RannForex’s rann.forex service offers forex, metals, energy, index and cryptocurrency CFDs through RannForex Limited in Seychelles. Its retail range combines two USD-denominated MT5 plans with a separate FIX account, detailed execution settings and volume-dependent leverage. The USD 2 MT5 opening minimum is lower than the published payment-method minima. This profile concerns the Seychelles contract; the similarly branded rannforex.com site has a separate Saint Lucia entity.[1][2][21][14]
Accounts and eligibility
Sections ↑Accounts by markets and operating mode
| Account | Published product range | Entry and currency | Position mode / trading minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| MT5.PRO | Forex and other CFDs, including cryptocurrency CFDs | USD 2 minimum; USD account currency; live and demo | Hedging or netting; minimum 0.01 lot; locked margin shown as 50%Source 1 |
| MT5.ZERO | Forex and other CFDs; the account card does not include cryptocurrency CFDs | USD 2 minimum; USD account currency; live and demo | Hedging or netting; minimum 0.01 lot; locked margin shown as 50%Source 1 |
| FIX Protocol | Forex and other CFDs, including cryptocurrency CFDs | USD 500 minimum; USD account currency; live only | Netting; minimum 0.01 lot; a locked-margin percentage is not suppliedSource 1 |
MT5.PRO charges a turnover commission while MT5.ZERO puts the forex commission into its spread. The FIX plan has setup and monthly minimum charges, so it is not interchangeable with either low-deposit MT5 account. PRO is an account label and does not establish legal professional-client classification. The site invites demo practice, but virtual gains cannot be transferred to a live account or redeemed.[1][2]
An individual must be at least 18 and comply with the laws applying to them. Verification may require identity, address and source-of-funds information; RannForex can decline registration or suspend payment activity while checks are unresolved. Corporate accounts are also documented, with additional legal-entity obligations. The footer excludes unlawful jurisdictions without supplying a complete country-by-country acceptance list.[2][4][1][19]
Markets and contract exposure
Sections ↑Published tradable categories
| Market | Current published examples | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Currencies | EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY and international crosses; the homepage advertises 49 forex instruments | Margin forex/CFD exposure with no actual currency delivery under the trading terms. Symbol availability can differ by plan.Source 1Source 8Source 3 |
| Metals | XAUUSD, XAUEUR and XAUAUD gold quotations; XAGUSD and XAGAUD silver quotations | Precious-metal CFDs. GOLD is also displayed as a separate symbol label, so symbol counts should not be treated as counts of different underlying metals.Source 8Source 6 |
| Energy | XBRUSD Brent oil, XTIUSD WTI oil and XNGUSD natural gas | Three energy categories advertised; contract exposure rather than physical delivery.Source 1Source 8Source 3 |
| Stock indices | SP500, NQ100, DJI30, ASX200, CAC40, FTSE100 and STOXX50 | Eleven indices advertised. These are index CFDs; a current individual-share CFD range was not established.Source 1Source 8 |
| Cryptocurrencies | BTCUSD, ETHUSD, SOLUSD and other fiat/crypto or crypto-cross symbols appear in the quote table and calculator | Crypto CFDs are expressly included in MT5.PRO and FIX. A symbol in a calculator is not proof of availability on every account.Source 1Source 8Source 7 |
The current calculator’s EUR/USD example defines one standard lot as EUR 100,000, making its selected 0.01-lot trade EUR 1,000. It uses a price increment of 0.00001 and labels that increment a pip. A conventional EUR/USD pip is ten such increments, so copying the calculator’s numerical spread into a conventional pip comparison would misstate the unit. The public pages do not supply an equally complete lot-size, minimum-step and maximum-order schedule for every CFD.[7][1]
Trading, financing and account costs
Sections ↑Published account charging models
| Charge | Current basis | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| MT5.PRO forex/CFD commission | USD 20 per USD 1 million of turnover; the account page describes approximately USD 2 per lot per side. | The calculator confirms a per-side calculation on USD-equivalent notional. A non-USD base-currency lot does not always cost exactly USD 2.Source 1Source 7 |
| MT5.ZERO forex commission | USD 0 separately charged forex commission; the account card says it is moved into the spread. | This describes a spread-based FX tariff, not zero total trading cost or a verified commission schedule for every non-FX symbol.Source 1 |
| Retail FIX account | Advertised commission of USD 20 per million, minimum USD 300 per month, plus USD 100 setup. | The FIX card does not repeat the full per-side USD-notional formula shown for MT5.PRO. Its written connection tariff should settle that basis before use. The separate institutional liquidity minimum is different.Source 1Source 7Source 18 |
| Cryptocurrency CFDs | 0.04% per side on MT5.PRO and FIX, as published on their account cards. | The percentage is a trading commission, additional to the spread and any financing.Source 1 |
| Spreads | RannForex publishes bid/ask and spread tables for its instruments. | The retrieved table leaves some daily-average and minimum fields blank and does not establish the observation window or a uniform unit across symbols. Displayed snapshots are not adopted as measured typical spreads.Source 8Source 7 |
| Account inactivity | USD 5 per month after more than half a year without trading activity. | The current Non-Trading Regulations permit reimbursement on a return to trading as non-refundable credit. This is not an unconditional cash refund and is separate from five-year dormancy.Source 3Source 4 |
For MT5.PRO, the calculator’s formula is USD-equivalent trade value × 20 ÷ 1,000,000 for each side. As a transparent illustration, one EUR/USD standard lot at an assumed EUR/USD rate of 1.10 is USD 110,000 of notional and produces USD 2.20 commission on that side. Opening and closing at that same assumed conversion rate would total USD 4.40 commission, before spread, financing or other charges. This is a formula illustration, not a live quote or a complete cost estimate.[7][1]
Holding costs and additional charges
| Item | Published operation | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Overnight financing | Trading terms give a 23:55–00:10 MetaTrader-time rollover window, during which trading may be unavailable. Current swap rates are in terminal symbol settings. | The server’s UTC offset is not established. Rates may change without notice; the exact symbol schedule matters.Source 3 |
| Triple swaps | The calculator describes FX triple charging from Wednesday to Thursday, indices from Friday to Monday, and ruble pairs from Thursday to Friday. | Those are instrument-specific explanations. A single Wednesday rule should not be imposed on every product.Source 7Source 3 |
| Currency conversion | Incoming transfers use the company’s internal rate when money is posted. Outgoing conversion uses the Client Cabinet rate when the trading account is debited. | No fixed conversion markup or guaranteed external benchmark is published in the reviewed documents.Source 4 |
| Compliance charge | The Non-Trading Regulations reserve an extra charge of 5% of a withdrawal where suspicious activity is identified. | One listed indicator is less than three traded lots per USD 1,000 withdrawn. This is a discretionary review provision, not a universal withdrawal fee or an automatic volume requirement on every client.Source 4 |
| Payments and tracing | Method charges, banking costs and some payment-investigation expenses can be payable by the client. | The published funding table and the applicable review/trace terms determine the charge; the trading commission does not include them.Source 10Source 11Source 4 |
Platforms, execution settings and leverage
Sections ↑The broker documents MT5 desktop trading, custom indicators and expert advisers, plus iOS and Android account access. MT5.PRO demo accounts can be opened from the terminal. The trading terms expressly say a trailing stop works only while the client terminal is running; its activation sends a request to modify the stop-loss. Mobile access therefore does not establish unattended desktop-EA or trailing-stop persistence.[9][3]
Published execution settings in the Client Cabinet
| Setting | Default and scope | Effect on an order |
|---|---|---|
| Execution-slippage comments | On by default; can be disabled when an EA needs its own order comment. | Records execution slippage in the comment. It does not cap slippage or guarantee a fill.Source 5 |
| Partial execution of limits | On by default. | Remaining volume can wait for further liquidity. Turning it off uses fill-or-kill handling; an order that cannot be filled in full waits for reactivation.Source 5 |
| Convert limit to market on activation | Off by default; overrides the partial-limit setting. | Can fill worse than the original limit. A later setting change does not alter already placed orders.Source 5 |
| Cancel entry when entry and protection fall inside a gap | On by default. | The linked pending entry can be cancelled when the entry and the attached closing level are within the price gap. It is an entry-handling control, not a guarantee of the protective exit.Source 5 |
| Cancel stop entry on a specified gap | Zero means off; threshold range 1–1,000 publisher-labelled pips. Buy Stop/Sell Stop entries only. | Cancellation happens before submission to the liquidity provider if the gap exceeds the setting. It does not apply to a stop-loss or bound subsequent execution slippage.Source 5 |
| Opening market/stop orders as limited-price orders | Zero means off; range 1–1,000 publisher-labelled pips. | Caps the permitted adverse price for an entry but can cause a market request to fail or a stop entry to be removed. Does not apply to closing, stop-loss, take-profit or stop-out.Source 5 |
| Send a limit at a worse price | Optional; applies to Buy Limit, Sell Limit and take-profit. | Trades off the original price constraint against execution opportunity. It is not the default favourable-limit behaviour.Source 5 |
Total-position leverage bands for major FX
Selected instrument leverage limits
| Instrument group | Published ceiling | Additional condition |
|---|---|---|
| EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY and selected major/cross FX | 1:500 | Volume bands and account settings can reduce this.Source 6 |
| Selected NZD crosses and NZDUSD | 1:333 | The precise symbol list matters; NZDCHF is separately shown at 1:500.Source 6 |
| EUR/USD pairs with PLN or SEK | 1:125 | These are listed symbol limits, not a rule for all exotic pairs.Source 6 |
| Listed CNH, DKK, HKD and SGD pairs | 1:50 | Listed NOK, MXN and ZAR pairs instead show 1:100.Source 6 |
| Gold and silver symbols | 1:100 | Applies to the quoted metal/currency symbols in the schedule.Source 6 |
| Brent and WTI / natural gas | 1:33 / 1:25 | Energy limits differ from the headline FX ceiling.Source 6 |
| SP500, NQ100, DJI30 | 1:100 | ASX200 and JP225 are 1:50; several European/Hong Kong indices are 1:33.Source 6 |
For starred FX symbols, the margin page permits a reduction to 1:100 one hour before the Friday market close across account types; it does not supply a fixed UTC cutoff. Trading terms require the client to maintain at least 100% margin and allow, without obliging, the company to liquidate below the 60% stop-out level. Liquidation normally begins with the most loss-making position but its sequence is not guaranteed. A close-out threshold is not a promised execution price or a general cap on loss.[6][3][1]
Entry market and stop orders can be locked while the liquidity provider processes them, during which they cannot be cancelled. Free margin is assessed at execution, not simply when an order triggers. Stop-loss and take-profit instructions are good till cancelled; eligible pending entries can use good-till-cancelled or a specified expiry. The company’s default limit/stop handling and optional Cabinet settings should be read together. It permits scalping and EAs but can restrict software that overloads the system.[3][5]
The agreement provides that trading instructions are accepted only through the internet trading terminal. The published chat and email address are support routes, not an authorised emergency dealing desk. An outage therefore does not create a documented right to close a position by email or telephone. Individually reduced leverage is subject to prior notice in trading-term clause 7.4, while the broader agreement also reserves changes to margin requirements without notification.[2][3][13]
Cash movements, payment methods and account exit
Sections ↑Currently advertised funding routes
| Method | Deposit minimum / charge | Deposit timing | Withdrawal charge / timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | USD 500 minimum; 0% company deposit fee | A few days | USD 50; a few daysSource 1Source 10Source 11 |
| Cryptocurrency through B2BinPay | USD 10 minimum; 0.5% plus network fee. Examples include USDT, BTC and ETH. | Advertised immediate | 0.5%; advertised immediate, with automatic withdrawal up to USD 500 per daySource 1Source 10Source 11 |
| Volet, formerly Advcash | USD 10 minimum; 1% | Advertised immediate | 2%; advertised immediate, with automatic withdrawal up to USD 500 per daySource 1Source 10Source 11 |
From request to usable or received funds
| Stage | Current contractual rule | What can change the outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Incoming posting | An eligible deposit is credited within one business day, no later than the end of the next business day after the company receives the money. | The clock does not begin when a sending bank or wallet is instructed. Bank/provider transit and required verification come first.Source 4 |
| Withdrawal request | Must be made through the Client Cabinet and recorded in Payment History; other request methods are not accepted. | Amounts plus charges must fit free margin when the request is executed. Market losses after submission can cause rejection.Source 4 |
| Company processing | The regulations provide for fulfilment within one business day, no later than the end of the next business day after receipt of the request. | Large sums, agent funding, suspicious activity, unresolved trading/payment disputes or inability to contact the client can extend processing.Source 4 |
| Payment destination | Normally the same method used for deposit, with withdrawals to the client’s own account. | A different method can be refused or delayed. Third-party deposits/withdrawals are prohibited under the ordinary funding rules.Source 4 |
| Trace a missing outgoing transfer | The client can request investigation after seven business days for a wire or two for an electronic transfer. | The contract also gives a ten-business-day card trace rule, but cards are not in the current public payment-method table. These are trace thresholds, not delivery guarantees.Source 4Source 11 |
| Internal transfers and debts | Transfers are between the client’s own trading accounts. The broker may set off debts across accounts and linked Client Cabinets. | The balance in one account should not be treated as protected from liabilities owed through another covered account.Source 4Source 2 |
| Account currency | The three current plans specify USD. Incoming and outgoing conversion uses the company/Cabinet rate at the applicable posting or debit time. | Generic agreement references to several account currencies do not establish an available multi-currency wallet or automatic currency-hedging service.Source 1Source 4Source 2 |
The current Non-Trading Regulations, version 2 dated 9 May 2026, state that they take precedence over conflicting client-agreement provisions for their subject matter. Payment History is the evidential record of a request, while free margin is the constraint on withdrawal. No interest is paid on account cash. The current Bonuses page says no promotions are active; the possible return of inactivity charges as non-refundable trading credit is a separate contractual provision whose cash-withdrawal and loss-offset mechanics are not fully specified.[4][12][2]
Closure and long dormancy
| Situation | Published treatment |
|---|---|
| Client-requested closure | The agreement permits the client to close an account online at any time. Open contracts and liabilities still require settlement; remaining debts and costs can be deducted before money is released.Source 2 |
| Termination by either party | Either party may terminate by immediate written notice under the agreement. The company can close positions and pending orders and apply account set-off rights.Source 2 |
| Five years unused or inactive | The agreement permits an attempt to contact the owner or heir. If a new account holder cannot be identified within the subsequent 12 months, it reserves the right to close the account and treat its funds as no longer belonging to the client.Source 2 |
| Six-month trading inactivity | The separate USD 5 monthly fee begins after more than half a year without trading. Logging in is not the stated reset activity, and the fee is not the five-year dormancy process.Source 3Source 4 |
Entity, client money and liability
Sections ↑The current Seychelles FSA roster independently lists RannForex Limited, its Mont Fleuri address, [email protected] and Dmitry Rannev. The company’s current contract and regulation page identify registration 8427758-1 and securities-dealer licence SD151. The roster does not expose a separate numeric licence field or website hyperlink for this entry; the email domain and exact company/address connect it to the profiled route. The Saint Lucia website’s obligations and permissions are not assumed to be those of this entity.[23][2][14][21]
Protection provisions by scope
| Provision | What the documents establish | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| General negative-balance obligation | Trading terms require a client to repay a negative balance within ten days. | High headline leverage and the 60% stop-out do not establish blanket negative-balance protection.Source 3Source 1 |
| Specific low-leverage promise | If the client chooses leverage of 1:10 or less, clause 10.2 guarantees that stop-out will not produce a negative balance. The account must have no open positions when leverage is changed. | The condition is chosen low leverage and a loss arising from stop-out. It is not a general deposit guarantee or protection automatically attached to every account.Source 3 |
| Legal-entity client money | Agreement 1.10.2(i), explicitly under the legal-entity subsection, provides for unsegregated money transferred with full title and ownership; the client ranks as a general creditor. | This clause is not presented as the natural-person retail rule. The reviewed individual-client material does not establish an equally clear positive segregation undertaking, named bank or insurance certificate.Source 2 |
| Contractual liability limit | Clause 4.5 caps the company’s liability for a financial loss at the initial margin requirement for the relevant trading operation. | This is the company’s contractual limit, not a promised compensation payment. A separate legal-entity indemnity section should not be treated as the universal retail rule.Source 2 |
| Liquidity and execution claims | The founder describes fully hedged A-book execution and a low-cost operating model. | Those are company claims, not independently measured execution statistics or proof that counterparty, liquidity and operational risks disappear.Source 20Source 15Source 2 |
| Disputes | The Seychelles agreement and the FSA’s complaint procedure supply the relevant route for this profile. | No current private insurance beneficiary, aggregate limit or compensation-scheme entitlement was established for the retail account.Source 2Source 14Source 24 |
Support, records and complaints
Sections ↑Published contact channels
Scope Published Seychelles-route contact; trading instructions are accepted only through the terminal
Scope Public support route; no separate emergency dealing authority or guaranteed response hours established
Scope External supervisory escalation after a complaint to the company
Claims, statements and escalation clocks
| Issue | Published requirement |
|---|---|
| Trading complaint | The Terms of Business require a claim within two days of the issue, with account/order details and an explanation. The ordinary response target is five calendar days, with an exceptional extension possible.Source 3 |
| Statement discrepancy | The company says it sends account statements regularly by email. Agreement 9.5 requires an error to be reported within three calendar days.Source 2 |
| Deposit or withdrawal claim | The Non-Trading Regulations require the claim within ten business days; the date of the relevant Payment History entry is used to establish the operation.Source 4 |
| FSA escalation | The FSA’s current procedure says to allow the provider 21 business days for a determination, and requires proof of the original complaint and supporting documents. This does not replace the shorter company deadlines for first reporting a problem.Source 24Source 3Source 4 |
The public documents establish emailed statements, terminal activity and Client Cabinet payment records, but not a particular export format, a local tax certificate or a guaranteed post-closure report-access period. Tax reporting remains the client’s responsibility. Statements, order details, payment confirmations and complaint correspondence should be retained before terminating access.[2][4][15]
The company can ask for identification, address evidence and source-of-income information during the relationship, and may suspend payments where information is inaccurate or outstanding. Suspected unauthorised account use should be reported immediately. The reviewed privacy and account terms do not supply a fixed lost-authenticator recovery process, withdrawal cooling-off period following a reset or guaranteed security-recovery timetable.[2][4][16]
Technology, partnerships and additional tools
Sections ↑Services alongside the brokerage account
| Service | Documented scope | Conditions and limits |
|---|---|---|
| Client calculators and tools | The site provides a trading calculator, spreads, margin schedules, an economic-calendar link and trading articles. | Calculator outputs are indicative and include legacy MT4 wording despite the current MT5 account selection. Terminal specifications govern practical trading; no personal-advice service is established.Source 7Source 9Source 1Source 15 |
| Retail FIX | A separate live account offers protocol-based access with netting, USD funding, setup and monthly minimum charges. | The public material does not establish a granular read-only/order/cash permission matrix, API-key revocation workflow or complete rate limits. A connection is not evidence of withdrawal authority.Source 1Source 2 |
| Institutional liquidity | For brokers: MT5 AMTS Gateway and MT4 AMTS Bridge connections without a minimum commission, plus FIX/C++ API with a USD 500 monthly commission minimum. | This is distinct from the retail FIX account’s USD 300 monthly minimum and USD 100 setup. Institutional volume tiers should not be applied to a retail MT5 tariff.Source 18Source 1 |
| Introducing partner programme | Accept the partner agreement in the Client Cabinet to obtain an IB.MT5 account and referral link. The published reward is 10% of referred-client trading commission, credited after the trading day. | No minimum referral volume is stated. Own/affiliated accounts are excluded; rounded amounts below USD 0.01 are not credited. This is partner remuneration, not automatic cashback to the trader.Source 17 |
Separate liquidity-service commission tiers
Company background and route history
Sections ↑Dmitry Rannev describes himself on the company site as the project’s creator and owner and as CEO of AMTS Solutions. His published account places the original business idea and first registration in 2013, while the news chronology records first clients in August 2017. These are brand-history statements, distinct from the incorporation and operating dates of the current Seychelles company.[20][19]
Relevant dated milestones
| Date | Primary company record | Meaning for this account |
|---|---|---|
| 3 February 2020 | The news chronology records registration of the Seychelles company. | Current legal entity history; not the beginning of the earlier brand.Source 19 |
| 17 May 2023 | Seychelles securities-dealer licence SD151 recorded as obtained. | The current FSA roster independently confirms the named dealer.Source 19Source 23 |
| 1 March 2024 | Company announcement begins Seychelles operations, initially with USD MT5.PRO and MT5.ZERO and bank funding. | This establishes an operating retail route; the current payment/account pages show later service details.Source 19Source 1 |
| 11 April 2024 | Corporate accounts announced. | Corporate contractual clauses must remain distinct from those addressing individuals.Source 19Source 2 |
| 28 October 2024 | Separate rannforex.com notice moves that route from a Nevis company to Saint Lucia’s Rann FS Limited. | The notice describes continuity of that route’s rights, balances and positions. It does not describe migration into or out of the Seychelles company.Source 22Source 21 |
| 9 May 2026 | Non-Trading Regulations updated with the inactivity-fee/credit section. | Current cash terms are version 2; the older client-agreement date should not obscure this later payment/account rule.Source 19Source 4 |
Seychelles operating addresses
| Measure | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Registered address | Suite 3, Global Village, Jivan’s Complex, Mont Fleuri, Mahé, Seychelles | Source 2Source 1 |
| Head office / FSA entry | Block B, Global Village, Jivan’s Complex, Mont Fleuri, Mahé, Seychelles | Source 13Source 1Source 23 |
- Founded
- 2013 (company-published brand origin)
Legal entities & licences
These are source-dated records, not a blanket assessment of the broker. Read each issuer, identifier, status and scope together.
RannForex Limited
| Issuer & identifier | Recorded status | Date & scope |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Services Authority SeychellesSD151 | Authorised | Checked 20 Oct 2026Exact dealer, address and [email protected] match the current roster. Licence number SD151 and registration 8427758-1 are supplied by the current company documents; no separate numerical licence field appears on the roster.Source 23Source 2Source 14 |
Sources & further reading
- RannForex — current Seychelles accounts, markets and funding minima RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Client Agreement — version 2, 18 October 2024 RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Terms of Business — current published trading and negative-balance rules RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Non-Trading Regulations — version 2, 9 May 2026 RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Trading Settings — default controls and order scope RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Margin Requirements — volume and instrument limits RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Trader’s Calculator — contract and commission formulas RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Spreads — current published instrument and quote table RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Trading Platforms — MT5 desktop, mobile and automation RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Deposit — current method charges and timing RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Withdrawal — charges, automatic limits and timing RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Bonuses — current promotion status RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Contact — support and operating address RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Regulation — Seychelles entity and licence RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Risk Disclaimer RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Privacy Policy RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Partnership — IB qualification and commission credit RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Liquidity — separate broker-service interfaces and volume pricing RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Company News — dated milestones and regulatory-route launch RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- About RannForex — founder and company-published operating model RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- RannForex.com — separate Rann FS Limited website RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- RannForex.com — 28 October 2024 Saint Lucia migration notice RannForex · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Seychelles FSA capital-markets roster — RannForex Limited entry Financial Services Authority Seychelles · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
- Seychelles FSA complaint procedure — provider response prerequisite Financial Services Authority Seychelles · Accessed 20 Oct 2026
This profile reports dated public information, including broker-published services and terms. It does not independently test or guarantee execution, pricing or withdrawals. Inclusion is not an endorsement. Permissions and protections apply only to the named legal entity, service and client category; check the current official records and your contract.