Dear DIF Broker Customer, DIF BROKER SA ("DIF") is required by its regulators to provide you with certain disclosures on a periodic basis. Accordingly, we are delivering the following disclosures to you: 1) Disclosure of Risks of Margin Trading 2) Electronic Trading and Order Routing Systems Risk Disclosure Statement 3) After-Hours Trading Risk Disclosure Statement 4) Day Trading Risk Disclosure 5) Customer Consent to Accept Electronic Records and Communications 6) DIF Customer Information Policies and Procedures 7) DIF Financial Statements If you prefer, you may also view these documents on the DIF website at http://www.dif.pt. Customers should make sure to check the DIF website frequently for announcements about DIF's services and policies, and other news and regulatory information. As always, we thank you for using DIF Broker. DISCLOSURE OF RISKS OF MARGIN TRADING DIF BROKER ("DIF") is furnishing this document to you to provide some basic facts about purchasing CFDs and futures contracts on margin, and to alert you to the risks involved with trading in a margin account. Before trading stocks, futures or other investment products in a margin account, you should carefully review the margin agreement provided by DIF, and you should consult DIF regarding any questions or concerns you may have with your margin accounts. When you purchase CFDs, you may pay for the CFDs in full or you may borrow part of the purchase price from DIF. If you choose to borrow funds from DIF, you will open automatically a margin account with the firm. Likewise, if you trade futures through DIF, you will have a margin account. The securities CFDs and futures contracts purchased are
DIF's collateral for the loan to you. If the securities CFDs or futures contracts in your account decline in value, so does the value of the collateral supporting your loan, and, as a result, DIF can take action, such as sell securities or other assets in any of your account held with DIF or issue a margin call, in order to maintain the required equity in the account. You should understand that pursuant to the DIF Margin Agreement, DIF generally will not issue margin calls, after falling below the second maintenance margin requirement, that DIF will not credit your account to meet intraday margin deficiencies, and that DIF generally will liquidate positions in your account in order to satisfy margin requirements without prior notice to you and without an opportunity for you to choose the positions to be liquidated or the timing or order of liquidation. In addition, it is important that you fully understand the risks involved in trading CFDs or futures contracts on margin. These risks include the following: You can lose more funds than you deposit in the margin account. A decline in the value of CFDs or futures contracts that are purchased on margin may require you to provide additional funds to DIF to avoid the forced sale of those CFDs or futures contracts or other assets in your account(s). DIF can force the sale of securities or other assets in your account(s). If the equity in your account falls below the maintenance margin requirements. You also will be responsible for any short fall in the account after such a sale. DIF can sell your securities or other assets without contacting you. Some investors mistakenly believe that a firm must contact them for a margin call to be valid, and that the firm cannot liquidate securities or other assets in their accounts to meet the call unless the firm has contacted them first. This is not the case. As noted above, DIF generally will not issue margin calls and can immediately sell your securities or futures contracts without notice to you in the event that your account has insufficient margin. You are not entitled to choose which securities or futures contracts or other assets in your account(s) are liquidated or sold to meet a margin call. Because the securities or futures contracts are collateral for the margin loan, DIF has the right to decide which positions to sell in order to protect its interests. DIF can increase its "house" maintenance margin requirements at any time and is not required to provide you advance written notice. These changes in firm policy often take
effect immediately. Your failure to maintain adequate margin in the event of an increased margin rate generally will cause DIF to liquidate or sell securities or futures contracts in your account(s). If DIF chooses to issue a margin call rather than immediately liquidating under margined positions, you are not entitled to an extension of time on a margin call. ELECTRONIC TRADING AND ORDER ROUTING SYSTEMS RISK DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Electronic trading and order routing systems differ from traditional open outcry pit trading and manual order routing methods. Transactions using an electronic system are subject to the rules and regulations of the exchanges offering the system and/or listing the contract. You are responsible for directing your trading in accordance with the relevant policies, procedures and trading rules of the exchanges or systems to which your orders are routed. Before you engage in transactions using an electronic system, you should carefully review the rules and regulations of the exchanges offering the system and/or listing the instruments you intend to trade. DIFFERENCES AMONG ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEMS: Trading or routing orders through electronic systems varies widely among the different electronic systems. You should consult the rules and regulations of the exchange offering the electronic system and/or listing the contract traded or order routed to understand, among other things, in the case of trading systems, the system's order matching procedure, opening and closing procedures and prices, error trade policies, and trading limitations or requirements, and, in the case of all systems, qualifications for access and grounds for termination and limitations on the types of orders that may be entered into the system. Each of these matters may present different risk factors with respect to trading on or using a particular system. Each system may also present risks related to system access, varying response times, and security. In the case of Internet-based systems, there may be additional types of risks related to system access, varying response times and security, as well as risks related to service providers and the receipt and monitoring of electronic mail.
RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH SYSTEM FAILURE: Trading through an electronic trading or order routing system exposes you to risks associated with system or component failure. In the event of system or component failure, it is possible that, for a certain time period, you may not be able to enter new orders, execute existing orders, or modify or cancel orders that were previously entered. System or component failure may also result in loss of orders or order priority. SIMULTANEOUS OPEN OUTCRY PIT AND ELECTRONIC TRADING: Some contracts offered on an electronic trading system may be traded electronically and through open outcry during the same trading hours. You should review the rules and regulations of the exchange offering the system and/or listing the contract to determine how orders that do not designate a particular process will be executed. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: Exchanges offering an electronic trading or order routing system and/or listing the contract may have adopted rules to limit their liability, the liability of FCMs and software and communication system vendors, and the amount of damages you may collect for system failure and delays. These limitations of liability provisions vary among the exchanges. You should consult the rules and regulations of the relevant exchanges in order to understand these liability limitations. INTERNET SERVICES: To the extent that Customer or DIF use Internet services to transport data or communications, DIF disclaims any liability for interception of any such data or communications. DIF is not responsible, and makes no warranties regarding, the access, speed, availability or security of Internet or network services. AFTER-HOURS TRADING RISK DISCLOSURE STATEMENT There are special characteristics and unique risks associated with trading in securities, CFDs and futures at times that are outside the ordinary trading hours for the exchanges or markets upon which such products are traded ("After-Hours Trading"). Customers must familiarize themselves with these risks and determine whether After-Hours Trading is appropriate in light of such risks and Customer's objectives and experience.
Customers are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the hours of the relevant markets upon which they trade and for determining when to place orders for particular products or securities, how they wish to direct those orders, and what types of orders to use. During After-Hours Trading, DIF may provide quotations from and execute Customer trades through various Electronic Communications Networks ("ECNs"), exchanges or other trading systems ("After-Hours Trading Facilities"). Quotations provided during After- Hours Trading may be different than quotations provided during exchange trading hours. Prices and available quantities may be less favorable in After- Hours Trading and prices may fluctuate more widely. News stories, earnings and other company press releases and other information may be released during After-Hours Trading and may cause increased price volatility. Customers therefore should consider the use of limit orders. Markets may be substantially less liquid during After-Hours Trading and quotations may reflect only the pending orders of other After-Hours market participants, rather than prices at which exchange specialists, market makers or other professional liquidity providers are willing to trade with the public, and Customer acknowledges that it may not be possible to receive an execution for Customer's orders. Quotations may be inaccurate or untimely, there may not always be a current quotation for every product or security, and a quotation may represent only a single market participant that is ready to trade a limited quantity of a product or security at a particular price. The bid-ask spread (the difference in price between what the Customer can buy a product or security for and sell it for) may be wider in After-Hours Trading because of lower liquidity and higher volatility. DIF may not have access to every, or any, After-Hours Trading Facility. Thus, the bids and offers displayed by the CanalDIF or Canalbroker platform may not reflect the best bids and offers available on every After- Hours Trading Facility. Likewise, it is possible that the quotations displayed by DIF from After-Hours Trading Facilities on which DIF can execute Customer trades may be less favorable than those on other After-Hours Trading Facilities to which DIF does not have access. Last sale information provided by DIF may not reflect the prices of the most recent trades on all of the various After-Hours Trading Facilities.
DAY TRADING RISK DISCLOSURE STATEMENT You should consider the following points before engaging in a day-trading strategy. For purposes of this notice, a "day-trading strategy" means an overall trading strategy characterized by the regular transmission by a customer of intra-day orders to effect both purchase and sale transactions in the same security or securities. Day trading can be extremely risky. Day trading generally is not appropriate for someone of limited resources and limited investment or trading experience and low risk tolerance. You should be prepared to lose all of the funds that you use for day trading. In particular, you should not fund day-trading activities with retirement savings, student loans, second mortgages, emergency funds, funds set aside for purposes such as education or home ownership, or funds required to meet your living expenses. Further, certain evidence indicates that an investment of less than $50,000 will significantly impair the ability of a day trader to make a profit. Of course, an investment of $50,000 or more will in no way guarantee success. Be cautious of claims of large profits from day trading. You should be wary of advertisements or other statements that emphasize the potential for large profits in day trading. Day trading can also lead to large and immediate financial losses. Day trading requires knowledge of securities markets. Day trading requires in-depth knowledge of the securities markets and trading techniques and strategies. In attempting to profit through day trading, you must compete with professional, licensed traders employed by securities firms. You should have appropriate experience before engaging in day trading. Day trading requires knowledge of a firm's operations. You should be familiar with a securities firm's business practices, including the operation of the firm's order execution systems and procedures. Under certain market conditions, you may find it difficult or impossible to liquidate a position quickly at a reasonable price. This can occur, for example, when the market for a stock suddenly drops, or if trading is halted due to recent news events or unusual trading activity. The more volatile a stock is, the greater the likelihood that problems may be encountered in executing a transaction. In addition to normal market risks, you may experience losses due to systems failures.
Day trading will generate substantial commissions, even if the per trade cost is low. Day trading involves aggressive trading, and generally you will pay commission on each trade. The total daily commissions that you pay on your trades will add to your losses or significantly reduce your earnings. For instance, assuming that a trade costs $16 and an average of 29 transactions are conducted per day, an investor would need to generate an annual profit of $111,360 just to cover commission expenses. Day trading on margin or short selling may result in losses beyond your initial investment. When you day trade with funds borrowed from a firm or someone else, you can lose more than the funds you originally placed at risk. A decline in the value of the securities that are purchased may require you to provide additional funds to the firm to avoid the forced sale of those securities or other securities in your account. Short selling as part of your day-trading strategy also may lead to extraordinary losses, because you may have to purchase a stock at a very high price in order to cover a short position. CUSTOMER CONSENT TO ACCEPT ELECTRONIC RECORDS AND COMMUNICATIONS In the interests of timeliness, efficiency and lower costs for our Customers, DIF provides electronic trade confirmations, account statements and other Customer records and communications (collectively, "Records and Communications") in electronic form. Electronic Records and Communications may be sent to Customer's Trader Workstation or to Customer's e-mail address. By entering into the DIF Customer Agreement, Customer consents to the receipt of electronic Records and Communications regarding all Customer transactions and dealings with DIF, including confirmations, account statements, messages, and notices of any kind. Customer may withdraw such consent at any time by e-mail addressed to DIF Customer Service at help@dif.pt. If Customer withdraws such consent, however, DIF reserves the right to require Customer to close Customer's account.
In order to trade using the CanalDIF or Canalbroker platform, and to receive Records and Communications through them, there are certain system hardware and software requirements, which are described on the DIF Website at www.dif.pt. Since these requirements may change, Customer must periodically refer to the DIF website for current system requirements. To receive electronic mail from DIF, Customer is responsible for maintaining a valid Internet e-mail address and software allowing customer to read, send and receive email. Customer must notify DIF immediately of a change in Customer's e-mail address by: (i) using those procedures to change a Customer e-mail address that may be available on the DIF website or (ii) contacting DIF Customer Service at help@dif.pt for further instructions. CUSTOMER INFORMATION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES This addendum provides Customers with information about DIF's Customer Information Policies and Procedures, and is intended to make it clear that prior Customer orders, of DIF, are to be executed on a "first come, first served basis. DIF does not engage in underwriting activities, nor do DIF account executives engage in verbal communications with Customers for the purpose of making recommendations or giving advice with respect to the purchase or sale of financial products. DIF Customer orders are ordinarily transmitted through DIF's automated order routing system. As such, DIF personnel have a limited role in relation to particular Customer orders. The policies and procedures described herein apply to all DIF Broker affiliates, and generally relate to the confidentiality and prevention of misuse of, or access to, Customer trading information, including Customer orders. Protections built into DIF's automated order routing system assure that when a Customer order is entered into the system and transmitted for execution (e.g., to an exchange's electronic system), the identity of DIF's Customer is anonymous. The integrity of these systems is tested by an audit trail which is maintained and which time stamps all proprietary and Customer orders.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS The Securities and Exchange Commission requires that we make available to customers the annual and semi-annual statements of financial condition for DIF Broker SA. You may access such information for the most recent period by clicking on the site.