Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider whether trading is appropriate for you in light of your financial condition. You may lose more than your initial investment.
1. Futures Trading Risk
Trading futures contracts carries a high level of risk. Futures are leveraged instruments, meaning a small price movement can result in proportionally larger gains or losses. You can lose more than your initial margin deposit. Market conditions, liquidity, and volatility can change rapidly and without warning.
2. Copy Trading Risk
Copy trading does not eliminate risk. When you subscribe to a strategy and activate copy trading, every signal from the strategy publisher is executed as a real order on your brokerage account. Specific risks include:
Execution risk: Your fills may differ from the master account due to latency, slippage, or liquidity differences. Micro contracts (MES, MNQ) may have wider spreads than full-size contracts (ES, NQ).
Strategy risk: Historical performance does not predict future results. A strategy that was profitable in backtesting or paper trading may lose money in live conditions. Market regimes change.
Technology risk: Copy trading depends on internet connectivity, Rithmic gateway availability, and our platform uptime. Disconnections, outages, or software errors may result in missed trades, orphaned positions, or delayed order execution.
Drawdown risk: All strategies experience drawdowns. A strategy with a 60% win rate will still produce losing streaks. You must be prepared for consecutive losses and ensure your account has sufficient margin to withstand them.
3. Prop Firm Evaluation Risk
If you are using TradeVibe with a proprietary trading firm evaluation account (Apex Trader Funding, Lucid, etc.), additional risks apply:
Account rules: Prop firms impose daily loss limits, trailing drawdown limits, and trading hour restrictions. Copy trading does not automatically enforce all prop firm rules. It is your responsibility to configure your account limits and monitor compliance.
Evaluation failure: If copy trading generates losses that exceed your evaluation account limits, you will fail the evaluation. TradeVibe is not responsible for evaluation failures.
Reset costs: Failed evaluations may require purchasing a new account. These costs are your responsibility.
4. No Guarantee of Profits
TradeVibe does not guarantee any level of profit or protection against loss. Strategy performance metrics (win rate, profit factor, Sharpe ratio) are based on historical data and paper trading results. Live trading results may differ materially. Backtested results are hypothetical and subject to limitations including survivorship bias, look-ahead bias, and overfitting.
5. Not Investment Advice
TradeVibe is a technology platform, not an investment advisor, broker-dealer, or commodity trading advisor. We do not recommend specific trades, strategies, or investments. All trading decisions are yours. The display of strategy performance data, market analysis, and signals does not constitute a recommendation to trade.
6. Leverage and Margin
Futures contracts are traded on margin. This means you are using borrowed funds to control a larger position. While leverage amplifies potential profits, it equally amplifies potential losses. You may be required to deposit additional funds (margin call) if your account equity falls below maintenance requirements. Failure to meet margin calls may result in forced liquidation of your positions at unfavorable prices.
7. Market Risk
Futures markets are subject to: (a) price gaps that skip your stop-loss level, (b) flash crashes and extreme volatility events, (c) exchange trading halts and circuit breakers, (d) reduced liquidity during off-hours or around economic releases, and (e) geopolitical events that cause rapid price dislocations. No risk management system, including ours, can fully protect against all market conditions.
8. Kill Switch and Safety Mechanisms
TradeVibe includes safety features such as kill switches, daily loss limits, and position size caps. These mechanisms are designed to reduce risk but do not guarantee loss prevention. In extreme market conditions, positions may not close at the expected price. You should always monitor your account and be prepared to take manual action.
9. Tax Obligations
You are responsible for all tax obligations arising from your trading activity. Futures trading may generate complex tax situations including Section 1256 contracts (60/40 long-term/short-term treatment in the US). Consult a qualified tax professional for guidance specific to your situation.
10. CFTC Rule 4.41 — Hypothetical Performance Disclaimer
Hypothetical performance results have many inherent limitations. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. There are frequently sharp differences between hypothetical performance results and the actual results subsequently achieved by any particular trading program. One of the limitations of hypothetical performance results is that they are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight. In addition, hypothetical trading does not involve financial risk, and no hypothetical trading record can completely account for the impact of financial risk in actual trading.
11. Your Responsibility
By using TradeVibe, you acknowledge that: (a) you have read and understood this Risk Disclosure, (b) you are willing and able to assume the financial risk of futures trading, (c) you will not trade with funds you cannot afford to lose, (d) you will monitor your account regularly, and (e) you accept full responsibility for all trades executed on your brokerage account through the copy trading service.