A key information document is a document that contains key information about a financial product. This document is required by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for certain types of financial products that are offered to retail investors. The KID must be provided to investors before they purchase the product. It must be written in plain language and must include information about the key features of the product, the risks involved, and the fees and charges associated with the product.
When a KID is missing:
If a key information document is missing, the investor may not have all of the information they need to make an informed decision about the product. This could lead to the investor making a decision that is not in their best interest, and could result in losses. This is why often brokers will not allow you to trade an instrument without a KID.
‘KID is missing’ error message
The “key information document is missing” error message indicates that the key information document is required but has not been provided. This error may occur if the product being offered is subject to the requirements of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the key information document has not been provided to the investor.
For you as investor, this most likely means you cannot buy the financial instrument you are looking at. This can cause frustration and is not solvable from the investor side, but rather on the broker side. Some platforms might have descriptive error messages related to KIDs such as ‘exposure cannot be increased for this instrument.’ If you experience this issue oftentimes with the same brokerage, it may be wise to consider switching to another.