Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, Australian Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Malaysian Ringgit & Chinese Renminbi.
PhillipCapital offers several free platform simulator options including CQG Trader, J-Trader, NinjaTrader and Trading Technologies. To learn more or find out if we offer a demo for a particular platform, please click here.
Phillip Capital Inc. charges margins based on what is set by the applicable exchange. However, we reserve the right to increase the margin when our stress test shows that the risk has increased more than the margins set.
Phillip Capital Inc. offers day trading margins of 25%-50% on a case by case basis. Applicable rates depend on the product that will be traded and the individual investor’s experience; such rates are determined and set by our Risk Dept. For all day trading margin requests, please email sales@phillipcapital.com.
Phillip Capital Inc. charges and fees are shown here. In addition to commissions, we also charge exchange, NFA and platform fees. We pass on these costs respectively.
Interest charges occur whenever there is a deficit in any currency by origin (segregated or secured). Sometimes debit interest can be charged even if rolled up margin excess is positive and there is no margin call, but a particular currency margin excess is negative. As a firm, Phillip Capital Inc. will need to charge you debit interest as we are holding currency risk. For other currency exposure we have to pay interest to other banks and financial institutions as well. Interest charges occur in the following situations: When you have an overnight margin deficiency in any currency. When you are trading in a contract that settles in a non-US currency. To avoid being charged interest, please ensure that you have sufficient funds in any of the currencies by origin. You can transfer money from one of your accounts to another without a charge by emailing treasury.
Commissions and platform transaction fees are typically charged per transaction and are reflected in your daily statements. Fees that are charged monthly include (but are not limited to): certain platform fees, give up fees, desk fees and interest
Customers’ money is held in segregated and/or secured accounts per CFTC and SEC regulations (as applicable). As required by US Regulations, PhillipCapital carries an excess amount of its own money in these segregated and secured accounts.
Phillip Capital Inc. does not offer trading advice at this time.
Please contact our 24-hour trading desk for assistance: 1-855-POEMS88 (1-855-763-6788).
Please send a request to risk@phillipcapital.com. We will then look into the feasibility for us to offer that product and respond to you. We study a number of factors before offering a product to our customers.
Yes, customers have access to a portal where they can view statements, daily balances, and executed trades throughout the day
You will receive daily statements at the end of the trading day via email. For security reasons, a password is typically required to open the statement. Your Introducing Broker/New Accounts Manager will inform you of your password.
Since we send these statements electronically, we have added the password protection feature as an added security measure for our customers. We understand this might cause some inconvenience, but feel that protecting our customers is paramount.
Yes, you may have your statement sent to multiple email accounts. Please send us a request at support@phillipcapital.com. There is no additional fee for this service.
If you are a customer of an Introducing Broker, please reach out to your Introducing Broker directly. If you are our direct customer, please contact us at 312-356-9000 or support@phillipcapital.com.
Form 1099-INT is an annual tax statement that summarizes your interest income for the tax year. Interest reported on Form 1099-INT includes interest paid on savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, and US Savings bonds. All information provided on Form 1099-INT is reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
1099s are sent to customers' address of record. If your address has changed, please email us at support@phillipcapital.com. If you have not received your 1099 by February 25, or if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at (312) 356-9000 or email Support.
1099s are sent to customers' address of record. If your address has changed, please email us at support@phillipcapital.com. If you have not received your 1099 by February 25th, or if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at (312) 356-9000 or email Support.
Profits or losses are realized when a futures or options position is closed. Profits and losses are unrealized when a futures or an option on a futures position is held open. The amount of unrealized futures profit or loss is the difference between the initial purchase or sale price and the settlement value of the position on the last trading day. The amount of unrealized options on futures profit or loss is the net value of the long and short option value on the last trading day. The unrealized profit or loss for futures and options positions is the sum of the open trade equity and net option value on the last trading day.
PhillipCapital does not include realized options profit and loss on the 1099.
Total Realized P/L on open contracts on the last trading day minus the Unrealized P/L on Open Contracts on the last trading day of the prior year plus the Unrealized P/L on open contracts on the last trading day; or calculated as follows:
+ Total Realized Profit or Loss as of last trading day
• Prior year’s Unrealized Profit/Loss on open contracts
+ Current year’s Unrealized Profit/Loss on open contracts
= Aggregated Profit/Loss on contracts
An independent Introducing Broker (IIB) must maintain adjusted net capital of at least $45,000 but may introduce business to any registered FCM. A guaranteed IB (GIB) does not have to maintain a particular level of net capital but, instead, is guaranteed by a particular FCM and is generally required to introduce all its business to that FCM.
The difference between an FCM and an Introducing Broker, to you as a customer, is that an FCM has the ability to accept your money or assets whereas an Introducing Broker cannot. An Introducing Broker can introduce customers to an FCM but can never accept a customer's money to support futures and options on futures contracts.
According to the NFA:
An FCM is an individual or organization which does both of the following:
• Solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell futures contracts, options on futures, or retail off-exchange forex contracts
• Accepts money or other assets from customers to support such orders
An IB is an individual or organization which solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell futures contracts, options on futures, retail off-exchange forex contracts or swaps but does not accept money or other assets from customers to support such orders.
A clearing FCM has direct relationship with the exchanges that they are clearing for, which means that they have to be approved by the exchange to be a clearing member. The exchange deals with the members of the exchange for all the processing and settlement of the trades. A non-clearing FCM, without the clearing relationships, will need to have clearing relationships with a clearing FCM to process their customer trades. The non-clearing FCM would have to deposit money with the clearing FCM for those exchanges that they are not clearing.
According to the Commodity Exchange Act and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulations, as an FCM, Phillip Capital Inc. is required to treat all customers' money, securities and other property received to margin, guarantee or secure futures or options on futures trades, as customer property. What this means is that all FCMs like Phillip Capital Inc. are required to account separately for on a daily basis and segregate customer money, securities and property. Customers' segregated assets cannot be used to margin any other person's trades.
While there have been ongoing talks regarding this, there are none to date. Currently, the FDIC is responsible for insuring the deposits of individuals and businesses who have checking or saving accounts with banks up to $250,000. This is in case of theft or loss of the money through the bank's actions. These banks are required to purchase insurance from the FDIC.
The FDIC is not intended to provide protection to investors who are making speculative investments. Furthermore, futures are very highly leveraged trading instruments.
Implementing FDIC insurance for all customer deposits trading in futures will ultimately increase the cost of transactions for the customer. This is because the participating FCMs will be required to pay the insurance.
That is why when choosing a broker, it is very important to understand their treasury policy and their financial standings. All FCMs are required to report their daily segregation and secured requirements to their various regulators. Monthly FCM financial data is published by the CFTC.
These different accounts are all separated for different purposes and are defined by CFTC regulations. If you are trading US based futures and options on futures, then your account is considered as a customer segregated account. If you are trading non US based futures and options contracts on a foreign exchange, then your account is typically a secured account.