#collateral-deposit

My 'broker' is asking for a 'collateral deposit' to release my withdrawal. Is this even a thing?

Hey everyone, I'm in a bit of a panic here. I've been trading with this online platform for a few months – got into it through an ad, yeah, I know. It's called 'GlobalTradePrime' (not in your list, sorry), and they seemed legit at first. I've made some decent 'profits', about 8k USD showing in my account, which is huge for me. Now, I tried to withdraw a smaller amount, say 2k, just to see how it works. They processed it, then suddenly my 'account manager' (who's been super pushy tbh) tells me my withdrawal is on hold. Apparently, because my account activity is 'high' and I'm withdrawing a significant portion of my 'profits', I need to put down a 'collateral deposit' of 15% of my total balance to prove I'm a serious investor and won't just yank all my money out. They said it's a 'standard security protocol'. Is this *ever* a normal thing with real brokers? I've never heard of it. I'm scared to put more money in, but also scared to lose the 8k. Any advice?