In P2P, the exchange is only half the game. The other half is the payment gateways, and if you don't know their rules, you can lose everything even while "winning" in trading.
The rookie error:
A few years ago, my main wallet for trading was Skrill. I moved a lot of daily volume, but I made a fatal mistake: I wasn't a VIP user and was trading at the limit. After several temporary blocks that I ignored as "warnings", the final blow came: permanent and lifetime ban with $365 USD inside.
The odyssey of withdrawal:
Recovering that money was a technical nightmare. At that time, only two national banks accepted Skrill's SWIFT code, and both required dollar accounts with extremely high opening requirements that I did not meet.
The disaster of the commissions:
Desperate, I tried to withdraw to my account in national currency. What happened next was a "domino effect" of losses:
The bank reversed the payment for not being the correct currency.
Skrill only refunded me $110 after the first reversal commission and exchange rate.
In a desperate second attempt to salvage something, the transaction failed again.
In the end, after back and forth and international banking commissions, my balance remained at $8 USD.
My 3 golden rules after this blow:
Do not ignore the warnings: If a wallet temporarily blocks you, stop. Check its limits, upgrade or change platform. Permanent blocking does not give you two warnings.
Have your exit ready before entering: Never operate with a payment gateway (Skrill, Neteller, Wise) if you do not have a clear, legal, and economical way to withdraw that money to your local bank.
Beware of SWIFT and currencies: International reversal commissions can devour your capital in seconds. Make sure the source and destination currency match exactly.
Today I manage several bank accounts and wallets and I am extremely careful with the limits of each one. Those $357 lost were a "forced mastery" over the banking system.
👇 Has a wallet with funds inside ever blocked you? Were you able to recover them or did the commissions win the battle?
