Risk disclosure: read this before you deposit
Trading and investing in digital assets, foreign exchange and shares carries real risk, including the possible loss of all the money you deposit. This page explains the specific risks that come with using the Pepperstone AI platform, in plain English, so you can decide with open eyes whether it suits you.
1. Introduction and general warning
Pepperstone AI provides automated, AI-assisted analysis and trading tools. Automation changes how much effort trading takes, not whether risk exists. Markets can move sharply against a position within minutes, and no algorithm, manager or strategy can remove that. Past results on this platform or any other, including the individual experiences shown in client reviews, do not predict what will happen to your capital. You should only deposit funds you can afford to lose without changing your way of life, and you should read every section below before funding an account.
This disclosure is not a formality. Australian clients come to us from every walk of life, electricians and teachers as much as accountants, and the one thing they have in common is limited time to watch markets. Automation fills that gap, but it also means decisions happen without you approving each one, which is exactly why you need to understand and accept the risks described below before your first deposit rather than after a surprise. If anything on this page is unclear, ask your personal manager to explain it before you fund the account: an uninformed yes is worse than a delayed one.
Trading may not be suitable for everyone. If your financial situation means a temporary loss of deposited funds would affect your rent, mortgage, bills or family commitments, we ask you not to open a funded account at this time.
The eight risks every client must understand
Each card pairs the risk itself with a practical step you can take to manage it.
2. Market risk
Prices of digital assets, currency pairs and shares are volatile. A position can fall in value quickly, sometimes gap far past the level you expected, and automated strategies will not always exit before a fall. Leverage, where used, magnifies both gains and losses.
What you can do: agree a risk level with your personal manager that matches your situation, and review open positions on the dashboard regularly rather than setting and forgetting.
3. Liquidity risk
Thinly traded assets can be hard to buy or sell at the price you see. During fast moves or outside main market hours, orders may execute with slippage, partially, or not at all, and the exit you wanted may simply be unavailable.
What you can do: keep a share of your account unallocated rather than being fully invested at all times, so a forced exit is never your only option.
4. API and integrations
The platform connects to third-party exchanges through API keys. A mistyped setting, an expired key or an exchange-side change can interrupt execution. API keys you create must never include withdrawal permission, and keys stored with us are encrypted.
What you can do: create exchange API keys with trading permission only, and tell your manager immediately if a connection alert appears on your dashboard.
5. Counterparty and custody risk
Trades execute with third-party exchanges, brokers and payment providers. If one of those parties fails, freezes assets or changes its terms, your positions and funds can be affected in ways Pepperstone AI does not control. Digital assets held on exchanges are generally not covered by any government deposit scheme.
What you can do: keep the share of your total savings held on any single platform to an amount you would still be comfortable losing access to temporarily.
6. Operational and technical risk
Software has defects, servers need maintenance and internet connections drop. An outage at the wrong moment can delay an order, a price feed or a withdrawal request. Our systems are monitored around the clock, but no operator can promise zero interruption.
What you can do: report anything that looks wrong to support immediately, and keep your registered email and phone current so we can reach you during an incident.
7. Cybersecurity and phishing
Attackers impersonate trading platforms by email, SMS and cloned websites. A convincing fake login page can capture your credentials, and a "support agent" who contacts you first may not be ours. We never ask for your password, 2FA codes or remote access to your device.
What you can do: sign in only by typing our address yourself, enable two-factor authentication, and verify any unexpected message by writing to [email protected] before acting on it.
8. Models and automation
The AI engine detects patterns and micro-trends from historical and live data. Models are estimates, not prophecies: they can be wrong at the same time across many positions, and protective mechanisms that pause trading during extreme volatility reduce, but do not eliminate, losses.
What you can do: treat platform projections as illustrations only. Never deposit borrowed money, and never increase your deposit to recover a loss.
9. Service availability
Scheduled maintenance, exchange outages or events like extreme market sessions can make the platform, or parts of it, temporarily unavailable. During those windows you may not be able to change settings or request a withdrawal until service is restored.
What you can do: plan withdrawals ahead of when you need the money. Bank transfers already take 1-3 business days in the normal course of things.
10. Before you start: four commitments to yourself
Risk management is mostly what you decide before anything goes wrong. We ask every new client to work through this short list with their personal manager during the setup call.
Understand the strategy
Ask your manager to explain, in plain words, what your chosen strategy buys, when it exits and what its worst recorded stretch looked like. If you cannot explain it, do not fund it yet.
Set a loss limit
Decide the maximum drawdown you would accept without panicking, write it down, and ask your manager to flag you when the account approaches it.
Protect the account itself
Turn on two-factor authentication, use a password you use nowhere else, and confirm the devices listed in your account settings are all yours.
Review, do not chase
Agree a review rhythm with your manager, monthly works for most clients. Change strategy because of a plan, not because of one bad day, and withdraw profits on schedule rather than reinvesting everything by default.
If any part of this page describes a situation you are not comfortable with, the honest answer is that this platform may not be right for you. Questions about anything here go to [email protected], and our team will answer them before you deposit anything, not after.