我想在这里澄清一些交易者对平台商独立账户的错误理解。

当一个平台上商告诉你，你的资金存储在一个独立账户，意思是说他们将客户的资金存储在独立于公司运营之外的另外一个账户中。

首先，这当然是一件好事。在过去，一些交易商将客户的资金存储在他们的运营账户中，可以使用客户资金做任何事情。有时，这种事情的结局将会很糟糕。
现在客户资金被独立保存，意思是平台商不会特意的使用客户的资金来维持公司运营。更重要的是，“独立账户”不表示下列意思：

1、它不表示你在平台商那里拥有个人独立的银行账户。你的资金与别的客户资金混合在一起。所以，如果一个客户账户资金为负数，那么负数部分将会使用独立账户的资金来弥补（尽管平台商最终会清零该账户）。平台上仅仅是通过后台程序查询每一位客户账户的资金。

2、它不表示平台商不会使用独立账户的资金作为保证金。除非平台商特别说明，否则你将很有可能发现独立账户的资金被用于维持客户头寸（支持或者补偿客户交易头寸）。从这一意义上讲，你的资金很有可能用作其他客户交易头寸的保证金。

 3、最重要的一点是，它不表示平台商倒闭的时候你的资金是安全的。当你向平台商入金之后，无论从哪个角度来看，这都成为平台商的资金。如果平台商破产，并且负债大于运营资本，那么你在独立账户的资金就可以被用来偿还债务。你不一定会是第一个可以得到自己的资金。它取决于：
a．其他债权人的资金是否安全
b．公司的破产程序

大概的意思是，即使你的资金是存储在独立账户中，你也有可能得不到自己的资金。尽管独立账户是一件好事，但请别人为地夸大它的作用。

The Segregated Account Fallacy
I want to clear up some misconceptions around segregated accounts.

When a broker tells you that your funds are kept in a segregated account, it means that they keep client deposits in a separate account to the money they use for the operation of the business.

Firstly, yes this is a good thing. In the past, some brokers deposited client funds into their operating account, and used them for all sorts of purposes. Sometimes this ended very badly.

Now that funds are kept separate, it means that brokers do not typically use client funds for operating expenses (I use the word typically in the above sentence on purpose). What is more important, though, is what“segregated funds” does not mean:

1. It does not mean you have your own individual bank account with the broker. Your funds are mixed in with other clients’ funds. So if a client goes into negative balance, that client’s deficit is taken out of that account as a whole (although the broker will generally top it up). They literally just track how much money is in each client’s account in the back office accounting program.

2. It does not mean the broker cannot use the funds for margin. Unless you are specifically advised by your broker, you will likely find that the segregated account is used for margin that the broker might be required to put up for the positions it holds (either prop trading positions, or off-setting client positions). So your funds in this sense can be used as margin on another client’s position.

3. Most importantly, it does not mean your funds are secured if the broker goes bankrupt.When you hand your funds over to a broker, for all intents and purposes they become the broker’s funds. If the broker goes bust, and has more debt than operating capital, your funds in the segregated account can be used to pay off that debt. You are not necessarily going to be first in line for your own money. It will depend:

a. If other creditors in line are secured

b. On the rulings made in the insolvency process

Basically what this means is that you may or may not get your money back, even though the account is segregated.

While segregated accounts are a good thing, please don’t think that they are something they are not. You can still lose your funds if they are in a segregated account.

本文翻译由兄弟财经提供

本文来源：http://www.fxstreet.com/education/fundamental/forex-lessons/2015/01/28/