Chargeback
Brokers & RegulationA card payment reversal initiated by a cardholder's bank — brokers typically freeze the account involved while a dispute is investigated.
A chargeback is a reversal of a card payment, initiated by the cardholder's bank rather than the broker, typically used to dispute an unauthorized or fraudulent transaction. Brokers treat chargebacks seriously, often freezing or closing the trading account involved while the dispute is investigated, since a successful chargeback effectively claws back a deposit after it may have already been traded.
Because chargebacks can be misused to try to reverse a legitimate deposit after trading losses, most brokers' terms explicitly reserve the right to recover disputed funds through other means or restrict the account pending resolution.