Categories
Forex Brokers

MM Financial Experts Review

MM Financial Experts is an FX and CFD broker that is also a binary options provider. The company is owned by Elit Property Vision LTD, a Bulgaria-based company that also owns other brokerages, including GrahamFE and WellingtonInv. These providers don’t loudly advertise their affiliation with the company, which is never a good sign. Taking a look at this specific brokerage’s offers on its own, we see a diverse range of asset classes that can be traded from 8 different live accounts. With so many options to choose from, opening an account can quickly become a tricky process. We’ve gathered all the information we could to bring our readers a comprehensive review that can help with the decision of which account to open, or answer the question of whether this broker is a suitable candidate.

Account Types

MM Financial offers a diverse range of accounts, including Test and Micro accounts, along with Standard, Silver, Platinum, Sapphire, Trader, and Business accounts. As one reaches higher account tiers, then extra benefits will be unlocked. Some of those advantages include expedited withdrawals, spread discounts, earned interest on profits, and risk-free trades. This is a common tactic used by brokerages that push for traders to make larger deposits. Traders will find that this broker’s website can be vague where it counts, especially when describing trading conditions and prices. We were able to determine that spreads start at 4 pips with discounts given once one reaches the Silver account or higher, but we couldn’t find any mention of commission charges at all. Traders will notice that those spreads are much higher than average, and potential commission charges could quickly raise the trading cost to an alarming rate. A quick overview of each account has been provided below.

Test Account
Minimum Deposit: $1,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: From 4 pips
Commission: NA

Micro Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: From 4 pips
Commission: NA

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $10,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: From 4 pips
Commission: NA

Silver Account
Minimum Deposit: $25,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: From 3.6 pips
Commission: NA

Platinum Account
Minimum Deposit: $50,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:300
Spread: From 3.4 pips
Commission: NA

Sapphire Account
Minimum Deposit: $75,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 3.2 pips
Commission: NA

Trader Account
Minimum Deposit: $100,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: From 2 pips
Commission: NA

Business Account
Minimum Deposit: $750,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: From 1.2 pips
Commission: NA

Platform

The broker offers a simple web-based platform named “Trading Platform” in place of a more popular option like MetaTrader 4 or 5. Beginners may find the registration process to be simpler through this option since one only has to go to the “Trade” tab on the website to register and access the platform. However, more seasoned traders will likely suffer at the hands of the bland platform that doesn’t quite stand alongside MT4 in terms of accessibility, functions, and overall attractiveness. It’s disappointing that MM Financial isn’t willing to pay the licensing fees for a better platform, considering that they are a more expensive brokerage that is owned by an even larger company.

Leverage

The broker offers a leverage of up to 1:200 on their first four account types, pushes the cap to 1:300 on the Platinum account, and up to 1:400 on the Sapphire account. The maximum leverage ratio tops out at a flexible 1:500 maximum on the Trader and Business accounts, providing another advantage to the top-tier account holders. In a similar fashion, certain leverages are assigned to each account when trading cryptocurrencies. Take a look at those options below:

  • Test Account: 1:10
  • Micro Account: 1:10
  • Standard Account: 1:15
  • Silver Account: 1:20
  • Platinum Account: 1:30
  • Sapphire Account: 1:50
  • Trader Account: 1:70
  • Business Account: 1:100

Traders will notice that some of the crypto leverages are much higher than those offered by the competitors. However, one should always remember the risks associated with using high leverage. We wouldn’t recommend using higher options like those featured here without gaining a great deal of experience. Fortunately, traders can start at a lower level and work their way up.

Trade Sizes

When it comes to trading conditions, the broker’s website is very vague. This isn’t the only category where we felt that the website could have done a better job providing us with information. Common sense tells us that the smallest trade sizes would be one micro lot on the Micro account and this is likely the starting option on the Test account as well. However, we can’t say whether the Standard account adopts the same minimum trade size, or raises the requirement. Often times separate account types do come with different trade sizes, with around one lot being required on more expensive accounts.

Trading Costs

This broker is one of many that don’t advertise their costs in a transparent way. The website spends a lot of time boasting about their account’s special offers and spread discounts, which is actually just a fancy way of advertising spreads that are more than double the average amount on most of their accounts. We would hope that this is a sign that commissions aren’t charged, considering that those charges would put the cost of trading at an insane amount. However, we’re left with more questions than answers when it comes to the overall charges applied by the broker, including withdrawal fees. This is another red flag that MM Financial may not be a straightforward option.

Assets

Although MM Financial doesn’t provide a comprehensive list of their available instruments, they do advertise currency pairs, indices, commodities, and stocks as being among their offers. The broker also offers currency pairs, which aren’t offered nearly as common among their competitors. In total, MM Financial claims to offer more than 800 liquid assets for trading, but traders shouldn’t be surprised if this statement doesn’t hold up entirely.

Spreads

When it comes to spreads, the broker’s website doesn’t throw out any exact numbers and instead lists the discount one will receive based on account type. This makes it sound like a great deal when it isn’t. After checking the platform, we found spreads to be around 4 pips. Following that math, we were able to determine the average spreads one would likely see on each account type once discounts have been applied. Those figures can be viewed below.

  • Test Account: 4 pips
  • Micro Account: 4 pips
  • Standard Account: 4 pips
  • Silver Account: 3.6 pips
  • Platinum Account: 3.4 pips
  • Sapphire Account: 3.2 pips
  • Trader Account: 2 pips
  • Business Account: 1.2 pips

Do keep in mind that spreads may deviate from the above numbers since the website isn’t clear about the figures. Judging by what we found, it seems that MM Financial expects one to make a $750K deposit to access less than average spreads. Otherwise, traders will be subject to spreads that are up to more than twice the industry average amount. At those rates, it would be difficult to turn a profit.

Minimum Deposit

MM Financial starts off with an expensive $1,000 entry-level deposit on their Test account, which is much higher than the $100 (or less) entry-level deposits offered by many other brokers. From there, the asking amounts keep climbing, up to $5,000 on the Micro account, $10,000 on the Standard account, $25,000 on the Silver account, $50,000 on the Platinum account, $70,000 on the Sapphire account, $100,000 on the Trader account, and $750,000 on the Business account. Traders should also note that each account holds a maximum balance that tops out at $1 below the funding amount for the next account. For example, the Test out tops out at $4,999, which is just $1 below the Micro account’s $5,000 deposit requirement. Costs with this broker aren’t exactly beginner-friendly and it may take some time to save up to open a simple Test account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can seemingly be funded through Visa, MasterCard, bank wire transfer, WebMoney, and Yandex. The website is rather vague when it comes down to describing specific funding information, so we can’t say for sure whether deposits are fee-free or not. If you’re making a deposit through bank wire, then you should expect to see a charge from the bank’s side.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

MM Financial follows standard guidelines that state withdrawals must be made back to the originating payment method in order to prevent money laundering. Any profits would be withdrawn through bank wire transfer. Note that there is a $50 withdrawal minimum, which could cause a headache later on, especially if one’s luck goes south and they decide to pull out remaining funds. Traders can request a withdrawal online, by phone, email, or in person. Once again, fees aren’t listed on the website, so the broker leaves their clients blindly hoping that charges won’t climb too high.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The actual timeframe that it can take for the company to process your withdrawal will depend on your chosen account type. Those that can afford one of the better accounts will benefit from this procedure, with 48-hour withdrawals on the Silver & Platinum accounts and 24-hour withdrawals on the Trader & Business accounts. Everyone else will have to wait 1-5 business days for their withdrawals to even be processed. Many other brokers offer 24 to 48-hour processing, regardless of one’s account status, so the wait time is rather extended here.

Bonuses & Promotions

MM Financial offers a Welcome bonus of up to 100% and other trading bonuses, along with a certain number of risk-free trades on each account, plus earned interest on profits for certain accounts. Note that some of these offers are reserved for accounts of the Silver status and up. Take a look at each account’s special offers below:

  • Silver Account: 3 risk-free trades
  • Platinum Account: Extra 3% interest on profits & 5 risk-free trades
  • Sapphire Account: Extra 4% interest on profits & 7 risk-free trades
  • Trader Account: Extra 5% interest on profits & 12 risk-free trades
  • Business Account: Extra 7% interest on profits & 25 risk-free trades

Some additional offers include a certain number of guided trades or daily guided trades (depending on account type) and special earnings reports.

Educational & Trading Tools

Traders won’t find a wide variety of resources available on the broker’s website, instead, MM Financial focuses on providing some articles about forex basics, analysis, trading plans, and market volatility. While those articles can be helpful, beginners will likely benefit from searching elsewhere on the web for more in-depth information and better learning tools, like video tutorials, e-books, and other sources. MM Financial seems to provide services for more experienced traders that can make larger deposits, which is likely the reason why they haven’t invested much of an effort in this category.

Demo Account

Unfortunately, the broker does not seem to see the benefits associated with offering risk-free demo accounts to their clients. Most brokers offer these accounts at the bare minimum, so it’s always a bit surprising when demo accounts aren’t featured alongside other educational resources. The absence of these accounts might seem minor to some, but beginners might suffer without the chance to trade in a simulated environment before opening a live account.

Customer Service

MM Financial doesn’t exactly make it easy to reach out to support – the website doesn’t offer any instant option like LiveChat and it also fails to list a contacts page. In fact, we couldn’t even find a listed email address on the site, so traders will have to reach out to an agent through a form that is provided at the bottom of the website. 24/5 support is advertised, but we wouldn’t expect to see quick responses with all things considered.

Countries Accepted

If you check out the broker’s registration page, you’ll find that the United States is missing from the sign-up list entirely. This isn’t surprising, considering that the country is governed by strict regulation laws. The good news is that Japan, North Korea, and other commonly blacklisted countries can be selected.

Conclusion

Like many others that follow a similar account system, MM Financial places more of an importance on those that can afford to deposit a significant amount of money. It’s understandable for those clients to receive some benefits, but lower status accounts suffer in some ways, such as being pushed to the back of the line for withdrawal processing, not having access to any promotional offers, and etc. Sure, there are some benefits, like high leverage options and a diverse range of assets to choose from, but is this enough when such options are readily available elsewhere? The broker’s website is vague about funding and doesn’t offer much in the ways of education.

Contacting support could be a nightmare, considering that the broker doesn’t even offer a phone line or instant chat option. In a nutshell, MM Financial is an expensive broker that has the audacity to offer spreads from 4 pips on an account for deposits of up to $24,000, while offering common benefits on a vague and unhelpful website. This brokerage is better suited for experienced traders that can afford a better account type, and even then, those traders could likely do better elsewhere.

Categories
Forex Brokers

NetoTrade Review

NetoTrade is a global online exchange broker that has coined the phrase “Real Market Trading”. More than 260K clients have opened accounts through this unregulated brokerage, which has been in business since 2010. Based out of Cyprus, NetoTrade offers high leveraged trading on FX pairs, metals, oil, commodities, and a few cash indices and equities. The website’s primary language is Arabic, but traders will be able to translate through their browser. The broker was founded by a group of economists with more than 50 years of experience in the forex market with a commitment of reliability and transparency. NetoTrade offers four live accounts with varying conditions, so it would be in one’s best interest to take a closer look at those details before opening an account.

Account Types

NetoTrade offers four live account types: Mini, Golden, Platinum, and ECN. The broker markets the Mini account as being the best option for beginners, while the Golden, ECN, and Platinum accounts are designed for more experienced, professional-level traders. It costs at least $500 USD to get started with a simple Mini account and the broker asks for deposits of $5,000 or more on their other three accounts, making the start-up process rather expensive. A significant leverage cap of 1:400 is available for all account holders, even the accounts with higher balances, so this is a plus.

As for spreads, options start at just 0.3 pips on the ECN account, while the remaining accounts offer spreads from a higher 1.8 – 3.3 starting pips. Mini account holders will be the only traders that are excluded from having a personal account manager and the account does not offer access to educational tools according to the website, however, we were still able to access basic resources without opening an account. The Golden account offers a 20% welcome bonus, while the Mini account offers a 25% education bonus. We’ve provided an overview of each account’s details below.

Mini Account
Minimum Deposit: $500 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 3.3 pips
Commission: None

Golden Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 2.2 pips
Commission: None

Platinum Account
Minimum Deposit: $50,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 1.8 pips
Commission: None

ECN Account
Minimum Deposit: From $5,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 0.3 pips
Commission: From 0.3 points

Platform

NetoTrade offers the most popular MetaTrader 4 trading platform, which is accessible in four convenient options – through the web-browser, desktop, and download on mobile devices, including tablets. In addition, the broker offers its own web-based platform named after themselves and a mobile app named NetREtrade that also belongs to the company. MT4 would definitely be the most recognizable of the options, although it’s nice to see additional options in case traders would prefer to use another platform. We’ve outlined some of the highlights for each platform option below.

MetaTrader 4

  • Highly accessible through desktop, mobile, tablets, web-browser
  • Customizable, user-friendly interface
  • Charting tools, multiple technical indicators, 9 timeframes, etc.
  • Supports one-click trading, EAs, VPS, and more
  • Multiple timeframes and four pending order types

Netotrade Web Platform

  • Allows one to trade from anywhere without downloading the program
  • Fast execution
  • Offers access to all of the broker’s available instruments
  • Supports one-click trading, designed to be easy to use

NetREtrade Platform

  • Available on mobile devices; offers convenient trading on the go
  • Ability to place automatic orders such as stop loss and take profit
  • Prices come directly from central banks, shows trade history

Leverage

The broker offers a significant leverage cap of 1:400 on all four of their account types. This is an especially rare offer for ECN and especially Platinum account holders, considering that those accounts hold a large amount of equity. Of course, traders shouldn’t use the highest leverage available if they aren’t prepared to do so – trading with a high leverage can result in a large loss of funds. Regardless of whether one would prefer to use a higher option, having the choice to do so is a perk, so long as one only does so with the risks in mind.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is one micro lot on the Mini account, 0.05 lot on the Golden and ECN account, and 0.25 lots on the Platinum account. The website doesn’t offer further information about trade sizes, the maximum number of open positions allowed, etc. We also failed to find any listed stop out limit. We did reach out to support for clarity, but we still haven’t heard back from an agent. It isn’t surprising to see that these details aren’t provided, considering that the website can be vague at times.

Trading Costs

Accounts fall into two separate pricing models; traders can pay higher spreads with no commission costs on the Mini, Golden, and Platinum accounts, or traders can trade with spreads from 0.3 pips while paying commission charges from the ECN account. Commissions are listed as starting from 0.3 points on the ECN account. When listing commission charges on stocks, the website breaks the ECN account into Platinum and Gold status levels and offers commissions that are $2 less per lot on the Platinum status. This is somewhat odd, considering that the broker markets the ECN account as being one live account type.

Charges are $15 per standard lot on the Gold status level ECN account and $13 per lot on the Platinum status level ECN account. In addition, traders will pay swap charges on applicable positions that are held past the daily market closing time. Applicable swap charges can be viewed within the MT4 platform and traders should note that triple charges would apply on Wednesdays.

Assets

NetoTrade offers more than 100 instruments, which can be divided into FX pairs, precious metals Gold & Silver, cash indices, oil, and agricultural products. ECN account holders will also have the option to trade in US equities on NASDAQ and NYSE. Agricultural commodities include Corn, Sugar, Coffee, and Wheat. Natural Gas and Brent Oil are also available. The best way to view all of the available instruments is from the “Accounts” page within the spreads chart.

Spreads

One of the main things to consider before selecting an account type with this broker would be the spreads. On the Mini account, spreads are ridiculously high. Starting from 3.3 pips on USDJPY spreads quickly climb to 4.2 pips and higher on every other currency pair. Keep in mind that the industry average is actually around 1.5 pips, so spreads are more than doubled. It isn’t uncommon to see higher spreads for this type of account, but lower-status accounts typically offer spreads of around 2 pips in general. On the Golden account, spreads actually start at 2.2 pips on USDJPY and are from 3.2 pips and up on several other instruments. For the deposits that these accounts are asking, traders would be able to access much better options through another broker.

As for the Platinum account, NetoTrade actually expects a $50,000 deposit to access spreads from an above-average 1.8 pips. Options quickly jump to a range that is 2 pips and higher – as we mentioned, this is actually worse than what’s offered on many broker’s Mini/Micro/Cent accounts. The only account that manages to bring traders a competitive spread would be the ECN account, where spreads start from 0.3 pips, although commission charges are applied. Some options manage to stay below an average range, but spreads on many currency pairs are 3 pips or higher.

Minimum Deposit

The broker asks for a steep $500 USD deposit in order to open their Mini account, which comes with extremely high spreads. Traders would be able to access a Standard account or better elsewhere for a lower deposit. The Golden Account shares a $5,000 requirement with the ECN account. Those that are looking to open a Platinum account will need to deposit $50,000. Regardless of which account you’re looking at; it costs more than average to start trading with this broker. There is also a standard $100 deposit requirement for replenishment deposits. Compare this to the deposit requirements of $5 – $100 offered my many other brokers, and it’s easy to see that NetoTrade falls short of the competition in this category.

Deposit Methods & Costs

NetoTrade offers three payment methods; bank wire transfer, cards, and CashU. The website skips over potential funding charges, although many brokers only charge fees on withdrawals. It takes 3-5 days for funds sent by bank wire transfer to reach the trading account. The current market exchange rate is according to the current market price +0.5%. Traders should be sure to upload POI (proof of identity) and POA (proof of address) documents prior to funding the account in order to avoid funding delays.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We would assume that funds are processed back to the original payment method, with profits withdrawn to bank wire if NetoTrade follows traditional money-laundering prevention guidelines. The website doesn’t cover any potential fees, so traders shouldn’t be surprised to see some types of charges. This is especially true for bank wire withdrawals, as fees would likely be charged from the bank’s side. Then again, fee-free withdrawals are possible for some of the payment methods. We’d usually suggest making a small test deposit, in this case, to check for any unanticipated fees, but it is impossible to do so due to the $500 minimum deposit requirement.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The broker doesn’t mention how long it can take for withdrawals to be processed. Since it takes 3-5 business days for a bank wire to reach the trading account when depositing, we would expect a similar timeframe or slightly longer for withdrawals to be returned back to the trader’s bank account.

Bonuses & Promotions

NetoTrade offers promotions for specific account holders. Golden account holders would receive a 20% welcome bonus, which is applied to initial deposits. The Mini account offers a 25% education bonus. ECN and Platinum account holders cannot currently participate in either promotion. As always, some terms and conditions do apply when it comes to receiving and withdrawing applied bonus funds.

Educational & Trading Tools

The broker’s website features an education section that includes a forex glossary, articles, demo accounts, and a FAQ. When listing each account’s features, NetoTrade mentions the possibility to use educational tools on the Golden, ECN, and Platinum accounts, which means that Mini account holders are excluded. It’s extremely disappointing when traders try to withhold resources from certain account holders, especially considering that Mini account holders are more likely to be beginner-level status and would need the tools more than other traders. Educating clients is in the broker’s best interest, so it makes no sense to not offer those resources to everyone. It also isn’t clear as to whether traders would actually have access to additional resources since there are accessible options on the website.

Demo Account

NetoTrade offers free demo accounts to any trader that would like the advantage of trading from one risk-free. Demo accounts work as simulation live accounts and offer the same trading environment while allowing traders to use virtual currency so as not to risk any real funds. We’re happy to see these accounts available for everyone, especially considering that the broker may withhold other educational resources. The easiest way to open a demo account is to navigate to the education section of the website and to choose the “Open Demo” option.

Customer Service

NetoTrade offers phone and email support. Sadly, traders won’t be able to use any instant contact options such as LiveChat, Skype, WhatsApp, etc. available on the website. LiveChat is actually listed from the sidebar, but the website does not load the option, so it seems unavailable. The website is available in Arabic with the option to translate through one’s browser, but NetoTrade does not offer English versions of the site. This means that there may a communication barrier between support staff and traders that speak other languages. The broker also offers links to their YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts at the bottom of the website. Contact details have been listed below for phone, fax, and various email addresses that relate to different departments.

Phone
Phone+ 44-2080893679
Fax: +44-2035142167

Email
Support: [email protected]
Finance: [email protected]
Compliance: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

NetoTrade does not seem to place any restrictions based on one’s country of residence. The website doesn’t list any restricted countries, which is usually a good sign that the broker is lenient. The registration page simply asks for one’s name, email, password, and phone number without requiring one to input a country at all. This provides an advantage to traders from the US, Japan, Canada, and other commonly restricted locations.

Conclusion

NetoTrade offers leveraged trading of up to 1:400 on all four of their live account types. Investment options include 100+ instruments, including FX pairs, metals, commodities, oil, cash indices, and some equities. NetoTrade asks traders for deposits of $500 – $50,000 USD in return for spreads that are more than twice the average amount or more on some of their account types. Options start from 0.3 pips on the ECN account, but traders will see starting spreads from 1.8 pips – 3.3 pips on the remaining accounts. Traders have the choice between MetaTrader 4 and the broker’s own web-based and mobile trading platforms. Funding information is slim. The broker only offers three payment methods and does not cover potential charges or processing times for withdrawals. NetoTrade’s minimum deposit requirement also makes it impossible to perform a test deposit.

Support can only be contacted through email or phone, and there aren’t any instant contact methods working currently. Educational resources are minimal and there may be extra options for traders that can afford to open better accounts. The broker also offers a couple of bonuses without outlining terms clearly. NetoTrade seems to be a better option for traders that are looking at an ECN-based account type. Conditions on that account type aren’t bad, and the broker offers a significant leverage option as long as one can afford the deposit. However, it may be best to avoid the Mini, Golden, and Platinum accounts altogether, since those accounts don’t offer competitive conditions that are worthy of their price.

Categories
Forex Brokers

PVP / Fox Markets Review

Pro Venture Prime Markets, or PVP Markets for short, is an online forex exchange broker that is located and registered in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The company provides clients with investment options in currency pairs (majors & minors), metals, commodities, cash indices, and even cryptocurrencies. PVP Markets was established in 2018 and operate as an STP broker, meaning that orders are sent directly to the liquidity provider without the chance of slippage. The company aims to be a “one-stop-shop” that prides themselves in reliability, safety, integrity, and respect for their clients. Keep reading to find out more about the conditions associated with opening an account through this broker.

Account Types

PVP Markets allows traders to choose from two live account types – Standard and ECN, in addition to an Islamic account. Islamic accounts are offered to those that need to adhere to Shariah laws with swap-free 0% interest on overnight positions. Islamic accounts are available upon request. It costs $250 to open a Standard account and the requirement is doubled for the ECN account type. Both accounts offer access to the same impressive leverage cap (1:400), trade sizes, and a number of tradable instruments.

Primary differences stem from the charges associated with each account. The Standard account advertises spreads from 1.5 pips with no commission fees. On the ECN account, traders would supposedly have access to spreads from 0 pips with commission charges of $8.60 per lot. We did find some discrepancies between the advertised spreads and the actual options, so we would defiantly recommend reading this review further to get all of the facts. We’ve provided the conditions for each account type below.

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $250 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 1.5 pips (Actually from 15 pips)
Commission: None

ECN Account
Minimum Deposit: $500 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 0 pips (Actually from 2 pips)
Commission: $8.60

Platform

PVP Markets exclusively features the MetaTrader 4 platform, along with the majority of other foreign exchange brokers. MT4 is the most commonly chosen trading platform for several reasons, including accessibility, built-in features, customization options, a navigable interface, etc. The program also comes with multiple languages and supports everything a trader could need, including the ability to trade micro-lots, Expert Advisors, scalping, hedging, etc. MT4 can be accessed through the WebTrader or downloaded on PC, iOS, and Android devices, including tablets and iPads. Those trading from a Mac computer may have issues downloading the platform and would have easier access through the browser-based version.

We could spend all day going over all of the powerful opportunities within MT4; however, we feel entirely confident that the platform will be a satisfying option for every level of forex trader. The only downside would be the fact that the broker doesn’t offer traders the ability to choose MetaTrader 5 as well, although MT4 still remains the most popular of the two.

Leverage

The broker offers all account holders access to an impressive leverage cap of 1:400 with no conditions. This is a generous offer, especially for the ECN account, which requires a larger deposit. Most brokers set lower limitations and some regulators even set leverage caps at 1:30. Many others refuse to allow a cap higher than 1:100 at most. Traders that don’t have a lot of experience may want to start with a lower option than the one available from this broker, due to the fact that trading with a higher leverage is riskier and can result in large losses. Fortunately, PVP Markets provides traders with room to grow and gives professionals an exceptional leverage cap to trade with.

Trade Sizes

Both accounts allow for a trade size as small as one micro lot. Unlike many of their competitors, PVP Markets places no limit on the maximum trade size and does not seem to limit the maximum number of positions allowed at one time. The broker does impose standard margin call and stop out levels to help prevent accounts from going into the negative. If margin call is reached, then traders would need to close some losing positions or consider depositing more funds. Reaching the stop out level would result in the system automatically closing out trades. Those predetermined levels can be viewed below.

Margin Call/Stop Out levels: 100%/20%

Trading Costs

PVP Markets profits from spreads, commissions, and overnight interest charges. Commissions of $8.60 are charged on the ECN account (likely round turn) and there are no commissions on the Standard account. The spreads offered by this broker and much higher than the advertised amount, so it seems that the trading costs associated with this broker are very expensive. Swap charges are debited or credited on positions that are left open overnight and are based on current rates. The long and short swap rates are calculated by points and the exact rates can be viewed on the website’s product pages. Triple swap is charged on Wednesdays for every instrument in order to account for the upcoming weekend. Islamic account holders would be able to avoid these charges with no interest.

Assets

Both accounts offer access to 28 currency pairs, precious metals Gold and Silver, commodities, cash indices, and a handful of cryptocurrencies. The number of currency pairs is much lower than many other broker’s offers because PVP Markets only features majors and minors with no exotic options. Available commodities include US and UK Oil and there are 5 cash indices to choose from. PVP Markets also expands its available assets to include the popular cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, and Litecoin. Traders will need to weight the missing exotic options and other categories that are not offered against the ability to trade cryptocurrencies in order to decide if the broker’s asset portfolio is diverse enough to accommodate their needs.

Spreads

If you glance at the broker’s advertised spreads, you’ll be expecting to see options from 0 pips on the ECN account and from 1.5 pips on the Standard account. We checked the products page to confirm and were shocked at how high those spreads actually started from. On the Standard account, the lowest starting spreads were at 15 pips on majors and 25 pips on minors. Minimum spreads climbed as high as 38 pips on minors. On the ECN account, we noticed that standard spreads were at 2 pips on majors and started from 15 pips on minors. This means that average spreads are actually more than ten times the industry average on the Standard account, while spreads on the ECN account are .5 pips higher than average for majors.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum threshold to open an account through this broker is $250 USD. Once considered the average investment amount, this asking amount does seem rather high compared to other options. Some brokers have done away with minimum requirements altogether, while others offer accounts for around $100 or less. Finding out the deposit requirement for the ECN account was rather daunting, as we were forced to reach out to a customer support agent after finding no information on the website or elsewhere online. We were relieved to find that the asking amount was just $500 for an ECN account, where other brokers often ask for deposits in the thousands. Overall, it really comes down to what one can personally afford when considering the investment amounts needed to open either account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded through bank wire transfers, M-Pesa, VougePay, Skrill, Neteller, and Bitcoin. Keep in mind that some regulation restrictions may prevent certain methods from being used based on your country of residence. There is a minimum deposit requirement of $100 for the first deposit made through each separate method. PVP Markets will not charge traders for making a deposit but some third-party fees may apply. The website doesn’t actually provide any details about the exact charges associated with each method.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All of the available funding methods can also be used for withdrawals, under the condition that funds must be processed back to the original payment method. PVP Markets does not charge a fee on withdrawals from their side, but the website does suggest that third party fees may apply and traders would need to check those fees with their chosen payment provider. Providers like Skrill, Neteller, and other e-wallets often charge a percentage fee from 1% of the total withdrawn amount and up. Banks would likely charge wire transfer fees from their side as well, so traders will want to gain a clear picture of the costs associated with each withdrawal method. It’s a little disappointing that the website doesn’t list those fees more transparently.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Once a withdrawal request has been submitted, average processing times fall within the first 24 hours. This would be business hours, however, as support does not work on the weekend. The website doesn’t state how long it could take for funds to show up once sent, although we would expect e-wallets to be credited almost instantly. Slower methods like bank wire transfer likely wouldn’t show up for at least a couple of business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

The broker’s website dedicates an entire section to promotional offers and seems to update the current offers periodically. Currently, the only running promotion provides traders with the ability to win an iPhone Max Pro by trading 500 lots. Once an account has been opened and funded, traders would need to email support and the broker would then begin applying traded lots towards the total. We do wish that some type of deposit bonus, or perhaps even a welcome bonus or no-deposit bonus was offered to help out beginners. It’s still nice to see one promotion available and it is possible that the broker will add other opportunities in the near future. If you do decide to open an account, we would highly recommend keeping an eye on this section of the website in case any updates are posted.

Educational & Trading Tools

Traders will find a section labeled “Tools & Education” among the other categories at the top of the broker’s website. Clicking on the option brings a drop-down menu, with the only option being “MT4 Education”. At first glance, we were worried that the website would only offer the basics related to setting up the MT4 program with no real educational insight into other matters. Fortunately, the section actually contains video tutorials related to forex education, alongside 36 video lessons related to downloading and working with the MT4 platform. It would be nice to see more materials like e-books available on the website, although this should provide traders with enough knowledge to get started trading on the MT4 platform. The only thing that seems to be missing would be trading tools, like calculators, calendars, VPS, and other similar options.

Demo Account

Those that would like to open a demo account can do so by navigating to the website’s homepage and clicking “Open Demo Account”. The PVP Markets demo account does not seem to offer customizable options, for example, a chosen amount of virtual funds. This could be somewhat of a disadvantage since many brokers add an unrealistic amount to these accounts. On the other hand, demo accounts serve as excellent simulation tools and serve multiple purposes. Beginners can gain practice without risking any real funds, while more experienced traders may prefer to test out new strategies, try different leverages, or try trading under the broker’s conditions before opening a live account. Whatever the reason, traders will be able to benefit from opening a free demo account through this broker.

Customer Service

Traders can contact support instantly through LiveChat, by clicking on a blue button that is located directly at the bottom right corner of the website. The broker’s LiveChat is rather convenient for the fact that one can leave their email and receive a response there if an agent isn’t online, or if the chat is closed before a response is received. When we tested it, we were initially connected with a bot while waiting for a real customer representative to come onto the chat. The chat window claimed that support usually responds within a few minutes, but it did take about 3 hours for a support agent to respond to our question. Other contact methods include email, or traders can fill out a contact form on the website instead.

The only downsides would be the lack of weekend support and the fact that the broker doesn’t provide a direct phone number anywhere on their website. One could always request a callback, but it seems more convenient to be able to reach out if in a hurry. A few separate email addresses are provided and all of the available contact details have been listed below.

Countries Accepted

PVP Markets welcomes traders from all locations, including the United States, Iran, Japan, etc. Many regulators are strict about these locations, meaning that there is an advantage in the ability to open an account for those located in commonly restricted countries. We tested the registration process from our U.S. based office just to be sure and have no issues opening an account.

Conclusion

PVP Markets offers the choice between Standard and ECN accounts, alongside Islamic accounts. Traders would be able to use impressive leverage as high as 1:400 on FX, metals, commodities, cash indices, and cryptocurrencies from the MT4 platform. The broker doesn’t offer the option to trade exotics, energies, stocks, or bonds. The minimum threshold to open an account is $250, which is high compared to other options. Traders should definitely consider the high trading costs associated with this broker. Beware the spreads that start from as much as 10 times the industry average and the high commission costs on the ECN account. Accounts can be funded through bank wire, card, and a variety of e-wallets.

The broker does not charge fees on deposits or withdrawals from their side but does suggest that third-party fees may be applicable. Support can be reached instantly on weekdays, although agents do not always appear to be active on LiveChat, even during business hours. Currently, traders that register for an account have a chance to earn an iPhone Max Pro by trading a certain number of lots. The website also features multiple video lessons that help to educate traders on forex trading basics and the MT4 platform, and traders can test that knowledge on a free demo account.

Taking everything into consideration, there do seem to be a few advantages associated with opening an account. On the downside, the trading costs are some of the highest we’ve ever seen. Traders would almost certainly be able to access better conditions through another broker, especially with a $250 deposit.

Categories
Forex Brokers

FINQ.com Review

Finq.com is a product of Dilna Investments Ltd and Leadcapital Corp Ltd (“LCC”), the latter of which is regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA) under license number SD007. Since being established in 2017, the company has offered leveraged trading of up to 1:300 on FX pairs and multiple CFD’s, including 2,000 stocks. Aside from those limited details, the broker doesn’t spend much time telling us about their views and values. Upon further investigation, we found some competitive conditions that revolve around pricing, zero commission charges, and other advantages associated with opening an account through this broker. Of course, no broker is perfect, so stay with us to find out everything you’ll need to consider.

Account Types

Finq.com offers five separate live accounts: Micro, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Exclusive. The broker is willing to apply swap-free status to accounts in the event that the account holder cannot pay swaps in observance of Islamic religious beliefs. Commissions are not charged on any of the account types and all accounts offer a maximum leverage cap of up to 1:300. One would simply want to make the largest deposit possible, which would result in access to tighter spreads. Deposits of $1,000 USD to $100,000 would grant access to spreads from 1 – 1.9 pips, while making the broker’s threshold deposit of $100 forces one to trade with spreads that are twice the industry average.

Accounts offer access to the same instruments, but the chosen trading platform will affect exactly which instruments can be traded. All accounts feature a dedicated account manager, excluding the Micro account. Gold, Platinum, and Exclusive members receive premium daily analysis and access to trading central. Platinum and Exclusive account holders would have access to “premium customer support”, although the website does not specify exactly what that entails. We’ve provided an overview of each account’s details below.

Micro Account (MT4 & WebTrader)
Minimum Deposit: $100 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:300
Spread: From 3 pips
Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 0.01/NA
Commission: NA

Silver Account (MT4 & WebTrader)
Minimum Deposit: $1,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:300
Spread: From 1.9 pips
Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 0.01/NA
Commission: NA

Gold Account (MT4 & WebTrader)
Minimum Deposit: $10,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:300
Spread: From 1.5 pips
Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 0.01/NA
Commission: NA

Platinum Account (MT4 & WebTrader)
Minimum Deposit: $50,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:300
Spread: From 1.2 pips
Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 0.01/NA
Commission: NA

Exclusive Account (MT4 & WebTrader)
Minimum Deposit: $100,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:300
Spread: From 1 pip
Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 0.01/NA
Commission: NA

Platform

Traders will have the ability to choose between two platforms, with options being the MetaTrader 4 platform or a proprietary WebTrader platform. MT4 would probably be better suited for FX/CFD traders, while WebTrader is better for traders that are looking to trade equities and stocks, due to the fact that each platform does not offer access to the same instruments. MT4 features 5 asset classes including Bitcoin, while the WebTrader platform offers access to 7 asset classes, including 2,000+ stocks and ETF’s that cannot be traded from the MT4 platform.

 

Both platforms can be accessed through mobile trading on iOS and Android devices or downloaded on PC and Mac. If you’re interested in further specifics, you should know that MT4 offers one-click trading and advanced technical analysis. You can open multiple tabs and windows to access instruments and the platform provides news and fundamental analysis to aid in decision making. WebTrader is designed for quick execution with its primary advantage being access to the 2,100+ instrument options.

Leverage

Leverage caps are dependent on the instrument that is being traded and options differ slightly between the MetaTrader 4 and WebTrader platforms. Options tend to be higher for FX pairs on MT4, where the maximum cap is set at 1:300 on multiple currency pairs. The WebTrader platform offers a similar leverage cap of 1:294 on those same options. Note that some pairs set lower leverage limits, from 1:25 up to 1:200. Both platforms offer a maximum cap of 1:100 on bonds and 1:200 on indices. MT4 offers slightly higher leverage options on some commodities as well. The specific leverage caps for each instrument can be compared under the “Assets” section of the website.

Trade Sizes

All accounts support a minimum trade size of 0.01 (one micro lot). Scalping is not allowed and there is a requirement that states each trade must be opened for at least 2 minutes. A single hedge is possible, but the broker does not allow multiple hedges on the same trading instrument. There is no mention of maximum trade sizes/open number of positions. The broker does mention that a margin call/stop out level is enforced.

Trading Costs

Costs would be paid through spreads, commissions, overnight interest charges, and currency conversion charges. Finq does not apply commission charges to any of their accounts, meaning that all of the costs of placing a trade are built-into the spread. This makes it easier to keep up with the actual trading costs. Those that can afford to make a larger deposit would have access to the most competitive spreads.

A daily financing charge may apply to each FX/CFD open position at the closing of the trading day. The method of calculation of the financing charge varies according to the type of instrument to which it applies. The charge will be debited or credited to/from the account the following trading day. Additional conversion fees may apply on the WebTrader platform if the account’s currency is different than the quoted currency of the underlying asset being traded. Overnight rollover fees are charged 3x on Wednesdays in order to account for the upcoming weekend.

Assets

The broker’s instrument portfolio consists of 55 currency pairs (major, minor, and exotic options), precious metals Gold, Silver, Aluminum, Palladium, Platinum, Copper, and Zinc, plus commodities, 25+ stock indices, 4 bonds, energies, 55 ETF’s, and more than 2,000 stocks. Note that the last two categories (ETF’s and stocks) are only offered on the WebTrader platform and those options cannot be accessed on MT4. Commodities include Corn, Coffee, Rice, Cotton, Cocoa, Sugar, Wheat, and Soybean. Energy options include Heating Oil, Oil, Brent Oil, and Natural Gas. Traders would also have the ability to trade Bitcoin from the MetaTrader 4 platform (WebTrader does not offer this option).

Spreads

Finq.com offers spreads that range from double the industry average at 3 pips on the Micro account, to attractive conditions from 1 pip on the broker’s Exclusive account. The Silver account offers access to spreads from 1.9 pips for a $1,000 deposit and spreads on the Gold account type start from 1.5 pips. The broker only features two accounts with more competitive spreads – the Platinum account, with starting spreads from 1.2 pips, and the aforementioned Exclusive account. Some traders may not be able to meet the minimum deposit requirements on those accounts and would, therefore, be stuck with higher spreads. On the bright side, the broker does offer competitive spreads on Gold, ranging from 0.4 pips on the Exclusive account up to 0.7 pips on the Micro account.

Minimum Deposit

Finq.com asks for a $100 entry-level deposit on their Micro account. This amount is pretty much average, although some brokers have done away with deposit requirements altogether. From there, options climb into the thousands, at $1,000 on the Silver account, $10,000 on the Gold account, $50,000 on the Platinum account, and $100,000 on the Exclusive account, which is the best account available.

The primary goal in opening an account through this broker would be to make the largest deposit possible in order to access better conditions since spreads are the primary differences between all of the accounts. In order to access average spreads, one would need enough funds to open a Gold account. If you’re looking for access to better than average spreads, you’d need to open an account that is at least of the Platinum level. Of course, many traders will be limited based on affordability.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Finq.com accepts deposits through bank wire transfer and credit/debit cards (Visa/MasterCard/Maestro), Neteller, Skrill, and Fasapay. The broker does not apply any commission charges to deposits from their side. It is possible that there could be certain fees charged on the provider’s side, especially if funding through bank wire. We would encourage traders to check for any of those charges before making a deposit in order to avoid any unanticipated charges.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The broker follows regular money-laundering prevention steps by requiring withdrawals to be processed back to the same bank account, credit card, or other sources of execution that was used to send the funds. There is a $100 withdrawal minimum for wire withdrawals and the remaining methods require a $20 minimum. It’s possible to request an amount that is below the minimum, but the broker would then apply additional handling and processing fees of $50 on bank wire withdrawals and $10 on additional methods. This could obviously cut into profits significantly. Withdrawals also bare third-party charges, which are not specified. Unfortunately, Finq.com isn’t entirely transparent about withdrawal costs. The website doesn’t even offer a funding page and the only place where we were able to find these terms was inside of the broker’s terms & conditions.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals will be sent the same day that the withdrawal request is received, or the following business day if the request is received outside of normal working hours. The broker does mention that the actual time that it may take for funds to appear in the client’s account would further depend on the processing times of the third-party payment providers.

Bonuses & Promotions

Finq.com currently offers a $50 Welcome Bonus and a Refer A Friend program. Those registering an account will certainly benefit from the broker’s generous initial deposit bonus and those that know someone who might be willing to open an account would be able to earn an amount back based on the referred client’s initial deposit. We don’t always expect to see promotional offers with every broker, so it’s always nice to see something available in this category. We’ve provided some details for both promotions below.

Welcome Bonus: A $50 welcome bonus is offered to each trader who registers an account and completes the verification. Only profits made from trading with the bonus can be withdrawn.

Refer A Friend: This promotion applies a bonus to one’s trading account after a referred friend registers an account and makes an initial deposit. The percentage of the bonus amount depends on the amount of the referred client’s deposit, starting from 20% on deposits of $100 USD to $499, or between $150 – $400 as a cash reward on deposits between $500 and $20,000. Traders can only refer one friend at a time, with a maximum referral limit of 5 people per account.

Educational & Trading Tools

Among the various sections at the top of the broker’s website, traders will find a “Resources” category. While we were hoping to find options focusing on education within the category, the section only features rollover expiration information, CFD expiration dates, a WebTrader FAQ, information on the Refer A Friend program, and an economic calendar. Traders will notice that educational options are missing from the list entirely. Demo accounts are available on the website, but this is the only resource that the broker is willing to provide. The home page does contain a small market sentiment tool, which we have shown an example of below.

Demo Account

Finq.com does provide free demo accounts to those located in accepted countries, but the broker does not offer this service to those located in restricted countries, which include the European Union and the United States. In fact, the website actually blocks those clients from registering a demo account. Since we were writing this review from our US-based office, we were blocked from accessing the demo registration page, so it is impossible for us to comment on whether multiple demo account types are supported and other details.

If you are located in an accepted country, then we would still recommend signing up for a risk-free demo account in order to take advantage of the educational opportunity. We would hope that the broker would feature accounts that model their live accounts and support various starting amounts in virtual currency, in order to provide a more customizable experience.

Customer Service

Support is active 24 hours a day, from 5 pm EST on Sunday evening to 4 pm on Friday evening EST. Traders can contact an agent through WhatsApp, phone, and email. Chat does appear on the website, but support was not active when we tried to use the feature during their advertised business hours. The chat window simply asked us to send a request through email, so this does not seem to be a reliable contact method.

Finq is also active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The website also mentions that “Premium customer service” is only offered to Platinum and Exclusive account holders; however, no supporting details are provided to let us know exactly what this includes. We’ve provided all of the broker’s available contact methods below.

Phone: +35722008069
WhatsApp: +357 97 712478
Email: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

The website’s disclaimer lists the European Union, United States, or any other country where it would be against local law or regulation as being part of their restricted jurisdictions. As we mentioned earlier, the broker seems to take these laws so seriously that they actually block those clients from registering a demo account. It’s also impossible to access the account registration page because the website recognizes user’s IP addresses and blocks those that are coming from a restricted location. On one hand, it is a good sign to see that Finq takes regulation laws seriously, unlike many shady brokers. However, this could be frustrating for those who won’t have the option to open an account.

Conclusion

Finq.com is an online foreign exchange broker that offers access to 55 currency pairs and 100+ CFD’s on precious metals, commodities, indices, bonds, and the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. If one chooses to trade from the WebTrader platform instead of MT4, then ETF’s and 2,000+ stocks would also be available as well. The broker offers five commission-free accounts with spreads from 1-3 pips. Traders would want to make the largest deposit possible in order to access better spreads, but the broker does accept a low $100 initial deposit for their Micro account type. The website is vague about funding and doesn’t list exact commission charges on withdrawals. There is a $20 withdrawal minimum on card/electronic payment withdrawals and raises the requirement to a more frustrating $100 for withdrawals made through bank wire, otherwise, traders would need to pay additional processing fees.

Customer support is available 24/5 from WhatsApp, phone, and email. Those that register a new account will earn a $50 bonus and a Refer A Friend program is also available as a way to earn extra cash rewards based on the referred client’s initial deposit. Aside from demo accounts, there aren’t any educational resources offered on the website. Demo accounts are only available to those located in accepted countries. The United States and European Union are among those that cannot open an account based on regulatory restrictions. Like many other forex brokers, Finq offers better conditions to those that make larger deposits.

Categories
Forex Brokers

TenkoFX Review

TenkoFX (Tenko Systems Limited) is an online forex exchange broker that describes themselves as being clear, transparent, and strictly regulated. Since 2012, the company has been offering leveraged trading as high as 1:500 on FX, CFDs, and cryptocurrency pairs, all while under the regulatory oversight of the International Financial Services Commission of Belize.

The company appears to be located in Nevis, although a UK-based phone number is provided. From three separate live account types, TenkoFX offers separate conditions, including one’s access to certain instruments, leverage options, and commission-rates. If you’re interested in opening an account, stay with us to find out more about the STP, ECN, and Crypto accounts, along with other need-to-know facts.

Account Types

TenkoFX offers three live accounts; STP, ECN, and Crypto. Swap-free Islamic accounts are available in STP and ECN versions. It costs between $10 and $100 USD to open an account, so traders should not be limited based on affordability. One of the biggest differences between accounts would be the tradable instruments that are available.

STP & ECN accounts offer access to currency pairs with additional CFDs on the ECN account. The Crypto account features 29 crypto pairs. Leverage options and stop out levels are also dependent upon the account type, STP account holders will have access to the highest leverage cap of 1:500. The website doesn’t advertise spreads clearly, but options seem to be tight, according to our research.

Commissions also play a factor that will affect the cost of trading. The ECN account offers lower commission charges to those with high equity and trading volume, with higher charges for those that cannot maintain the more significant requirements, so we would only recommend the account to those that can keep the better conditions. The remaining accounts offer reasonable commission rates, although the broker isn’t completely transparent about the STP account’s fees on the website. Account details have been provided below.

STP Account (Islamic accounts available)
Minimum Deposit: $10 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: Variable (See “Spreads”)
Commission: $2 per 1 lot traded
Assets: Currencies & metals

ECN Account (Islamic accounts available)
Minimum Deposit: $100 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: Variable (See “Spreads”)
Commission: $10 – $40 USD per 1 mio (depending on equity & trading volume every 30-day period)
Assets: Currencies, Metals, CFDs

Crypto Account
Minimum Deposit: $10 USD
Leverage: 1:3
Spread: Variable (See “Spreads”)
Commission: 0.5% half-turn
Assets: 29 cryptocurrency pairs

Platform

Every trader that opens an account through TenkoFX will have the advantage of trading from the highly popular MetaTrader 4 platform. MT4 was designed as a powerful, all-in-one option that is highly flexible and navigable. The platform provides a wide range of technical analysis tools while allowing one to execute trades efficiently, generate trading signals, and program MQL-based trading algorithms. Available on desktop, mobile, and through the web-browser, MT4 is also an accessible option that supports trading on the go from various devices, including iPod/iPad/tablets.

The platform allows all types of orders while providing a newsfeed and a wide range of analytical tools. The broker’s website offers the program download directly under “Trading” > “Trading Platform”. MT4 can also be found within the App Store and Google Play Store.

Leverage

On the STP and ECN accounts, available leverage options depend on the account’s equity. The STP account offers a maximum cap of 1:500 on accounts holding up to $25,000 in equity, 1:200 on equity up to $100,000, and 1:100 for amounts up to $1,000,000. The ECN lowers the limits to 1:200 on accounts holding up to $100,000 and 1:100 for equity up to $1,000,000. Amounts over $1 million are negotiable. The Crypto account offers a leverage ratio of 1:3, which is expected for an account that focuses on trading volatile cryptocurrencies.

Trade Sizes

A minimum trade size of one micro lot (0.01) is supported on currencies and crypto pairs, while one mini lot (0.1) is required when trading indices. The broker offers a sufficient maximum trade size of 1,000 lots. The STP account allows for 100 orders to be open simultaneously, while the amount is unlimited on the ECN account. Scalping, algorithm-trading, and news trading are all allowed. Hedging is available with 50% margin release. Margin call occurs at 50% on the STP account, 100% on the ECN account, and 30% on the Crypto account.

Trading Costs

TenkoFX charges account holders through spreads, commissions, and swaps. Commission fees depend on the chosen account type. There is no markup on the STP account, but information suggests a $2 fee per 1 lot traded while a 0.5% half-turn fee is applied on the Crypto account. The ECN account maintains a schedule that depends on the account’s equity and trading volume for the previous 30 days.

Fees range from $10 – $40 USD round turn per 1 mio. Equity of $10K to $50K or more, plus a trading volume of 50,000,000 equals the lowest $10 charge. Equity of less than $1K with less than 5,000,000 trading volume results in the largest $40 fee. Other charges can fall into an $18 – 25 range, depending on the equity and volume, and the entire chart can be viewed under “ECN Trading Fees”.

Overnight interest charges also apply, unless one is trading from an Islamic account, which is available in STP and ECN versions. Swap rates can be viewed on the website under “Contract Specifications”. Triple charges apply on Wednesdays. The broker applies a monthly $10 fee to accounts that have been deemed inactive, with charges occurring until trading activity resumes or the entire balance is depleted.

Assets

TenkoFX offers different instruments based on an account type; STP and ECN account holders have access to 58 currency pairs, which provides a wide variety of choices in majors, minors, and exotics. Metals are also available, with additional CFDs offered on ECN accounts. The Crypto account features 29 currency pairs, including BTC (Bitcoin), LTC (Litecoin), ETH (Ethereum), BCH (Bitcoin Cash), DSH (Digital Cash), ETC, and XRP. The broker allows more than one account to be opened, so a trader could open a Crypto account in addition to one of the other accounts to access more instruments.

Spreads

Aside from listing spreads as floating, the website doesn’t clearly detail what types of spreads one would see. After practicing on a demo account and conducting further research, we found that spreads seem to be lower than 1 pip on average. However, the broker states that conditions on the demo account are less reliable due to ongoing testing of new liquidity providers and that open orders can also affect spreads. This makes us less confident in the more competitive spreads we saw on the demo. TenkoFX may manage to bring those better options to traders due to the fact that commissions apply on the various account types, especially at the high rates on the ECN account applied when traders don’t qualify for the high-volume and higher equity discounts.

Minimum Deposit

TenkoFX accepts deposits as low as $10 on the STP and Crypto accounts while asking for an average $100 USD deposit on their Crypto account. STP accounts can only be funded in USD, EUR, and RUB. ECN and Crypto accounts also accept deposits in MBTC, LTC, and ETH. The ECN account is the only account to accept JPY-based currency.

Even though some brokers have done away with requirements, the broker manages to keep their entry-level amounts at a threshold that is accessible to all traders, and there’s really no reason to deposit less than $10 regardless, otherwise, one’s trading options would be very limited. If one compares this broker’s ECN account type to others, then one would see requirements in the thousands elsewhere. The lower requirements should make it possible for traders to open the account of their choosing without being restricted based on price.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The broker provides a wide range of deposit options, including bank wire transfer, Visa/MasterCard, and China UnionPay, along with e-wallets Neteller, Skrill, QIQI, FasaPay, AdvCash, and PerfectMoney, plus additional cryptocurrency options Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether. Aside from bank wire, which has a 24-hour processing time, all deposits are credited instantly. Note that some of the funding methods are not available for all countries and there are a few significant deposit minimums on certain methods.

Bank wire transfer requires a $500 minimum funding amount, China UnionPay requires $1,000, and QIWI asks for $300. The remaining payment providers ask for small deposits of around $1-3. Fee-free deposit methods include all cryptocurrency options, QIWI, and PerfectMoney. Unfortunately, the remaining payment providers do place charges on deposits, and many charge withdrawal fees as well. Applicable deposit fees have been listed below.

  • Bank Wire Transfer: Local bank fees (typically range from $25 and up)
  • FasaPay: 0.5%
  • Visa/MasterCard: 1.5% + 0.5 USD
  • Neteller & Skrill: 1.5% + 0.5 USD
  • China UnionPay: 2.5%
  • AdvCash: 7%
  • Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All of the deposit options are available for withdrawal, under the condition that withdrawals must be made back to the original payment method. Some of the payment providers require large minimum withdrawal amounts. This is especially true for bank wire, which asks for a $500 minimum withdrawal amount – this will potentially leave large amounts of funds stuck in the account and make it nearly impossible to withdraw profits. Steep fees are also charged on wire withdrawals, including a $45 USD charge. The only fee-free withdrawal methods are Tether and AdvCash. Even though AdvCash does offer free withdrawals, traders should note that the payment provider’s 7% deposit fee still makes it one of the most expensive funding methods available. Withdrawal fees for each of the remaining funding methods has been listed below.

  • Bank Wire Transfer: 30 EUR/45 USD/1500 RUB/35 GBP/45 CHF/65 AUD/5,000 JPY
  • QIWI & FasaPay: 0% + 0.5 USD
  • PerfectMoney: 0.5%
  • China UnionPay: 1.2%
  • Visa/MasterCard: 1.5%
  • Neteller & Skrill: 1.5%
  • Bitcoin: 0.001 BTC
  • Ethereum: 0.01 ETH
  • Litecoin: 0.01 LTC

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals are processed between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm, GMT+4. Processing is guaranteed to be completed during the advertised processing time for each payment method, which is listed as being within 24 hours. Withdrawal requests made during the weekend will be processed the following Monday. This brings the broker’s processing times down to a relatively quick timeframe when compared to the multiple business days we’ve seen before.

Bonuses & Promotions

Active promotions consist of ECN Gravity, TenkoFX Cashback, The Way of the Samurai, and PAMM Investments. We’ve provided more details for a few of those promotions below.

ECN Gravity: ECN account holders would be given the option to trade for $10 per mln for the first three months the account is open, which equates to a 0.001% (one way) transaction cost. Conditions state that a deposit of at least $1,000 USD must be made to the account. Once the account has been opened and funded, the trader would need to email support to activate the offer.

TenkoFX Cashback: Under this loyalty program, the broker returns funds that were used for trading during the first three months that the account was opened. The broker used a commission multiplier to determine the exact amount of the refund, with $5 being the minimum amount per trade and $100 being the maximum per trade.

The Way of the Samurai: This monthly competition rewards winners (STP & ECN account holders) with a $200 prize. Conditions state that a $100 USD deposit must be made to the account and the goal is to make a steady 10-15% profit every month. Traders can view the countdown timer to the next start date on the broker’s website under “Company” > “Promotions”.

Educational & Trading Tools

Educational resources consist of a training academy that is sorted into beginner and expert levels, a glossary of trading terms that comes with a helpful search bar, and various articles. Granted, the academy section is simply typed information with some pictures, but the broker has put in an amount of effort to attempt to help educate their clients. It’s easy to miss those resources, so one should note that this section of the website can be accessed through the FAQ page.

Analytics is also a major theme, the website offers a forex forecast, forex & crypto news, a technical blog, and an economic calendar under that section. AutoTrade is available. Through the service, one can link their TenkoFX account in order to copy trading transactions straight into their trading account. A trader’s calculator is another convenient tool on the website that can help one determine the cost of placing a trade once all factors, like commissions, spread, and so forth have been added together.

Demo Account

In order to login to a demo account, traders will need to have a Trader Password and use that to login using the following IP address on the MetaTrader 4 platform; mt-demo-01.tenkofx.com:443. The broker mentions that quotes on demo accounts differ from those used on their live accounts, due to the fact that demo accounts are used to test different liquidity providers. This could make one’s experience less realistic. Although the altered quotes don’t take away from the fact that traders can still practice trading in general and on the MT4 platform, it does affect one’s ability to trade under the broker’s conditions, which would be especially helpful considering that information about spreads is vague.

Customer Service

TenkoFX offers 24/5 customer support, with working hours from 9:00 18:00 (GMT+2) Monday through Friday for the financial department. Although the website doesn’t directly feature an instant chat feature, support can still be contacted quickly through the broker’s Skype and Telegram accounts, along with email and phone. From the bottom right corner of the website, the broker also offers a helpful feedback form. Judging from our experience, it seems that traders should expect to receive email responses within about a 24-hour timeframe. However, Skype/Telegram would be the fastest contact methods as long as agents are online. Contact details have been listed below.

Instant Contact Options
Skype: TenkoFX
Telegram: TenkoFX_bot
Phone (UK Landline): +44 190 421 1064
Email
Support: [email protected]
Finance Dept.: [email protected]
Partner Inquiries: [email protected]
PR & Marketing: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

The broker’s website claims that service is not offered to residents of the United States, likely due to stricter regulation laws for the country. On the bright side, the registration form doesn’t actually require one to input their country of residence, and we were able to register from our US-based office with no blocks placed on our IP address. This makes it seem as though the broker’s policy not to accept those clients is rather lenient, which is the case for many other brokers who supposedly blacklist the United States. Fortunately, it seems as though all traders will be able to get through the registration process.

Conclusion

TenkoFX offers leveraged trading of up to 1:500 on FX pairs, some CFDs, and cryptocurrencies from the MetaTrader 4 platform. Traders wouldn’t be able to access the broker’s entire investment library from one account; the STP & ECN account focuses on currency pairs, while the Crypto account features 29 crypto pairs. The website can be vague when it comes to describing spreads and some of the trading costs through commissions. Those that are planning on opening an ECN account will want an equity level above $10K and a higher maintained trading volume, otherwise, commission fees on the account can really add up, at $18 – $40 USD under certain conditions. The broker offers a large range of payment options, including popular options like Visa/MasterCard, in addition to e-wallets and cryptocurrency providers.

On the downside, some of the methods come with steep deposit/withdrawal minimums and fees are charged on nearly all deposits and withdrawals. Withdrawals are processed quickly and the broker has made it easy to reach out to a support agent if need be. The website features a training academy, in addition to news and some convenient trading tools, including AutoTrade and a trader’s calculator. Multiple promotions are available, including a loyalty program, reduced commission, a trading competition, etc. The lenient registration form also makes it possible for everyone to open an account, including US citizens.

Categories
Forex Brokers

Tier1FX Brokerage Review

Tier1FX 2013 is a division of Hogg Capital Investments Ltd, which is an online brokerage-based company that is located in Malta and registered under the regulatory authority of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) with license number C18954. The company claims that its core values are based on fairness, trust, and integrity, while their regulatory status of a pure STP broker helps to ensure that their client’s needs are always aligned with theirs. Investment options include FX pairs, cash indices, and cryptocurrency CFDs, all of which can be traded from multiple platforms. If you’re considering this broker, you’ll want to stay with us to find out more about the conditions associated with their live account.

Account Types

Tier1FX features one main account type with STP/DMA execution that asks for an entry-level $1,000 USD deposit. Several of the account’s features can vary depending upon certain factors. For example, one’s access to a higher leverage cap would be based on retail or professional status. Retail clients can only trade with a 1:30 cap, while professionals can use a 1:100 cap and others could supposedly access a 1:200 cap. Commission charges also differ slightly, depending on whether the account is funded in USD, EUR, or GBP. GBP-based accounts pay the lowest charges, while USD-based accounts are charged the highest amount at $1 more round turn.

Average spreads start from a low 0.2 pips on EURUSD. One advantage to choosing this broker would be access to multiple trading platforms. Options include the familiar MetaTrader 4 platform and other options like Fix API, Fortex 6, etc. The account supports micro tradable lots and offers separate stop out levels based on retail or professional status. We’ve provided a quick overview of these details below.

Tier1FX Standard Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $1,000 EUR/USD/GBP
  • Leverage: Up to 1:30 (retail), 1:100 (professional clients), 1:200 others
  • Spread: From 0.2 pips
  • Minimum Maximum Trade Size: 0.01/NA
  • Commission: $4.50 on FX pairs in GBP/$5 in EUR/$5.50 in USD

Platform

The broker provides traders with the ability to choose from multiple trading platforms, including our personal favorite, MetaTrader 4, in addition to JForex, Fortex 6, Fix API, and Fix API through MT4. All of the platforms are accessible via desktop download on Windows, Linux, and MAC, mobile (iOS & Android), and web-based versions. We’ve provided a more detailed list that explains some of the advantages associated with trading through each of the platforms.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

  • 30 pre-installed technical indicators, 3 chart styles, 9 timeframes
  • Customizable & navigable interface (multiple colors & layouts)
  • Support for EAs, one-click trading, 35+ languages, and more
  • Most available and preferred platform available among forex brokers

JForex

  • 180+ technical indicators
  • Advanced charting
  • Analytical tools
  • Multiple order features
  • Available in more than 20 languages

Fortex 6

  • Multiple order types, one-click trading, advanced charting and technical analysis
  • Available in multiple languages with a user-friendly interface
  • FIX API (also available through MT4)
  • Runs with a light setup that makes the program ultra-fast
  • Best for those with advanced programming knowledge and skills
  • Supports direct market access and EAs

Leverage

Tier1FX offers different leverage caps based on the client’s categorization. There are two tiers for retail clients, with the basic first-level tier offering a cap of 1:30 on majors as per ESMA standards, 1:20 on non-major currency pairs, 1:10 on commodities other than Gold, and non-major equity indices, and 1:2 on other CFDs. The second-tier offers leverage of 1:100 on all instruments (aside from CFDs on crypto pairs) for retail clients that are considered “professional”.

According to the broker’s website, a trader must possess the experience, knowledge, and expertise to make investment decisions in order to be considered professional. This status can apply to everyday traders, in addition to credit institutions, investment firms, and others. All other clients would be able to trade with a leverage of up to 1:200, but the website doesn’t mention who would actually fall into this category.

Overall, the broker’s leverage limitations are strict, and many other brokers would offer options of at least 1:100 without regarding one’s experience level at all, of course, some regulators force companies to employ the stricter policies. This could help less experienced clients to avoid the pitfall of trading with high leverage without being prepared, which could result in losing a significant amount of invested funds, however, it would be nice to see the broker’s 1:100 cap offered across the board.

Trade Sizes

The broker’s live account supports a minimum trade size of one micro lot (0.01). EAs, hedging, and scalping are supported. The stop out level is set at 50% margin level for retail clients and 100% for professional clients. The website isn’t indicative of maximum trade sizes or whether they differ based on one’s status as a retail or professional client.

Trading Costs

Tier1FX breaks its costs into two categories; basic trading fees, which include spreads, commission fees, and swap charges, and admin fees. The basic fee information that is provided on the website applies directly to retail clients. Institutional and Partner clients can contact the broker for their own tailor-made fee solution. The broker charges commission fees based on the account’s currency. EUR-based account holders would pay $5 (round turn) on FX options, $6 on commodities, and .50 on CFDs.

USD-based accounts would be charged the highest rates, at $5.50 on currency pairs, $6.50 on commodities, and .60 on CFDs. GBP-based accounts offer slightly lower charges of $4.50 on FX pairs, $6.50 on commodities, and .50 on CFDs. All account holders are charged commissions at a rate of 0.10% of the notational value for CFDs on cryptocurrencies.

Traders can view a weekly swaps calendar by navigating to the “Contract Specifications” page and choosing the option underneath the chart. General financing charges are tripled on Wednesdays and triple swaps on CFDs are applied on Fridays. Note that the day on which triple charges are applied or the exact financing amount may change based on National holidays and volatile market conditions.

Admin fees are charged as a $20 USD or 15 EUR/GBP fee on bank wire withdrawals, plus a currency conversion fee that is 500 points over the sport FX rate. Note that the website specifically mentions that admin fees do not include extra charges like a dormant account fee or a maintenance fee.

Assets

Tier1FX offers an impressive 60+ currency pairs, which certainly leaves room for an array of majors and minors, in addition to multiple exotic pairs. Traders will have access to instruments that aren’t always featured with other brokers, especially considering that some cut the number of available FX options in half. Popular metal options Gold and Silver are also offered. On the downside, this broker doesn’t offer much more variety-wise. Ten cash indices are available, with US & UK Oil being offered among those, alongside five cryptocurrency CFDs, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple; however, this is the end of the list.

Traders will find that the variety of currency pairs plus the option to trade cryptocurrencies is ideal, although the fact that commodities, shares, bonds, and multiple other instrument categories are missing is a potential downside, depending on whether one typically trades those types of underlying assets.

Spreads

Average spreads are advertised as being as low as 0.2 pips on the currency pair EURUSD. This is certainly a competitive offer, and we’re happy to report that Tier1FX does offer advantages based on their expensive initial deposit requirement. On the downside, the broker doesn’t provide us with a list or live spread prices, so it is impossible to compare options on the website. The advertised EUR/USD typically has the tightest spreads, so we’d like to know how much higher options can climb on other currency pairs and cash indices. If the broker is really offering such advantageous conditions, it’s odd that they don’t provide spreads for each instrument in order to support their claims.

Minimum Deposit

Tier1FX requires a $1,000 deposit in USD, EUR, or GBP, making it quite expensive to start up an account with them. Elsewhere, traders can find minimum deposit requirements of around $100 or below, and some brokers have even done away with the requirements altogether. If the broker would introduce a lower-status account, like a Mini, Micro, or Cent account with slightly higher spreads, then it may be possible to avoid forcing some of their potential clients to look for another broker based on affordability. Beginners, those that like to make smaller test deposits, or any trader that simply doesn’t have access to a larger amount of funds to begin investment will be affected negatively by the requirement.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Payment methods are limited to bank wire transfers and card deposits. Traders will not be able to fund through any extra e-wallets. Before the first deposit is made, the broker would require a color copy of the front and back of the client’s card. Card copies should be emailed to [email protected] in order to avoid any funding delays. Third-party deposits are not accepted. The broker does not apply fees on incoming deposits, although it is possible that fees may be charged from the issuing bank. Funds are credited to the trading account the same day that they are received.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All withdrawals are credited back to the same bank account or card that was used to make the deposit. Profits can only be withdrawn to bank wire due to anti-money laundering policies. Tier1FX applies the aforementioned $20 USD or 15 EUR/GBP charge from their side on outgoing wire transfers. This amount is charged on top of any banking fees, which are typically $20 – $50 USD, depending on the particular bank. The broker directs clients to visit the “Transfers” section within the Client Portal to view any applicable fees on card deposits. It’s a little disappointing that the website is less than transparent about those fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests are processed by the company within 1 business day. Once funds have been sent, it may take several days for the amount to show up on the client’s card. In the case of non-SEPA bank transfers, it can take 5-8 business days for funds to be received in the bank account.

Bonuses & Promotions

The broker does not offer any bonuses or promotional opportunities. Traders shouldn’t hold out hope that these features will be added in the future since the company claims that they have decided not to pursue extra offers in lieu of investing in first-class liquidity, execution, and technology instead. This seems like a convenient excuse not to offer bonuses to their clients.

Educational & Trading Tools

Tier1FX only manages to offer demo accounts as their sole educational resource. Demo accounts could be considered the bare-minimum in education, so we aren’t impressed by the option considering that we would expect all forex brokers to provide them. As for trading tools, the website is even more barren of options. Granted, the broker’s supported trading platforms do come with some built-in tools, but even MT4 doesn’t come with an economic calendar or various trading calculators.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available through the broker’s website for any trader that would like to use one. The broker imposes a 60-day time limit before a demo account will expire. This is better than the one-month expiration period implemented by many other brokers, but we always prefer to see unlimited demo accounts. Support is willing to consider requests to extend the life of the demo account, so long as one reaches out to support before the account expires, but this seems rather inconvenient when this should be available automatically. Fortunately, the account opening process is convenient and can be completed in less than five minutes. The broker also offers demo accounts on multiple platforms, which could be used to test out some of their available options.

Customer Service

The broker’s customer support team is in the office 24 hours a day Monday-Friday. Tier1FX explains that they try their best to respond to all inquiries within 10 minutes, whether the chosen contact method is LiveChat or email. There are also two direct phone lines available. The 10-minute timeframe is certainty advantageous, considering that some smaller brokers can take 1-2 business days to respond to email requests. All contact information has been listed below.

Phone
Office Hours: +356 23 27 3000
24/5 Support Line: +356 23 27 3999

Email
Sales: [email protected]
Support: [email protected]
Applications: [email protected]
General Info: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

Tier1FX does not offer services to clients from the USA, North Korea, Iran, Japan, and Spain. If one chooses any of those options on the sign-up list, a message will be displayed stating that service is not currently available to those clients. One possible away around this restriction would be to sign-up from the US Minor Outlying Islands for US clients, however, most of the restrictions are enforced. Tier1FX likely blacklists the aforementioned countries due to the fact that they are a more reliable regulated broker.

Conclusion

Tire1FX is a regulated forex exchange broker that offers 60+ currency pairs, metals, cash indices, oil, and CFDs on cryptocurrencies. The broker’s investment list may be missing some familiar options and leverage options are restricted to 1:30 for most retail clients. Multiple trading platforms are available, including the most popular MT4, in addition to several other options.

The broker features one live account with a steep $1,000 USD/EUR/GBP deposit requirement. On the upside, the account does offer low spreads from 0.2 pips, with commission charges being based on the type of the account’s currency. Funding options are limited to bank wire and card deposits. The broker charges a high 15 EUR/GBP or $20 USD fee on outgoing wire transfers on top of fees that are already charged from the bank’s side. The website isn’t transparent about fees on outgoing card deposits.

On the plus side, withdrawal requests are processed within one business day. The broker offers 24/5 customer service with an estimated 10-minute response time through LiveChat, email, or phone. As for promotional offers, trading tools, and educational resources, the website doesn’t have anything to offer, aside from demo accounts, which are expected. If one can afford the broker’s minimum deposit and finds the leverage options and tradable instruments to be sufficient, then there are certainly some advantageous trading conditions. Otherwise, it may be best to look for a broker with lower entry-level deposits and extra additional options.

Categories
Forex Brokers

ECN Capital Review

ECN Capital is a product of Global Prisma Ltd. as an online foreign exchange broker that has coined that motto “Trade with the best”. The company was founded by two veteran Swiss capital market experts who followed their vision to help other traders benefit from their expertise, which comes from more than 15 years’ worth of experience in the field. More than 350,000 accounts have been opened since the website’s launch; however, traders should always conclude more thorough research before following the crowd. If you’re in the market for a forex broker, stay with us to find out all the facts about ECN Capital.

Account Types

ECN Capital offers five live account types: Silver, Gold, Platinum, MEGA, and ECN, in addition to Islamic versions of those accounts that are available upon request. The broker follows a tier-based system, where more expensive accounts offer access to better perks, like lowered trading costs, better educational resources, 24/7 customer service, signals, and free VPS.

Traders can get started with a deposit as low as $1 on the Silver account, or make a more significant deposit of $20K+ to access the better accounts. All accounts offer a leverage of up to 1:200, except for the MEGA account, which offers a higher 1:500 limit. One of the most important things to consider would be the cost of trading on each account – commission costs can be high on the Silver and ECN accounts, at $15 per lot, and spreads start from 3 pips and work their way down to 1.5 pips. Most of the accounts offer access to all of the available FX and CFD instruments, but traders should note that the Silver account does not offer agricultural commodities. Take a look at each account’s details below.

Silver Account
Minimum Deposit: $1 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Minimum Trade Size: 0.01 lot
Spread: From 3 pips
Commission: $15 per lot

Gold Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Minimum Trade Size: 0.1 lot
Spread: From 2 pips
Commission: $13 per lot

Platinum Account
Minimum Deposit: $20,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Minimum Trade Size: 0.2 lots
Spread: From 1.5 pips
Commission: $9 per lot

MEGA Account
Minimum Deposit: $50,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Minimum Trade Size: 0.5 lots
Spread: From 1.5 pips
Commission: $6 per lot

ECN Account
Minimum Deposit: $50,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Minimum Trade Size: 0.01 – 0.2 lots
Spread: From 1.5 pips
Commission: $15 per lot

Platform

ECN Capital offers Sirix, which is a web-based platform that is focused on social trading. Offering several useful tools and charts, Sirix places more of an emphasis on social trading, which is something that the broker thinks highly of. Potential downsides would be the lack of PC and app-based downloads, but the platform can be accessed less conveniently through the mobile browser. The fact that the most popular options MetaTrader 4 and 5 are missing could be another negative for those that were hoping to see one of the more familiar options available. If you’re unsure about making the switch, or if you’ve never traded from a platform before, then we would recommend testing Sirix on a free demo account.

Leverage

Traders can use maximum leverage of up to 1:200 on all of the account types, with the exception of the MEGA account, which allows one to use a more significant option of up to 1:500. Keep in mind that one’s chosen leverage ratio will affect overall success and that beginners will likely find the lower options more suitable. Professional traders typically prefer a leverage of around 1:100, but ECN Capital has made it possible for traders to increase their chosen leverage as they progress.

Trade Sizes

Each account comes offers separate minimum trade sizes. The minimum order volume is listed below.

  • Silver Account: One micro lot (0.01)
  • Gold Account: One mini lot (0.1)
  • Platinum Account: 0.2 lots
  • MEGA Account: 0.5 lots
  • ECN Account: 0.01 – 0.2 lots

If the funds in the account fall to 50% of the total sum invested in trades, a margin call will be issued and open trades will be closed automatically. This occurs because the total amount in the trading account is not enough to cover fees and losses that may occur with currently opened trades.

Trading Costs

ECN Capital profits from spreads, which start from 1.5 pips – 3 pips, commission fees, overnight interest charges, and inactivity fees. Traders will want to consider both the spreads and commission charges associated with each account when calculating the total trading cost. Accounts follow a typical pattern, where the account that asks for the smallest deposit comes with the highest trading costs. However, the broker does deviate from this patter on their ECN account, which offers their lowest spreads, while sharing the highest commission costs that are charged on the Silver account. It may be better to avoid the ECN account for this reason by choosing the MEGA account instead, which asks for the same $50K deposit. We’ve provided an overview of each account’s standard charges below for comparison.

  • Silver Account: Spreads from 3 pips, commissions of $15 per lot
  • Gold Account: Spreads from 2 pips, commissions of $13 per lot
  • Platinum Account: Spreads from 1.5 pips, commissions of $9 per lot
  • MEGA Account: Spreads from 1.5 pips, commissions of $6 per lot
  • ECN Account: Spreads from 1.5 pips, commissions of $15 per lot

Rollovers are automatic transfers of open trades to the next business day. Traders may be charged a swap fee based on trades that are rolled over, including a 3-day charge on Wednesdays. Islamic accounts are charged a fee for holding open trades for more than 2 days. Every third night, a commission will be charged according to the current spread rate. Inactivity fees are charged on accounts that are deemed inactive after a certain period of time with no activity. The website doesn’t define the actual period of time before accounts will begin to be charged – typically, this occurs within 1-3 months with zero activity. The fee is either 5% of the account’s balance, or 25 Euro/USD, whichever is higher. Inactivity begins to be calculated from the moment that the final transaction is made.

Assets

ECN Capital allows traders to trade major and minor currency pairs, along with the Chinese Yuan, Mexican Peso, South African Rand, Brazilian Real, and South Korean Won. Silver, Gold, Copper, Bronze, Nickel, Palladium, Platinum, and Lead are offered as spot metals. Stocks are offered from the two major stock exchanges NYCE and NASDAQ, along with other stocks from outside the US, like the London stock exchange, Japan Exchange Group, and Hong Kong exchange. Commodity options include Coal, Crude Oil, and Natural Gas, alongside agricultural options like Corn, Rice, Cotton, livestock, and others. The broker also features multiple cryptocurrency options, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum. The only asset limitation would be the exclusion of agricultural instruments on the Silver account.

Spreads

Spreads are divided into three price ranges, starting from 3 pips on the Silver account, 2 pips on the Gold account, and a shared 1.5 pips on the Platinum, MEGA, and ECN accounts. Traders will likely recognize that spreads on the broker’s more affordable accounts are less than advantageous, especially once combined with unattractive commission costs. We’ve provided a few examples below to help with spread comparison, and traders can view the entire chart under “Target Spreads” on the website.

  • EUR/USD: 3 pips on Silver, 2 pips on Gold, 1.5 pips on Platinum/MEGA/ECN
  • AUD/USD: 3.7 pips on Silver, 2.7 pips on Gold, 2 pips on Platinum/MEGA/ECN
  • USD/CAD: 3.6 pips on Silver, 2.6 pips on Gold, 1.9 pips on Platinum/MEGA/ECN
  • Gold & Silver: 65 pips on Silver, 55 pips on Gold, 40 pips on Platinum/MEGA/ECN

Minimum Deposit

Through the broker’s Silver account, traders can deposit any amount up to $5,000 USD in order to get started trading. As one of the few brokers that offer an account type with no minimum, ECN Capital is offering an attractive plus to beginners. The Gold account, which comes with spreads that are about 1 pip lower, requires a $5,000 USD deposit. From there, traders would need to make more significant deposits of $20K for a Platinum account and $50K for the MEGA and ECN account types. Accounts do come with differing minimum trade sizes, but the cost of trading is typically lowered as accounts rise in value.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded by card, electronic payment methods, bank wire transfers, and online wallets. Once logged into the account, traders can make a deposit by navigating to the “Deposits” option under the “My Account” tab. Keep in mind that deposits will not be credited to the account until verification is complete and the broker would require proof of identity (POI) and proof of address (POA) documents beforehand. If you’re planning on funding by card, a photo of the front and back of the card is also required. Traders have the option to cover the card number except for the last four digits and the CVV code on the back of the card if desired. Deposits seem to be fee-free, except for possible bank charges on wire transfers.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Conditions state that funds must be withdrawn back to the original payment method, which is a standard practice implemented by brokers in order to prevent money laundering. Any profits will have to be withdrawn through bank wire as well. We do know that a fee of 25 to 50 USDEUR is charged on outgoing bank wire transfers, but the website isn’t clear about any fees that may be charged on other payments. This makes it a little more difficult to select the best payment method beforehand, considering that the information isn’t available for comparison.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The broker gives themselves a lengthy 7 business days to process withdrawals made through any method. This is one of the longest processing times we’ve seen before, and it can make the wait time much longer for those that would also have to wait for banks to process funds from their side.

Bonuses & Promotions

ECN Capital offers bonuses to all account holders, with bonus percentages being increased on better account status levels. Those that open a Gold account status level or higher are given the option between a predetermined bonus percentage, or a certain percentage of cashback based on incurred losses. If you do open an account that provides an option between the two choices, we would highly recommend taking the time to carefully consider which option would yield the best results, based on the amount of the deposit you’re planning to make and how successful of a trader you are. We’ve provided each account’s promotional offer below.

  • Silver Account: 30% Bonus
  • Gold Account: 40% Bonus OR 75% cashback on your losses
  • Platinum Account: 50% Bonus OR 100% cashback on your losses
  • MEGA Account: 50% Bonus OR 100% cashback on your losses
  • ECN Account: 50% Bonus OR 100% cashback on your losses

Educational & Trading Tools

ECN Capital offers different educational resources to different account holders. Each account is provided with an online financial course and 1 on 1 training, which could certainly be helpful to beginners. E-books are available to everyone except Silver account holders. Webinars and account managers are provided to accounts that cost $20K+ to open (Platinum, MEGA, ECN). VPS is also available for free for the lifetime of MEGA and ECN accounts and an economic calendar can be accessed for free on the website. While it’s disappointing that some of the options like E-books and webinars aren’t available for everyone, the broker does offer a more personalized learning experience, which is much more than many other brokers would consider having available for free.

Demo Account

ECN Capital does offer free demo accounts, which provide traders an unlimited opportunity to practice trading on the broker’s Sirix platform. One can open a demo through the trading platform if a live account has already been registered. Otherwise, it’s possible to request an account through support, since the website doesn’t offer the option to sign-up directly.

Customer Service

Customer service representatives can be contacted through LiveChat, phone, or email. At one point, the website advertises 24/7 support, 365 days a year. Elsewhere, the broker mentions that 24/7 live support is not available for Silver account holders. Traders can get in touch with an agent through the contact number +41445510256, or send an email to one of the provided email addresses:

Technical Support: [email protected]
Client Services: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

ECN Capital offers services to clients from all countries, including the United States. Their ability to do so is based on their more lenient registration in Seychelles. Those that are located in commonly restricted regions will likely feel relieved at being included with no harsh messages from support claiming that service isn’t available, which is a practice we’ve seen before by brokers that ban certain clients. The offshore registration isn’t the best quality in a broker, but traders should note that online reviews of this broker do not claim that it is a scam.

Conclusion

ECN Capital offers access to major, minor, and exotic currency pairs, plus a large variety of stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. Five account types are available and the broker’s featured trading platform is the web-based, Sirix platform, which is web-based. The Silver account can be opened for any amount and minimum requirements range from $5K to $50K on the remaining live accounts. Trading costs can be high through this broker – starting spreads range from 1.5 – 3 pips and commission fees start at $6 per lot and climb to $15 per lot. A few deposit methods are offered, but long processing times and an overall lack of information about fees are frustrating.

Customer support is active 24/7 and can be reached pretty easily. Each account holder is provided with one-on-one training and an online financial course, and better offers, including VPS, webinars, E-books, and account managers are reserved for accounts that require a larger deposit. The broker also provides high bonuses or cashback rebates based on incurred losses. If you’re considering opening an account, we would recommend making the 5K deposit to open a Gold account (if possible), since Silver account holders aren’t provided with nearly as many advantages.

Categories
Forex Brokers

Direktbroker FX Broker Review

Direktbroker-FX.de is a brand operated by the Cyprus-based investment firm Leverate Financial Services Ltd. Under the leadership of veteran Forex brokers, the company describes themselves as an independent brokerage that aims to provide service to traders of all skill levels, while offering a wide variety of tradable instruments on very competitive terms. The broker’s parent company is regulated by the Cyprus securities and exchange commission (CySEC) with license number 160/11 and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for providing services to Germany. If you’re interested in opening an account, you’ll want to keep reading to find out more about the broker’s four main account types, competitive spreads, and other important facts.

Account Types

Direktbroker offers four main account types: Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Professional. In order to get started, traders will need to deposit at least 500 Euros for a Silver account, $5,000 for a Gold account, or up to $25,000 in order to open the more expensive Platinum and Profession accounts. The broker follows ESMA standards regarding leverage and sets the maximum cap at 1:30 for retail clients and 1:400 for Professional clients. Spreads are shared when trading currencies and start as low as 0 pips on all account types, but options do differ when trading indexes.

Commission fees can be broken down into charges on forex pairs and share CFDs. Commissions are one of the most important things to consider, as this is where most of the cost of trading will come from with this broker. Accounts offer access to the same tradable instruments and trade sizes, but traders should note that EAs are only allowed on Silver accounts. We’ve provided an overview of each account below.

Silver Account
Minimum Deposit: 500 Euro
Leverage: Up to 1:30
Spread: From 0 pips
Commission: 2.5 points on FX and 5.95 Euros for single stock CFDs

Gold Account
Minimum Deposit: 5,000 Euro
Leverage: Up to 1:30
Spread: From 0 pips
Commission: 1.2 points on FX and 2.95 Euros for single stock CFDs

Platinum Account
Minimum Deposit: 25,000 Euro
Leverage: Up to 1:30
Spread: From 0 pips
Commission: 1.2 points on FX and 2.95 Euros for single stock CFDs (after the first 12 months)

Professional Account
Minimum Deposit: 25,000 Euro
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 0 pips
Commission: 1 point on FX and 2.95 Euros for single stock CFDs (after the first 12 months)

Platform

The broker offers its own web-based, mobile/tablet compatible platform alongside what is likely the world’s most popular trading platform, MetaTrader 4. MT4 can also be downloaded on mobile & tablet devices, accessed through the web, or downloaded directly on PC. Direktbroker doesn’t put any effort into describing their own platform, which is surprising. We typically see brokers going to great lengths to list features included on their secondary platforms in an attempt to compete with the more well-known MT4.

Fortunately, traders can simply opt for MT4, which we already know comes with multiple features, built-in indicators, and tools, languages, charting tools, analytical objects, and other features. The platform supports EAs (although this is only available on the Silver account) and allows traders to customize their experience on a navigable interface. With the lack of information about the Direktbroker platform, we would highly recommend choosing the timeless MT4 option, although one could certainly test the broker’s platform to see which option is more preferable from a personal standpoint.

Leverage

The company follows ESMA’s product intervention guidelines regarding leverage, which sets a 1:30 cap on FX majors, 1:20 on all other currencies, gold, and major indices, 1:10 on all other indices and commodities, and 1:5 on equities for retail clients. Under the same guidelines, professional-status clients would be able to use a more significant leverage ratio as high as 1:400. I[‘]f one considers themselves to be within the professional category, then it is possible to apply for those higher options. Note that the aforementioned limits are related to the opening of positions and that higher leverage can be used once the position has been opened. For retail clients, the maximum maintenance leverage is 1:60 and the option is double the original offer at up to 1:800 for professional status investors.

Trade Sizes

The smallest allowed trade size is one micro lot (0.01). Exact margin call and stop out levels are determined based on statistical data. The stop out level is at least 50%, while the margin call level is set at a level of at least 150%. The broker has also set a restriction on EAs by only allowing the option on Silver accounts.

Trading Costs

Costs can be broken down into commission fees, spreads, overnight interest charges, and inactivity fees. Since spreads are tight, the main cost of trading comes from applicable commission fees, which differ based on account type and the type of instrument that is being traded. We’ve provided a more detailed overview of the FX costs below for comparison.

  • Silver Account: 2.5 points per lot (half-turn)
  • Gold Account: 1.2 points per lot (half-turn)
  • Platinum Account: 1.2 points per lot (half-turn)
  • Professional Account: 1 point per lot (half-turn)

When trading share CFDs, the broker also charges a flat-rate commission fee, all of which have been provided below. Note that Platinum and Professional account holders can trade these instruments for free for the first 12 months before the listed charges apply.

  • Silver Account: 5.95 Euro
  • Gold Account: 2.95 Euro
  • Platinum Account: 2.95 Euro
  • Professional Account: 2.95 Euro

Traders will be credited or debited swaps based on the long and short swap rates of positions that are held past the daily market closing time. Swap rates are not listed on the website and the broker advises clients to view those charges from within the trading platform while remembering that triple charges occur on Wednesdays. Any account that remains inactive for 3 months will begin to be charged a monthly 15 Euro fee until trading resumes or the account’s balance is completely depleted.

Assets

Direktbroker offers a nice variety of currency pairs, including 49 total options that consist of majors, minors, and exotics, including the Mexican Peso, Turkish Lira, Danish Krone, South African Rand, and Swedish Krone. The broker also offers the spot metals Gold & Silver, in addition to Sugar, Coffee, Crude Oil, and Brent Oil. Eleven indices, 5 indexes, and 250+ share CFDs bring the total number of tradable instruments to more than 300 options. Traders would have access to a wide variety of options through this broker, however, some may be disappointed that cryptocurrencies are not available.

Spreads

While the website doesn’t provide us with a live feed, we did find a helpful chart that lists minimum and typical spreads. According to the chart, traders should expect to see the same spreads on currency pairs, regardless of the chosen account type. Below, we’ve provided a few examples of minimum and typical spreads, respectively.

  • EURUSD: 0/0.1
  • AUDUSD: 0.6/0.7
  • EURGBP: 0.5/0.7
  • EURJPY: 0.5/0.7
  • GBPUSD: 0.6/0.8
  • USD/CAD: 0.4/0.6
  • USDJPY: 0.4/0.6

Traders should notice that typical spreads are very close to the minimal option and that spreads are very tight, especially compared to the industry’s average 1.5 pips. Of course, commission charges do apply and those charges help to offset the lowered spreads. When trading indexes, spreads tend to be cut in half for Gold and Platinum account holders. For example, DAX is 1 pip on the Silver account and 0.5 pips on the Gold/Platinum accounts. Further details can be viewed under “Trading Conditions” on the website.

Minimum Deposit

The broker’s accounts are on the expensive side, starting from 500 Euros on the Silver account and 5,000 Euros on the Gold account, which equates to about $40 extra when depositing in USD on the Silver account and a $5,423 deposit requirement for the Gold account in USD (based on current conversion rates). The Platinum and Professional accounts are meant for more experienced traders and ask for a 25,000 Euro deposit as such.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Deposits can be made via bank wire transfer, Swift, E-wallet, debit/credit card, Neteller, or any other method of electronic money transfer, according to the website. The company credits incoming deposits within one business day of the time that the funds are received. There is a 1.5% fee charged on credit/debit card deposits and bank wire funds will likely incur fees on the bank’s behalf. Conversion fees would apply if depositing using any currency other than EUR, GBP, USD, and CHF.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Direktbroker has a policy that states withdrawals must be made through the same method that was used to deposit funds into the account. The minimum withdrawal amount is $5 USD/EUR/GBP, depending on the account’s currency. A fee of 1.5% is charged on credit/debit withdrawals and the broker charges a 15 EUR fee on bank wire withdrawals from their side, which is charged in addition to any banking fees. The remaining methods are fee-free.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The website doesn’t cover exact processing times for withdrawals. Based on contact information, we know that the finance team’s working hours are from 09:00 – 17:00 GMT+2 on weekdays, meaning that any requests made after those hours wouldn’t be processed until the following business day. E-wallets or electronic payments are typically sent and received much more quickly than more traditional methods like bank wire or even card deposits, so this would be something to keep in mind if you’re looking for funds to be credited more quickly.

Bonuses & Promotions

While the broker does offer some extra perks like free training, participation in training seminars, etc., none of the offers come in the form of bonuses, contests, or rebates. It’s always disappointing to see a lack of options in this category, although one shouldn’t always expect to see some type of promotion being offered. Keep in mind that there are usually conditions that make it difficult to withdraw funds that are earned instead of deposited, so always be sure to read the terms & conditions on any other website, especially if you’re considering a broker based on an attractive deposit bonus or other promotional offers.

Educational & Trading Tools

Direktbroker seems to understand the importance of educating clients, based on the fact that the broker offers multiple resources, including an Academy that provides a free one-day trading seminar to each client. A Trader-Camp is also available for free for Gold account holders. Traders will find an investment guide, introduction, risk-management, and top 6 mistakes to avoid sections on the website, all of which can be accessed without opening an account. Some resources are based on account status, for example, Gold account holders get 3 months’ worth of mentorship and strategy-consulting, while Platinum/Professional clients can use the service for 6 months. Trading tools are more limited, but the website does offer an expiry calculator and dividend calculator, along with various tools built-into the trading platform MetaTrader 4.

Demo Account

Traders can open a free demo account through Direktbroker by clicking on “Open Account” and then choosing “Try Free Demo”. Demo accounts come pre-loaded with 1,000,000 worth of virtual funds, which can be used to trade in an environment that simulates trading from a live account. Demo accounts are excellent educational tools that can be used for multiple purposes, like testing trading conditions, becoming more familiar with a trading platform, testing spreads, etc. These accounts are typically offered by forex brokers as an educational advantage.

Customer Service

The broker’s normal business hours occur on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm for regular support and from 09:00 – 17:00 GMT+2 for the finance and compliance departments. During that timeframe, support is on standby to answer LiveChat, email, phone, and fax inquiries. Support seems to be extremely active on LiveChat, and we even had a real agent reach out to us with helpful information once she saw that we were on the website. Call trading is available during normal business hours via the trading desk number that has been listed below. Before calling, traders should have their account ID and password ready in order to verify their identity. Contact details have been listed below.

Email:

Support: [email protected]
Compliance: [email protected]
Finance: [email protected]

Phone:

Support: +49 30 5900 911-0
Fax: +357 25 254423
Trading Desk: +357 25 254422 (extension 512, 514, 505)

Countries Accepted

According to a statement on their website, the broker only accepts clients from a very limited number of locations – which includes Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Customer support even greeted us over LiveChat once we entered the website to inform us that clients from our current location (USD) are not allowed to open accounts due to current regulation. The registration list backs up this claim by only listing the aforementioned countries. The sign-up list does have “other” as an option, but the website quickly gave us a message that clients in our jurisdiction were not allowed when we selected the option. Unfortunately, the broker’s registration policy seems to be very strict and there is no way around it.

Conclusion

Direktbroker-FX.de is a fully regulated investment firm that offers currency pairs, metals, commodities, energies, indexes, indices, and 250+ share CFDs to a rather restrictive list of countries like Germany, Switzerland, etc. The broker follows ESMA guidelines regarding leverage and sets initial caps at 1:30 for retail clients and 1:400 for professionals. Direktbroker offers tight spreads from 0 pips to all account holders, while charging commissions at varying rates. Funding an account is fairly straightforward, the broker offers a nice selection of payment options and charges low fees or none at all.

Customer support is also readily available on LiveChat, or via phone and other methods. While promotional offers aren’t available, there is a large emphasis on education and traders would be able to access seminars and benefit from mentors for 3-6 months on accounts that are of a Gold status or higher. If you’re located in one of the accepted countries, then this broker could certainly be of consideration.

Categories
Forex Brokers

KDFX Kingdom FX Review

KFDX is a brokerage located in Hong Kong that operates under the trading name of KDFX CompanySelect Limited, which is registered by the FSA in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The company describes itself as being a top-quality service provider that places a constant effort in advancing its services. From a quick glance, traders will find several qualities that stand out about this broker; however, there is more to KDFX than meets the eye. Stay with us to find out more.

Account Types

KDFX offers three live accounts; Mini, Standard, and VIP. From a glance, we noticed some attractive features – an account can be opened for as little as $1, spreads are competitively low, and leverage options are extremely flexible. We noticed one fact about the accounts that doesn’t quite add up – both the Standard and VIP accounts advertise starting spreads from 0.3 pips, but the VIP account charges commissions, while the Standard account doesn’t. This means that it would be in the trader’s best interest to avoid the VIP account altogether. The only clear advantage associated with the account is a trading coach, who may or may not give bad advice, considering that the broker is a market maker. This might cause a conflict of interest since the broker would profit when their clients lose. Take a look at each account’s details below.

Mini Account
Minimum Deposit: $1 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:1000
Spread: From 0.6 pips
Commission: None

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $2,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:1000
Spread: From 0.3 pips
Commission: None

VIP Account
Minimum Deposit: $10,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: From 0.3 pips
Commission: $3 per lot

Platform

KDFX supports the MetaTrader 4 trading platform, which is arguably the best platform available on the market. Since 2005, MT4 has provided traders with an all-in-one experience that allows users to trade in a seamless environment with customization options and access to special features, including one-click trading, Expert Advisors, tools, and more. The website provides direct download links for PC, iOS, and Android devices, so installing MT4 shouldn’t be much of an issue. If you’re a Mac user, you might want to use the web-based version, since the platform has been known to have compatibility issues on Mac specifically. Otherwise, traders should find MT4 to be a powerful and sufficient option that works on an array of devices.

Leverage

If you’re accustomed to trading with high leverages, then we have good news for you, because KDFX actually offers exceptionally high leverage caps of up to 1:500 on their VIP account and 1:1000 on their Mini & Standard accounts. This gives traders the ability to make very large trades, providing an advantage that traders won’t find with many other brokers that offer a leverage of 1:200 or less. Speaking realistically, this is more of a benefit for more seasoned professionals that are aware of the risks. Beginners and even intermediate traders will likely do better sticking to lower leverage and work their way up, of course, KDFX will allow traders to decide when they’re ready to use those higher options.

Trade Sizes

Accounts support a minimum trade size of one micro lot (0.01) and allow for a maximum trade size of 100 lots. There are no limit restrictions surrounding the total number of trades that can be opened at one time.

Trading Costs

KDFX profits from spreads, commissions, and overnight swap fees that are charged on positions that are held past the daily market closing time. Accounts follow two separate price models; the Micro and Standard account types come with starting spreads of 0.3-0.6 pips and charge zero commissions, while the VIP account has spreads from 0.3 pips with commission charges of $3 per lot. As we mentioned earlier, this is a bit confusing, since the Standard account comes with the same spreads as the VIP account but doesn’t charge commissions. It doesn’t make sense as to why one would make a larger deposit, only to wind up paying more to place a trade than on a cheaper account. With that in mind, we would suggest choosing from a Micro or Standard account, and avoiding the VIP account if possible.

 

Assets

Although KDFX isn’t very informative about their available assets, we do know that they offer FX pairs, Gold, and CFDs for trading. What isn’t clear is just how many currency pairs are available or whether exotics and Silver are among those offers. The CFD category is also rather vague, so we don’t know if commodities, oil, and other options are available. The lack of information isn’t surprising given the website’s vague design, but a more detailed list of products would be a helpful addition.

Spreads

KDFX appears to offer very competitive spreads, starting from 0.6 pips on the Micro account and 0.3 pips on the Standard and VIP accounts. However, the website advertises starting spreads from 0 pips when one goes to create an account, so the conflicting information is a little troubling, even though it is only a slight difference. The broker advertises some of their liquidity providers and financial partners on the website; J.P. Morgan, CitiBank, Bank of America, RBS, and many others are included among that list. Working with some of these top-notch providers could make it very possible for KDFX to bring those advertised spreads to the table.

Do keep in mind that spreads are floating, and the advertised 0.3 – 0.6 pip range likely applies to the currency pair EURUSD, which typically comes with the lowest spreads. Other instruments likely come with spreads of 0.5 pips or higher.

Minimum Deposit

KDFX offers a beginner-friendly entry-level deposit minimum of just $1 on their Mini account. The account comes with competitive starting spreads and is commission-free, making it an attractive option for beginners and even experienced traders that don’t want to part with a lot of funds to start with. However, the broker’s Standard account is more expensive, with a deposit minimum of $5K and the requirement tops out at $10K on the VIP account. Those accounts offer spreads that are 0.3 pips lower, which is an advantage, but traders won’t have to feel pressured to meet those minimums.

Deposit Methods & Costs

KDFX accepts bank wire, Union Pay, and major credit cards, like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and JCB. We’re happy to see cards included as a more convenient deposit and withdrawal option, but it would be nice to see at least some e-wallets available since many prefer those methods. The website doesn’t offer a funding page or detail any potential fees, so we can’t say for sure whether charges on placed on incoming deposits. On the bright side, one could technically make a small test deposit just to check for any potential charges before making a larger deposit. On the downside, it’s always frustrating when brokers don’t provide this information clearly. Potential fees and procedures should always be detailed clearly, even if they are not attractive.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

KDFX likely follows standard money laundering prevention measures that would require withdrawals to be processed back to the method that was used to fund the account. Once again, the broker’s website leaves us without anything to go on when it comes to funding information, so we don’t know how high potential fees could be. If you’re withdrawing funds through bank wire, you should expect to see some type of charge from the bank’s side, typically within a $25 – $50 range.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The website briefly mentions that the company can transfer money from the trading account to the client’s bank within 1 business day, or in less than 3 hours. The “Read More” button doesn’t work, so we couldn’t find more details about any cutoff times or exactly why some withdrawals would be processed within less than 3 hours while others aren’t. Don’t be fooled by this statement however, once those funds have been sent, it will likely take a few additional working days to see them reflected in your account, especially in cases of a bank wire.

Bonuses & Promotions

The website briefly mentions a free bonus trade, which seems to be available strictly on the Mini account. The “free” portion of the trade is seemingly 30% of the value, but it’s honestly difficult to decipher the poorly translated and brief comment about this promotion. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any traditional offers like a deposit or welcome bonuses, trading contests, rebates, interest, etc.

Educational & Trading Tools

The KDFX website is completely absent of any helpful educational articles, videos, and other typical resources that could benefit beginners. Even the broker’s demo accounts don’t seem to work, so traders will have to look elsewhere for information and resources. We suppose that one could point out that trading tools come built-into the MT4 platform, but even MT4 doesn’t offer various calculators or an economic calendar. KDFX could benefit their clients greatly by updating their website with some type of learning center and adding some tools as well. However, this doesn’t seem to be planned for the near future.

Demo Account

Although the website does state that demo accounts are available, the link to create one takes traders to the live account login page and requires one to login with live account details. It’s possible that the account could be opened through MT4, but traders may have issues completing the process on the website. Overall, we highly doubt that traders will be able to complete the registration process, considering that there are multiple false claims on the website.

Customer Service

Support is supposedly available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via LiveChat and email. However, there isn’t any option to start a chat on the website, so this seems to be another unsupported claim. The only contact options we found included a form on the website and the email address [email protected], so it seems that reaching a support agent isn’t as convenient as the broker would have us believe. KDFX advertises Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google accounts at the bottom of their websites, but each of the corresponding buttons doesn’t seem to be linked to any social media account.

Countries Accepted

There aren’t any restricted countries listed at the bottom of the broker’s website, which is usually a good sign. Still, traders in the US, Japan, North Korea, and several other countries are often blacklisted, so we checked the registration page to be sure. KDFX doesn’t even require one to input their country of residence when applying for an account, so it seems safe to say that everyone is welcome here.

Conclusion

Initially, our impression was that KDFX seemed to be a solid investment choice that even caters to beginners on their Mini account while providing low starting spreads from 0.3 to 0.6 pips and high leverages up to 1:1000. Then, we started noticing that the website makes various unsupported statements. For example, the website states that spreads start from 0 pips and that LiveChat and demo accounts are available, but these facts don’t seem to be true. It’s also difficult to get in touch with support and agents can only be contacted through email.

Other facts don’t make complete sense – why would the VIP offer the same spreads as the Standard account, plus add commissions when the cheaper account doesn’t? To top things off, funding information is slim to none and educational resources are nonexistent. Don’t take this the wrong way – KDFX does offer some clear benefits, and it’s possible that one could turn a nice profit under their trading conditions. You’ll just have to decide if the other areas where the broker falls short make it worth opening an account.

Categories
Forex Brokers

Hantec Markets Review

Hantec Markets is an online foreign exchange broker that operates under the trading name of Hantec Capital Group Holdings Ltd, with the parent company being regulated in the UK, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Mauritius, Jordan, and Hong Kong by the FCA, the Financial Services Commission Authority of Mauritius, and the Jordan Securities Commission.

The group of companies responsible for Hantec Markets has actually been in business since 1990, which is a significant amount of time to stay afloat in such a competitive marketplace. The company offers some ideal conditions and provides high leveraged trading opportunities on FX and CFD options. If you’re interested in this company, you’ll want to read our detailed review to find out everything else you’ll need to know.

Account Types

Hantec Markets offers one primary live account type. Without the ability to choose from several more personalized accounts, traders may find options limited or worry that the price model won’t be suitable for everyone. Fortunately, the broker offers its live account with no minimum deposit and tight starting spreads from 0.2 pips on EURUSD. From a glance, the account seems versatile enough that it could actually satisfy a range of traders. Take a look at the account’s conditions below.

  • Minimum Deposit: None
  • Leverage: Up to 1:500
  • Spread: From 0.2 pips
  • Commission: On some CFDs

A personal account manager and the ability to trade micro-lots are among some of the account’s other featured highlights. Stay with us to find out more need to know information about the account’s leverage, tradable instruments, and other facts.

Platform

Traders won’t have to worry about having access to a sturdy platform when trading through Hantec Markets, as the broker offers the highly praised MetaTrader 4 platform for download on PC, Mac, and mobile devices or tablets. Those that have Mac computers will find the direct download option a perk after having issues with downloading the program in the past, and this is something that isn’t often available due to compatibility issues.

In a nutshell, the platform provides a powerful experience, where traders can execute trades quickly with one-click without worrying about the reliability of their platform. MT4 offers multiple technical indicators, 4 pending order types, 9 timeframes, analytical objects, and more. We could spend all day throwing out facts, but if you’ve never traded from MT4 before, we recommend opening a free demo account so that you can see for yourself why you’ll never need another platform again.

Leverage

Hantec Capital offers an impressive 1:500 leverage as their maximum offer, however, one’s trading activity must be reviewed for suitability before the broker will allow one to apply leverage higher than 1:300. Still, this is less restrictive than most offers and some regulators even limit leverage options to around 1:30. Do keep in mind that using higher leverage is risky business, and it isn’t advised until one is financially stable and completely confident in their abilities.

Trade Sizes

The minimum supported trade size is one micro lot (0.01), or one unit of base currency on most instruments, aside from some indices. Maximum trade sizes differ based on the instrument in question. Currency pairs allow for a maximum lot size of 50, and other maximums are listed at 20 lots on metals, 200 lots on indices, and 500 lots on oil products. Stop out occurs as 40% of the used margin level.

Trading Costs

The broker primarily profits from spreads and commissions. The company charges a small fee on top of the market spread and charges commissions for trading some CFDs, which generates their primary source of revenue. These charges are applied along with overnight interest charges known as swaps. Hantec Markets is very transparent about their current swap rates and lists them on the website under “Trading Conditions”. Bear in mind that rates are tripled on Wednesdays.

Assets

The following assets are available for trading:

  • 40+ currency pairs, including majors, minors, and exotics
  • Gold (XAU) & Silver (XAG)
  • 9 indices
  • Commodities including US and UK Oil

Hantec markets are offering a pretty diverse number of currency pairs, along with the most commonly offered metals and indices. Commodities are more limited; we don’t see any agricultural options or even Crude Oil or Natural gas. The company also fails to provide stocks and cryptocurrencies for trading, but whether that is a downside comes down to one’s personal trading preference.

Spreads

Spreads start out at an extremely competitive 0.2 pips on the benchmark EURUSD pair. This is exceptionally low considering that the account can be opened for $1, where many others ask for a large deposit to access even mediocre spreads. Of course, this pair usually shows the tightest spreads, so options do climb to 0.5 pips and up to 2 pips on some of the other pairs. Still, the spreads offered by this broker are low, and traders will have a difficult time finding a more competitive offer for the price. Take a look at a few examples below.

Minimum Deposit

This brokerage offers traders the advantage of opening an account without any specified deposit requirements. Of course, traders would want to deposit enough to sufficiently trade, but this makes it possible to make a small test deposit, start off with an extremely small investment if you’re unsure of your abilities, and etc. Elsewhere, costs can add up quickly, where many others ask for $500 or more just to open a simple Micro/Mini/Cent model account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded with Visa, Maestro, and UK debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, bank wire transfer, and Union Pay in USD, EUR, GBP, or NGN. There is a $25 minimum funding limit on card deposits and a $100 first-time deposit requirement is applicable when funding through Skrill and Neteller. There are zero fees charged on deposits from the broker’s side but it is possible that fees may be charged from the bank’s side in the case of wire transfer.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The broker’s withdrawal policy states that withdrawals will be processed back to the same method that was used to fund the account. Profits are typically withdrawn through bank wire. Note that the broker does not accept requests to withdraw funds to a third party, funds can only be sent to an account that matches the account holder’s name on the trading account. Fees are not mentioned or listed on the website. As usual, traders will likely see charges on withdrawals made through bank wire. Those charges can vary based on the bank in question, so it may be worth reaching out to your personal bank to ask about any potential charges.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Requests received before 15:00 GMT will be processed on that same day, while requests received after the cutoff time will have to wait until the following business day to be processed. Once funds have been sent, it can take 2-5 working days to see the amount reflected in one’s account. Overall, the processing time is relatively quick and convenient.

Bonuses & Promotions

While most of the facts surrounding the company have been ideal thus far, we are disappointed to report that this broker doesn’t offer any special promotional opportunities. Everybody loves the chance to earn extra cash, through bonuses, rebates, contests, and etc., but this is something that one shouldn’t let determine whether they will be trading with a broker or not. Think of these things as extra perks, not a mandatory quality that brokers must have.

Educational & Trading Tools

The broker’s website spends a lot of time covering trading basics and teaching about the risks and rewards of trading. The site also provides data on macroeconomics and the strategy and planning that one would need to consider when it planning out their own personal strategy. In addition, traders will find resources sorted by skill level, a financial glossary, and the ability to register for webinars. Trading tools are based on market analysis. Check out some of those options below:

-Market Reports
-Analysis Videos
-Economic & Holiday Calendars

Overall, the website’s educational portfolio is superior to many other offers we found. Traders can really benefit from having the information available at their fingertips, and having educational resources available directly on your broker’s website can promote learning and provide other benefits.

Demo Account

Along with many others, Hantec Markets provides free demo accounts to everyone that would like to use one. These simulation accounts allow traders to practice trading in a variety of ways with zero financial risk. If you’re on the fence about opening a live account because you’ve never traded before, then these accounts can help to make the decision as to whether you’re prepared to open a live account, or if you’ll need some more practice. And don’t let the registration process dissuade you – a demo account can be opened quickly by following these steps:

-Click on “Open Demo”, located on the top right corner of the website
-Fill in the necessary details – name, email, phone, and country
-Click the “Open a free demo” button and get started trading!

Note that each account lasts for 30 days, under the pretense that the company likely expects potential clients to move on to a live account within that timeframe. However, one could simply open another free demo account if the timing isn’t right, or reach out to support to request an extension.

Customer Service

Traders can reach out to a customer support agent at any hour on weekdays by starting an instant chat, sending an email through the form on the website’s contact page, or reaching out to one of the company’s listed phone numbers. Starting the chat process is fairly quick, the chat window will ask for a name and email address, before asking traders to select their country from the options Africa, China, South Asia, South America, Thailand, and the UK & Europe. Support isn’t always online at each location, at the time we checked, support was active in China and the UK. Hantec prides itself on the fact that they connect users to one department for all of their inquiries and even technical problems, instead of bouncing one around like many other brokers have been known to do.

Countries Accepted

Being that Hantec Markets is a regulated London-based brokerage, it isn’t exactly surprising to find that a few countries have found themselves on the broker’s blacklist. If you’re located in the USA, Iran, or North Korea, then you won’t be able to open an account or trade through this company.

Conclusion

Hantec Markets offers a straightforward approach to trading on the forex market. From one live account, traders can trade more than 40 currency pairs and CFDs with leverage of 1:300 or higher, with benefits in the form of low starting spreads from 0.2 pips, no minimum entry deposit, a personal account manager, and a number of educational resources at their fingertips. Potential downsides include a lack of promotional opportunities and withdrawal fees are not outlined clearly. Our final opinion is that Hantec Markets is a trustworthy option that offers some great advantages, making the company worthy of a place on anyone’s list of considerable brokerages.

Categories
Forex Brokers

Esplanade Market Solutions Review

Esplanade Market Solutions features four different live accounts: FIX, Standard, ECN, and VIP. The FIX account offers instant execution, while the other accounts are under market execution. The FIX account is also designed to offer fixed spreads that start from 3 pips, while the Standard account offers floating spreads that start from a slightly below average 1.2 pips. Both of those accounts are commission-free.

Account Types

The ECN and VIP accounts offer different pricing, with lower starting spreads from 0 pips in exchange for commission costs, which are $ 3 lower (round turn) for VIP members. Surprisingly, the broker offers their first three accounts for the same entry-level $250 deposit. All of the live accounts share the same trade sizes, with differences in the margin call and stop out levels (the Standard account shares levels with the FIX account, while the ECN account shares conditions with the VIP account).

Accounts also offer a personal account manager for deposits of $10K or more. Traders will find the most flexible leverage options on the FIX, Standard, and ECN accounts. VIP account holders are excluded from participating in promotional offers, although there were none available at the time this review was written. We’ve provided an overview of each account type below for convenience.

FIX Account
Minimum Deposit: $250 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:1000
Spread: Fixed from 3 pips
Commission: None

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $250 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:1000
Spread: Floating from 1.2 pips
Commission: None

ECN Account
Minimum Deposit: $250 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: Floating from 0 pips
Commission: $4 per side

VIP Account
Minimum Deposit: $20,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:100
Spread: Floating from 0 pips
Commission: $2.50 per side

Platform

EMS exclusively features the award-winning MetaTrader 4 platform, which is available for direct download on PC/MAC, through mobile trading on iPhone/iPad/Android devices, or through the web-browser version. MT4 is one of the most popular trading platforms on the market, due in part to its ease of use, high performance, reliability, and rich functionality. The platform also provides an opportunity to develop and use Expert Advisors and provides financial news and technical analysis data. All of these features combined with customization options and extreme reliability make MetaTrader 4 the best option that a forex broker could have available.

Leverage

Leverage caps range from an average of 1:100 on the VIP account to significant offers of 1:500 on the ECN account and 1:1000 on the FIX and Standard accounts. While the VIP account’s leverage is more limited based on the size of the account’s initial deposit, the broker’s remaining accounts offer options that are much higher than many competitor’s offers. However, upon opening an account, traders should note that the default leverage will be set to 1:100. In order to change the leverage to a higher option, one would need to contact a manager by phone or email ([email protected]) to request the change. The website doesn’t state that there would be any conditions, but it is possible that the broker may implement policies of rejecting the desired leverage amount if they do not believe the trader is of a high enough skill level.

Trade Sizes

All accounts share a 0.01 (one micro lot) minimum trade size and a 100-lot maximum trade size. Accounts also support an unlimited number of maximum orders. The FIX account shares the same margin call and stop out level with the Standard account, while the ECN account shares the same limits with the VIP account. Note that reaching the margin call level would restrict one from placing any new trades and that would be an ideal time to deposit more funds or consider closing certain positions. Reaching the stop out level would result in the system automatically closing out unprofitable trades. Those levels have been listed below.

  • Margin Call/Stop Out
  • FIX/Standard Account: 75%/1%
  • ECN/VIP Account: 100%/40%

Trading Costs

EMS collects profits from spreads, commissions, and overnight interest charges. The broker features two price models, the first of which being where traders trade under higher spread conditions without paying any commission charges, which is applicable on the Standard & FIX accounts. The ECN and VIP accounts fall under the second category, where traders see low staring spreads from 0 pips in exchange for paying commission charges. The ECN account charges commissions at a rate of $4 per side, or $8 round turn, while the VIP account offers lowered commissions of $2.50 per side/$5 round turn, making it $3 cheaper to place a trade from the broker’s best account.

Overnight interest charges, otherwise known as swaps, are also applicable unless one is trading from an Islamic account. Swap charges are credited or debited to the account based on current rates when positions are held past the daily market closing time. On Wednesdays, the swap rates are tripled. Traders can view the current rates within the MT4 platform and more information about the broker’s swap policy can be found under their terms & conditions.

Assets

EMS features an asset portfolio that is made up of FX pairs, metals, 22 index CFDs, oil, share CFDs, and Russian shares. Traders will have access to 35 currency pairs, including majors & minors, plus exotic options like the Swedish Krona and the Mexican Peso. A few familiar exotics are missing, which takes away from the overall number of FX pairs. Available metals include the most common options Gold, Silver, plus one additional option, Platinum. Oil options consist of Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and US Oil.

There are more than 60 shares available in popular American companies like Google, Apple, Ford, and many other options. The addition of 35 Russian shares brings the total number of investible shares to nearly 100 options. We’re missing the option to trade additional commodities, cryptocurrencies, and a few other options, but EMS does manage to bring traders a rather diverse range of instruments to choose from.

Spreads

EMS allows traders to choose from fixed, variable, or ECN type spreads. The fixed spread is typically maintained at a certain level, although high market volatility may cause those spreads to fluctuate. Options start from a rate of 3 pips on the FIX account on the benchmark EURUSD pair. The website doesn’t offer us further details, so it isn’t clear just how much higher those spreads are set on minors and exotics. Variable spreads can fluctuate more widely, but they do come with a lower minimum level. Variable spreads are offered from 0 pips on the ECN and VIP accounts, or from 1.2 pips (0.3 pips below average) on the Standard account. Judging by the advertised amounts, it seems as though the company is offering competitive spreads on all three of the variable-based account types.

Minimum Deposit

The broker sets its entry-level deposit at a rather expensive $250 USD. This amount was once considered an average investment amount, but many brokers offer at least one account type for $100 or less, and some have done away with deposit requirements altogether. On the plus side, this amount grants access to the FIX, Standard, and ECN account types. As long as one can afford the deposit, then they would have the ability to choose from three different accounts that offer different pricing models. Elsewhere, this amount likely wouldn’t be enough for an ECN account.

Note that EMS also offers a VIP account, which asks for a $20,000 USD deposit. This account was designed for more professional high-volume traders and comes with commission costs that are $1.50 lower per side or $3 lower round turn. Traders that make a deposit of $10K or more will have access to a personal account manager. This perk is guaranteed to VIP account holders.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Available funding methods include Visa/MasterCard/Maestro, MNP, IKS Megafon, MTC, QIWI, Fasapay, iPay, Skrill, Neteller, AdvCash, Perfect Money, and Beeline. Note that some restrictions apply that would prevent residents of certain countries from using specific funding methods, with Russian clients primarily being among those that would have fewer options. Several deposit options also limit the maximum transaction to around $1,000 USD or less. Others, like Beeline, limit the maximum transaction amount to $70.

Commissions are charged on most of the deposit methods, although the exact percentage of the charge sometimes depends on more technical aspects of the payment provider. Traders would be able to view the restricted countries for each method, deposit minimum/maximum, and exact fee charges on the “Deposits/Withdrawals” page of the website. We’ve provided an overview of the commission charges below.

  • FasaPay: 0%
  • iPay: 2% + $0.50 USD
  • AdvCash: 3%
  • PerfectMoney: 3%
  • Skrill: 3.9% + $0.37 USD
  • Visa/MasterCard: 4% – 6.5%
  • Neteller: 4.9% + $0.29 USD
  • Maestro: 6.5%
  • MNP: 4% – 6.5%
  • Megafon: 7.5%
  • Beeline: 7.5%
  • MTC: 7.5%
  • QIWI: 8 – 8.5%

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All of the available deposit methods can be used for withdrawals, under the condition that withdrawals would be processed back to the original payment source. The commission charges on withdrawals are typically lower than those on deposits, but the charges still manage to be extremely expensive. For example, making a deposit and withdrawal through Neteller would result in a total commission charge of nearly 10% of the funded amount, while doing so through Skrill would claim an outrageous 14% of the trader’s total funded amount. Choosing one of the higher methods could significantly reduce profits or even eliminate them altogether, so it is important to consider which payment provider to use carefully. Withdrawal fees have been listed below in order from the least to most expensive.

  • FasaPay: 0%
  • Perfect Money: 1%
  • Beeline: 2%
  • Megafon: 2%
  • MTC: 2%
  • iPay: 2% + 0.50 USD
  • QIWI: 2.5%
  • AdvCash: 3%
  • MasterCard/Visa: 3% + 7.50 USD or 3% or 4.5% + 2.60 USD or 3% + 1.25 USD
  • MNP: 3% or 3% + 7.50 USD or 4.5% + 1.25 USD or 3% + 1.25 USD
  • Neteller: 4.5% + 0.29 USD
  • Maestro: 3% + 1 USD – 4.5% + 2.60 USD
  • Skrill: 10%

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It takes 3-5 days for funds to be received after the broker has finished processing the withdrawal request. The website doesn’t list the actual processing times, so traders should add at least one or two business days onto the anticipated wait time. The financial department is likely in the office on weekdays, but we don’t have any information about their exact working hours. If a request is sent after those hours, then another business day would be added to the wait time.

Bonuses & Promotions

EMS doesn’t currently offer any bonuses, contests, rebates, or other promotional opportunities for retail clients. The company does have a “Multilevel” partnership program, which would reward partners with different levels of partnership rewards when referred clients place trades under different spread conditions. It would be nice to see some additional offers added, especially considering how helpful deposit bonuses can be for beginners or those that don’t have a lot of funds to start with. Hopefully, the broker will consider adding retail offers in the near future. Traders should note that VIP account holders would not be able to participate in any type of bonus opportunity if one becomes available.

Educational & Trading Tools

The EMS website does have a few tools available in the form of company and market news, an economic calendar, a profit calculator, and a technical summary. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for educational resources. Aside from demo accounts, the broker just doesn’t offer anything of educational value to their potential or existing clients. It’s always possible to find resources elsewhere on the web, but there is an added convenience in having educational videos, e-books, articles, and other mediums available directly through one’s broker. This can also promote learning and help traders to become more educated before making a deposit and potentially losing money because of a lack of knowledge.

Demo Account

Along with the majority of other forex brokers, EMS recognizes the benefits of trading from a practice account and therefore offers the ability to open a risk-free demo account to any trader that would like to do so. Demo accounts allow traders to accumulate practical trading skills and to get acquainted with all specific features of the software without risking real money.

When registering an account, traders will be able to select an initial deposit amount in virtual currency. The amount can be based on one’s ideal real account deposit amount for a more realistic experience, or one could request an extremely large amount of virtual funds to play with. If one isn’t yet familiar with the broker’s supported trading platform, MetaTrader 4, then it would also be possible to open a demo account in order to efficiently practice using the platform.

Customer Service

Support can be contacted via LiveChat, email, or phone. It is possible to reach an agent through the direct phone line with any questions during weekday hours from 9:00 – 18:00. As for LiveChat, we would have assumed that agents would be active during those hours as well, but support was offline when we attempted to start a chat. It’s possible to leave a message for email through the chat window, but traders will find that the primary chat language is in Russian, so this may be a potential downside.

Hopefully, our readers won’t find themselves stuck with the “out operations are currently busy” message like we did if they find the need to contact an agent quickly. Of course, the phone is usually a quick back up method, but traders in today’s world primarily prefer the ultimate time-saving convenience of LiveChat. This is why it’s so disappointing when we see brokers promoting this feature while failing to provide enough agents to manage it. All contact details have been listed below.

Phone: +357 25 654-100
Email: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

Esplanade is not very clear with regards to countries that are barred from using their platform. Instead, they take a more generic stance, stating that those who reside in countries where Forex is not allowed should not register for an account. Their website states the following, “This site is not intended for distribution, or use by, any person in any country where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation. None of the services or investments referred to in this website are available to persons residing in any country where the provision of such services or investments would be contrary to local law or regulation. It is the responsibility of visitors to this website to ascertain the terms of and comply with any local law or regulation to which they are subject.”

Conclusion

Esplanade Market Solutions, or EMS, offers leveraged trading as high as 1:1000 on 35 FX pairs, plus metals, index CFDs, oil, Share CFDs, and Russian Shares from the MetaTrader 4 platform. Accounts offer two different pricing models; zero commissions on the FIX and Standard account with fixed spreads at 3 pips or variable spreads from 1.2 pips, or low starting spreads from 0 pips on the ECN and VIP account with applicable commission costs that are $3 lower on the more expensive VIP account. The remaining accounts allow for an initial deposit of $250, which is somewhat expensive, but the amount does make it possible for traders to choose the account they’d prefer with a realistic entry amount.

Although some of the conditions are advantageous, the broker’s funding fees would likely eat into profits significantly. Commissions are charged on almost every deposit method at rates that climb up to 8% on some methods and there are fees charged on deposits as well. For example, funding through Skrill would claim an insane 14% of the client’s total funded amount by the time one received their withdrawal. Support is available through LiveChat, phone, or email. Phone service is offered from 9:00 to 18:00, but LiveChat support is not always available during those hours. Currently, the only promotional offer is limited to referrals by partners.

The website does host some trading tools like news and calculators, but demo accounts are the only offer education-wise. If you’re interested in opening an account, you’ll find several advantages through EMS. Our best advice would be to carefully consider which payment method to use, otherwise, there wouldn’t be any significant reasons to stop one from choosing this broker.

Categories
Forex Brokers

10TradeFX Review

10tradeFX is an online foreign exchange broker that offers investment options in multiple currency pairs and CFD’s. The company’s name is actually a trade name of Holiway Investments Ltd, which is located in Cyprus and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 248/14. The company claims to promote a reliable and transparent trading environment that is suitable for all types of traders. If you’re looking into this broker, you’ll want to read through our detailed review to gain a better idea of each account’s trading conditions.

Account Types

10tradeFX offers three live account types; Silver, Gold, and Platinum. All accounts offer an STP execution model with a maximum leverage cap of 1:30. The Silver and Gold accounts are nearly identical, aside from the minimum deposit requirements. Spreads are likely better on the Gold account, but the website doesn’t offer us any information on spreads for either account type. The Platinum account would be the best option, although the only advantages we found was an average starting spread from 1.5 pips and the ability to simultaneously open 200 positions instead of in place of the other accounts’ 100 position limit. The broker also sets certain conditions that traders must fulfill in order to keep their account’s status level from dropping.

In order to maintain a certain account status, one would need to fulfill a monthly trader points requirement, in addition to maintaining the minimum deposit requirement. It is possible to return to any previous status or upgrade if the criteria for a new status level are met. This means that even though a trader may have met the deposit guidelines and paid for a specific account, the broker can still lower that account’s status and force the traders to trade with higher spreads because they have not met the point requirement for the month. We’ve provided details for each of the account status levels below.

Silver Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $200 USD
  • Leverage: Up to 1:30
  • Spread: NA
  • Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 1 lot/100 lots
  • Max. Number of Open Positions: 100
  • Commission: 0.10% when trading shares

Gold Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $1,000 USD
  • Leverage: Up to 1:30
  • Spread: NA
  • Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 1 lot/100 lots
  • Max. Number of Open Positions: 100
  • Commission: 0.10% when trading shares

Platinum Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $5,000 USD
  • Leverage: Up to 1:30
  • Spread: From 1.5 pips
  • Minimum/Maximum Trade Size: 1 lot/100 lots
  • Max. Number of Open Positions: 200
  • Commission: 0.10% when trading shares

Platform

One advantage of trading through 10tradeFX would be having access to the unrivaled trading platform MetaTrader 4. Since being launched back in 2005, MT4 has adopted a reputation as the most popular platform option in the world, due to the all-in-one experience that supports Expert Advisors, one-click trading, and various other features. MT4 was also designed to be widely accessible. The program comes equipped with multiple languages and is available for download on PC and Mac computers. Mobile trading is also available through the App Store on iPhone/iPad devices and the Google Play Store for Android/tablets and WebTrader is yet another option that allows traders to access the platform without downloading the program.

Leverage

10trade FX imposes a restrictive leverage limit of 1:30. If one were to trade using the broker’s maximum 1:30 cap with a $1,000 account balance, then it would be possible to open trades worth $30,000. This isn’t a very significant amount compared to the 300, 400, and 500+ leverage options available through several other brokers. The broker’s regulation through CySEC is likely the cause of the lower cap, since many regulators do impose strict limitations to limit the possibility of large losses. Either way, the lower cap may limit one’s possibilities rather severely.

Trade Sizes

All accounts require a minimum contract size of 1 lot. The inability to trade micro and mini lots may be of a disadvantage to some clients, as most forex brokers offer at least one account type that supports micro tradable lots. The maximum trade size is also limited to 100 lots. The Silver and Gold account allows for 100 simultaneously opened positions, while the Platinum account supports 200 open and pending positions. All accounts support hedging, but scalping is not allowed. Stop out occurs at a level of 80%.

Trading Costs

The broker collects profits from spreads, commissions, overnight interest charges, and a few extra fees, including an administration fee, inactivity fee, and an incomplete verification fee. Traders will see spreads from 1.5 pips and up on the broker’s best status level account. Options for the more affordable account types are not advertised on the website. Commissions only seem to be charged when trading shares, at a rate of 0.10%. Overnight interest is also another expected charge when trading through any foreign exchange broker, and the amount is credited or debited on applicable positions that are held past the daily market closing time.

The long and short swap values are listed on the trading products pages and traders should keep in mind that charges are tripled on Wednesdays. In addition to the common charges, 10tradeFX also imposes some extra fees that aren’t always charged by other brokers. We’ve listed those charges below for convenience.

Administration Fee: Charged yearly at a rate of 20 Euros to maintain the client’s account. A lesser amount will be charged if the account does not hold enough funds for the charge.

Inactivity Fees: An account is considered inactive after 90 days of inactivity and the broker will begin charging a $15 monthly fee until the account’s balance is completely depleted. At that point, the account would be closed.

Incomplete Verification Fee: If verification is not completed within 15 days from the opening of the account, then an administration fee of $30 will be subtracted from the deposited amount before it is refunded back to the original payment method.

Assets

10tradeFX offers 40+ currency pairs, including majors, minors, and exotic options like the Swedish Krona, Turkish Lira, Norwegian Krone, South African Rand, Mexican Peso, and the Singapore Dollar. The Hong Kong Dollar, Danish Krone, and Thailand Baht are not available. Spot metals Gold & Silver are also offered, alongside 7 spot indexes, which include NASDAQ and Dow, among others. The energy options WTI Oil and Brent Oil and 64 American shares in stocks are also featured. Shares are available for several popular US companies, like Google, Amazon, and Apple, plus many others.

Spreads

The broker lists minimum spreads on their website, however, there is no specific information that tells us which account the advertised spreads refer to. From what we can tell, it seems as though the advertised minimums are related to the broker’s Platinum account, which is the best status level account. In that case, the minimum spread starts from 1.5 pips on the benchmark EURUSD pair. Options quickly climb to 2.2 pips and higher on the majority of the minor currency pairs. The minimum floating spread is 25 pips on Gold & Silver, 100 pips on share CFD’s, and spreads start from 0.03 pips on certain indexes.

Although spreads on the Silver and Gold accounts aren’t listed, we can assume that those spreads would be way too high, based on the fact that the broker’s best account offers spreads that are much higher than average on most instruments. This would likely move starting spreads to 1.9 pips or higher on the Gold account and into the 2 – 3 pip range on the Silver account. Of course, one would want to keep in mind that there is a low commission charge that is only applied when trading shares, but this still leaves the spreads at a less than competitive rate, especially for a $5,000 deposit.

Minimum Deposit

The bare minimum deposit amount is set at $200 on the broker’s Silver account. In order to gain access to the next status level, traders would need to deposit $1,000 and the best account asks for a $5,000 minimum deposit. In addition to setting some rather expensive requirements, 10tradeFX also requires traders to earn a certain amount of trading points, or else the account would revert to a lower status level. This basically means that even though one has paid for access to a better account type, the broker would be able to lower the account’s level if those goals are not met.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded through bank wire, Neteller, Skrill, Nganluong, and 4Cash. For some reason, the broker has made the inconvenient decision not to offer card deposits. All of the available deposit methods require a $200 minimum deposit, even on replenishment deposits. All deposits are fee-free, although third-party payment providers may impose fees from their side. Most deposits are credited instantly, with the exception of wires, which can take up to 3 business days to be credited to the trading account. The broker also mentions that it can actually take up to 24 hours for “instant” deposits to finish processing.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals would need to be made back to the original payment method. There is a steep minimum withdrawal requirement of $100 USD when withdrawing through any method, which could make it difficult to access funds in certain cases. The website states that withdrawals made through bank wire will not be charged fees from the broker’s side, but bank charges may apply. Later, we found a conflicting $30 processing charge listed for bank transfers under the broker’s terms & conditions. There is also a 1% charge on Skrill withdrawals and a 2% fee on Nganluong and 4Cash withdrawals. Neteller appears to be the only fee-free withdrawal method.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All withdrawals are processed within 24 hours of the time that the withdrawal request is received, so long as the request is received within normal working hours. Otherwise, the withdrawal will be processed on the next business day. It may take additional time for banks or other payment providers to credit funds to the client’s account and 10tradeFX would not bear any responsibility for those delays.

Bonuses & Promotions

10tradeFX is currently offering an Affiliate Program that allows certain traders to refer clients and earn profit from the referred client’s trading activity. Traders can fill out an application or email [email protected] in order to apply to participate in the program. Exact details of the reward rates are not listed on the website and would likely be discussed upon approval. Sadly, the broker doesn’t offer any bonuses, contests, rebates, or other common bonus options.

Educational & Trading Tools

Under the “About Us” section of the website, 10tradeFX boasts about a resource center that provides multi-media training tools, including video courses, webinars, e-books, and 1-on-1 training. We couldn’t find the option to access those materials from the website’s main page, but there’s a possibility that those resources would be available once one has registered a live account. Without signing up, options are limited to demo accounts, an economic calendar, market analysis, and market news.

It’s a little disappointing that the broker doesn’t offer direct access to all of the aforementioned resources, especially considering that some of their potential clients may not be ready to open a live account. We also aren’t entirely convinced that all of the advertised options are available, based on some other inconsistencies on the website.

Demo Account

One can register for a demo account by clicking on “Demo” from the top right corner of the website and then filling out registration details. The broker allows one to register as an individual or corporate client. Initially, there are no extra customization options that would allow one to choose a certain starting balance, account type, etc. If you’re new to the world of forex trading, or perhaps if you could use some more experience, then we would highly recommend signing up for one of the broker’s risk-free demo accounts. Trading from a demo can even serve a purpose for more advanced traders that may wish to test more complicated strategies.

Customer Service

Should one find the need to get in touch with a support agent, it is possible to do so instantly through the website’s online chat feature, email, phone, and Instagram. 10tradeFX doesn’t actually list their business hours on the website, but we would assume that support would only be available on weekdays, considering that this would be the most typical hours for the majority of forex brokerages.

The website’s instant online chat feature would help make up for the limited support hours, but we weren’t able to connect with an agent when we attempted to chat through this method. Hopefully, support would be online if any of our readers did try to use the chat feature, but our experience suggests otherwise. We’ve provided additional contact details below.

Phone: +357 22 277788
Email: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

10tradeFX does not appear to impose any country-based restrictions. We were able to register for an account from our US-based offices with no issues, and we found several other commonly restricted locations on the list of selectable countries. Of course, if you do notice that your country is missing from the list, then it would be a good idea to reach out to support to ask for clarity on the situation.

Conclusion

10tradeFx is a regulated forex exchange broker that offers access to 40+ currency pairs, plus CFD’s on precious metals, indexes, energies, and shares with a 1:30 leverage cap. The broker features three account types with deposit requirements starting from $200 USD. Spreads start from 1.5 pips on the best account and options for the Silver and Gold accounts are not listed on the website. Customer support appears to be available on weekdays via email, phone, Instagram, and possibly online chat.

There are several disadvantages to opening an account through this broker. In addition to meeting each account’s funding requirement, traders would also need to earn a certain amount of trading points to simply keep the account status that they have already paid for. The broker also charges extra fees based on inactivity, incomplete verification, and $20 per year for yearly maintenance.

Accounts can be funded through bank wire and a handful of electronic payment methods, but card deposits are not accepted. The broker also sets a frustrating $200 deposit requirement when funding through any method and withdrawals of less than $100 are not allowed. Aside from an Affiliate Program, there are no special bonuses, contests, rebates, or other promotional offers available. The website does mention several educational resources, but those options can’t be accessed without registering a live account.

We also aren’t entirely convinced that they are available at all. On the plus side, 10tradeFX does offer service to clients located in commonly restricted countries, which might make the broker more worthy of consideration by those that do not have many other options.

Categories
Forex Brokers

Q8 Trade Review

Q8 Trade is an established brand in the Middle-East and North Africa region, with goals of future expansion. Since being launched in 2017, the company has managed to attract a growing client base, while offering tier-level accounts and access to FX pairs and CFDs on American stocks, indices, and commodities. Beginners will likely find the broker’s education section to be highly attractive, although it would be important to take a look at the cost of trading and other details before making the decision to open an account. We’ve done all the work for our readers, so stay with us to find out all the facts.

Account Types

Q8 Trade offers five tier-based account types: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Instead of choosing an account at registration, traders are placed into a category based on the size of their initial deposit. The broker also features special Islamic accounts of each status level that allow users to open positions 100% interest-free. As one raises to higher account levels, trading costs are reduced, bonus percentages are increased, and extra perks, like a direct phone line to customer support and an account manager, are added. We’ve provided an overview of each account type below.

Bronze Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $250 – $999 USD
  • Leverage: Up to 1:400
  • Spread: From 3 pips
  • Commission: None

Silver Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $1,000 – $9,999 USD
  • Leverage: Up to 1:400
  • Spread: From 3 pips
  • Commission: None

Gold Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $10,000 – $49,000 USD
  • Leverage: Up to 1:400
  • Spread: From 2 pips
  • Commission: None

Platinum Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $50,000 – $249,999 USD
  • Leverage: Up to 1:400
  • Spread: From 1.5 pips
  • Commission: None

Diamond Account

  • Minimum Deposit: $250,000+
  • Leverage: Up to 1:400
  • Spread: NA
  • Commission: None

Platform

Many traders will recognize the broker’s featured trading platform, MetaTrader 5. Offered slightly less common than its predecessor MT4, MT5 is a newer version of the timeless classic that has made some improvements, which come in the form of additional pending order types, more timeframes, languages, analytical objects, an economic calendar, and other added features.

Following in MT4’s footsteps, the platform focuses on providing a user-friendly interface that can be learned easily by beginners. Traders that are used to MT4 may be disappointed to see that it is not available as well, but most should find MT5 to be a suitable option. MT5 also supports a Trading Central plugin that is available to everyone who has made a deposit of at least $5,000 USD into their trading account and can be accessed on the web or downloaded on PC and mobile devices.

Leverage

In place of offering specific leverages for each account level, the broker sets their leverage caps based on the instruments in question. This allows traders with higher equity to access especially high options that aren’t easily available elsewhere. On most of the FX pairs, the limit is set at 1:400 – some regulators actually restrict leverage to around 1:30 on majors, making this an ideal offer. Note that some exotic pairs have a lower limit in place, for example, 1:50 is the maximum on EURTRY and USDTRY. The standard leverage cap is lowered to 1:100 on commodities and indices and 1:10 on stocks.

Trade Sizes

Q8 Trade requires a minimum trade size of one mini lot (0.1) on all FX pairs, commodities, and stocks. When trading indices, the minimum size is raised to 0.2 lots. On accounts with fixed spreads, the minimum position size is pushed to 0.5 lots on all instruments. Scalping is allowed and traders can even speak with a scalping representative for more guidance.

Trading Costs

Applicable charges would come in the form of spreads, swaps, and inactivity fees. Q8 Trade explains that unlike traditional investment service providers, they do not charge commissions on trades, and instead profit solely from spreads. Many traders prefer this price model for the simple fact that it is easier to keep up with the cost of placing a trade, although this does cause spreads to be slightly higher. Islamic account holders are exempt from swaps unless a trade is kept open for 10 calendar days.

The broker also charges inactivity fees, which is a common practice for a broker that doesn’t charge commissions. On the upside, accounts can be inactive for 90 days before the monthly $30 inactivity fee will begin to be charged. The fee would be charged each month, or at a rate of $20 per year until the account’s balance is depleted or trading resumes.

Assets

Q8 Trade features the following tradable instruments:

-45 currency pairs; majors, minors, and several exotics, including the Mexican Peso, Turkish Lira, South African Rand, Swedish Krona, Danish Krone, Hong Kong Dollar, and Singapore Dollar.

-15 + commodities, including Cocoa, Coffee, Wheat, Corn, Copper, Palladium, Sugar, Silver, Gold, and others.

-More than 150 stocks in American companies.

-29 indices (Dow Jones, US Oil, NASDAQ, etc.)

Overall, the broker manages to bring traders a pretty diverse asset portfolio with more than 240 instruments to choose from. Cryptocurrencies aren’t available, so traders that are looking for the option to trade Bitcoin and others may want to search for a broker that does support those types of assets or consider opening a secondary account to access those options.

Spreads

The website doesn’t offer us live spreads for comparison, or even a chart that lists the minimum spreads for all account levels on each instrument. This makes it difficult to compare options in more detail, although we are given a brief glimpse of the minimum spreads for each account status level. Take a look at the starting spreads below:

  • Bronze Account: From 3 pips
  • Silver Account: From 3 pips
  • Gold Account: From 2 pips
  • Platinum Account: From 1.5 pips
  • Diamond Account: NA

Spreads can be fixed or floating, with fixed options typically being higher. Traders will notice that the starting spreads on the Bronze and Silver accounts are twice as high as the industry’s average 1.5 pips range. Spreads are even slightly above average on the Gold account, meaning that a deposit of $50,000 USD is required to access a basic starting spread through this broker. The spreads are slightly offset by the lack of commission fees, but traders could still find better options elsewhere.

Minimum Deposit

Q8 Trade allows traders to open an account with a deposit of $250 USD. It’s a little disappointing that the broker doesn’t offer a $1 deposit minimum for their lowest status level since those account holders don’t get a lot of extra perks anyways. As traders reach certain deposit guidelines, the account status will increase, unlocking more perks and better conditions along the way.

We’ve provided the range for each status level below:

  • Bronze Account: $250 – $999 USD
  • Silver Account: $1,000 – $9,999 USD
  • Gold Account: $10,000 – $49,000 USD
  • Platinum Account: $50,000 – $249,999 USD
  • Diamond Account: $250,000+

Traders will notice that it’s possible to move up to Silver status without making an outrageously high deposit, but it may be difficult for many traders to move up from that level due to the deposit requirement increase. Note that some payment providers require a certain deposit amount, which would affect one’s initial deposit or future deposits. American Express has a $250 requirement and the broker requires a $1,000 USD deposit to fund through bank wire transfer.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded through the most traditional methods, bank wire transfer, and card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express), and KNET card is available for those located in Kuwait. The broker does not charge fees on incoming deposits from their side, but the website does mention that banking institutions and card providers may or may not charge their own fees. Traders will be directed to the deposit page during the registration process or can access the page later through the Dashboard.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Following international laws & an anti-money laundering policy, the broker sets typical guidelines that require funds to be withdrawn back to the original payment method. Q8 Trade mentions that a “mere” $20 fee is charged on the first and second withdrawals each month. Any withdrawal afterward would be fee-free. Considering that many other brokers offer completely fee-free withdrawals, Q8 Trade’s $20 – $40 USD monthly charge isn’t the cheapest offer out there.

The fee will also be pushed to $50 if there hasn’t been any trading activity since the account was funded. Note that Platinum and Diamond account holders will receive a perk in the form of free withdrawals for the lifetime of the account. Withdrawals must be made for amounts of at least $25 on cards and $100 through bank wire.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests are processed within a lengthy three to ten working days from the time that the request is submitted. Once funds have been released, it can take an additional amount of time for the amount to show up in the client’s bank account, with the exact amount of time depending on the bank in question.

Bonuses & Promotions

Q8 Trade focuses its promotional opportunities on their best account types. Those with accounts below the Gold status level will be out of luck when it comes to the broker’s Welcome Bonus, Upgrade Bonus, and the chance to receive a free iPhone 11.

Take a look at each account’s offer below:

  • Gold Account: 5% Welcome Bonus, 5% Upgrade Bonus
  • Platinum Account: 10% Welcome Bonus, 10% Upgrade Bonus, iPhone 11
  • Diamond Account: Up to 20% Welcome Bonus, up to 20% Upgrade Bonus, iPhone 11

Eligibility may be restricted for some clients based on their country of residence. In order to receive the free iPhone, a minimum trading volume of 250,000,000 USD must be reached within a 180 calendar day time limit. Welcome bonuses are applied based on listed percentages on the client’s first deposit. Upgrade Bonuses are offered to clients who make a second deposit into their trading account. Certain conditions do affect withdrawal conditions for bonuses. Note that the company may feature trading contests or other promotional offers from time to time.

Educational & Trading Tools

Q8 Trade has invested a large amount of effort into the education section of its website. One of the highlights would be the Hawks Training Academy, which aims to certify traders as professionals by providing them with tools and knowledge, mainly through e-books and educational videos. A financial glossary, webinars, articles, courses, platform skills, and other resources are also available on the website, and account managers are provided to all accounts that are of Silver level or better. The website also isn’t lacking in trading tools, all of which have been listed below:

  • Economic Calendar
  • Market News
  • Market Scanner
  • Trading Central Signals
  • Meta Trader Plugin
  • Demo Account

Those that decide to open a risk-free demo account through the broker will be given a virtual credit of up to $50,000 to use in order to practice trading with all of the broker’s tradable instruments on MT5. One can open a demo by navigating to “Account” at the top of the webpage and then selecting “Demo Account” from the dropdown menu. The broker also provides a walkthrough of each step that is needed in order to finish the registration process and access the demo through the trading platform. Be sure to take note of account details, as these cannot be accessed later.

Customer Service

Everyone can reach out to support through chat and email during daily working hours (07:00 – 00:00 GMT+2 on weekdays and 07:00 – 18:00 GMT+2 on Saturdays.) However, our experience with the instant chat option proved that support isn’t always readily available on chat, and we were given a message to check back during working hours, even though we did try to chat when agents should have been available, according to their advertised hours.

Following in their pattern of offering the best options to higher account levels, the broker only provides a direct phone line to Platinum and Diamond account holders. If you fall in that category, then reaching support shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Everyone else will need to reach out to [email protected] and wait for a response.

Countries Accepted

Q8 Trade does not offer services to clients located in the United States – in fact, the website wouldn’t even allow us to access to registration form based on our location. Following a similar pattern used by other brokers that take regulatory restrictions seriously, the Q8 Trade has an IP address recognizing popup-blocker set up to stop certain traders from opening an account. If you’re also greeted by the popup blocker, chances are that you won’t be allowed to sign-up. Of course, if you feel that you’re being wrongly targeted, feel free to reach out to support to ask for complete clarity about your country of residence.

Conclusion

Like many other brokers following a tier-based system, Q8 Trade tends to focus more of their efforts on the best account tiers, offering those account holders better trading costs, direct access to customer support by phone, higher bonuses, fee-free withdrawals, and other perks. Unfortunately, those with lower account status levels may feel ignored by the broker, while being subjected to higher 3 pip spreads and basic customer support options. For those reasons, Q8 Trade is better suited for traders that can afford to make a larger deposit (around $50K) and those traders can benefit from the high 1:400 leverage ratio that is available to all account holders.

There are some additional benefits like a vast amount of educational resources and a diverse range of instruments available for trading as well. Ultimately, it is up to each individual trader to consider which account level they would fall under and whether the associated advantages and costs warrant opening an account.

Categories
Forex Brokers

Fibonetix Review

Fibonetix is a broker owned and operated by Zeus Tech & Trading Group Ltd. Although their headquarters are located in Luxemburg, this company is actually registered in Belize, a very popular offshore zone where brokers can set up with minimum regulations. We also found evidence online that Luxemburg’s CSSF had warned people against unregulated brokers, including Zeus Tech & Trading group, back in July 2019.

Fibonetix offers four different account types and also a wide variety of assets available for trading. Keep reading to find out what this broker has to offer.

Account Types

Customers wanting to open up an account with this broker have a choice of four accounts to choose from namely, the Expert, Basic, Advanced, and VIP. The accounts vary in spread types, leverage, type of training offered, and monthly fees. From their Account Types page, it seems like the Expert account is the most popular with their customers. Here is a breakdown of the main characteristics of all available accounts.

Expert Account
Spreads – Floating
Leverage – 1:200
Free Withdrawals per month – 2
Hedging – Yes

Basic Account
Spreads – Fixed
Leverage – 1:100
Free Withdrawals per month – 1
Hedging – Yes

Advanced Account
Spreads – Floating
Leverage – 1:100
Free Withdrawals per month – 2
Hedging – Yes

VIP Account
Spreads – Floating
Leverage – 1:400
Free Withdrawals per month – Unlimited
Hedging – Yes

All accounts can be opened as Islamic (swap-free) accounts if the customer requests it.

Platforms

Unfortunately, this broker does not provide any information regarding the trading platforms that they have available. Upon loading the platform, however, it appears to be their own proprietary platform. There appears to be no MetaTrader integration and no possibility to trade from a mobile device.

Leverage

The leverage offered depends on the account type chosen by the customer. The highest leverage customers can use is 1:400 which is available on the VIP account only. The basic and the Advanced accounts both offer leverage of 1:100 whereas the Expert account has a 1:200 leverage available.

Trade Sizes

The broker does not go into detail about the minimum and the maximum trade sizes available so we cannot comment any further on this for the time being.

Trading Costs

When placing trades with Fibonetix customers should expect to pay swap fees (unless they opt for an Islamic account), the spread which can be either fixed or floating depending on the account type and we also found mention of another fee customer’s might encounter when using this broker. This fee is for those accounts that are active for less than 30 working days that have less than 25 trades. For these instances, the customers are expected to pay a 150 Euro service fee in case of full liquidation.

Assets

Fibonetix has quite a variety of assets available including CFDs, Stocks, Currencies, Commodities, ETFs, Indices and also some Cryptocurrencies. The broker does not provide the full list of their available assets on their website, so it would be best to contact the broker directly for this information.

Spreads

The Advanced, VIP, and Expert accounts all have floating spreads for all available assets whereas the Basic account has fixed spreads. The broker does not provide solid information regarding the spreads customers may encounter when using their service.

Minimum Deposit

The broker does not mention that they have a strict minimum deposit requirement to open up any of their available account types, however, we cannot confirm this as the broker did not answer our questions regarding this.

Deposit Methods & Costs

If you have an account with Fibonetix and you’re looking to deposit funds into it, you can do so via Visa, Visa Electron, Mastercard, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum. To deposit funds customers must log in to their account, click on the Deposit button and choose their preferred payment method.

When depositing via Credit/debit cards the funds are transferred instantly, or within 1 business day for the first credit/debit card deposit. E-money should be credited within 24 hours and deposits made via Wire Transfer may take up to 10 business days to be completed.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

To withdraw funds, customers must click on the Withdrawal button found on their account. Customers must be fully verified in order to withdraw and the broker also states that there is a minimum withdrawal amount of Eur 250 for all account types. The broker does not mention if there are any charges for withdrawals, however, on their Accounts page, they do mention that different account types have a number of free withdrawals per month, which makes us think that there are some fees that are applied to each withdrawal.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests are processed within 2-3 business days and customers should expect to receive their money within 24 hours for E-money transfers, up to 5 business days for Credit/Debit card withdrawals, and up to 10 business days for Wire transfers.

Bonuses & Promotions

On their Bonus Policy page, the broker states that they offer a number of interesting rewards and bonus features to its regular and new customers. These are available once customers become part of the company’s promotion program. Unfortunately, we could not find any more information regarding this promotion program on the website.

Education & Trading Tools

When it comes to educational content, Fibonetix only offers a trader’s glossary of all the terms and phrases that are commonly used within the trading industry.

Customer Service

Customers wanting to get in touch with this broker can do so via email or telephone, unfortunately, they do not offer a live chat option.

Here is their contact information:

Address – 24 Boulevard d’Avranches, 1160 Luxembourg
Telephone – Luxemburg – +352 20 20 42 90
Germany – +49 32 221095494
United Kingdom – +44 3318 7100
Email – [email protected]

Demo Account

Fibonetix does not offer a Demo account for those wanting to test out their trading conditions.

Countries Accepted

Although the broker does not mention any countries that are specifically restricted from using their services, in their terms and conditions they do inform potential customers that access to their website and their financial contracts may be restricted in some jurisdictions.

Conclusion

Fibonetix is a broker located in Luxemburg that is registered in Belize. They have a choice of 4 account types to choose from and it seems like they offer quite a nice variety of assets available. Unfortunately, there is a lot of important information that is not found on their website such as; list of assets, trade sizes, trading platform, and spreads available. Apart from this, the broker does not offer a Demo account, which means a customer can only test out their conditions by investing real money into their account. We did reach out to the broker via email, however, we were not given any answers, so their customer service is not very efficient.

If you are interested in what this broker has to offer head on to their website to discover more.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Tradelyo Review

Tradelyo is an online foreign exchange and CFD broker. They do not give a lot of information about themselves away apart from the fact that they offer MetaTrader 5, 24/7 support, a single wallet, and quick withdrawals, so as we do not know a lot, we will use this review to find out a little more about them and to see exactly what services they really offer.

Account Types

There is just the one account type available which is the Standard account, the account requires a minimum deposit of at least $100 and can be leveraged up to 1:200, the account also comes with a fixed spread that starts at 1.6 pips. As we go through this review, we will be looking into each section in a little more detail, all information in this review is related to this singular trading account.

Platforms

The platform being offered by Tradelyo is MT5, which is the younger brother of MetaTrader 4 (MT4)m developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MT5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to aid in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless.

MetaTrader 5 offers the built-in Market of trading robots, the Freelance database of strategy developers, Copy Trading and the Virtual Hosting service (Forex VPS). Use all these services from one place, and access new trading opportunities. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

Leverage

The account can be leveraged up to 1:200, this can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by sending a change request to the customer service team. Leverage at 1:200 is an appropriate level to have as it gives a good risk and reward ratio, however, many modern brokers are now aiming to provide their clients with leverage up to 1:500.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots which are known as micro-lots, the trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. Unfortunately, we do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There aren’t any commissions or trading fees mentioned on the website, looking at the demo account, there are no commissions reflected in that either so it does not look, like there are any, especially as the spreads are as high as they are (we will look at that later in this review).

There will however be swap charges which are fees charged when you hold a trade overnight, they can be both positive or negative and are based on interest changes, they can be viewed within MetaTrader 5.

Assets

The website does not provide us with a list of available assets or a product specification. Looking at MetaTrader 5 there seems to be a large selection available including Forex Currencies, Indices, Commodities and Shares available to trade.

Spreads

The spreads are actually not disclosed on the website, instead, we have to use the demo account to find out what they are, this, however, is not a 100% accurate way of finding out as the demo account may have slightly different spreads to the main account. We believe that the spreads are starting from 1.6 pips and are fixed, this means that they do not change, no matter what is happening in the markets, they will always remain the same. Different instruments also have different spreads, so while the lowest starts from 1.6 pips, there are others with spreads fixed at 2 or 3 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100 which makes it very accessible to newer traders, we are not sure if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a specific page detailing and payment methods, at the bottom of the page there are some images of Visa and Mastercard, however, the actual terms of these methods are not known. We do not know if there are any added fees or if there are any additional methods available. You should check with your own card issuer for any potential outgoing transfer fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We do not have any information on the withdrawal methods either, so the only information we have to go on are the same images of Visa and MasterCard at the bottom of the site. We do not know of any possible fees which are not good as the last thing people want is to sign up, deposit, trade and then find that half their profit will be taken away with fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

This is yet more information that is not available on the site, due to this we cannot say exactly how long withdrawal processing may take but we would hope that it would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

We did not notice any information on bonuses on promotions on the website or within the terms of service, so it does not look like there are any active promotions at this current point in time. You could always contact the customer care team to see if there are any coming up or not listed that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

While going through the site, we did not come across any educational information, this is a shame as many modern brokers are now trying to do what they can to help their clients improve their trading, so it would be nice to see Tradelyo do something similar.

Customer Service

Sadly there isn’t a customer support or contact page, this is a massive red flag because if there is no way to get in contact with them, not even an email, there would be no way to get any help, there may be ways once you have opened an account, but there is nothing from on the site directly.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available for use in MetaTrader 5, this is how we got most of the information for this review. We hope that the information provided by the demo account is accurate to the live account, as sometimes they can vary a little bit. We do not know what the expiration time on these accounts is if there is one.

Countries Accepted

This is another aspect where there is no information present, so be sure to check with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account prior to signing up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the site, luckily we were able to find out some of it by using the demo account, if we were only going by the information on the site then we would not know anything about the trading conditions, payment methods or anything else, and that is the information that most potential clients will see, as they will not use the demo account to find out. The most concerning things are the lack of financial information, deposit and withdrawal methods and fees, and also the fact that there is no information available to contact the customer service team, nothing, not even an email, so this is the main reason why we would suggest looking elsewhere for a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Tradesto Review

Tradesto is a foreign exchange broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines but also with offices and corporations within the United Kingdom. Tradesto Corporation is supervised and regulated by the authorities of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) and registered under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Some of the main features offered by Tradesto is their fund security, easy payments, tight spreads, and excellent service. This review will be looking at the services being offered to see if they manage to achieve this and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are six different accounts available however we will only be looking at the first three as we are not interested in the MAM account, joint account or corporate account, so what are the features of the three accounts we are looking at?

Standard Account: With the all-time classic forex account, the Standard Account at Tradesto offers traders a wide range of features suitable for all traders, from the beginner to the experienced. This account type was the first to offer traders the ability to trade standard lots in the forex market.

Islamic Account: Forex Islamic accounts are also known as swap-free accounts for clients following the Muslim Faith as they imply no swap or rollover interest on overnight positions. The account is 100% Shariah-compliant, it has no interest/swap charges on overnight positions and positions can be held with no time limit.

ECN Account: Tradesto offers ECN Account with real market spreads as low as zero pips, along with no re-quotes execution on the MT4 trading platform. Clients can choose to trade over 50 currency pairs, spot metals, and commodities. Spreads as low as 0 pips, can use MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform and, there is a low commission charged (USD 10 per standard lot).

ECN Account Perks

Platforms

Tradesto uses MetaTrader 4 (MT4) as its only trading platform, MT4 is one of the world’s most used trading platforms, hosting the trading of millions of traders. You can trade anywhere and at any time as MT4 comes as a desktop download, web trader and as applications for your mobile devices. A user-friendly interface makes it easy to put powerful charting features, real-time quotes, advanced technical analysis, and automated trading capabilities to work for you. While it would be nice to have a choice of platforms, you cannot go wrong with using MetaTrader 4.

Leverage

We may have been going blind but we could not locate this information on the website, after scouring the internet it appears that the maximum leverage available is 1:500, we are not sure if this is relevant to all account types though.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots. There is no mention of the maximum trade size, however, whatever it is, we would not recommend trading over 50 lots as it can become increasingly hard to execute larger trades without slippage and to perform the trade quickly. It is also not known what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

The ECN account has a “low” commission of $10 per lot traded added to the account, while Tradesto calls this low, it is actually considerably higher than the industry average of $6 per lot traded. The other accounts do not have an address commission as they use a spread based system instead.

If you are using a normal account then swap charges are also present, these are interest charges that are incurred for holding trades overnight, they can be both negative or positive and can usually be viewed from within the trading platform of choice. If you are using an Islamic account then these swap charges are not relevant to your account.

Assets

Tradesto has very handily made their assets available to view so we have a full breakdown of the available tradable instruments, let’s see what is available.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Spot Metals: Gold and Silver.

CFDs: AUS 200, CHN 50, German 30, WU 50, FRA 40, HK, Italy 40, Japan 225, Spain 35, SUI 20, UK 100 (FTSE), Nasdaq (US 100), Dow Jones, SP 500, UK Brent Oil, Natural Gas, US WTI Oil.

As you can see there isn’t a huge selection so it would be good to potentially see this list grow in the future.

Spreads

Tradesto has spreads as low as 0.1 pip, this is for the ECN account, it is not clear to us what the spreads on the Standard or Islamic accounts are. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets when there is added volatility in the markets they will often be seen higher than when there isn’t. Different instruments also have different spreads so while one such as EURUSD may have a spread (example) of 1 pip, other instruments slike EURCAD will have a slightly higher starting spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100, this will get you the standard account. It is not known if there is a different requirement for Islamic or ECN accounts. After an account has been opened the minimum deposit for top-ups is $25.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are plenty of ways to deposit, unfortunately, there are also fees, so we have outlined the deposit methods, along with any applied fees below.

  • Bank Wire – Bank fees
  • Neteller – 2%
  • Fasapay – No Fee
  • i-Account – No fee
  • Bitcoin – 1%
  • Shop2Pay – 3.4%
  • Help2Pay – 2.5%
  • China88Pay – 1.8%

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We are a little confused as to which methods are available to withdraw with, there is only a tick next to Bank Wire Transfer and fasapay, however, there are withdrawal fees stated for different methods also, so we believe they may also be available, the methods we think are available are:

  • Bank Wire – Bank fees
  • Fasapay – 0.5% + 0.5%
  • i-Account – 3 USD
  • Bitcoin – Transaction fee

Again, it is not clear if the other methods are available, they may well be but we cannot say. It is a shame to see so many fees for both deposits and withdrawals as many brokers are now looking to get rid of transaction fees. It would be good to see Tradesto do something similar.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal processing time is not known, but depending on the method used you should expect your withdrawals to be fully processed between 1 to 7 days after the request is made.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not appear that there are any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, if you are interested in bonuses then we would recommend getting in touch with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There isn’t a whole lot when it comes to education or trading tools. There is the usual economic calendar that details upcoming new events and which currencies they could have an effect on. There is also a page containing daily forex analysis which is currently being updated daily. If you are looking for a proper education then you will need to look elsewhere on the internet.

Customer Service

If you need to contact Tradesto for whatever reason you can do so in a few different ways, you can use the online submission form to fill in your query and you should then get a reply back via email within 1 business day. You can also contact the Tradesto corporation or UK Limited via phone or post.

Tradesto Corporate:
Address: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, P.O.Box 1510, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Phone: +1-855-246-7284

Tradesto UK Limited:
Address: 7 35-37, Ludgate Hill, London, England, EC4M 7JN.

Demo Account

It seems like a demo account should be available, but at the time of writing this review when you click on the open demo account button it loads up a “Page Not Found” error, this may be a temporary thing we are not sure.

Demo accounts allow potential clients to test out the servers and trading conditions while also allowing experienced traders to test out new trading strategies without risking any of their own capital.

Countries Accepted

Tradesto does not specify which countries are allowed to trade with them and which are not, so if you are thinking of signing up we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check your eligibility prior to signing up.

Conclusion

Tradesto offers a lot of information on their site, however, there is a lack of information specific to the account types so we had to either dive deep into the site or look to other websites in order to find the relevant information. All info should be made readily available as it can put off potential clients if they cannot find something they need to know. There are not a lot of tradable assets which is a shame and there is not a whole bunch of deposit methods either, there are also fees for deposit and withdrawals which is always a little disappointing to see.

Tradesto looks like they offer decent trading conditions but we could not test them as the demo account sign up page was down. While Tradesto could be a good broker to sue, there are too many small issues for us to be able to fully recommend them at this time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Mt Cook Financial Review

Founded in 2013, Mt Cook Financial is ECN and DMA forex broker. Aiming their services more towards the professional trader they are looking to provide the best in terms of trading conditions and trading platforms. We will be using this review to dive deep into the services on offer to find out what they offer and so you can see if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are two different account types available, they are based on liquidity streams and execution types. Let’s look at what they are.

ECN Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000, it uses ECN / STP as its clearing method and has a raw spread. It has an added commission of $32.5 per million per side, which equates to around $6.5 per lot traded. The account can be in EUR, USD, GBP or AUD and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots which go up in increment of 0.01 lots. The account can be leveraged up to !:100 and has access to forex, metals, indices, and futures. The margin call level is set at 80% with the stop out level at 60%. And the account can use the MetaTrader platforms as well as social trading.

DMA Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000, it uses DMA / STP as its clearing method and has a raw spread. It has an added commission of $30 per million per side, which equates to around $6 per lot traded. The account can be in EUR, USD, GBP or AUD and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots which go up in increment of 0.01 lots. The account can be leveraged up to !:100 and has access to forex, metals, indices, and futures. The margin call level is set at 80% with the stop out level at 60%. And the account can use the MetaTrader platforms as well as social trading.

Platforms

The main trading platform on offer is MetaTrader 4, but there are also additional social trading platforms that can be used which we have outlined below.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4):
MetaTrader 4 is one of the most innovative and powerful trading platforms and is still favored by the vast majority of professional currency traders. After years of development, its suite of analytic tools and algorithmic trading capabilities provide the user with a powerful platform from which to access the markets. Metatrader platform raises the bar for those familiar with trading on MT4. Mt.Cook’s unique configuration can process trades entered via MetaTrader GUIs in under 20 milliseconds which provides our clients with an operational advantage. The platform is available as a desktop download, web trader and as an application for your mobile device.

Social Trading Platforms:
There are two social trading platforms available to use, these are ZuluTrade and Myfxbook Autotrade. ZuluTrade is one of the largest social trading communities. The users of the platform can follow between thousands of registered talented currency traders from 192 countries automatically. By engaging in auto trading, users can eliminate the potentially harmful factor of emotion and the error-prone human factor from their trading practice. Myfxbook Autotrade is an account mirroring (trade copy) service operated by Myfxbook who happens to be one of the largest social trading communities and FX tech providers in the industry. The AutoTrading service allows you to copy the trades of other profitable traders and systems from the Myfxbook community directly into your Mt.Cook MetaTrader 4 account.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available to both accounts is 1:100, however, this can be increased if you contact the customer service team and they deem it appropriate. The leverage can otherwise be selected when opening up an account.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for both accounts start at 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We are not sure what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

Both accounts come with a commission, the ECN account has an added commission of $32.5 per million per side, which equates to around $6.5 per lot traded. The DMA account has an added commission of $30 per million per side, which equates to around $6 per lot traded which is in line with the industry average of $6 per lot traded.

There are also swap charges which are fees charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a few different categories, we will now outline the different instruments within them.

Forex:
AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, USDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CADSGD, CHFJPY, CHFSGD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURDKK, EURHKD, EURJPY, EURMXN, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPUSD, HKDJPY, MXNJPY, NOKJPY, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, SEKJPY, SGDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Metals:
XAGUSD, XAUUSD, XPDUSD, XPTUSD.

CFD Futures:
WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, High Grade Copper, Natural Gas.

CFD Indices:
JP225, EU50, FR40, DE30, HK50, UK100, US500, UT100, US30, ES35, AU200.

Spreads

Both accounts use raw spreads form the markets so they can be as low as 0 pips. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets and so when there is added volatility they can be seen a little higher, the spreads will always remain quite low when using raw spreads though.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $1,000 which gets you to access either of the accounts. We do not know if this amount reduces for further top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are just a few methods available to deposit, these are Bank Wire Transfer, Neteller, and China Union Pay. There are no added fees from MT cook when depositing funds but be sure to check with your own bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, Neteller, and China Union Pay. When withdrawing via Bank Wire Transfer there is a fixed fee of $25 added to the transaction. The other methods do not have any added fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, we do not know what the withdrawal processing times from MT Cook are, however, we would hope that any request is fully processed within 1 to 5 days from the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

It doesn’t appear that there are any bonuses or promotions available to take part in. If you are after bonuses then you could contact the customer support team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The only tools that seem to be available are the ones relating to a VPS, these are paid however so the value is not as good as they could be as a lot of other brokers are giving VPS for free as long as certain conditions are met. It would have been nice to see more educational material as many modern brokers are now looking to help their clients improve.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get in contact with MT Cook there are a few different ways you can do it, firstly is the online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. You can also use live chat features. There is then a number of different phone numbers and email addresses for various departments.

Phone: + 1 (866) 672-8733
Support: [email protected]
General Inquiries: [email protected]
Accounts: [email protected]
Compliance: [email protected]
Partnerships: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to both test out the conditions and also strategies without risking any capital. When signing up for a demo account you can select the leverage, account type and the balance that you desire. We are not sure if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “The information on this site is not directed at residents of the United States and is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation” If you are still not sure of your eligibility for an account, contact the support team to find out.

Conclusion

MT Cook Financial offers some very competitive trading conditions, the spreads are low and the commission is in line with what you would expect from the industry. Plenty of assets are available to trade and the choice of manual trading or social trading is good to see. It would be nice to have seen a few more deposit methods and to remove the Bank Wire withdrawal fee, but otherwise, the deposits and withdrawals are not too expensive. When looking at the services on offer, MT Cook looks like a promising broker, but the decision to use them or not is yours.

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Forex Forex Brokers

Commodity & Forex Merchants Review

CF Merchants was established in 2011 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. CF Merchants aim to offer the best service to all their customers with a service team available 24/6, offering the best trading platforms, variety in trading assets, competitive spreads and high leverage. In this review, we will be looking into what CF Merchants actually offer and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available from CF Merchants, each with different entry requirements and trading conditions, we will now give a brief overview of what each one offers.

CFM Standard Account: This account has a $100 minimum deposit in order to open it, it has a spread starting from 1.6 pips and has no added commission. Leverage on the account can go up to 1:500 and margin call is set at 99% while the stop out level is at 50%. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and the maximum trade size is 8 lots. Hedge margin on the account is 50% and this account can also be made as an Islamic swap-free account.

CFM Prime Account: The prime account also has a minimum deposit amount of $100, spreads are slightly reduced to 1 pip and there is again no commission added to this account. Leverage remains at 1:500 as a maximum and the margin call and stops out levels remain at 99% and 40% respectively. Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and go up to a maximum of 8 lots. The hedge margin is 50% and this account can also be used as a swap-free Islamic account.

CFM ECN/VIP Account: This account increases the minimum deposit up to $10,000, this account has spreads starting as low at 0 pips but due to this there is a $3.5 commission on opening and closing trades, so $7 for a complete trade per lot. Leverage remains at 1:500, so does the margin call and stop out levels at 99% and 40%. Minimum and maximum trade sizes remain the same at 0.01 lots and 8 lots. This account can also be used as an Islamic account.

CFM Fix Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $25,000, this account is different as it has a fixed spread starting at 2.5 pips and there are no added commissions. All other features remain the same as the other accounts except this time getting an Islamic swap-free account is conditional so you will need to be in contact with the customer service team to get one opened up.

Platforms

CF Merchants offers MetaTrader 4 as their only trading platform, so let’s take a little look at what MetaTrader 4 offers. In terms of accessibility, MT4 is second to none, available as a desktop download, an app for Android and iOS devices and as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great trading solution to have.

Leverage

The accounts page state that the maximum leverage on all the account sis 1:500, however on the “Why Choose Us” page it states that the leverage ranges between 1:1 and 1:400, as the numbers are different we will look at 1:400 as the maximum, however, if it is 1:500 then that is a bonus.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all accounts start at 0.01 lots which are also known as a micro lot. Trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade size would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is currently 8 lots which are quite low when looking at the competition, however, the majority of retail traders may not make it this high, or can be limiting for those that do.

Trading Costs

The Standard, Prime, and FIX account use a spread based system which we will look at later in this review. The ECN / VIP account uses a commission-based system and adds a commission of $3.5 for each side of a lot. This means $3.5 when opening trade and $3.5 when closing it, totaling $7 per round lot traded.

There are also swap fees on all accounts, these are fees charged for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed directly within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. If you opt for an Islamic swap-free account then these fees will be substituted with an administration charge.

Assets

CF Merchants have broken down their assets into a number of different categories, there are forex currencies, majors, minors and exotics, lots available with a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a max of 8 lots, examples are EUR/USD, GBP/AUD and ZAR/USD. Energies in the form of Crude Oil and Brent Oil are available along with precious metals like Gold, Silver, Palladium, and Platinum. Stock Indices such as DOW 30, GER 30 and UK 100 are available along with the addition of cryptocurrencies, only four are available which are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple but it is great that they are included.

Spreads

Spreads are dependent on the account type you are using, with the Standard account spreads start at 1.6 pips, the Prime account starts at 1 pip and the ECN / VIP account they start as low as 0 pips. These spreads are variable (also known as floating) which means they move with the markets, when the markets are being volatile they often widen and become bigger, so the starting spread is the minimum but they are often seen higher.

The Fix account has fixed spreads, this means that they do not move, they start at 2.5 pips and no matter what the markets are doing they do not change. It should be noted that different assets have different minimums so while EURUSD may be 1.6 pips, other currencies such as AUD/USD will have a slightly higher starting spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum required to open up an account is $100, however, once an account has been opened the minimum amount required for a top-up reduces down to $25 for all methods except for bank wire transfer which remains at $100.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available to deposit with: Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money and Visa/Mastercard both Credit and Debit cards. There are no additional fees added by CF Merchants, however, be sure to check with your processor and bank to ensure that they do not add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw as they were to deposit, for clarification these were Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money and Visa / Mastercard both Credit and Debit cards. Similarly to deposits, there are no additional fees when withdrawing, again be sure to check with your processor just in case they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal times on the site state that all withdrawal methods have an instant processing time apart from bank wire transfers which have a processing time of 3 – 5 days. All withdrawals will be processed to the same method used to deposit. Bank wire to bank wire, Skrill to Skrill, Neteller to Neteller, Perfect Money to Perfect Money and credit card to credit card.

Bonuses & Promotions

There seems to be three different promotions on offer, we will outline the basics of each one below using information from the website.

10% Credit Bonus:

  • Minimum Deposit 2500$
  • The client needs to send email to the support team to get Credit Bonus.
  • On First withdrawal All Credit Bonus will be deducted.
  • This Bonus is not cashable in any case only tradeable.
  • This offer will be credited only in the Deposit Account.
  • No IB can claim this Credit Bonus.
  • The company reserves the right to cancel this Bonus at any time without mentioning any reason or prior notice.
  • This offer is only for Online Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money Deposits.

Champions Welcome Bonus:

  • All new clients registered on our website are entitled to get a $50 bonus in their first trading account only.
  • For crediting a $50 Welcome Bonus, you are required to send an email at [email protected], you must mention your trading account no in your message.
  • For account, opening client must complete the verification of the documentation process.
  • $50 bonus amount is only tradeable not Cashable.
  • Profit earned on No Deposit Bonus is withdrawable, The maximum profit withdrawal limit is $100 without depositing funds and a minimum of 50 Standard lots are required.
  • If client deposits a minimum of $100 into a bonus account, then the client needs to place a minimum of 10 more standard lots after deposit to withdraw unlimited profit.
  • Whenever clients withdraw from the trading account, the company will deduct its bonus amount on first withdrawal.
  • Only one trading account will have a $50 welcome bonus Against One ID.
  • For deposit & withdrawal amount, see our deposit and withdrawals policy.
  • Leverage on these bonus accounts will be 1:50 maximum.
  • All accounts will be opened in ECN spreads category only.

Demo Contest:

  • The duration of the contest will be 1 month only, (1st Nov to 30th Nov 2018).
  • The leverage in the demo trading account is 1:1000.
  • All Participants will get the Initial deposit of $10,000 in demo Contest trading.
  • All Participants must be at least 18 years old or legal age according to their origin.
  • One ID/Passport has only one account in Demo Contest.
  • At the end of the contest, all open positions will be settled before final calculations.
  • The company has the right to terminate the account at any time if fraud and any specious activities have been found.
  • The Company can discontinue the contest at any time without prior notice.
  • All winning account is in Standard account Category & shall not be under any IB.
  • Winner will get a live trading account.
  • The winning amount is withdraw-able.
  • Withdrawals are only in Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money.

Educational & Trading Tools

CF Merchants have broken down their education and research into the two distinct categories.

Education: The majority of the education provided by CF Merchants is based around getting to know the trading platform as well as how to use the CF Merchants platform. There are two sections based around reaching charts and basic indicators which could be helpful, but if you are really looking to learn how to trade we would recommend looking for more in-depth information out on the internet.

Research: There is the standard economic calendar offering you information on upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. There are also some daily feeds, however, these have not been updated since April 2019. Finally, there is some market analysis that can help you decide what to trade, again though this has unfortunately not been updated since April 2019.

Customer Service

The contact us page is quite empty, there is an online submission form for fill in and you should get a reply via email, there’s also a single email address, however, a second email address for the support team can be found at the bottom of the page.

We did not manage to test out the customer service team, but it would have been nice to see more options and a phone number would have been good to see too. We are also unsure of the opening times but we expect the customer service team to be closed over the weekend at the same time as the markets.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available with CF Merchants however the details on them are unknown, we do not know the trading conditions or how long they last.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is available on the CF Merchants website: “CF Merchants (SV) Ltd does not provide services and accept applications from the residents of certain countries, such as the United States of America, Canada, Israel, North Korea, and Saint Vincent & The Grenadines. The statistics on this website is not directed at residents in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contradictory to local law or regulation.” If you are unsure of your eligibility, be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

CF Merchants have decent trading conditions, they are in line with a lot of the competition, plenty of ways to deposit and withdraw along with no fees is also a good point, not to mention the vast number of tradable assets means you will always have something to trade. The main downside comes when we look at the support system, there is no phone number available and just a simple contact form and email address, it is vital to have clear lines of communication when using a financial institute, so it is up to you to decide if that is important to you or not.

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Forex Forex Brokers

Real FXM Review

Real FXM is a UK based foreign exchange broker that is operating as a Straight Through Processing (STP) broker. They claim that some of the main benefits in using them include commission-free trading, access to advanced trading tools, negative balance protection on all accounts, access to a dedicated account manager, the use of straight-through processing, no dealing desk, the ability to use high leverage, free demo accounts and training, an array of instruments to trade, fund segregation and high levels of security. We will be using this review to see if all of the above is really offered and you help you decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

When signing up with Real FXM there are three different accounts that you can choose from, we have outlined them below along with their requirements and features.

There are some features that come with all accounts including fixed spreads, economic calendars, real-time news, daily analysis, one-click trading, exclusive chart access, traders’ views, and analysis, and data security.

X-Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200 in order to open, it has standard spreads and a leverage of 1:200. It only has Forex pairs available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform. There is a free demo account that lasts for 2 weeks and there is limited personal training. You can have a maximum of 25 open trades or orders and there is limited access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Premium Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $2,000. It comes with premium spreads and leverages up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs and metals available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that lasts for 1 month and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 75 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Pro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $5,000. It comes with premium spreads and can be leveraged up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs, metals and commodities available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that is unlimited and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 200 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

Platforms

X-Web is the only platform available to use from Real FXM, the platform is easy to use and does not require any installation or download it can be accessed by clients through a PC or Laptop from anywhere in the world.

A few of its many features are its customization, chart analysis, and trading, news and analysis, one-click trading, built-in the economic calendar, and automated trading. It also comes as a mobile application that offers the ability to trade on the move, it’s easy to use and is optimized for mobile devices.

Leverage

The leverage you are able to use depends on the account you use. If you use the Standard account you can have the account leveraged up to 1:200, using the Premium or Pro accounts will allow you to use leverage up to 1:400. The account leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it you can do so by contacting the customer service team with the request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all three accounts start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro lot and equates to 1,000 currency units. The trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots until it reaches the maximum. Unfortunately, we do not know what the maximum trade size is for any of the accounts or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

All three accounts use a spread based system (that we will look at later in this review) and so there are no added commissions added to the accounts or trading. There are things called swap charges though these are fees that are charged when you hold a trade overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can normally be viewed within the trading platform that you are using. Some brokers offer swap-free accounts but we did not see a mention of them here at Real FXM.

Assets

Sadly, there isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets or a product specification available, there is however a small section indicating some of the available assets which we will briefly go over.

Forex: We do not have a full breakdown but Real FXM gives you the opportunity to trade major currency pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and also exotic currencies like USD/MXN (Mexican peso), USD/TRY (Turkish lira).

Metals: Through CFDs, you can also trade metals like Copper etc. and you can also trade precious metals like Gold, Silver & Platinum at a much lower cost than the physical purchase of them.

Commodities: Soft commodities like Sugar, Coffee, and Crude Oil are available to trade, there seems like there will be more but those are the only ones mentioned by name,

Indices: A selection of major global indices in the UK, US, Europe, Asia, and Australia is available to trade. Some examples given are France 40, Nifty 50 and UK 100.

Shares: Shares from all over the world are available including shares from the UK, US, Europe, and Asia.

Spreads

We do not fully understand the spreads, we know that the higher tier account you get the lower your spreads will be but we do not have any specific examples of actual spreads. The Standard account gets standard spreads, the PRemium account gets premium spreads and the Pro account gets pro spreads, what these actually equate to we do not know, so ultimately, we do not know what the overall trading cost of trading with Real FXM is.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $200, this will allow you to access the Standard account, if you want the Premium account when you will need to deposit at least $2,000 and $5,000 if you want to use the Pro account. Usually, once an account has been opened the minimum deposit amount reduces, unfortunately, we do not know if that is the case here with Real FXM.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Card and Neteller.

The deposit information page talks a lot about when you should deposit (after opening an account) but it does not mention anything to do with fees, so we are not sure if there are any added. What we are sure of, is that you should check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they will add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same three methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification those are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Cards and Neteller. When using a Credit or Debit card you can only withdraw the same amount that you deposited, any extra will need to use one of the other available methods. There is an added withdrawal fee of $20 depending on your country when using Bank Wire Transfers. There is no indication for any fees for the other two available methods.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal processing time is not indicated on the site, we would hope that Real FXM would process any requests within 48 hours of the request being made, once it has been processed by Real FXM it will then take an additional 1 to 5 working days for the funds to be fully processed by your bank, this time will vary from bank to bank.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few little bonuses available to sue, the first one is a referral scheme which is just like any other, there is also an introducing broker scheme which works much the same but on a larger scale.

The main bonuses available are an exclusive deposit bonus. You can get this bonus on your first deposit of $500, you will get an additional 25% bonus and reduced spreads on an instrument of your choice. You can then get up to a 50% bonus on further deposits depending on your account. We do not know the terms of these bonuses such as how to convert the bonus funds into real funds.

There is also a social media promo, simply like and connect with Real FXM through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and get access to weekly promotions such as a $25, $50 or $100 bonus, again the terms of these bonus funds are not known to us.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a forex school part to the site, unfortunately once the first overview page loads, any additional pages are giving an error stating that the page cannot be found. This is a shame as it would have been good for their clients to have some learning materials to help them improve their trading, so with it not working, the section may as well be removed from the site.

Customer Service

The customer service team can be contacted 24 hours a day 5 days a week, they close over the weekend and on bank holidays.

You can use the online submission form, fill it in with your query or request and you should then get a reply via email. You can also use the provided postal address, phone number, support email, compliance email or Skype username.

Address: C B C House Realfxm, 24 Canning St, Edinburgh EH3 8EG, United Kingdom.
Phone: +441316189330
Support Email: [email protected]
Compliance Email: [email protected]
Skype Username: realfxm.Support, Realfxm

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but there isn’t much information about them as you need to be fully logged into your website account in order to open one up. The demo accounts allow you to test out market conditions and strategies without any real risk, we do not know the full details or conditions of the demo account at Real FXM such as which account it mimics or if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not readily available on the website, so if you are thinking of joining Real FXM, we would recommend getting in contact with the support department before you do, just to be sure that you are in fact eligible for an account with them.

Conclusion

The available accounts offer a range of conditions, unfortunately, when it comes to the cost of trading we do not know as we do not have a full understanding of what the spreads are, we know that the higher tier accounts have lower spreads, but no indication of what they actually are, some of that lack of information is due to there not being an asset breakdown or specification.

There is also a limited number of ways to deposit and withdraw, it does not seem like there are any fees for depositing but there are for withdrawing via Bank Wire, it’s not the biggest fee but it is still present. Plenty of ways to get in touch with the customer service team. The site is well laid out, but the main downside is the lack of the finer details, product specification, things like the bonus terms and conditions are not shown and other smaller details are what let the site down.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

TopGrowth Futures Review

Topgrowth Futures is a brokerage company that was formed in 2003, based in Indonesia and aimed towards those living in the same jurisdiction. They do not give a lot of information about themselves, some of their main emissions are to become a leading foreign exchange broker through building a transparent platform, good customer service, and a continuous education program. We will be looking into the services that are being offered to help find out a little more about them and the service that they provide their clients.

We had some issues loading the site with Google Chrome so we had to switch over to a different browser, we have noted this just in case you have a similar issue.

Account Types

There are two different accounts available, they are not providing a lot of information about them but the information we do have is below.

Mini Account: A minimum deposit of 5 million Indonesian Rupiah ($500 for USD users) is required to open up the account, it comes with a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots and a maximum trade size of 5 lots. The account uses Meta Trader 4 as its trading platform.

Regular Account: A minimum deposit of 100 million Indonesian Rupiah ($10,000 for USD users) is required to open up the account, it comes with a minimum trade size of 1 lot and a maximum trade size of 50 lots. The account uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Platforms

While they do not have any information surrounding it, we do know that Topgrowth Futures uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. MT4 is an extremely popular trading platform used by millions all around the world, it comes with a lot of customization to help make it a trading platform that can suit your needs. It has multiple charts, timeframes and is compatible with thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help with both auto trading and your analysis. It can also be accessed via a desktop download, mobile application or web trader so you know you can always have access to your trades and accounts.

Leverage

We, unfortunately, we do not have any information surrounding the available leverage so we cannot comment on what the maximum leverage for either account type may be.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on the Mini account start from 0.1 lots and go up to 5 lots. The Regular account has trades starting at 1 lot and they go up to 50 lots. There is no indication as to how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

Trading costs are another aspect that we do not have any information on, this goes for both commissions and swap charges. Due to this, we do not really know how expensive it could be to trade at this broker. While there is no mention of any swap charges, we would expect there to be any unless stated otherwise, they would be charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MT4 trading platform.

Assets

There is a small breakdown of the available trading assets, we are not sure if they are the entire list as it would be pretty small if it is, however, there is a chance that this is all that is available, we have outlined them below for ease of reading.

Forex: EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, USDCHF, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, EURGBP, EURJPY, GBPJPY, CHFJPY, and AUDJPY.

Spot Metals: Gold and Silver only.

Commodities: It seems that only gold is available as a commodity, you are able to trade in different sizes from different exchanges using contracts.

Indices: Only three are mentioned which are the Nikkei 225, HK 150 Hang Seng, and the KOSPI 200. It is unknown if there are more available.

CFDs: Lastly, there are CFDs, these include the likes of Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, FTSE, Dax, and Crude Oil.

Strangely, some instruments we would expect to see in different categories, but this is how they have been set out on the site.

Spreads

This is yet another aspect of the trading conditions that we do not know, the front page of the site states that there are low costs, which we would assume is relating to the spreads, however, there are not any examples of the spreads and as there is no product specification, there are no details of the spreads there either.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is 5 million Indonesian Rupiah or $500, this will allow you to use the Mini account, if you wish to use the Regular account then you will need to deposit at least 100 million Indonesian Rupiah of $10,000 if using dollars.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There doesn’t seem to be any information on the site regarding deposit methods, this includes the methods available or any potential fees that may come with them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

This information is also not available, this is often vita as it allows potential clients to see how they can get their money back out and also if it will cost them anything, not having this information available long with the deposit methods makes it hard to judge if it is worth signing up and doesn’t help to build trust between the broker and client.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know how to withdraw, we also do not know how long it will take, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made but we cannot say this for sure.

Bonuses & Promotions

While looking through the site we did not come across any information on bonuses and withdrawals, so if you are interested in them we would suggest contacting the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

Education is an aspect of the broker that they seemed to mention as a big plus, so let’s see what they offer. To be honest, not a lot which is a real disappointment. There is a page with a few tutorial videos on how to use the Topgrowth Futures platform and website, there is a section for Trading for Beginners, however, the page is blank and so there is nothing to learn. There are then some more videos on how to use the trading platforms and a Webinar section, which again is blank. On the front page, there are some links to daily analysis that are up to date and being updated.

There is a separate news site called Topgrowth News which is from the same company, however that is not directly part of the broker so we won’t go into much detail on it, it does seem that the majority of the educational material is found on this news site.

Customer Service

Another aspect that Topgrowth Futures pride themselves on is their customer service team, there is no indication as to their opening times but we would expect them to be closed over the weekends when the markets are also closed.

You can get in touch using the online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email, there is also a postal address and phone number available to use. At the bottom of the site, there is also an email address present.

Address: Sahid Sudirman Center, Lantai 40, Unit F-G, Jl. Jend Sudirman Kav. 86, Jakarta 10220 Indonesia
Phone: +62 21 2788 9393
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available however there is no information available on the trading conditions of the demo account. You can sign up by creating an account and it uses MetaTrader 4 but that is all we know, we do not know if there is an expiration time on the account. Demo accounts are great as they allow clients to test out the markets as well as new strategies without any real risk to their own capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site, however, it seems like the broker is aiming more towards those that are from Indonesia, however, if you are interested in joining we would recommend contacting the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account, prior to opening one up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of helpful information missing from the Topgrowth Futures site, we do not know what the trading conditions are, leverage spreads and commissions are all missing, so the total cost of trading is also unknown. There is also a complete lack of information surrounding deposit and withdrawal methods, it is important for potential new clients to know how they can get their money in and out and also how much it will cost them to do so. Without any of this information being readily available, it is hard for users to recommend Topgrowth as a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

WinFinance / WinCapital Pro Review

WinFinance is a foreign exchange broker based in the Marshall Islands, the company was founded in 2013 and aims to provide an unequaled value to their clients. They claim to offer an outstanding customer support team, a host of tradable assets, advanced trading platforms, tight spreads, and an experienced team. We will be looking into the services on offer to see how they stand up next to the competition.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available to use from WinFinance, we have outlined some of their main features below.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $250, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives part access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade base currencies and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 3.3 pips, and USD/JPY 2.8 pips. The account has a fixed spread, access to an account manager and can be leveraged up to 1:200.

Classic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,500, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives part access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade base currencies, Gold, Silver and Oil and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 2.0 pips, and USD/JPY 1.4 pips. The account has a choice of fixed or floating spread, access to an account manager and can be leveraged up to 1:200.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $20,000, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives full access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade all currencies, indices, and shares and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 0.6 pips, AUD/USD 1.3 pips, and USD/JPY 0.6 pips. The account has a choice of fixed or floating spread, access to an account manager and can be leveraged up to 1:200.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives full access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade all instruments and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 0.6 pips, AUD/USD 1.3 pips, and USD/JPY 0.6 pips. The account has a choice of fixed or floating spread which is adjustable, access to premium customer support and has adjustable leverage.

Platforms

Just the one platform available to use is xStation, xStation was designed for advanced currency traders who prefer more control, flexibility, customizations, and speed than traditional retail trading software packages. It provides true one-click trading on Level 2 market depth/order book views, built-in trading calculator, in-platform economic calendar, customizable layouts saved in the cloud, and a direct connection to the WinFinance liquidity infrastructure. It was designed from the ground up as an ECN/STP platform. It is usable as a desktop download, mobile application and as a web trade.

Leverage

The Standard, Classic and Premium accounts all have a maximum leverage of 1:200, the Gold account doesn’t have a set limit, it instead can be selected when creating an account. All accounts can have their leverage (up to the maximum) selected when opening up an account and can have it changed by sending a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots on all accounts, they then also go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade size would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. Unfortunately, we do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades/orders you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There doesn’t appear to be any added commission on any of the accounts as they all use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are however spread fees, these are interest charges that take effect when holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed from within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown or any sort of product specification so we cannot see exactly which assets or instruments are available to trade, this is disappointing as many potential clients will look to see if their preferred assets are available, the last thing they want is to sign up and find that they cannot trade it.

Spreads

The spreads are based around the account that you use. The Standard account has spread starting at EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 3.3 pips, and USD/JPY 2.8 pips. These spreads are fixed which means they will never change, no matter what is happening in the markets or how volatile they are.

The Classic account has spreads ranging from EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 2.0 pips, and USD/JPY 1.4 pips. These spreads can be either fixed or variable, variable spreads mean they move with the markets, the more volatility there is the higher they will be, the starting figure for variable spreads is often lower than fixed spreads.

The Premium and Gold accounts also have a choice of fixed or variable spreads and start at around EUR/USD 0.6 pips, AUD/USD 1.3 pips, and USD/JPY 0.6 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account with WinFinance is $250, this allows you to use the Standard account, if you want a higher tier account you will need to deposit at least $2,500. We do not know if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sadly there isn’t any information on the site regarding deposit methods or anything to do with them except for three little images of Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro, so we will be confident to say that they will be available, but we cannot say about any other methods. We also cannot comment on whether there are any added fees for depositing by WinFinance.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As we do not know how you can deposit we also do not know how you can withdraw, the same three images are available but that is it. Just like with the deposits we do not know if there are any added fees when withdrawing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, we also do not have any information on this topic, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days after the request is made depending on what methods are available to withdraw with.

Bonuses & Promotions

We had a good look around the site and could not see any indications of an active promotion or bonus so we do not believe there are any. This does not mean that there won’t be any in the future, if you are interested in bonuses we would suggest contacting the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t appear to be any educational material or tools on the site which is a shame as a lot of modern brokers are now trying to help their clients improve, so it would be good to see WinFinance add something to help their clients.

Customer Service

The customer service page states that the team is available from Sunday to Friday 10 am – 8 pm GMT, however, the account page states that there is 24/7 support available, so they contradict each other.

You can use the online submission form to send in your query and then you should get a reply via email. There is also a postal address available along with two emails and two phone numbers.

Address: Trust Company Complex, Majuro, MH 96960, Marshall Islands
Support Email: [email protected]
Marketing Email: [email protected]
Great Britain Phone: +442036082593
Italy Phone: +97316195023

Demo Account

There isn’t any information surrounding demo accounts on the site, however, we do not have a full account so we cannot see if there are any available in there if there aren’t then it is a shame as demo accounts allow clients to test out the trading conditions and new strategies without risking any real capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site so we would suggest contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The four different accounts offer some variety especially when it comes to the choice of fixed or variable spreads. Sadly, that is about where all the positives end, there is no information about what assets and instruments are available to trade or how you can deposit and withdraw your funds., This information is vital if a company is going to be holding onto your money, you need to know how you can move it about and also if it will cost you to do so, without this information being available is it hard for us to recommend them as a broker to use, and would instead suggest looking somewhere that is being a little bit more transparent.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Vinson Financials Review

Vinson Financials is a foreign exchange broker founded in 2004 and situated in Hong Kong however, they also have offices in the UK and Cyprus. They do not give a huge amount of information about themselves away, however, their objectives and goals are to operate responsibly, executing with excellence and capture new opportunities for growth. They are always looking to improve and so throughout this review, we will be looking into what is on offer to see if they live up to the expectations.

Account Types

There are two main account categories with Vinson Financials, within each category are two different account types, we will briefly overview the 4 total accounts.

Classic Accounts

Pearl Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200, it can be leveraged up to 1:500 and has forex and metals available to trade. The account can use both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as its trading platforms and has spread starting from a fixed 2 pips. Swap fees are present and expert advisors are not allowed. Trading sizes start at 0.1 lots and go up to 20 lots maximum. Support is available 24/5 and the margin level is set at 30% with the stop out level at 5%.

VIP Account: The minimum deposit raises up to $5,000 for this account type, it can be leveraged up to 1:500 and has forex and metals available to trade. The account can use both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as its trading platforms and has spread starting from a fixed 1 pip. Swap fees are present and expert advisors are not allowed. Trading sizes start at 0.1 lots and go up to 30 lots maximum. Support is available 24/5 and the margin level is set at 30% with the stop out level at 5%.

Advance Accounts

Diamond Account: This account type has a minimum deposit requirement of $200, it can be leveraged up to 1:200 and uses market execution. It has forex, metals, and indices available to trade and can be used with both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. It has a floating spread starting at 1.6 pips and trading starts at 0.1 lots and goes up to a maximum of 50 lots. Support is available 24/5 and both expert advisors and trading signals are allowed, the account also has a margin level set at 30% and stop out level set at 5 %.

VIP Account: The minimum deposit for this VIP account raises up to $5,000 as a minimum, it can be leveraged up to 1:200 and uses market execution. It has forex, metals, and indices available to trade and can be used with both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. It has a floating spread starting at 1 pip and trading starts at 0.1 lots and goes up to a maximum of 50 lots. Support is available 24/5 and both expert advisors and trading signals are allowed, the account also has a margin level set at 30% and stop out level set at 5 %.

Platforms

There are two trading platforms available to use, both from MetaQuotes, so let’s look at what they are and what features they offer.

MT4: The MetaTrader 4 trading platform is a fully-equipped trading system that enables you to trade various financial instruments, including forex, CFDs, metals, and futures. The MetaTrader 4 trading platform offers you many advantages such as placing different order types, the ability to analyze the market with more than 50 built-in indicators, trade on a variety of mobile devices, use Expert Advisors (EAs) for automated trading, develop your own EAs, custom indicators and scripts and, it uses 128-bit encryption ensuring the security of trade transactions. The platform is accessible via a desktop download, web trader and application for your mobile devices.

MT5: The MetaTrader 5 platform offers a complete selection of trading functions, including many impressive analytical features. Moreover, the platform contains a full spectrum of trading tools to ensure flexible and full-fledged trading activities. Useful tools, such as alerts on trade positions, automated trading programs, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and trading signals, are available directly on the platform. Some other features it has included trading with a variety of order types, the ability to analyze the market with 30+ built-in technical indicators, open up to 100 charts simultaneously, use Expert Advisors for automated trading, create your own technical indicators and the use of 128-bit encryption ensuring the security of trade transactions. The platform is accessible via a desktop download, web trader and application for your mobile devices.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available depends on the account you are using. If you are using a Classic account then your maximum leverage will be 1500, if you are using one of the Advance accounts then you will have a maximum leverage of 1:200. The leverage can be selected when opening up the account and once it is open, you can contact the customer service team should you wish to change it.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all accounts start at 0.1 lots, however, the maximum trade size for each one is different and is 20 lots for the Classic Pearl, 30 lots for the Classic VIP, 50 lots for the Advanced Diamond and, 100 lots for the Advanced VIP.

We would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to it being harder to execute quickly, and we are not sure about the maximum number of open trades allowed at any one time.

Trading Costs

The accounts do not have any added commissions, instead, they all use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. The accounts do have swap charges, these are interest fees charged for holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative, they can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a number of categories which we will now outline for you.

Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, EURJPY, GBPJPY, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURCAD, EURAUD, EURNZD, GBPCHF, GBPNZD, GBPCAD, GBPAUD, CHEFJPY, CADCHF, CADJPY, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY.

Metals: Gold and Silver.

Indices: Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, DAX, FTSE, Nikkei, France 40, Swiss 30, Euro 50, Hong Kong 40, Spain 35, Italian 40.

Futures: Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Light Sweet Crude Oil, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Coffee, Copper.

Spreads

The spreads on offer vary quite a lot, they are using two different types of spreads fixed and variable. Variable (or floating) spreads mean that they move with the market when there is added volatility the spreads often widen and are seen larger. Fixed spreads are the opposite, they do not change no matter what is happening in the markets, they always remain the same.

Here are the outlines of the starting spreads.

  • Classic Pearl: Fixed from 2 pips
  • Classic VIP: Fixed from 1 pip
  • Advanced Diamond: Variable from 1.6 pips
  • Advanced VIP: Variable from 1 pip

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $200, this will get you either the Classic Pearl or Advanced Diamond accounts, if you want a VIP account you will need to deposit at least $5,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are only three ways to find your account, you can use Bank Wire Transfer, Credit / Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard) and Skrill. Looking through the FAQ on the site, they state that there are no added fees, however when depositing using Bank Wire Transfer you should check with your bank to see if there are any added fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You must return funds to the account used to deposit, however, once the withdrawal equals the deposit, it seems like you can only use Bank Wire Transfer as a withdrawal method. Just like with deposits, there are no added fees but be sure to check with your bank to see if there are any transfer fees added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Vinson Financials will aim to process withdrawals within 2 business days, however, on occasion, they could take longer. The amount of time in total that it takes depends on the method used and could take between 1 to 5 working days to fully process.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not seem like there are any bonuses or promotions active at the time of writing this review if you are interested in bonuses you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you can take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the tools and educational side of the site, in relation to tools there is an economic calendar which details upcoming news events along with the markets they may affect, there is also a currency converter for working out the exchange of currencies. Finally, for tools, there are live charts of various pairs and assets to view on the site.

There are a few different sections centered around learning, the first are guides to different aspects such as forex trading, metals trading, CFD trading, commodities, futures, oil trading, and Expert Advisors. There is then a section for articles however this has not been updated since 2018 so it isn’t the most relevant, there is then market news, but this again is slightly out of date as the latest article is from November 2019. There is technical analysis, but again the last update was in 2018, finally, there are webinars that again have not been updated since November 2019.

Customer Service

If you are required to get in contact with the Vinson Financial support team you can do so 24 hours a day 5 days a week, they are closed only over the weekends and on bank holidays. You can get in contact using the online submission form to fill in your query or you can also use the online chat feature. If those don’t suit you then you can email them directly or use a phone number and finally, the postal address.

There are a few different offices, but we will detail the Cyprus office.

Address: 6 Voreiou Ipeirou Street, Limassol 3022, Cyprus
Email: (+357) 25 02 88 61–63
Phone: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, the demo account allows you to test using the MetaTrader 4 platform, you can select between the classic or advanced accounts and choose leverage between 1:1 and 1:500. The account comes with a balance of $100,000, there is no expiration o the account so they will remain open indefinitely.

Demo accounts are a great way for new clients to test the servers and trading conditions while also allowing existing traders a way to test new strategies without risking any of their own capital.

Countries Accepted

Vinson Financials do not specify who can and who cannot use their service, so if you are not sure, get in contact with the customer service team to check prior to signing up.

Conclusion

The trading conditions offered by Vinson Financials can be seen as competitive, they are very slightly on the high side but still in line with what you would expect. There are no added commissions and so the spreads are expected to be high, starting at 1 pip for the VIP account is more than acceptable. There are quite a few assets to trade which is good to see, additions of crypto would help them out a lot. The main downside is the deposit and withdrawal methods, they are very limited. While there are no fees, if you use a different transfer method normally, you may be forced into using one you don’t normally use. Plenty of ways to contact the customer service team which is great and they are available 24/5. Not too many negatives from Vinson Financials from what is on the site, but whether they are right for you, is your decision.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Traderia Review

Traderia is a foreign exchange broker that doesn’t give a lot of information about themselves away. It is always a concern when they don’t list things like locations, addresses or other important information. What they do say is that they are a team of hardworking professionals that are focused on your success. We will be using this review to look at the services on offer to try and find out a little more information about them and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available each coming with different features, the account page doesn’t specify trading conditions so we will outline those in each section of this review. Let’s get a brief overview of what the accounts offer.

Classic Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000. It comes with daily briefing & research as well as desktop & mobile trader and video tutorials.

Gold Account: This account has a minimum deposit of $10,000. It comes with daily briefing & research, desktop & mobile trading platforms, video tutorials, competitive spreads, and webinars & seminars.

Platinum Account: The minimum deposit amount for this account is $25,000. The account comes with daily briefing & research, desktop & mobile trading platforms, video tutorials, competitive spreads, webinars & seminars, a general account manager and, SM news & signals.

VIP Account: This is the top-level account and requires a minimum deposit of $100,000. The account comes with daily briefing & research, desktop & mobile trading platforms, video tutorials, competitive spreads, webinars & seminars, a general account manager, SM news & signals, premium daily analysis and premium customer care.

Platforms

The only platform available to use with Traderia is MetaTrader 4, the good news is that it is an extremely popular and versatile platform. It is accessible anywhere as it can be used as a desktop download, mobile application or as a web trader. You can execute trades manually or with preloaded indicators and automated robot trading strategies (or Expert Advisors). Alternatively, MT4’s highly customizable, advanced software allows you to create your own trading strategies using its unique MQL4 programming language. Take advantage of MT4’s one-click functionality to make sure your trades are executed fast, every time.

Leverage

Unfortunately, it was not clear to us what the maximum trade size was, leverage is normally selectable when opening up an account but we did not see the option so it must be further in the account creation process, so, unfortunately, we are not able to comment on the maximum leverage.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size available is 0.01 lots which is known as a micro lot, the trade sizes then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. There is a maximum trade size of 1,000 lots which is far too high and you shouldn’t really trade any more than 50 lots in a single trade. It is not known what the maximum trade size is.

The different instruments also have different trade size boundaries, we have outlined them below.

  • Forex: Min 0.01 lots / Max 1,000 lots
  • Indices: Min 1 lot / Max 1,000 lots
  • Commodities: Min 1 lot / Max unknown

Trading Costs

It seems like all accounts use a spread based system (that we will look at lateR) rather than having any commission, so we do not think there is any added to the accounts at Traderia.

Swap fees are present, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative. They can be viewed on the website or within the MetaTrader trading platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, we will outline the different instruments within them below.

Forex: USDJPY, GBPUSD, EURUSD, EURJPY, AUDUSD, EURCHF, AUDJPY, USDCAD, NZDUSD, USDCHF, EURGBP, AUDAD, CADCHF, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, NZDCHF, NZDCAD, USDHKD, AUDCHF, NZDJPY, USDSGD, CHFJPY, CADJPY, EURCAD, EURAUD, AUDNZD, EURTRY, GBPAUD, GBPNZD, USDCNH, USDDKK, GBPCAD, USDTRY, EURDKK, EURNZD, EURNOK, EURHUF, EURPLN, EURSEK, USDCZK, USDHUF, USDILS, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRON, USDZAR, USDRUB, EURRUB, USDSEK.

Commodities: WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Gold, Silver, Aluminum, Copper, Cotton, Feeder Cattle, Heating Oil, Live Cattle, Lead, Nickel, Palladium, Platinum, RBOB Gasoline, Rough Rice, SoyBean, Tin, Zinc.

Indices: UK 100, Aussie 200, Nikkei 225, German DAX, IBEX 35, IBEX 50, CAC 40, Hang Seng, Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow Jones.

Spreads

Looking at the product specifications it doesn’t make it entirely clear what the spreads are for each account. When looking at USDJPY as an example, it states that the Classic account has spread of 30 (which normally means 3.0 pips), the Gold account has spread of 0.9 pips while the VIP account says 3, which we are not sure if it means 3 pips or 0.3 pips, using the different styles for each account is confusing. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets and when there is added volatility they will often be seen higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit depends on the funding account used but the bare minimum is 250 USD, EUR or GBP. It seems that this amount remains even after an account has been opened rather than reducing for top-up payments.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are just a few ways that you can deposit into Traderia and they are Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill. We have outlined the minimum deposits of each below.

  • Credit / Debit Card – $250 / €250 / £250
  • Skrill – $250 / €250 / £250
  • Bank Wire Transfer – $500 / €1000 / £1000

There is a daily and monthly deposit limit which is 10,000 and 40,000 respectively. There is no mention of any fees, but be sure to check with your bank or card issuer to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw which are Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill. When withdrawing with a Credit/Debit card, you are only able to withdraw the same amount that you deposited, any extras must be withdrawn using one of the other available methods.

Platinum and VIP accounts have free withdrawals, however, the other accounts will have the following fees added to their withdrawals.

  • Credit Card: 3.5%
  • Debit Card: 3.5%
  • Wire Transfers: $30, €25, £20

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Traderia simply states that they will process withdrawals as quickly as possible, they don’t actually give a timescale, we would hope that all withdrawal requests would be fully processed between 1 to 5 business days from the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not seem like there are any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any in the future so be sure to check regularly. You could also contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming bonuses or promotions that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The academy section of the site has a few different aspects to it. The first is an economic calendar that details various news events that are coming up as well as indicating the potential effect they could have on the markets. There is also a calculator available to help work out margins, some real-time charts which simply show what the charts currently look like. There is also a glossary of forex related terms which is helpful if you come across something you do not know the meaning of. Finally, there is an ebook available, it is quite basic and just goes over the real basics, good if just starting out but if you have traded before then you probably know everything it has inside.

Customer Service

The contact us page consists of a single submission form, you can fill it in and then get a reply via email. Luckily at the bottom of the screen, there is an additional phone number and email address should you prefer to use those methods of contact.

Phone: +44 2038 078 269
Email: [email protected]

The customer support team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and is closed over the weekend and on bank holidays, just like the markets are.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and you can have as many of them as you want, demo accounts are great as they allow you to test out new strategies without risking any real capital. The account lasts forever and so they can be used indefinitely. The trading conditions of the accounts are not noted but we suspect them to be similar to those of the live accounts.

Countries Accepted

Information about eligible countries is not on the site, so in order to find out if you are able to get an account or not, you will need to contact the customer service team to check.

Conclusion

Traderia seems to get a little confused as to who they are, there are mentions of multiple different brokers when referring to themselves, so either they are a shell of another company or they were copy and pasting information from other sites and simply forgot to change the name. In terms of the trading conditions it wasn’t easy to find some of it, leverage is not stated and the spreads are a little confusing due to different formats being used. There are enough assets available to keep you busy and when it comes to deposits and withdrawals, the methods are slightly limited and for withdrawing there is a fee if you do not have one of the higher-tier accounts. The fact that some information seems to be copied from other sites means we would probably avoid using them, as not a lot of care has gone into the site.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Twin Option Review

Twin Option is an online foreign exchange, binary options, CFD and cryptocurrency broker, fully regulated and governed by the European MiFID regulations. The vision of the company is to give everyone access to the trading world by improving their understanding and offering a lucrative trading experience. Some of their main goals are to grow their community, offer a secure trading environment and to ensure that their clients are well looked after by their customer service team.

Twin Option offers both trading and binary options, for the purpose of this review, we will only be looking at the trading port of the broker and not the binary options side of the broker.

Account Types

The FAQ on the site states that there are multiple different accounts on an account type page, however, we could not find that page. We did sign up and could locate a number of different accounts however they doid does not have many differences, especially in terms of trading conditions which seem to be the same for all, we have outlined a few of the major differences.

Standard Account: This is the account that you automatically receive when signing up, it does not come with any extra features and has a withdrawal time of 4 to 6 working days.

Bronze Account: This account requires you to deposit at least $1,000. It does not come with any special features apart from a slightly reduced withdrawal time of 3 to 4 days.

Silver Account: This account increases the minimum deposit up to $5,000, it comes with the addition of technical reports, an account manager, trading signals, investment strategies, and the withdrawals are performed between 2 to 3 days from the request being made.

Gold Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $10,000, it comes with all the same features as the Silver account except there are more in-depth investment strategies available and the withdrawal times are further reduced down to 1 to 2 days.

Platinum Account: You need to deposit at least $20,000 to use this account type, all features remain the same with the addition of a personal account manager and further detailed investment strategies. The withdrawal timeline is once again reduced down to 12-24 hours.

Diamond Account: This is the top tier account and so requires a minimum deposit of $50,000, it comes with a dedicated account manager, access to technical reports, an economic calendar, trading signals, the most detailed investment strategies. The withdrawal timeline for this account is 1 to 2 working hours.

Platforms

Twin Option uses its own trading platform, we have to open up an account to view it properly, it uses a layout similar to binary options (this is not a surprise as they also provide binary options trading). The platform only has three different time frames which are 1 minute, 5 minutes and 15 minutes. It also does not seem to have much analysis capability as we did not find any indicators available to use. It is a very simple platform and not something that you can use to analyze, only to place your trades.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:1000, you get a choice of 1:100, 1:200, 1:500 or 1:1000 for each trade that you make. This is a slightly different way of working as it is based on each individual trade and not account type.

Trade Sizes

There are a limited number of trade sizes that you are able to use, they are all in lots and are as follows: 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.50, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0. You are not able to place trades at any other interval. We do not know how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

We could not locate any information surrounding any additional fees or charges when trading so it does not appear that there are any and the accounts all use the fixed spreads as their payment structure. We also do not know if there are any swap charges present when trading as there is no relevant information about them.

Assets

We are only looking at the assets that are available for trading on the forex side, there isn’t a huge selection of them but we have outlined them below.

Forex: EURUSD, USDCHF, GBPUSD, USDJPY, AUDJPY, AUDUSD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, GBPAUD, GBPJPY, USDCAD, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDNZD, EURNZD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDSEK.

Metals: Gold, Silver, Palladium, and Platinum are available to trade.

Spreads

Looking through the platform it looks like the spreads for all currencies are set at 1 pip, the FAQ on the sites states that the spreads are fixed so this means that they will not change and the FAQ also said that they will remain fixed even during news events.

Minimum Deposit

There is not a minimum amount required to open up an account as you automatically get access to the lowest tier account, the overall minimum deposit requirement is $10 which is the lowest that the payment methods available allow.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available to withdraw with: Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, Crypto, Perfect Money, Payeer, WebMoney and AirTM. Unfortunately, we do not know if there are any fees charged by Twin Option so we are not able to suggest what they may be.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

A slightly different selection of methods is available to withdraw with, they are Skrill, Neteller, Crypto, Perfect Money, Payeer, WebMoney, AitTM, and Bank Wire Transfer. The FAQ on the site indicates that there may be some fees charged, but they do not indicate what they might be. The minimum withdrawal amount allowed is $5.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The amount of time it takes for Twin Option to process your withdrawal request will depend on the account you are using, we have listed the expected times below:

  • Standard: 4 to 6 working days
  • Bronze: 3 to 4 working days
  • Silver: 2 to 3 working days
  • Gold: 1 to 2 working days
  • Platinum: 12 to 24 working hours
  • Diamond: 1 to 2 working hours

It will then take some additional time for your own processor or bank to process the incoming transaction, how long it will take will depend on the method used.

Bonuses & Promotions

Apart from the usual affiliate scheme, there did not appear to be any promotions or bonuses taking place. You could always check with the customer service team if bonuses are something that you are interested in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few little tools available, or at least information about them, we say information as we don’t actually see the tools, just information about what is available. The first is an economic calendar, this can be used to look into the future at what sort of news events will be coming up; it will also give you an idea of what sort of impact those news events could have on the markets. There is a currency conversion tool which will do what it says on the box, it will help you work out the exchange rates between different currencies. The pip calculator tools allow you to work out a pip price while the broker spread comparison tool simply compares different spreads between brokers.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day, they do not state if they are open on the weekends though. You can use the online submission form to send your query, they have also provided us with a postal address or a direct email address to use.

Address: Twinoption Ltd, 21 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to use fake or pretend money to trade with, the demo account will closely mimic the trading conditions offered on a real account and are a good way to test out the markets. We do not know what the specific trading conditions of the demo accounts from Twin Option are, but they should be similar to any information provided throughout this review.

Countries Accepted

Twin Option has not provided this information, so we would suggest getting in touch to find out your eligibility prior to signing up.

Conclusion

The accounts on offer give you a different selection of tools and analysis, but the trading conditions do not seem to change between them. The leverage available can be set per trade which is a different feature to most brokers, there is also a limited set of trading sizes with 5 lots as the maximum which could be a little restricting. Spreads are fixed at 1 pip which is relatively low and if there are in fact no added commissions could make trading with Twin Option quite cheap. Plenty of methods available to withdraw and deposit with, but their fees are unknown, they are present for the withdrawals but it does not state how much they are. There is also a slight lack of tradable assets. While the platform offered by Twin Option is interesting, if you are looking for a more traditional trading experience you may need to look elsewhere.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Volume Groups Forex Review

The website that Volume Groups Forex uses is basically a template, there are sections that they have not yet rewritten, instructions telling them what to write, that doesn’t build a lot of confidence in the service that is going to be offered. Due to this, they haven’t posted much information about themselves, so we will be going in blind with this review, we will outline our different findings within each section of the review so we can see what services are on offer and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you. The following is an extract from their site and the only real information about themselves:

“Volume Groups FX is a leading online FX and CFD brokerage firm offering trading facilities to worldwide investors and traders in forex, indices, commodities, and futures. We are proud to offer a trading solution to both retail and institutional clients across a wide range of risk and experience levels and our client base currently spans more than 20 different countries.”

Account Types

There isn’t any account information or comparison page, from briefly looking through the site it seems that there may only be the one account on offer, as we go through each section of the review, we will outline any potential differences, otherwise, all information provided is relevant to the one account that is available.

Platforms

Volumes Forex Group offers just MetaTrader 5 as its trading platform. It offers instant execution and request execution, complete technical analysis package: wide range of inbuilt indicators and charting tools, the ability to create various custom indicators, different time periods (from minutes to months), inbuilt program language MetaQuotes Language it’s a multilingual platform interface (English, German, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Farsi, Japanese, Chinese Simplified, Polish, Turkish, Korean, Indonesian, Bulgarian, etc.), a history database management and import/export facility, inbuilt help guides for MetaTrader and MetaQuotes Language, and the ability to manage your account in different base currencies. It can also be used in a number of ways such as a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader, so you can access your trades and account wherever you are.

Leverage

The average on offer ranges from 1:1 all the way up to 1:500, this is a good level to have and seems to be what a lot of brokers are now aiming for, it can offer a good level of risk and reward. Leverage can be selected when first opening up an account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there are any added commission on the trading account as there is no mention of it anywhere, there are also no mentions of swap charges, looking a the Arabic version of the site the only account available is an Islamic account, however, we do not know what sort of account the English version uses, we would expect the same but cannot say for sure.

Assets

There is no product specification or breakdown of assets, so the only information that we know if that there are both Forex and CFDs available to trade, it is a shame that we do not know which ones though as many potential clients will look for their preferred assets prior to signing up and may go elsewhere as hey cannot see what they can trade.

Spreads

Spreads are another aspect of the broker that we do not know, the information provided simply states that they are competitive and low. It also mentions that they are fixed, this means that they will not move or change, no matter how much volatility there is in the markets, they will always remain the same.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required for the initial deposit is $500, once this first deposit has been made, and further deposits will no longer have a limit and can be of any amount desired.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are two mentioned methods, the first being Bank Wire Transfer and the second being Credit/Debit Card. Volume Groups FX does not charge any additional fees or commissions when depositing, however, you should check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they will add any transfer fees of their own.

Strangely, in the notes there is a mention that PayPal charges approximately 1.9% EUR 0.35/USD 0.20 per transaction, however, they are not listed as a deposit method, so we are unsure if they can actually be used or not.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The two methods mentioned on the site are Bank Wire Transfer and PayPal, so it does, in fact, seem like PayPal is available. Volume Groups FX Does not charge any fees or commission for withdrawing funds. However, please note that PayPal and the banks that they deal with usually charge fees/commission for their services.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Funds withdrawn to a PayPal account will show up in your account within 24 hours of receiving your Withdrawal Form. And the funds withdrawn to a bank account will reach your bank account in 2 to 4 working days from the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not seem to be any active promotions or bonuses happening at the time of writing this review, if you would like to see if there are any coming up then you could always contact the customer service team to find out.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are three very basic blog posts that equate to the educational side of the site. The first is a page giving tips on how to trade better, the second is more forex trading tips and the third is a very short overview of trading Gold and Silver.

Customer Service

The customer service department can be contacted by using the online submission form, fill it in with your query and you should then get a reply via email. They have also provided a London and Istanbul based telephone number and an email address.

London Phone: 0044 2076600966
Istanbul Phone: 00905533000084
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

A demo account is available, there isn’t any additional information provided about them so we would expect the trading conditions to mimic the information that we have put into this review. We do not know how long they last for (expiration times) however the demo account is a great way to test out the markets and new strategies without any real risk to your own capital.

Countries Accepted

Details regarding this are not present on the site, if you are thinking of signing up, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to make sure you are eligible prior to opening up an account.

Conclusion

The website isn’t a great one, there are images not loading properly and some of the text is still the default text, this is not a good way to build a good first impression. In terms of the actual trading, it seems like there is just the one account, sadly not all the information regarding it is available, we still do not know what the spreads are or what assets are available, due to not knowing the spreads it means we do not know what the true trading cost of the account is or how expensive it is to trade here. There are limited funding methods, but with no added fees it is a small plus. Based on the site we would probably recommend looking somewhere else, the broken aspects of the site could indicate that they no longer care, or that they are not as competent as they try to make out.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

WealthTrade FX Review

WealthTrade FX is a foreign exchange broker that doesn’t give a lot of information about itself away. Based in the Seychelles, WealthTrade FX has offered some quick stats about itself which include that there are no FIFO rules or restrictions, it offers full hedging capabilities, fast, instant executions on every trade has industry-leading analysis and tools, easy to use funding methods, has practice accounts and has full access to Expert Advisors and scalping capabilities. We will be using this review to learn a little more about the broker and to see how they stand up next to the competition.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available for individuals, these are the Micro, Standard, and Premium accounts. The only information that we have on them at this stage is their required deposit amounts, so we have outlined those below, as we go through the review we will detail any other differences in each individual section, we won’t be looking at the joint or corporate accounts.

  • Micro Account: Requires a minimum deposit of $250 to $10,000
  • Standard Account: Requires a minimum deposit of $0 to $50,000
  • Premium Account: Requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 or more

Platforms

WealthTrade FX uses a platform called WealthTrader FX Pro, however, this is basically MetaTrader 4 with a few changes made by themselves. Some of the features stated include the fact that all Metatrader 4 Expert Advisors (EA) are supported, it has direct STP connections and execution, tight STP spreads and quotes, a true non-deal desk environment, no proximity restrictions when placing entry or exit orders, scalping is available, offers leading analysis tools, and offers full hedging capabilities.

Leverage

When signing up for any of the available accounts, the only option in the leverage section is 1:100, so it appears that all accounts must have this single leverage. This is selected when opening an account and unfortunately cannot be changed.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots on all accounts, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades and orders you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there are any added commissions, there is no mention of them only of spreads which we will look at later in this review. There are swap charges which differ from one currency pair to another and are determined by the banks. They can be either positive or negative and are charged for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed within the trading platform that WealthTrade FX offers.

Assets

There doesn’t seem to be a full breakdown of the available assets, instead, there is a page detailing forex and a page detailing CFDs, the forex page simply states that most major pairs are available, which doesn’t make it sound like there are any at all. The CFD page states that there are 7 major indices including Nikkei 225, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, FTSE 100, and Dow Jones 30. There are also some commodities which include Oil, Agriculture, and Precious Metals.

It is a shame that there is not a full breakdown as many potential clients will look to see if their preferred instruments are available. Hiding this information can also give the impression that there isn’t actually much on offer.

Spreads

We do not have much to go on in regards to spreads. There aren’t any actual examples, the only information that we have is that the Standard account has slightly better spreads than the Micro accounts, while the Premium account has better than the Standard and that the spreads are variable. That means that they are influenced by the markets, the more volatility, or if there is less liquidity, the spreads will often widen and be seen larger.

Minimum Deposit

There is no minimum deposit requirement to open up an account as the Standard account does not have a minimum requirement. If you want the Micro account you will need to deposit at least $250, or $50,000 for the Premium account. However, the FAQ does state that the minimum amount required is $500 for the Micro account, which is contradictory to what the account page states.

Deposit Methods & Costs

At the moment only Bank Wire Transfer is available to deposit with. The good news is that WealthTrade FX will not add any additional fees or commissions when depositing, you should, however, check with your own bank to see if they will add any outgoing transfer fees of their own. The site does state that more deposit methods are coming soon.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Bank Wire Transfer is the only method available to withdraw with, just like with the deposits there are no added fees from WealthTrade FX, however, some banks can charge for incoming transactions, especially if they are in a different currency, so be sure to check whether your bank does or not.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

WealthTrader FX will aim to process a withdrawal the same day it is received, if not then it will be processed on the next working day. It will then take between 2 to 4 days for the withdrawal to be fully processed, this will depend on the processing speed of your own bank.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not seem to be any bonuses active at the time that we are writing this review. You could always check with the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is no education on the site which is a shame to see, many brokers are now trying to help their clients through education, so it would be good to see WealthTrade FX do something similar. They have information about getting a VPS for your trading platform, however, it is not an offer and instead is just an affiliate link to a VPS provider.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available from 5 pm on Sunday all the way through to 4 pm on Friday (ET). You can contact their support team, trade desk, and deposit/withdrawal department using email, you can also use the direct telephone number or postal address.

Address: WealthTrade FX Ltc, Trident Chambers, Capital City Building, PO Box 1388, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles.
Support Email: [email protected]
Phone: 877 578 2770

Demo Account

A demo account allows you to test out trading conditions and new strategies without any real risk, they are available from WealthTrader FX, you are only able to get a demo account of the Pro account so the trading conditions will mimic the ones of the Pro account. Other details are not known and we do not know if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site, so if you are thinking of signing up we would recommend contacting the customer service team first just to make sure that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

There isn’t a whole lot of information available on the site and the information that is there is very limited and scattered around. We do not know what the difference is between the three accounts apart from them having slightly different ( yet unknown) spreads. The leverage is fixed at 1:100 which is ok, but not as high as we would have hoped, in terms of assets, what they are is unknown, but it doesn’t seem like there are going to be any instruments or assets available to trade. There is also just one method of depositing, this could greatly limit the potential client base that could use the broker, the good news is that there aren’t any fees for depositing or withdrawing.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Sword Capital Review

Sword Capital is a foreign exchange broker based in the Middle East. Sword Capital has the vision to provide the best financial brokerage services, both locally and internationally, as well as to build a long term relationship with its clients. Their values include integrity, leadership, transparency, credibility, creativity, and innovation. Throughout this review, we will be diving deep into the services on offer to see how they perform and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are a lot of different accounts on offer such as a Personal Account, Corporate Account, IB Account, Hedge Fund account, Premium Account, and Family Office Account. The majority of these would not be relevant to us and only the Personal and Premium accounts would be. There isn’t an overview of the accounts, so throughout this review, we will be looking at the different aspects of the account and trading conditions, any differences between them we will outline in each section.

Platforms

There are three different platforms on offer, two of them you would most likely have heard of, the third maybe not, so let’s see what they offer.

MetaTrader 4: MT4 is one of the world’s most used and most loved trading platforms, being used by hundreds and thousands of users. Offering high levels of accessibility, available as a desktop download (PC and Mac), a web trader and as an application for mobile devices. Some of its features include a market watch, multiple order types, thousands of indicators, a huge number of compatible expert advisors, trading history, analysis tools, multiple charts, automated trading and many more.

MetaTrader 5: MT5 is the younger brother of MetaTrader 4, developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MT5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to aid in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless. MetaTrader 5 offers the built-in Market of trading robots, the Freelance database of strategy developers, Copy Trading and the Virtual Hosting service (Forex VPS). Use all these services from one place, and access new trading opportunities. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

TWS: This platform is more intended for professional traders or other brokerage platforms, so it is not something that we would really be using and so don’t go into a lot of details on it.

Leverage

The leverage on forex pairs can go up to 1:200, the site doesn’t specify what the leverage is for other instruments such as commodities. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account, it is unknown if it can be changed on an already open account but you should contact the customer service team should you wish to change it.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from as low as 0.01 lots (known as a micro lot), they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots.

Trading Costs

When using MetaTrader 4 or 5 there are no added commissions for forex when trading on the Personal or Premium account, the use of a spread based system that we will look at later in this review.

There are some added commissions when trading other assets, we have outlined them below:

  • Energy: $5 per lot traded
  • Agriculture: $10 per lot traded
  • Stocks: $30 per 1,000 trades
  • Indices: $5 per lot traded

There is also no mention of swap charges, but we suspect that they will be present and these are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader platforms.

Assets

We have broken down the available assets into a number of categories so you can have a full overview of what is available to trade with Sword Capital.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURTRY, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPTRY, NZDJPY, USDTRY.

Metals: Copper, Silver (tradable against EUR, USD, and GBP), Gold (tradable against EUR, USD, and GBP), Palladium and Platinum.

Indexes: CAC 4, DAX, Dollar Index, Dow Jones, S&P 500, FTSE, Nasdaq Big, Nikkei, Nasdaq Mini, S&P 500 Big and Dow Jones Mini.

Agriculture: Cocoa, Coffee, Corn, Cotton, Orange Juice, Soybean, Sugar and Wheat.

US Shares: Apply, AIG, Amazon, Boeing, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Caterpillar, Cisco, Walt Disney,m Facebook, GEC, Google, Home Depot, Herbalife, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, McDonald’s, 3M Company, Microsoft, Oracle, Pfizer, AT&T, Twitter, Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil and, Yahoo.

Energy Shares: Heating Oil, Natural Gas, Crude Oil, and Gasoline.

Spreads

There are examples of spreads for all assets, however, we are not clear which accounts they are relevant for so we will just give the examples we have, a small selection includes.

  • AUD/CAD: Starting 2 pips, average 4 pips
  • CAD/CHF: Starting 2 pips, average 5 pips
  • EUR/CHF: Starting 2 pips, average 3 pips

As you can see the average spreads vary from instrument to instrument, the spreads are also variable which means they move with the markets, when there is added volatility they will often be seen a lot higher than the starting figures given or even the average stated.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100, this will allow you to open up a Personal account, for the Pro account you will need to make a deposit of at least $100,000 so this will price out the majority of retail traders. It is unknown what the minimum deposit amount is once an account is already open.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sword Capital does not make it easy to work out what methods are available when you select the deposit & withdrawal button it takes you to a login page, we managed to sneak our way around it to get a view of a couple of methods, however, we do not fully know what methods are available.

The ones that we discovered were by Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney, Yandex Money, QIWI Wallet, Cryptocurrencies, and Skrill. They may well be other methods available but we were not able to locate them.

In terms of fees, they are a little complicated, it does not seem like there will be any for depositing but there will be for withdrawing which we will look at below.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

It seems like the same methods are available, but we must note that the information we are getting is from all over the site, as we do not have an account we cannot log in to fully check.

The methods available seem to be Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney, Yandex Money, QIWI Wallet, Cryptocurrencies, and Skrill. We have set out a table below detailing the information we do know (or what we can work out).

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The processing times are unknown to us but we would hope for all withdrawal requests to be fully processed between 1 to 7mworking days from the time the request is made. There is the option to select the Sword prepaid card, which is said to offer fast payment approval, along with a variety of additional perks.

Bonuses & Promotions

The only bonus program that seems to be running is something called Sword Points, when using MetaTrader 4 you can earn points that can then be redeemed and withdrawn. You will earn 1 point for every 3 lots that you trade, there are various physical or financial things you can exchange them for, but the example given is that 10 points will allow you to convert it into $20.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the educational side of the site, there is a training section but this is just a signup form, no real information about the training. There is also some training based on the different platforms but again we did not get to experience any of this. Finally, there are some signals for both MT4 and via SMS, they seem to be showing some growth, but we do not know the full extent of their accuracy or profitability.

There are also some tools available, the firs being an economic calendar detailing any upcoming news events and also indicating what effect they could have on the markets, there is then a new section detailing past news. There are also some charts and daily reports to give a good indication of what could happen next.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available between 10 am and 6 pm GMT over the phone, for better support they recommend using email or the chat feature. There is also an online submission form to fill in.

Middle East Office:
Address: Kuwait Sharq Blk7 Tower44 Floor 19-18
Phone: +965-2246-8817
Email: [email protected]
Opening Times: 9:00AM-7:00PM 6 Days GMT

Asia Office:
Address: Hong Kong – Tower78 Bonham Strand Sheung Wan
Phone: +852-58085069
Email: [email protected]
Opening Times: 9:00AM-4:00PM 5 Days GMT

Africa Office:
Address: Seychelles MahePlaza Eden Suite 208
Phone: +248-4346840
Email: [email protected]
Opening Times: 9:00AM-4:00PM 7 Days GMT

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and are a great way to test out the servers and new strategies without risking any real capital. Demo accounts are available in both MT4 and MT5 and they come with a balance of $10,000. No other details are mentioned and we do not know if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website: “Sword Capital does not offer its services to residents of certain jurisdictions such as the USA, Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Syria, North Korea or any country restricted by FATF.” If you are unsure of your eligibility we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check prior to signing up.

Conclusion

The way the site has been set out doesn’t make it easy to find some of the information we need, in terms of accounts we still don’t truly understand the difference between them apart from a different deposit amount required. There are plenty of assets available to trade which is great and it seems like there are a lot of deposit and withdrawal methods, but it can be confusing as to which ones are actually available, the fees are also a little high. At this time, we would only recommend trading with Sword Capital if you have a reference or know others using the platform, otherwise, we would suggest looking elsewhere.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Welkron Review

Welkron markets itself as a new generation broker, using the latest innovation, they state that their main attractions are a strong financial position, supervision by regulatory bodies, attractive prices and execution of commercial transactions, next-generation trading platforms, 24-hour customer support, innovative trading tools and a wide range of instruments to trade. This review is intending to look at the services being offered to see if they live up to their expectations.

Account Types

Welkron is offering four different account types to their clients, each one having slightly different entry requirements and trading conditions, so let’s look at what is on offer.

Mini Account: The mini account requires a minimum deposit of between $500 and $10,000. It has spreads starting from 2 pips and there is no added commission on the account. It is able to trade all available currency pairs and has leverage up to 1:500, it also has access to the online support team.

Standard Account: The standard account requires a minimum deposit of at least $10,000. It has spread starting from around 1.5 pips and has no added commissions when trading. It has access to all available products and has a maximum leverage of 1:200, it also has access to phone and online support.

Pro Account: The Pro account has a minimum deposit requirement of $25,000. The account has spreads starting as low as 0 pips and due to this has a commission added to its trading dependent on the instrument traded. It has access to all products and the account has a maximum leverage of 1:200, it has access to phone and online support as well as a personal manager available 24/5.

VIP Account: This is the top-level account and requires a minimum deposit of $50,000. It has spreads starting from 0 pips and so has a commission added to trading which is based on the trading volume made. It has access to all products and the account has a maximum leverage of up to 1:100. It has access to phone and online support as well as a personal manager available 24/7. It also comes with a personal support channel and legal protection of interests.

Platforms

Welkron is offering a single trading platform to use, luckily it is the ever-popular MetaTrader 4, so let’s see what this trading platform has to offer.

MT4: MetaTrader 4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. Millions of people use MT4 for its interactive charts, multiple timeframes, one-click trading, trade copying and more. In terms of accessibility, MT4 is second to none, available as a desktop download, an app for Android and iOS devices and as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great trading solution to have.

Leverage

The maximum leverage that you receive depends on the account that you are using, they are as follows:

  • Mini Account: 1:500
  • Standard Account: 1:200
  • Pro Account: 1:200
  • VIP Account: 1:100

The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it on an already open account you can do so by getting in touch with the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots (these are also known as micro-lots) and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. There is no mention of maximum trade size, however, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage. There is also no mention of how many trades you are able to have open at the same time.

Trading Costs

The Mini and Standard accounts do not have any added commission as they use a spread based system which we will look at later in this review. The Pro account has an added commission which is based on the instrument that you are using, the VIP account has a commission added which is based on the volume of your trading. The unfortunate thing is that what the commissions are is unknown, there isn’t a mention of them on the accounts page, product specification or the terms of service, apart from the fact that there are some. It would have been good to know what they are as trading costs can be a major factor in a new client choosing which broker they will use.

Assets

Welkron have all of their assets thrown into a single list which makes it harder to differentiate what is what, however, we have outlined what the instruments are below:

Currency Pairs: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CASCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURDKK, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBOCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSGD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Commodities: Spot Gold, Spot Silver, Natural Gas, Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil.

Indices: ASX 200, CAC 50, HSI 50, Nasdaq 100, Stoxx 50, Dax 30, FTSE 100, Ibex 35, Nikkei 225, S&P 500.

Crypto: BTCUSD (Bitcoin).

Spreads

The spreads that you receive are dependent on the account that you are using, the mini account has spread starting from 2 pips, the standard account has spread starting from around 1.5 pips and the Pro and VIP account have spread as low as 0 pips. The product specification page unfortunately just has all instruments set as a minimum 0 pips so we can not see what they actually might be. What we do know though is that the spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 2 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher, 2.5 pips (numbers are estimated).

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open an account is $500 which gets you the mini account, if you want a commission-based account you will need to deposit at least $25,000. It is unknown if the minimum amount drops after the initial deposit but we will be assuming that it does.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different deposit methods available through the use of a few different payment processors, let’s look at what they are. No deposit fees are a good sign and plenty to choose from, while there are no fees by Welkron, be sure to check with your bank or processor to ensure they do not add any of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Each withdrawal method has a different withdrawal fee, so we have outlined them for you below. It is a shame to see such high commissions added to each withdrawal method, this is something that we would want to see stamped out of future practices.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There doesn’t seem to be any information about how long processing will take, so to be safe we will say the usual 1 to 5 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

We could not locate any information on the website in regards to bonuses or promotions so it does not appear that there are any active ones at the time of writing this review. If you are interested in bonuses then be sure to check back regularly or get in contact with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming bonuses or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side of the site has some basic information on different aspects like trading or analysis, unfortunately, it is only available in Russian, we used a translator to see what it says and it is very basic and not something that will make you an expert trader, you will need to look elsewhere for your educational requirements. There is a basic economic calendar though which details some very basic information on upcoming news events and which markets they will affect.

Customer Service

There isn’t a dedicated customer service page, so we are assuming the main details are available once you sign up, for now, we are left with a basic submission form in the footer of the page, there is also a phone number and email address available in the footer but throughout the website, they are talking about their great support team, you would think there would be more information about it, however, we suspect there is more once you are a client of theirs.

Demo Account

There has been no mention of any demo accounts throughout the site so we do not thin they are currently available, this is a shame as new clients like to sue them to test the servers and trading conditions and existing clients like to sue them to test new strategies without risking their capital, so this is something that Welkron should look at adding to their services.

Countries Accepted

The information about which countries are accepted and which are not is not present on the website, so if you are interested in joining, be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to check if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

Welkron put a lot of expectations on themselves with their aims, however, it seems they may have fallen a little short. The trading conditions initially looked good from the comparison of the accounts, competitive spreads were a big plus, unfortunately when it came to actually seeing the spreads, there was no information available. Same with the commission, we do not know anything about it apart from the fact that it exists, these kinds of things are vital as the cost of trading is one of the major factors a lot of potential clients look at. Plenty of deposit methods is good with no deposit fees, however, quite high withdrawal fees could be painful when withdrawing your funds. From what we have seen, Welkron didn’t quite hit the heights that they were aiming for.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

KB Captials Review

KB Capitals was founded in 2010 and is a forex trading provider and broker which currently hosts thousands of clients. Based in the Czech Republic, they aim for stability and make every effort to provide trouble-free services, safe and simple trading, financial viability, and strict legal compliance. We will be using this review to dive deep down into the services on offer to see how they compare to the competitions and to find out how transparent they are as a broker.

Account Types

There are eight different account types listed but in reality, there are only four as each account type is listed with a EUR and USD version. We have outlined the main features of each account below.

Silver Account: The deposit requirement for this account is between $250 and $2,999. It comes with leverage up to 1:200 and has fixed, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 40 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account cannot be used as an Islamic account.

Gold Account: The deposit requirement for this account is between $3,000 and $24,999. It comes with leverage up to 1:300 and has fixed, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 80 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account can be used as a swap-free account.

Brilliant Account: The account has a minimum deposit requirement of $25,000. It comes with leverage up to 1:400 and has floating, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 150 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account and the account can be used as a swap-free account.

Managed Account: The account has a minimum deposit requirement of $250. It comes with leverage up to 1:400 and has floating, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 150 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account and the account can be used as a swap-free account.

Platforms

The accounts page indicates that MetaTrader 4 is an available trading platform, however the trading platform page only outlines a web trader, so we are assuming (maybe wrong) that the web trader is in fact MetaTrader 4. At any rate, MT4 is one of the world’s most used trading platforms hosting over 1,000,000 traders worldwide. The platform is compatible with hundreds and thousands of indicators and expert advisors and is fully customizable to your trading needs.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available depends on the account you are using, the Silver account has a maximum leverage of 1:200, the Gold account can be leveraged up to 1:300 and the Brilliant and Managed accounts can be leveraged up to 1:400. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by contacting the customer service ream wit your change request.

Trade Sizes

Trades sizes on all accounts start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro-lot. They then go up in increments of 0.01 lots until the maximum trade size is reached. Each account has a different maximum trade size. The Bronze account has a maximum trade size of 40 lots, the Gold account is 80 lots, the Brilliant and Managed accounts have a maximum trade size of 150 lots. We would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade though due to execution and slippage issues.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions on any of the accounts as they all use a spread based structure. There are however swap fees on all accounts, these are fees charged for holding trades overnight and can be both positive and negative and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. The Gold, Brilliant and Managed account can have a swap-free Islamic version should you not be able to pay or receive interest.

Assets

The assets at KB Kapitals have been broken down into a few different categories, we will now look into each category and outline the available instruments within them.

Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, EURCHF, EURGBP, NZDUSD, EURJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, USDHKD, USDSGD, UEURDKK, EURHUF, EURNOK, EURPLN, EURSEK, USDDKK, USDHUF, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDTRY, USDZAR, EURILS, GBPILS, USDILS.

Metals and Energies: Silver, Gold, Brent Crude Oil, Light Sweet Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and RBOB Gasoline are available to trade.

Commodities: Cocoa, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton #2, Orange Juice, Palladium, Platinum, Soybeans, Sugar #11, and Wheat.

Indices: CAC 40, DAX 30, Mini Size Dow Jones, FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, Nasdaq 100, E-Mini S&P 500, ASX XPI 200, DJ Euro Stoxx, China H-Shares, Hang Seng, IBEX 35, STSE/JSE Top 40, STSE / MB, CNX NIFTY, Volatility SP500, US Dollar Future, Tel Aviv 25.

Shares: There are plenty of shares available to trade, some of them include Amazon, Disney, Ferrari, IBM, General Motors and Verizon.

Spreads

The accounts use two different spread styles, the Silver and Gold account used fixed spreads that do not change, while the Brilliant and Managed accounts use a floating spread which moves with the markets when there is added volatility they will often be seen higher.

We do not know the differences in spreads as there is only one set of spreads shown on the asset breakdown page. The breakdown indicates that spreads average 1.8 pips for EURUSD, while other pairs have different average spreads with some like EURCHF having an average spread of 2.9 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount is $250, this will allow you to open up either a Silver account or a Managed account. Once an account has been opened, there is no minimum deposit enforced on subsequent deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few ways to get your money into KB Capitals, these are Credit / Debit Card (Visa or MasterCard), Bank Wire Transfer and WebMoney. So the selection isn’t the biggest and we do not know if there are any added fees. You should always check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own. There are some additional images at the bottom of the screen but the terms and deposit pages do not indicate that they are actually usable as deposit methods.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification, these are Credit/Debit Card (Visa or MasterCard), Bank Wire Transfer and WebMoney. You must withdraw money back to the original deposit source. There is no indication of any potential fees but you should check with your own processor and bank for any incoming processing fees they may have.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests can be made at any time. Requests are only processed once we receive all requested or required documentation and verified your account and payment methods. The process usually takes up to four days.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different bonuses available, we will briefly outline a couple of them so you can get an idea of the sort of promotions that KB Capitals offers.

100% First Deposit Bonus: You can receive a 100% deposit bonus up to $1,000 on your first deposit, the site has the following information about the bonus, a trader must make a minimum of 10 trades. It also indicates to look into the bonus policy for more information but there is no information within it in regards to converting the bonus funds into real funds, so we don’t actually know how good the bonus really is.

Protected Trading Account: You can trade risk-free for the first month, this means that any lost trades will be refunded. Again, we do not know the full terms as they aren’t really specified anywhere.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few aspects to the educational side of the site, there are some 1-on-1 forex instructions for people with accounts larger than $1,000, there are also some webinars but we don’t really know how good they are. There is then an economic calendar, this shows you upcoming news events and also indicates which markets the news may affect. Next up is a glossary of trading-related terms, there is a page for video tutorials but the page currently states that it is coming soon. The final section is trading for beginners, but there isn’t much information on it so it isn’t the most helpful page you will come across when trying to educate yourself.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer support team by using the online form, fill it in and get a reply via email. They have also provided their clients with a postal address, phone number, and email address. The phone lines are available between 09:00 and 18:00 GMT+1 each day (except on weekends and bank holidays).

Address: Rybna 716/24, Stare Mesto, 110 00 Praha 1
Phone: +43720817958
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out new strategies and trading conditions without risking any capital, they are an important part of a broker and so it is strange that there is no mention of them anywhere on the site. There may be a way to open a demo account once you have fully signed up, but there is no indication of them on the site.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site and so we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are eligible prior to opening an account.

Conclusion

The available accounts offer a range of trading conditions, while we do not know all of the available spreads, the ones that we do see are around the average in the industry at around 1.8 pips, there is no added commission which is nice but it would be good to see examples of the fixed spreads too. There are plenty of assets available to trade which is a plus. In terms of funding, there is a slightly limited selection of available and this not fully clear if there are any fees added to the deposit or withdrawals.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BullTraders Review

BullTraders is a foreign exchange broker that was founded in 2009 and is located in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They provide the ability to trade over 150 different instruments, offer classic trading with low spreads, offer 3 loyalty programs, offer a news feed and an economic calendar as well as other features. We will be using this review to look deeper to see if those things are actually offered and so see how they compare next to the competition.

Account Types

Should you decide to join up with BullTraders, you will have three different accounts to choose from. We have outlined them along with their requirements as featured below.

Micro Account: This account does not have a deposit requirement and so can be opened without a deposit, the account can be leveraged up to 1:200, it has a fixed spread starting at 2 pips and it uses market execution. There are no added fees or commissions, the account comes with a stop out level of 20% and you are able to have up to 20 orders at any one time, the minimum trade size available for this account is 0.01 lots.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $1,000, the account can be leveraged up to 1:100, it has a fixed spread starting at 2 pips and it uses market execution. There are no added fees or commissions, the account comes with a stop out level of 20% and you are able to have up to 20 orders at any one time, the minimum trade size available for this account is 0.1 lots.

Pro Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $2,000, the account can be leveraged up to 1:200, it has a fixed spread starting at 2 pips and it uses market execution. There are no added fees or commissions, the account comes with a stop out level of 20% and you are able to have up to 20 orders at any one time, the minimum trade size available for this account is 1 lot.

Platforms

BullTrader uses its own trading platform, it is accessible as a desktop download, mobile application and as a web trader to use with your internet browser. The platform seems to take a lot of influence from MetaTrader 4, however not quite offering as much functionality. It has multiple charts and timeframes, there are also multiple indicators available to help with your analysis and trading needs.

Leverage

The maximum leverage seems to be 1:200, however, there are mentions of 1:1000 on the site for example which is a little strange and could cause some confusion. For clarification, the maximum leverage available is 1:200. This can be selected when opening up the account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened, but if you wish to we would suggest contacting the customer service team with a change request.

  • Micro Account: 1:100 , 1:200
  • Standard Account: 1:100
  • Pro Account: 1:50, 1:100, 1:200

Trade Sizes

The trade sizes that you get depend on the account type that you are using, we have outlined the minimum trade sizes below.

  • Micro Account: 0.01 lots minimum / 20 max trades at any one time
  • Standard Account: 0.1 lots minimum / 20 max trades at any one time
  • Pro Account: 1 lot minimum / 20 max trades at any one time

The maximum trade size for all three accounts is 5 lots.

Trading Costs

There are no added fees or commissions when trading as all three accounts use a spread based system that we will look at later in the review. There are also swap charges, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive and negative and can be viewed from within the trading software or from on the BullTraders website.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a number of different categories, we have outlined them below along with the instruments within them.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURSGD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPSGD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDDKK, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDSGD.

Stocks: Plenty of stocks are available to trade, some of them include the likes of Apple, Amazon, Coca-cola, Cisco, eBay, Intel, Netflix, and Microsoft.

Metals: Just Gold and Silver are available to trade.

Indices / Commodities: Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil, DE30, DX, F40, JP225, UK100, US30, US500, USTEC, MICEX, RTS, Natural Gas, ZC, ZS, KC, SB, CT.

Crypto: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Dogecoin, Dash, EOS, Ethereum Classic, Ethereum, IOTA, Litecoin, Neo, QTUM, Tron, Monero, and Ripple.

Spreads

The spreads on the account page state that they start from 2 pips fixed, however looking at the actual spreads the lowest available is 3 pips which are on the EURUSD pair. The spreads are fixed so they do not change and will always remain the same no matter what is happening on the markets. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while EURUSD has a fixed spread of 3 pips, different pairs such as AUDCHF will have higher spreads, in this case, it is a whopping 10 pips.

Minimum Deposit

There is no minimum deposit requirement to open up an account, the minimum deposit will be dependent on the method you use and your own limits imposed by the payment processor. If you wish to use the Standard or Pro account you will need to deposit at least $1,000 or $2,000 respectively.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only information displayed on the site is that they accept Visa, MasterCard, and Bitcoin, there was no other information that we were able to find. Scouring the internet we were bel to find out what they also accept some eWallets such as OK Pay and WinPay, but we cannot provide a full list. We were also not able to find out if there are any added fees or commissions when depositing.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We had just as little information on withdrawals, so we can only say that Visa, MasterCard, and Bitcoin are displayed on the site so we believe they should be available to withdraw with, once again we also did not find any information on withdrawal fees, but when depositing or withdrawing you should check with your own bank or payment provider to see if they will add any outgoing or incoming processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not have much information on the withdrawal methods we also don’t have a realistic expectation on how long withdrawals should take, we would hope that withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 7 working days or the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a loyalty program available to the clients of BullTrader. The bonus that you get is dependent on the balance of your account.

Standard Level:
Minimum Balance of Equity $1000
For all types of accounts Cashback
1$ per full traded lot
0,5% per month (6% per annum)
Up to 50% bonus to every replenishment

VIP Level:
Minimum Balance of Equity $5000
For Real Standart and Real Pro only
Cashback 5$ per full traded lot
1% per month (12% per annum)
Up to 100% bonus to every replenishment Protection of trading for 1 month

Premium Level:
Minimum Balance of Equity $10000
For Real Pro only
Cashback 10$ per full traded lot
2% per month (24% per annum)
Up to 200% bonus to every replenishment

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few little tools available to use, the first is an economic calendar, this tells you what news events are coming up and the possible impacts that the news events could have on the markets. There is also a section for investment ideas which gives some very basic information on potential trades, finally, there is a news section giving some news about the markets.

Customer Service

The contact us page offers a few different ways to get in touch with them, you can use the postal address that they have provided, there is also a number of different email addresses and a fax number (not a phone number) available to use.

Address: The Jaycees Building, Stoney Ground, Kingstown, P.O. Box 362, VC 0100, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Email: [email protected].
Fax: + 6564915202

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available for the WebTrader versions of the platform and it allows you to test out the markets and conditions without any risk to your own capital. The trading conditions mimic those of the real accounts.,

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present at the bottom of the site: “BT Technologies Ltd does not provide the services to residents of the United States, Japan, Korea, Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan, as well as other areas where these services can not be provided in connection with the existing restrictions of the legislation.“

Conclusion

The three accounts do not offer much different in trading conditions apart from the minimum trade size, the spreads are unfortunately incredibly high, with spreads starting from 3 pips and going to over 10 pips on some pairs it can be incredibly expensive to trade here, there are plenty of assets available though which is a big plus. There is not a lot of information on the deposit and withdrawal methods, so we do not know exactly which methods are available or if there are any added fees for transfers. With those high costs and uncertainty with the funding, we currently find it hard to recommend them as a broker to sue.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BogoFinance Review

BogoFinance is a foreign exchange broker based in Lebanon. It was founded in 2006 and since it was founded they have aimed to redefine the meaning of financial services. Bogofinance tries to see investing from your perspective and make recommendations based on your needs. One of their central goals is to simplify investing for you; along with this they also offer long term values to their customers. Bogo Finance values each and every customer whether they are intending on investing in small or larger amounts. That is what they say about themselves, now we will be looking into the services to see what is actually on offer.

Account Types

There are four different accounts to choose from when signing up with BogoFinance, each one having its own deposit requirement and trading conditions.

Micro Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $100 and has an equity range between $0 and $2,000. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 1.4 pips. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Classic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,000 and has an equity range between $2,000 and $10,000. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 1.2 pips. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Executive Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 and has an equity range between $10,000 and $50,000. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 1 pip. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 and has an equity range of $50,000 or above. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 0.8 pips. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Platforms

Developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MetaTrader 5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to aid in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless. MetaTrader 5 offers the built-in Market of trading robots, the Freelance database of strategy developers, Copy Trading and the Virtual Hosting service (Forex VPS). Use all these services from one place, and access new trading opportunities. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

Leverage

Unfortunately, the leverage is the only bit of the trading conditions which are missing from the site, so, unfortunately, we do not know what the available leverage on any of the accounts is.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro-lot, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions on any of the accounts as they all use a spread based system, there are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight. They can be viewed on the website and within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a few different categories which we will look at for you.

Forex:
EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, NZDJPY, GBPNZD, EURDKK, EURNOK, EURSEK, GBPDKK, GBPNOK, GBPSEK, USDDKK, USDNOK, USDSEK.

Metals:
XAUUSD, CAGUSD, CAUEUR, XAGUSD (Gold and Silver).

Indices and Commodities:
DJ 30, SP 500, NAS 100, US Crude Oil, and Brent Crude Oil.

Spreads

The minimum spreads that you get depends on the account that you are using. The Micro account has spread starting from 1.4 pips, the Classic account starts from 1.2 pips, the Executive account 1 pip and the Premium account has a starting spread starting from 0.8 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets when there is more volatility the spreads will normally be higher. Different instruments will also have different spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $100 which allows you to open up a Micro account, we do not know if the minimum amount reduces once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, the isn’t any information surrounding funding methods so we do not know what methods you can use to deposit your funds into BogoFinance, we also do not know if there are any added fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like with the deposits, we also do not know what methods are available to withdraw with or if there are any fees. Both of these sections are vital, not having this information means no one will know how they can get their money in or out or how much it will cost to do so.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know the methods available, we also do not know how long it will take, we would hope that it would take between 1 to 7 days to fully process depending on the methods available but we cannot guarantee that this is the right information.

Bonuses & Promotions

There aren’t any advertised promotions or bonuses on the site so it does not appear that there are many active ones at the time of writing this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

Many brokers are now trying to give some education or trading tools to their client in order to help them improve their trading abilities, it is a shame to see no such thing here and so BogoFinance should try and do a little more for their clients in terms of learning materials.

Customer Service

You can contact BogoFinance with a few different methods, the first being a submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. There Is also a postal address available long with a phone number and email address.

Address: 6th floor – Aya center, Dora Highway, Metn, Lebanon
Phone: +961-1-265 600
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but they are provided by FXJet rather than Bogo Finance. The demo account allows you to test out trading conditions and strategies without any risk to your capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site so we would suggest contacting the customer support team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The BogoFinance website is a little awkward to use, the site randomly loses its scroll bar so you need to reload the page. In terms of accounts, there is a selection of them but there is very little difference between them, the only visible difference being the spreads, we actually don’t know what leverage is available on them either. There are plenty of assets but things quickly go downhill when we look at the deposit and withdrawal methods, or more that we don’t look at them as there is no information on them which is a massive negative. This information is vital and without it, we can not recommend them as a broker to use at this time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

IGTFX Review

***IMPORTANT NOTICE***

The IGTFX website (http://www.igtfx.com) is down at the time of this posting. We will continue to check back and will report if the problem was temporary, or if this Forex broker has closed for business. 

IGTFX which stands for FOREX Central Brokerage Services is a foreign exchange broker focusing on currency pairs. Their mission is to be first in providing their clients with the best advantages and to never spare an effort to create a unique service. We will be using this review to look into the services on offer to see how they compare to the competition and to see what really is on offer.

Account Types

It seems like there could be just the one account available from IGTFX, we will outline some of its features here but as we go through the review, we will outline its conditions in more detail.

IGTFX Account: The account requires a minimum deposit of at least $500, it comes with a no dealing desk execution-style and uses MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform. It has interbank spreads which start from as low as 1 pip. The account can be leveraged up to 1:200 and has a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots. The account has full hedging capabilities and does not have any added commissions when trading.

Platforms

There are two platforms on offer and they are both created by MetaQuotes, let’s have loot at what they are.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): MetaTrader 4 has features such as confidentiality of all trading operations; an unlimited charts quantity, large number of technical indicators and line studies, Experts, Custom Indicators and Scripts, Multi-Language program interface, signals of system and trading actions, getting on-line news from financial markets, internal email system and it is accessible through a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5): Some of its features include level 2 data available for exchange-traded instruments, four types of execution of trading transactions: Market, Instant, Request and Exchange, 21 time-frames, 38 technical indicators, 39 graphical objects, 4 zoom modes, six types of pending orders (Buy Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Limit, Sell Stop, Buy Stop Limit, Sell Stop Limit), trading transactions execution method allowing to perform a flexible trading activity and to set up exact parameters of trading transactions, and automated trading features. Development and usage of the expert advisers, users indicators and scripts are controlled by the integrated MQL5 development framework, which allows users to apply complex advisers and to forecast price movement more accurately.

Leverage

The account can be leveraged up to 1:200 and this can be selected when first opening up an account. Should you wish to change it you will need to send a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.1 lots (known as a mini-lot), unfortunately, we do not know what the trade increments are, what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions on the account when treading as it uses a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are however swap charges which are fees either charged or received for holding trades overnight. These swap fees can be viewed within the trading platform that you are using.

Assets

It seems that only forex pairs are available and the ones available to you depend on the level of your account.

If you are a private investor (most clients): EURUSD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, GBPUSD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CHEJPY, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, NZDJPY, CADJPY, AUDCAD.

If you are an institutional client: AUDUSD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADJPY, CADSGD, CHFJPY, CHFSGD, CHFPLN, EURCAD, EURCHF, ERUDKK, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURSUD, GBPSGD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, JPYSGD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDNO, USDZAR.

Spreads

Spreads on the account start as low as 1 pip, the spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets, the more volatility or the lower the amount of liquidity will cause the spreads to get bigger, while they start at 1 pip they will often be seen higher and different instruments will have different minimum spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required for a first deposit is $500, once an account has been opened this amount reduces and there does not seem to be a lower limit for top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are two different methods available to deposit with, these are Bank wire Transfer and PayPal. When depositing with Bank Wire Transfer there is an added fee of between $15 and $25 for incoming transfers. When using PayPal to deposit there is an added fee of 2.9% + $0.30 (Canadian: 3.9% + $0.30) for each deposit. It is always strange to see deposit fees as usually a broker will try and entice people to deposit by paying for any fees themselves.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Only Bank Wire Transfer is available to withdraw with, as IGTFX does not allow withdrawals using PayPal. There aren’t any stated fees for withdrawals but we would expect a similar fee of between $15 and $25 would be present for withdrawals just like they were for deposits.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

While this is not stated, we would expect withdrawals placed by Bank Wire Transfer to take between 1 to 5 days to fully process, this will, however, depend on both the processing speed ofIGTFX and the processing speed of your own banking institution.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t appear to be any active promotions or bonuses at the time that we are writing this review. You could contact the customer service team to see if there are coming up that you could take part in if you are interested in potential bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

Sadly there doesn’t seem to be any educational material on the site. Many modern brokers are now looking for ways to help their clients improve their trading abilities so it would be nice to see IGTFX do something similar.

Customer Service

You can contact a number of different departments using email these include the accounting department, sales department, customer support, finance department, complaints department, information desk, institutional sales and introducing brokers. You can also use the available live chat or skype username.

Support Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, in order to open one you will need to download the trading platform. We do not know what the trading conditions are but would expect them to be similar to the live account and we also do not know if there is an expiration time on the demo accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site and so we would recommend sending a query to the customer service team if you are thinking of signing up just to confirm if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The trading conditions on paper seem competitive but we did not have any specific examples of the available spreads. There is also a limited number of assets to trade as it is limited to just forex currency pairs. A lot of things with the broker are limited as there is also a limited number of ways to deposit and withdraw, with the added fees for depositing as well as withdrawing it can be quite expensive to trade with IGTFX and we would probably recommend looking for a slightly cheaper broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

TP Global FX Review

TP Global FX is a foreign exchange broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They claim that some of their main benefits include their excellent trading conditions, variety of markets, they are technology-driven and they offer the best in the class support team. Always looking to improve and innovate, we will be looking at the service they offer to see how they compare to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are four different account types available, we will briefly overview some of their features below, as we go through the review we will look into each section in a little more detail.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $100, it comes with spreads starting from 1.3 pips and there are no added commissions when trading. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, the account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and it uses a market execution-style.

Pro Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200, it comes with spreads starting from 0.1 pips and there is an added commission of $8 per round lot when trading. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, the account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and it uses a market execution-style.

Swap-Free Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,000, it comes with spreads starting from 2.3 pips and there are no added commissions on the account. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, the account can be leveraged up to 1:200 and it uses a market execution-style.

Institutional Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500,000, it comes with spreads starting from 0.1 pips and there is an added commission of $2 per round lot when trading. Trade sizes start from 1 lot, the account can be leveraged up to 1:100 and it uses a market execution-style.

Platforms

TP Global FX uses MetaTrader 4 as their trading platform which is available as a desktop download, mobile application or web trader. It is one of the world’s most used trading platforms hosting the trades of over 1,000,000 traders worldwide. Some of its many features include that it is available in 30+ languages, allows the use of EA’s & Robots for trade automation, has options to choose from instruments such as Commodities, Indices, and Forex, has requirement based customization with multiple charting as well as analysis, it also offers daily statement for an account, has the availability of analytical tools those are pre-programmed and had real-time account summary for clients which includes floating profit/loss and account equity, etc.

Leverage

The leverage that you get depends on the account that you are using, if you are using the Standard or Pro account then the account can be leveraged up to 1:500, if you are using the Swap-Free account then you can get leverage up to 1:200 and the Institutional account can be leveraged up to 1:100.

Leverage can be selected when first opening up an account and should you need to change it, you can do so by sending a change request to the customer service department.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on the Standard, Pro and Swap-Free accounts start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size for these accounts is set at 50 lots which is at a reasonable level. The Institutional account has trade sizes starting from 1 lot, we do not know the trade increments or maximum trade size for this account type. We also do not know how many open trades or orders you can have at any one time for any of the available account types.

Trading Costs

The Pro account has an added commission of $8 per lot traded while the Institutional accounts has an added commission of $2 per lot traded. The industry average seems to be around $6 per lot traded, so the Pro account is just slightly higher than the average. The Standard and Swap-Free account uses a spread based system that we will look at later in the review.

There are also swap charges for the Standard, Pro, and Institutional accounts, these are fees that are either charged or received for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed within the trading platform you are using. The Swap-Free account does not have these charges and instead has a slightly higher spread added to the account.

Assets

The assets at TP Global FX have been broken down into various categories, we have outlined them below along with the available instruments within them.

Forex Majors: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NXDUSD

Forex Minors: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCADD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NXDJPY, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, USDDKK, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Metals: Gold (against EUR and USD) and Silver (against USD).

Indices: AUD 200, CHNIND, US 30, EUR 50, FRA 40, GER 30, HKIND, ITA 40, JAP 225, US 100, US 50, SGXSING, SWE 30, SUI 20, SGXTAI, TECH 30, UK 100, US 2000.

Spreads

The spreads that you get depends on the accounts that you are using, we have outlined the different spreads in a list below.

  • Standard Account: Spreads starting from 1.3 pips
  • Pro Account: Spreads starting from 0.1 pips
  • Swap-Free Account: Spreads starting from 2.3 pips
  • Institutional Account: Spreads starting from 0.1 pips

The spreads are variable (or floating), this means that they are influenced by the markets, at a time of higher volatility or lower liquidity the spreads will often widen and be seen higher than the starting figures. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so EURUSD will always have a different spread to GBPJPY as an example.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to pen up ana account is $100 which will allow you to use the Standard account, the other accounts all have different requirements that we have listed below.

  • Standard Account: $100 minimum
  • Pro Account: $200 minimum
  • Swap-Free Account: $2,000 minimum
  • Institutional Account: $500,000 minimum

Once an account has been opened the minimum amount required for future top-up deposits is reduced down to $5.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are just two different methods available to deposit with, these are Bank Wire Transfer and Debit/Credit Card. The good news is that there are no added fees from TP Global FX, however, you should check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they are charging any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same two methods are available to withdraw with, so those are Credit/Debit Card and Bank Wire Transfer. You can only withdraw as much as you have deposited when using a Card, you will then need to withdraw any extra via Bank Wire. There are also no fees for withdrawals, but again, be sure to check with your own bank for any potential processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

TP Global FX will process any withdrawal request the same day they are made, however, if not then it will be processed the next working day. It will then take between 1 to 5 days for the money to become available to you depending on the processing speed of your bank or card issuer.

Bonuses & Promotions

We didn’t see any signs of a promotion or bonus so it does not appear that there are any active at this time, this does not mean that there won’t be so if you are thinking of joining and like bonuses, you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few small tools available to use, the first is a set of calculators including pip, margin, Fibonacci, Pivot and Profit calculators. There is also an economic calendar that details upcoming news events and also the markets and currencies that the news could affect. The final section is a glossary detailing different trading-related terms and their meanings.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available to be contacted with a variety of methods, the first is the usual online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. You can then also use the available postal address, email address or phone number.

Address: 305 Griffith Corporate Park, Beachmont Kingston, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 7754366970

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out the trading conditions as well as trading strategies without any real risk. When opening up an account you can select leverage between 1:100 and 1:500 and a balance between 1,000 and 1,000,000. We do not know if there is an expiration on these accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not stated on the site so if you are thinking of signing up, we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to ensure that you are eligible to sign up.

Conclusion

The trading conditions offered by TP Global FX give you a variety of trading conditions to trade with. The spreads are ok, and the commissions are slightly higher than the industry average but it isn’t anything that would really stand out There are plenty of assets and instruments available to trade. When we look at the funding options they are a little limited with just the two methods being available, the good news is that there are no additional fees attached to them. If you use one of the two available funding methods then TP Global FX could be a decent broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

WesternFX Review

WesternFX is a forex broker serving both individual and corporate client around the world, offering their customers a comprehensive range of options and features such as fast deposit and withdrawals, up to $2000 new account bonus, experienced forex traders available to answer your market questions, industry-leading MetaTrader 5 platform and, convenient funding by credit card, bank wire, online payment gateway and off course by local support via well-trained representatives. In this review, we will be looking into the services being offered to see if they are of the standard stated and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are 5 different accounts available, each one offering their own entry requirements as well as features and trading conditions. Let’s see what they are.

Standard: An entry requirement of $25 makes this account very accessible. It comes with variable spreads starting at 1.4 pips and has leverage up to 1:500 available. It uses the MetaTrader 5 trading platform and the account currency must be in USD. It has bonuses available and uses market execution as its execution method. Minimum trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and the stop out level is set at 10%. There are no commissions and no swap charges on this account.

Prime: The Prime account increases the minimum deposit up to $10,000. The account has variable spreads starting at 1.4 pips and has no added commission. Leverage is available up to 1:500 and it uses the MetaTrader 5 trading platform. You get a dedicated account manager as well as bonus offerings. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots, uses market executions and the stop out level is set at 10%, the account must be in USD and does not receive any swap charges.

VIP: The VIP account increases the deposit requirement further up to $20,000. The account comes with spreads starting from 0.9 pips and has an added commission. Leverage can be up to 1:100 and it uses the MetaTrader 5 trading platform. It has a dedicated account manager, the base currency must be in USD and it does not have access to any bonuses. It uses market execution with the minimum trade size being 0.01 lots with the stop out level being set at 20%, there are swap charges charged on this account for holding trades overnight.

ECN: The ECN account has a minimum deposit requirement of $250, it has spread starting from 0.2 pips and has an added commission to compensate for this. Leverage can be up to 1:100 and it uses MetaTrader 5 as its trading platform. There is a dedicated account manager available and the currency must be in USD, it is not eligible for bonuses and uses market execution as its execution method. Minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, there are swap charges applied and the stop out level is set at 20%.

Zero Spread: The Zero Spread account starts from $500, it has a variable spread starting from 0.1 pips, it’s leverage is 1:100 and it uses the MetaTrader 5 platform. It has added commissions and swap charges for holding trades overnight. It comes with a dedicated account manager and must be in USD as a base currency. It uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots with a stop out level set at 20%.

Platforms

WesternFX is offering MetaTrader 5 as their sole trading platform, so let’s see what the platform actually offers.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5): MetaTrader 5 was developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MT5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to ain in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available depends on the account type that you are using, they are as follows:

1:500 – Standard, Prime
1:100 – VIP, ECN, Zero Spreads

The leverage can be selected when opening up an account, should you wish to change it on an already open account then you can do so by getting in touch with the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all accounts start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro lot, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is unknown to us, however, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage. It is also unknown how many open trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

The Standard and Prime accounts do not have any added commissions as they use a spread based system that we will look into later in this review. The VIP, ECN and Zero Spread accounts have an added commission for each trade. Unfortunately, what the commission amount is is not known to us, we looked through the site and the terms of service but could not see any concrete information on how much they are, just that they exist.

Swap charges are present on the VIP, ECN and Zero Spread accounts, these are interest charges that are incurred for holding trades overnight, they can be both negative or positive and can usually be viewed from within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

WesternFX has broken down their assets into a number of different categories, we have outlined them for you below.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURUAD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, SGDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDPLN, USDSGD, USDZAR.

Metals and Energies: Gold Spot, Silver Spot, Natural Gas.

CFDs: Crude Oil (WTI), Crude Oil (Brent).

Indices: Australia 200, France 40, Germany 30, Nikkei, Nasdaq 100, UK 100.

Shares: Apple, Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Tesco, MasterCard, McDonald’s, Bank of America.

Spreads

The starting spread you get depends on the account you are using and are as follows.

  • Standard: From 1.4 pips
  • Prime: From 1.4 pips
  • VIP: From 0.9 pips
  • ECN: From 0.2 pips
  • Zero Spread: From 0.1 pips

The spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 1.4 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is $25 which gets you the Standard account, if you want a different account the next requirement is for the ECN account which is $250.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available for a deposit.

Wire Transfer: Bank Wire Transfer, MegaTransfer

Credit Cards: Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit / Debit, UnionPay

Online Payment: Neteller, Perfect Money, fasapay, Payza.

There are no added fees for deposits from WesternFX, however, you should check with the bank or processor that you are using to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawal, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, MegaTransfer, Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit / Debit, UnionPay, Neteller, Perfect Money, fasapay and Payza.

It states that there are specific fees applied for withdrawals but it does not say what they are, so we know there are fees, just not how much, you should also check with the bank or processor that you are using to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal time will take between 2 to 7 working days for your withdrawals to be fully processed, this included both WesterFXs own processing and the processing of the method used such as your bank’s processing for Bank Wire Transfers.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a number of different promotions taking place when we looked at the site, while some may not still be available, it will give an idea of the sort of promotions that take place.

Rescue Bonus: This WesternFX Bonus Program is intended to protect accounts from drawdown periods. The Bonus can be lost with no limitations and also used as margin. Under this policy, the Bonus can not be withdrawn.

Benefits:

a. It can be used for increased Leverage.
b. It can be lost so it can actually protect accounts from Margin Calls and Stop Outs during drawdown periods.
c. Effectively makes the stop out level on original balance as zero.

4th Year Celebration Bonus: This WesternFX 4th-year anniversary Bonus Program is intended to protect accounts from drawdown periods. The Bonus can be lost with no limitations and also used as margin. The 30% Withdrawal Bonus will run for a limited time, so deposit as soon as possible in order to take advantage of this exceptional promotion! Under this policy, the Bonus can be withdrawn only after the targeted lots completed.

Benefits:

a. It can be used for increased Leverage.
b. It can be lost so it can actually protect accounts from Margin Calls and Stop Outs during drawdown periods.
c. Effectively makes the stop out level on original balance as zero.

To withdraw the Forex Bonus from your account you need to make a transaction (number of lots) in the amount of X 10% = EXAMPLE: You deposit $1000 and receive a $300 bonus, so the total account balance becomes $1300. To withdraw the received bonus ($300), you need to make a transaction of $1300X10% = 130 lots (only closed deals are taken into account) 12. In the

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few analysis and information sections of the site, however, these have not been updated since 2014 so it appears that they are no longer active in their analysis, there are also a couple of calculators to help you work out trade sizes.

Customer Service

If you want to get in contact with WesternFX you can do so by using the online submission form, simply fill in your query and you should get a reply via email. There is also a phone number available as well as individual email addresses for General Informal, Customer Support, Deposit/Withdrawal and also a contact name for Skype. The support team is open 24/5 and is closed at the same time as the markets over the weekend and on bank holidays.

Demo Account

Demo accounts can be accessed by filling in a form, you can select the deposit amount on this initial form. The trading conditions of the demo account are not stated so it is not clear which account they mimic, there may be a choice of this later in the signup process. There is also no mention of any expiration times so hopefully, they last indefinitely.

Countries Accepted

The information about which countries are accepted and which are not is not present on the website, so if you are interested in joining, be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to check if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

There are a lot of choices when it comes to WesternFX, lots of different accounts with varying trading conditions, spreads are reasonable however we do not know what the commission charged actually is. In terms of tradable assets, there is a good selection, looking at the deposit and withdrawal methods, lots of options but there are additional fees for some methods which are unfortunately not stated, it is important for clients to know the charges but that information is not readily available. Plenty of ways to get in contact with the customer service team, WesternFX could be a decent broker to use as long as the commissions and withdrawal fees are in line with the industry standards.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

ZX Markets Review

ZX Markets is a forex broker located in the United Kingdom and Seychelles. They claim to be one of the finest and most secure trading companies around which is a big claim to make. Their mission is to work with clients all the way from the start to becoming a profitable trader, offering high-quality support and innovation. We will be using this review to look into the services on offer to see if they manage to achieve this or if they fall short.

Account Types

There are three different accounts you can choose from when trading with ZX Markets, we have outlined some of their features below.

X-Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200 in order to open, it has standard spreads and a leverage of 1:200. It only has Forex pairs available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform. There is a free demo account that lasts for 2 weeks and there is limited personal training. You can have a maximum of 25 open trades or orders and there is limited access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Premium Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $2,000. It comes with premium spreads and leverages up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs and metals available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that lasts for 1 month and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 75 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Pro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $5,000. It comes with premium spreads and can be leveraged up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs, metals and commodities available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that is unlimited and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 200 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

Platforms

Just the one platform available which is X-Web, the platform is easy to use and does not require any installation or download it can be accessed by clients through a PC or Laptop from anywhere in the world. A few of its many features are its customization, chart analysis, and trading, news and analysis, one-click trading, built-in the economic calendar, and automated trading. It also comes as a mobile application that offers the ability to trade on the move, it’s easy to use and is optimized for mobile devices.

Leverage

The leverage available depends on the account that you are using, the Standard account can be leveraged up to 1:300 and the Premium and Pro accounts can be leveraged up to 1:400. Leverage can be selected when opening up a new account and can be changed on an open account by contacting the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sixes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is but we know that the Standard account can have 25 open trades at once, the Premium account can have 75 open trades and the Pro account can have up to 200 trades/orders at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no mentions of commissions around the site so we do not believe that there are any. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight. These can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform being used.

Assets

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a breakdown or specification of the available assets, we know that there are currency pairs, metals, and commodities available but not which ones. This is a shame as a lot of potential clients may be looking for their preferred instrument, not knowing if it is here could put them off and they will go and look elsewhere.

Spreads

We do not have any examples of the spreads, just the fact that there are Standard spreads, Premium spreads and Pro spreads, what these mean we do not know. The spreads are fixed though which means they do not move no matter what is happening in the markets, they will always remain the same. Different instruments will also have different fixed spreads with some naturally being higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $200 which will open up the Standard Account. We do not know if this minimum reduces once an account is already open.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The methods mentioned on the site are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit / Debit Cards and Neteller. There was no mention of any potential fees however you should check with your own bank or processor to see if there are any transfer fees added by them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same three methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Cards and Neteller. When using Bank Wire Transfer there may be an added fee of 20 USD depending on the country the bank is located in. Otherwise check with your own bank or card issuer to see if there are any incoming transfer fees or processing fees added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

ZX Markets will aim to process any withdrawal requests within 7 days of receiving the request. We believe that this is the total time rather than just the time it takes for them to process the initial request, so after 7 days the funds should be available for you to use.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different promotions, however, the majority are based around referring people so we are not really interested in those types of promotions. There is one other type of bonus that is related to getting a 50% bonus on your first deposit up to $500. We, unfortunately, do not have knowledge of the terms of promotions such as how to convert the bonus funds into real funds.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a forex school section of the site, this contains information regarding different aspects of trading such as Forex Basics and Fundamental Analysis, it is good for new traders but those that have traded before will most likely know everything that is mentioned. There is also an economic calendar that details different upcoming news events and also which currencies or markets the news events may affect.

Customer Service

There are plenty of ways to contact ZX Markets, you can use the online submission form and then get a reply via email, or you can email them directly with the address provided. There is also a Skype address, phone number and postal address available to use.

Head Office: Global Investment House Limited. Kemp House, 160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. The United Kingdom.
Address: Global Investment House Limited, Suite 3 Jivan’s complex, Mont Fleuri Mahe, Seychelles.
Phone: +442032899941
Email: [email protected]
Skype: ZX.Support, ZXMarkets

Demo Account

A demo account allows you to test out new strategies or the conditions without risking real capital, so it is good to see them available here. The demo accounts have different expiration times depending on the account used, the Standard account has a 2-week limit, the Premium account has a 1-month limit and the Pro account is unlimited. The trading conditions will mimic the account they are using.

Countries Accepted

We could not locate this information on the site, if you are thinking of signing up then we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out your eligibility prior to signing up.

Conclusion

ZX Markets offers a range of accounts each with their own conditions so you should be able to find one that suits your needs, their trading platform is not the usual but offers a whole host of helpful features. Leverage is at a good level and there are no commissions which is good. We, unfortunately, do not know what the spreads are or what assets are available. There is also a limited number of ways to deposit and withdraw and there was no indication of any potential fees so that information needs to be added. The decision to use them is up to you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

CapitalXP Review

CapitalXP is an online foreign exchange broker that is based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. While they do not give a lot of information about themselves away, they do state that they pride themselves in their transparency, the fact that they offer great support, provide insightful education, they are secure, user-friendly and offer an innovative service. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the different aspects being offered to see if they manage to live up to those things and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you to use.

Account Types

CapitalXP does not indicate whether they have more than one account type or not, so as we go through this review we will outline any potential differences in each section, otherwise, everything that we write will be relevant to the single available account.

CapitalXP does have a selection of VIP accounts available though, these different accounts offer different benefits but they do not seem to change the trading conditions offered.

Basic: This account comes with a platform introduction, a dedicated account manager, access to educational webinars, and you get a financial market introduction.

Silver: The Silver account comes with all the benefits of the Basic account as well as sentimental analysis, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, a one on one tutorial, access to long and short strategies, risk management, a personal skype service, and a bonus.

Gold: This account comes with all the features of the Basic and Silver account as well access to advanced trading strategies, better spreads, trading signals, a one on one MT4 session, and access to a senior account manager.

Platinum: This account comes with all the features of the Basic, Silver, and Gold accounts, as a daily market brief, access to VIP webinars, a private webinar with an expert, and access to live trading with an expert.

Diamond: You will need to contact an account manager in order to find out what benefits you would get by using this account.

Platforms

CapitalXP uses MetaTrader 4 as its sole trading platform which is good news as it is one of the world’s most used trading platforms. Some of its main features include the fact that it is available as a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader, it also gives you access to over 100 instruments when trading with CapitalXP. It supplies over 50 indicators, trading signals, charting capabilities and customizable EA features, trades are highly protected and secure as the platform is encrypted by 128-bit keys, it also gives you access to Real-Time News and benefits of instant trade executions.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available seems to be 1:100, this can be selected when you first open up ana account and should you wish to change it, we would recommend contacting the customer service team with the change request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.,01 lots which are known as a micro lot and are equal to 1,000 base units of currency. The trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

CapitalXP is not providing any information surrounding their commissions so it is not known whether or not they add commissions to their trades. What we do know is that swap charges are present, these will be charged when holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative, they can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a number of different categories that we have outlined for you below.

Forex: Unfortunately, the only currency pair that is mentioned is EURUSD, there are of course far more available to trade, but no further examples are given on the forex page.

Indices: The Indices page has a few more examples given and they are Nikkei, Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, FTSE 100, CAC 40 and the DAX 30, there may be more available but those are the only ones mentioned.

Commodities: Once again there isn’t a full list available, the commodities mentioned dare Cattle, Cocoa, Sugar, Coffee, Corn, Orange Juice, Wheat, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Copper, Brent Crude Oil, US Crude Oil, and Natural Gas.

Stocks: There aren’t any actual examples of the available stocks, just a page to indicate that they are available to trade.

Spreads

We had to use the demo account to work out the spreads, they seem to be sitting around 1 pip at their lowest point when trading EURUSD, the spreads were variable which means they moved with the markets, the more volatility, the higher they will be. Different instruments also had different spreads, so while EURUSD was sitting at around 1 pip, other instruments like AUDUSD were sitting slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

We are not sure what the minimum deposit is, so we do not know how much you will need to deposit in order to open up an account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We could not locate any information surrounding the available deposit methods, we also could not locate any information on potential fees and commissions. This information needs to be added as potential clients need to be able to know how they can deposit and also what it will cost them to do it.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like the deposit methods, there is no information on the withdrawal methods, so clients do not know how they can get their money out or if it will cost them to do it, this is not good as someone may deposit with a method that is not available for withdrawals, they would then struggle to get their money out, you also do not want to deposit only to find out it will cost a lot of getting it back out.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know the methods or processing times we cannot give an accurate prediction, we would hope that any requests would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

On the VIP account page, there is a mention of a bonus however we do not know what the terms of this bonus are, it could well be a deposit bonus, but again we do not know for sure. If you are after bonuses, then connecting the customer service team could be the best bet to get more information and to see if there are any other upcoming promotions or bonuses that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects of the educational side of the CapitalXP site. There is a video course, which has a number of different videos going over various subjects such as forex trading, market analysis, trading strategies and more. There is also a webinar page, however, the calendar shows that there aren’t any coming up so we do not know if this part of the site is still active. You are able to download a number of ebooks which include subjects like “succeeding with Forex trading”, and “ Trading cryptocurrencies: the basics”. There is also a glossary of trading terms which you can refer back to if you come across something that you do not know the meaning of.

There are also a number of tools available, the first being an economic calendar, this will outline different upcoming news events as well as the potential impacts that they could have on the markets. There is some market news which is being updated daily, there is also some market reviews each week along with a watch on Bonds, Commodities, Stocks, and Currencies as well as an outlook of them all.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and is closed over the weekend at the same time that the markets are.

When you want to contact them, you can use the online submission form, they have also provided a postal address to send physical mail to and an email address. The only thing that seems to be missing is a phone number in order to speak to someone directly.

Address: Hames Street, Kingstown, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out the trading conditions and also new strategies without any risk to your own capital. They are available with CapitalXP and we tested them out, the servers seemed stable and the trading conditions were the same that we mentioned throughout the review (in fact we got some of the information fro the demo accounts). We do not know if there is an expiration on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website: “CapitalXP does not offer Contracts for Difference to residents of certain jurisdictions such as the USA, Belgium, France, Iran, Canada, and North Korea.” If you are still not sure of your eligibility, the customer service team will be able to let you know if you are eligible for an account, so we would suggest getting in contact with them.

Conclusion

CapitalXP is not very forthcoming when it comes to their trading conditions, we had to use the demo account to find some of them out and we still do not fully know what they are. The spreads seem to be starting at an acceptable level of 1 pip, we do not fully understand if there are any commissions, there also isn’t a full list of the available assets. The main concern that we have is the complete lack of information on funding, both deposit and withdrawal methods are not clear and so we do not know if it will cost us to deposit or withdraw or even how we can do it. Without that information and with the other bits not being fully understood, we would have to recommend looking for a slightly more transparent broker.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GWFX Global Review

GWFX is an online foreign exchange broker that caters to forex, crypto, and CFD traders. Some of the main features that they state about themselves are that they offer a customer service centre, offer a professional service, they are transparent, offer safety of funds and take pride in their reputation. We will be looking into the services on offer to see how GWFX matches up to the competition and so you can use the information provided to see if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There isn’t an account comparison page or information surrounding the available accounts, so as we go through this review, we will outline any potential differences between any accounts within each section of the review, if there are no differences noted then there may just be the one account available to use.

Platforms

GWFX offers a couple of different trading platforms, the first is their own trading platform which comes with a number of different features.

  • Tiered Margining: Tiered Margin required based on the number of open positions. Effectively avoid substantial risks in trading.
  • Multi-tiered Market Depth: Connect with high liquidity global financial markets ensures the real-time quotes can always be optimal.
  • Comprehensive order functions: Take-profit and stop-loss orders setting and Lock Positions are available. Sophisticated DOM quick operation is also available.
  • Powerful charting and analysis tools: Provide various professional technical indicators and charting tools to meet the needs of investors in technical analysis.
  • Hassle-free registration: Register by simply using email addresses or mobile phone numbers. Just a few steps needed for opening trading accounts.
  • Risk-free Demo Account: Provide US$10,000 viral fund to you for experiencing the benefits of trading and testing trading strategies without any risks.
  • Trade with Higher flexibility, minimum trading lot size from 0.1 lots, Initial margin as low as USD 20.
  • 99% of orders can be executed within 0.03 of a second, enabling you to hold the opportunities all the time.

They are also offering MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform, they do not give much information about the platform away but we know that MT4 is one of the worlds most used trading platforms and offers high levels of accessibility, customization and has access to signals, expert advisors and indicators to help with both your trading and analysis.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:500, you are able to select the leverage that you want on the account when first opening one up. You can also request a change of leverage on an already created account by contacting the customer service team. The leverage is slightly different for different asset types.

  • Forex: Up to 1:500
  • Metals: Up to 1:100
  • Energies: Up to 1:100
  • Indices: Up to 1:100
  • Crypto: Up to 1:5

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots for all products including Forex, Indices, and Commodities. We do not know what the trade increments are or what the maximum trade size is, it is also not clear to us how many trades or orders you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is no extra commission when trading as the account uses a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are, however, swap charges when you hold a trade overnight this interest charge is added to the account, it can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform that you are using.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, they have also listed all the assets that they have available, and if this is all that is available then there isn’t much available to trade at all.

Forex: USDJPY, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, AUDUSD,CADUSD, USDCHF, AUDJPY, NZDUSD, NZDJPY,USDCNH, EURJPY, AUDNZD, GBPCHF, GBPAUD,EURAUD, EURCHF, EURGBP

Metals: Gold and Silver.

Energies: US Oil, UK Oil, Natural Gas

Indices: FRA 40, JPN 225, TECH 100, HK 50, DJ 30,SP 500, UK 100, GER 30. CHINA 300

Cryptocurrencies: ETHUSD, BCHUSD, BTCUSD, LTCUSD

Spreads

The spreads seem to start from 1.2 pips when looking at EURUSD or 1.3 pips when looking at AUDUSD. There is mention of a VIP account having spreads as low as 0 pips but no further information. The spreads available are variable which means they are influenced by the markets, the more volatility the higher the spreads will be.

Minimum Deposit

We actually did not find any information regarding the amount needed to open up an account so we cannot comment on the minimum deposit requirements.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are Credit/Debit Card, Help2Pay, Skrill, PayPal, and Bank Wire Transfer. GWFX states that there are no added commissions on the deposits, you should, however, check with the method that you are using just in case they add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

There are only three methods available to withdraw with, these are Help2Pay, Skrill and Bank Wire Transfer. Just like with the deposits, GWFX has not added any commissions on to the withdrawals, however, your own bank or processor may charge for processing incoming transactions, so be sure to check with them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The different available methods have slightly different withdrawal times, we have listed them below.

Help2Pay: 2-3 Days
Skrill: 2-3 Days
Bank Wire Transfer: 5-7 Days

Bonuses & Promotions

There was no information on the site mentioning bonuses or promotions, so it does not appear that there are any active at the time of writing this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is not an educational side to the site which is a shame as many brokers are now looking to help their clients improve on their trading abilities so it would be nice to see GWFX do something similar.

Customer Service

There aren’t too many ways to get in touch, the first most prominent method is the online chat feature where you can speak to someone directly. There is also a WhatsApp phone number available and an email address to email them directly.

WhatsApp: +886 989029990
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

There aren’t any details regarding a demo account that we could see, which is a shame as demo accounts allow clients to test out the markets as well as new strategies without any real risk, so this is an aspect that GWFX should add to their arsenal if they are in fact not available.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the GWFX website: “We do not provide financial services to residents of the USA, United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong, China.”

Conclusion

There isn’t a whole lot of information available, while we can see some of the basics in regards to trading conditions we do not know the full trading costs as there aren’t any live examples of the spreads, just what the broker mentions (which are always a little lower than they actually are). We do not know what the minimum deposit amount is but we do know the methods available, there are enough to cater for most clients with no added fees for depositing or withdrawing either. There are not a lot of assets to trade so there may be some downtime which is a shame. You now have the information to tell if they would be the right broker for you or not.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

IC Finance Review

IC Finance is an international forex broker based out of Vanuatu. They aim to provide a trading platform that gives you access to a wide range of tools and services. Offering over 200 trading tools indicators and charts. They don’t offer much more information about themselves so we will use this review to find out more info and to see what services really are on offer and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available that are based around the type of instrument that you wish to trade.

Standard Account: The standard account requires a deposit of at least $250, it comes with a floating spreads starting at 0.3 points and has no added commission. The leverage on the account goes up to 1:500 and the base currency must be in USD, EUR or GBP. The account also has negative balance protection as well as using market execution. The minimum trade size for this account is 0.01 lots.

Gold Account: This account also requires $250 as a minimum first deposit, it comes with spreads starting from 0.3 pions and they are variable spreads. There is no commission on this account and the base currency must be in XAU (Gold). The account comes with negative balance protection and uses market execution as its execution type. Leverage on the account can go as high as 1:500.

Bitcoin Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of 0.01 BTC, and so the base currency must be in BTC. The account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and it comes with no commission and a spread starting from 0.03 pips which is a floating spread. It uses market execution and has negative balance protection.

Platforms

It is hard to tell what platform they are offering, a lot the information makes us think it is either MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 however we are not entirely sure as it is not stated anywhere, the information that we do know is that the platform comes with over 200 trading tools, 70 trading indicators and, 130 tools for working with charts. It is accessible as a desktop download, a mobile application or as a web trader. It sounds very much like one of the MetaQuotes software, but as we said, we cannot be 100% sure.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available on the accounts is 1:500 which is applicable to all accounts. The product specification states 1:1000 but we will stick to the 1:500 suggested by the accounts themselves. Leverage can be selected when opening up a new account and the customer service team will need to be contacted should you wish to change it on an already open account.

Different instruments also have different maximum leverages, we have outlined them below:

  • Forex: 1:500
  • Metals: 1:500
  • Stocks: 1:50
  • Commodities: 1:100
  • Indices: 1:100
  • ETFs: 1:50
  • Crypto: 1:2

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start as low as 0.01 lots and go all the way up to 1000 lots in increments of 0.01 lots. 1000 lots is far too high and we would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to execution times and slippage. Different instruments have different minimum and maximum trade sizes so we have listed them below for easy understanding.

  • Forex: 0.01 lots / 1000 lots
  • Metals: 0.1 lots / 1000 lots
  • Stocks: 1 lots / 10,000 lots
  • Commodities: 1 lot / 10,000 lots
  • Indices: 1 lot / 10,000 lots
  • ETFs: 1 lot / 10,000 lots
  • Crypto: 1 lot / 100 lots

Trading Costs

There is no added commission on any of the accounts available from IN finance, instead, they all use a spread bases structure that we will look at later in this review. It seems like there are swap charges, these are an interest fee for holding trades overnight. They can be both positive or negative and are normally viewable within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

IC Finance has broken down its assets into a number of categories which we will now look at.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCHF, GBP CAD, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPUSD, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZSUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY and, USDZAR.

Metals: Gold is available to trade against USD.

Stocks: Plenty of stocks available including Barclays, Adidas, BMW, Peugeot, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook.

Commodities: Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil and Natural Gas.

Indices: CAC 40, DAX 30, FTSE 100, DJI 30, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, Nikkei 225, MICES and, RTS.

EFTs: iPatd S&P 500 and, Samsung.

Cryptocurrencies: BTCUSD, XRPUSD, LTCUSD, BCHUSD, ZECUSD, XMRUSD and, ETHUSD.

Spreads

All three accounts state that their spreads are starting from 0.3 pips which is very low for a commission-based account, unfortunately, actual examples of them are not present on the site. As the spreads are variable (which means they move with the marketS) we would expect them all to be a little higher than 0.3 pips. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so the spread for EUR/USD will be different from that of USDZAR.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250, if you want to deposit via Bitcoin then the minimum deposit requirement is 0.01 BTC. It is unknown if the minimum deposit amount reduces for any further top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, there isn’t any information on deposit methods which is a real shame as it is very important for potential clients to know how they can get their money into the broker and how much it will cost them. We understand that Bitcoin will be an option due to one of the accounts being a Bitcoin account, but nothing else is known.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like with the deposits, there is no relevant information for withdrawals, again this is vital information, not knowing how you can get your money back or if it will cost you to do so is not a good way to build trust with potential new clients, this information needs to be added as soon as possible.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As you may have guessed there is no information regarding this either, we would hope that any requests would be fully processed between 1 to 7 business days from the request being made depending on the methods that are available.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not look like there are any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, if you are interested in them, we would suggest contacting the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The website states that there are lots of trading tools available, however, we believe that this is just referring to the tools that come with the trading platform, there doesn’t appear to be any additional education or trading tools on the site. Many modern brokers are looking to help their clients improve their trading with education, so it would be good to see IC Finance do something similar.

Customer Service

The customer support team is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, they are closed over the weekends and on bank holidays. You can get in contact using the online submission form, the other option is to use the available email. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any further ways to get in contact with them such as telephone.

Demo Account

We could not locate any information about demo accounts so unless we just missed them they do not seem to be available, this is a shame as demo accounts allow potential new clients to test out the markets and trading conditions while allowing existing clients to test new strategies without risking any of their capital.

Countries Accepted

There is not a list of accepted countries, so if you are thinking of signing up for an account, get in contact with the customer service team prior to signing up, just to be sure you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

The trading conditions on offer form IC Finance seem very good on paper, however, the spreads are not stated on the site, they simply say that they start from 0.3 pips, however, we believe they will be a lot higher than this. There are plenty of assets and instruments to trade and the trading platform, while we do not know which one it is, seems accessible. There is a distinct lack of ways to contact the customer service team which can be a little concerning, what is even more concerning though is the complete lack of information surrounding deposits and withdrawals.

Not knowing how you can get your money in or out and how much it will cost you will instantly make it impossible to build trust with new clients, so simply for not having that information available we find it hard to recommend IC FInance as a broker to sue at this present time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GoldFX Review

Gold FX is a Cambodia based forex broker regulated by the Kingdom of Cambodia. Gold FX offers a secure network, trader academy, online customer support, company events, and more to their clients. They are aiming to be the leading financial service in Cambodia, throughout this review we will be delving deep into the services on offer to see if they can achieve this and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

If you decide to join Gold FX you will have to choose from one of the two available accounts, they each have a different entry requirement and trading conditions so let’s look at what they are.

Customer Account: The customer account has a deposit requirement of $100 and must be in the USD currency. It comes with a leverage of up to 1:100 and the account has a maximum balance of $50,000. There is no commission added to the trading on this account and the margin call level is set at 100% while the stop out level is set at 50%. You can have an unlimited amount of positions open at any one time.

VIP Account: The VIP account increases the minimum deposit up to $10,000 and once again must be in USD. It comes with a leverage of up to 1:100 and the account has a maximum balance of $50,000. There is no commission added to the trading on this account and the margin call level is set at 100% while the stop out level is set at 50%. You can have an unlimited amount of positions open at any one time.

Platforms

The use of MetaTrader 4 is available with Gold FX and for good reason, it is one of the most accessible platforms with a desktop download available as well as mobile applications and a web trader. Some of its other features include it being user-friendly, it has multiple languages, its equipped with advanced communication tools, provides personal information such as account balances, trade history, it works with all kind of currency, has advanced real-time charts, provides indicator, technical analysis, order management tools and customizable high tech chart, its a highly secure platform, and has the use of thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help with your trading and analytical needs.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available to both accounts is 1:100, this can be selected when first opening up an account, should you wish to change it on an active account, you should contact the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size available is 0.01 lots which is known as a micro-lot, the trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots until they reach the maximum trade size of 1 lot. This is a little on the low side as many traders may look to make trades larger than this. It is not known to us what the maximum number of open trades or orders you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We know that the account uses a spread based system and there doesn’t seem to be any mentions of any potential commissions on the accounts. There are however swap fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and these can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown or product specification available, this is a shame as a lot of potential customers will be looking to see if a broker has their preferred trading instruments, so not having a list available can cause those traders to look elsewhere for a broker that does.

Spreads

We know that the accounts use a variable spread system, but unfortunately, we do not know what the spreads are or what the starting figures are for them. Variable spreads mean that they move with the markets, the more volatility in the markets the higher the spreads will be.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $100 which will allow you to open up a Standard account, should you wish to use the VIP account you will need to deposit at least $10,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

It appears that only Bank Wire is available as a deposit method. Looking through the site there is no mention of any deposit fees being added by Gold FX, but you should check with your own bank to see if they will add any of their own. All deposits must be in USD.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Similarly to the deposit methods, all withdrawals must be in USD and there is only Bank Wire transfer available as a withdrawal method. Again, there doesn’t seem to be any mentions of potential withdrawal fees but contact your bank to see if they will charge for any incoming transfers.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know what the processing times are, but as the only available method is Bank Wire Transfer we would expect a request to be fully processed within 2 to 5 working days from the withdrawal request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

The promotion page does indicate some promotions however they may have expired because the links no longer lead anywhere except for a deleted Facebook post. So it does appear that bonuses and promotions are taking place if you are after any you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any promotions coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the education and trading tools side of the site. The first section is some videos based on different strategies and how to trade them. There is also a section detailing a few different trading strategies. There is some research and analysis information, but this is pretty irrelevant as it has not been updated for 2 years now. Finally, there is an economic calendar, this details upcoming news events and also shows which markets they may affect.

Customer Service

You can contact Gold FX in a few different ways, the first being a postal address, there is also a phone number and email address available should you wish to get in contact that way. We do not know what opening times of the support team are but we suspect that they will be closed over the weekends like the markets are.

Address: GoldFX Investment Co, Ltd, Sun City Building, 2nd Floor, #255, St.51 Corner St. 370, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 1, Khan Chamkamon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Phone: (+855) (0) 23 213 686
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you can open one up by downloading the Gold FX MetaTrader 4 trading platform and then creating a demo account from within the platform. The conditions should match the trading conditions mentioned above and there does not seem to be an expiration time on them. The demo accounts can be used to test out the markets and strategies without any added risk to your capital.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “While we welcome clients from all over the globe, governmental restrictions along with our company policies prohibit GoldFX from opening accounts originated from the following restricted and/or OFAC sanctioned countries: Afghanistan, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Iraq, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya Mali, Niger, North Korea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, The Democratic Republic of Congo The former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylo, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.”

Conclusion

It was hard for us to find any information about some of the trading conditions over at Gold FX and unfortunately, we still managed to not find some. We do not know the full extent of the costs of trading there, the spreads and potential commissions are unknown along with a lack of information on the tradable assets. This information is important to know, as you don’t want to join a broker and then find it’s expensive to trade. The deposit methods are also limited to bank transfers which can limit a lot of people who prefer to use other methods, the fees were also not clear. With all this information missing it is hard for us to recommend Gold FCX as a broker to use at this point in time,

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BTC Global FX

BTC Globe FX is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadine based foreign exchange broker that claims to be one of the most accessible ways to become richer, a bold claim and also one that could mislead. We have seen the layout and features of the site before as they are using a white label setup. They aim to provide outstanding customer service, offer a multi-product bouquet, provide advanced trading platforms, to give tight spreads and to be run by an experienced founding team. We will use this review to look into the services offered to see how they compare to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are four different account types, they do not go over the trading conditions, instead, they are outlining additional features that come with each., so let’s look at what they are.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $250, the account does not come with any additional features.

Classic Account: The Classic account requires a minimum deposit of at least $2,500, it comes with online chat and access to all platform features.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $20,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager and an individual telephone line.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $50,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager, an individual telephone line, special promotions on one on one trading and personal reports on the stock markets.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4 is the sole platforms offered by BTC Globe FX and it is one of the worlds most used trading platforms and for good reasons, a few of its many features include multiple order types, Market watch window, a navigator window, lots of pre-installed indicators and analysis tools, multiple chart setups, the ability for automated trading and order execution capabilities. The platform is also highly accessible, as you can use it as a web trader in your internet browser, a mobile application or as a desktop download.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:200, we believe that all accounts use the same leverage so they all have access to this amount. It can be selected when opening up an account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes at BTC Globe FX start from 0.01 lots on all accounts and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We did not see any mentions of commissions for any of the accounts so it appears that there aren’t any, especially with the spread (later in this review) starting so high. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight and these can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There, unfortunately, isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets, this means we do not know what is available to trade. This can be quite off-putting to potential new clients who will often look to see if a broker has their favorite instruments to trade, not knowing will make them look elsewhere. We do not even know how many potential assets there are.

Spreads

The only spread that we have to go on is what is mentioned on the homepage of the site. It states that the spread for EUR/USD is 1.6 pips. This is the starting spread as they are variable which means they will move with the markets, more volatility or less lucidity will make them grow larger, different instruments will also have different starting spreads, 1.6 pips is the smallest they will be.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250 which will allow you to use the Standard account, if you want a higher tier account then you will need to deposit at least $2,500. We do not know if the minimum amount reduces after an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There is not a dedicated page for funding, the only information we have is some images at the bottom of the website, they indicate that Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, and AstroPay are available to use, but we have no confirmation of this, we also do not know if there are any added fees when depositing but you should check with whatever method you are using to see if any are added by them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We also do not know much about withdrawals such as the methods available (although Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, and AstroPay are most likely available), or any additional fees for withdrawing. If you are using BTC Globe FX, then we would suggest checking with whatever method you use to see if they have any incoming transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know the exact processing time from BTC Globe FX, however, we would expect any withdrawal requests to be processed within 1 to 5 working days from the date the request is made, this will depend on the methods available to use.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a 30% bonus available, the only details about the promotion are on the account sign up page which states that you can get a 30% bonus on your first deposit. There is no more information surrounding it such as how to convert the bonus into real funds or what the maximum bonus available is.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a news section of the site which details news from around the world which could be affecting the markets. Autochartist is a tool that is also available, this offers features to help with your trading, it can identify and react to market movements, check the quality and competitiveness of your broker’s pricing, manage your cash exposure, optimize your stop loss and take profits, capitalize on known outcomes of news events and identify and react to market movements that are not typical.

Customer Service

The customer service team can be contacted in a number of ways, there is the online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. There is also a phone number, email address, postal address and Skype username available to sue.

Address: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, P.O. Box 1510, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Phone: +442080788663
Email: [email protected]
Skype: btcglobefx.com

Demo Account

We did not see any information surrounding demo accounts, so we are not entirely sure if they are available, if they are not then it is a shame as demo accounts allow you to test out the markets and strategies without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

This information was not located on the site, however, if you are thinking of signing up, we would suggest that you contact the customer service team first just to check that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

The information provided by BTC Globe is scattered around the site and does not give the whole picture about what is offered. All four accounts seem to use the same trading conditions which use a spread based system, the spreads start from 1.6 pips so they aren’t incredibly high, but also not ultra-competitive. We do not know what assets are available or concrete information on what deposit and withdrawal methods are available. Not having those bits of information can make it hard for us to recommend them to trade, as it is vital to know how you can get your money in and out and also how much it will cost you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

MagnumFX Review

MagnumFX is an online Forex and CFD broker that is based in Cyprus and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (the “CySEC”). MAgnumFX have set out their core values around their clients, aiming to offer integrity, opportunity and to build and maintain their positive reputation. We will be using this review to look through their rather limited site to see what information we can find on their trading conditions and so you can decide if they are the right broker to suit your trading needs.

Account Types

There isn’t an account information page or any information on the trading accounts at all, so because of this, as we go through this review we will outline any information that we find, if there is multiple information pertaining to multiple account types we will outline them in each section, otherwise, everything in this review will be relevant to the available account.,

Platforms

MagnumFX is currently offering just the one trading platform which is MetaTrader 4, the platform is used all over the world by millions of traders and comes with a whole host of helpful features. It can be used anywhere as a desktop download at home, a mobile application on the move or as a web trader on any device. It also has access to a database of thousands of indicators and expert advisors which allows for advanced analysis and automated trading, the platform also offers features such as one-click trading, multiple charts, multiple timeframes and can be used in multiple languages.

Leverage

MagnumFX is following the guidelines of the ESMA which means thair leverage is rather limited, the recommendations state the following:

Leverage limits on the opening of a position by a retail client from 30:1 to 2:1, which vary according to the volatility of the underlying:

30:1 for major currency pairs

20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices

10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices

5:1 for individual equities and other reference values

2:1 for cryptocurrencies

Being limited to 1:30 can restrict not only risk management strategies but also the profit potential of an account.

Trade Sizes

Minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. There is no information on the site regarding a maximum trade size or how many trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There isn’t any information on the site regarding trading costs, this goes for both commissions or swap charges. We would expect there to be some swap charges present as it is the norm, they are charged when you hold a trade overnight and will be visible within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There is not a full breakdown or product specification available from MagnumFX which is a shame, many potential clients should be looking to see if their preferred asset and instrument is available to trade, not knowing could cause them to look elsewhere. A product specification can also give a lot of information about the trading conditions such as spreads and commissions, so not that being available is a shame.

Spreads

The spreads are another entity that we are not sure of, there are no examples or mentions of spreads, so their starting values are not known, we do know that the spreads will be variable which means they can be influenced by the markets, the more volatility in the markets the higher the spreads will go, different instruments will also have different natural spreads.

Minimum Deposit

There isn’t any financial information available on the site, this includes what the minimum deposit value may be.

Deposit Methods & Costs

As there isn’t any financial information available we do not know which methods are available to deposit with, we also do not know if there are any added fees. This is vital information as clients need to know how they can get their money into the broker, they do not want to sign up only to find that they cannot deposit as they do not use the available methods.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like with the deposit methods there is also no information surrounding the available deposit methods or any potential fees and commissions for withdrawing. Once again it is important for potential clients to know how they can get their money back and if it will cost them to do so.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know what methods are available to withdraw, we also do not know how long it will take, MagnumFX also does not state what their aim for processing times are, we would hope that any requests would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no active bonuses or promotions from MangumFX at the time of writing this review, this does not mean that there won’t be any in the future though, so if you are interested in bonuses you could always contact the support department to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

This is another aspect of the broker that is lacking, there is no information on the site in regards to education or tools. Many modern brokers are now trying to help their clients improve through the use of analysis or education, so it would be good to see MagnumFX do something similar.

Customer Service

There are a few little ways to get in contact with the MagnumFX customer service department, they haven’t stated what their opening times are but you are able to get in contact using the postal address provided, as well as the available phone number and email address.

Address: KPMG Center, 1 Agias Fylaxeos Street, 2nd Floor, Office 1, 3025 Limassol, Cyprus.
Phone: + 357 25 053547
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

There isn’t any information on the site that indicates that there are demo accounts, you would be able to open one up through MetaTrader 4 but not directly through the site so the trading conditions within those demo account would be unknown. Demo accounts are important for a broker as they allow you to test out new strategies as well as the trading conditions without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available anywhere on the website, so if you are wanting to get more info on your eligibility we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

There isn’t a lot of information available on the website, we have an understanding of the trading platform available and the amount of leverage that is being offered. Apart from those aspects, there is not a lot of information around the trading costs, available assets or funding methods. Without any of that information being available, we would have to recommend looking elsewhere for a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Circle Markets Review

Circle Markets is an online foreign exchange broker based in New Zealand. Founded in 2008, Circle Markets allows you to trade on any one of 140 currency pairs. Traders can also choose from 7 different commodity markets and any one of 14 leading world stock market indices. Foreign exchange trading is complicated. Circle Markets aims to simplify the process. Whether you’re a professional trader, account manager or investor, Circle Markets makes it easy to do what you need to do. That is the claim from Circle Markets themselves, we will be using this review to see if they really do achieve this and to see how they compare next to the competition.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available to use, they each have their own conditions and features. The account comparison page doesn’t give a whole bunch of information so we will expand on the differences as we go through the review, we have outlined the information we do know below.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of $50 to open, it can be leveraged up to 1:500. The account has institutional grade spreads with no added commissions. The account can be in a currency of EUR, USD, GPB, JPY, ETH, BTC or USDT with a stop out level being set at 40%.

Swap-Free Account: Swap-free accounts do not pay or earn swap or interest on any trades for Currencies, Metals & Indices, only an Administration fee is applicable on any overnight trades. The account requires a deposit of $50 to open, it can be leveraged up to 1:500. The account has STP spreads with no added commissions. The account can be in a currency of EUR, USD, GPB, JPY, ETH, BTC or USDT with a stop out level being set at 40%.

ECN Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $2,000 to open and can use EUR, USD, GPB, JPY, ETH, BTC or USDT as a base currency. The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with spreads on EURUSD averaging from 0 pips to 0.3 pips and due to the low spreads, there is an added commission of $3 per side or $6 per round lot traded, the stop out level for the account is set at 40%.

Platforms

Just the one main platform available from Circle Markets, MT4 is an all-in-one trading platform with a user-friendly interface and easy to use functionalities allowing traders to analyze the markets, place orders and manage their own risk all with a single click; traders can also manage several trading accounts simultaneously, not to mention its cutting edge technology which includes a web-based solution enabling traders to trade at any time from any device and from anywhere in the world. Thousands of free and paid signals with various profitability and risk levels working on a demo and real accounts are at your fingertips. MetaTrader 4 provides the full-fledged environment for the development, testing and optimizing algorithmic/automated trading programs.

Leverage

The leverage on all three accounts can go as high as 1:500, the leverage can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by sending a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trading sizes on all three accounts start from 0.01 lots (this is also known as a micro-lot) and go up in increments of 0.01 lots, so that would mean that the next available trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We, unfortunately, do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time. CFDs have a minimum trade size of 1 lot and a maximum trade size of 100 lots.

Trading Costs

The ECN account has an added commission of $3 per side, which equates to $6 per lot traded which is in line with the average that we see around the industry. The Standard and Swap-Free accounts do not have any added commissions as they use a spread based system.

There are swap charges on the ECN and Standard accounts, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed either on the site or within the MT4 trading platform. The Swap-Free account does not have this fee, however, it has an additional administration fee instead.

Assets

The assets have been divided up into various groups that we will now outline them below along with the instruments found within them.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURSEK, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDTRY, USDJPY, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDZAR, USDCZK, EURCZK, EURTRY, EURZAR.

Crypto: BTCUSD, BTCEUR, and ETHUSD (Bitcoin and Ethereum).

Indices: Australia 200, EU Stocks 50, France 40, Germany 30, Japan 225, UK 100, US 30, US 100, US 400, Spain 35.

Commodities:
XAUUSD (Gold), XAGUSD (Silver), US Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas.

Spreads

The Standard account states that it has Institutional grade spreads, looking at the spread page, it seems that EURUSd is starting at around 0.7 pips. The Swap-Free account uses STP spreads, but we believe they will be around the same value. The ECN account has spreads starting from between 0.0 pips and 0.3 pips.

The spreads are variable which means they will be influenced and move with the markets, the more volatility will cause them to grow larger, as will a lack of liquidity in the markets. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while EURUSD has a starting spread of 0.7 pips, GBPUSd has a starting spread of 1.9 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit requirement to open up an account is $50, this will allow you to use the Standard account or Swap-Free account, if you want to use the ECN account then you will need to deposit at least $2,000. Once an account has been opened the minimum deposit amount reduces down to $10 depending on the method you use to deposit with.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are Credit/Debit Card, Local Bank Transfer, SEPA Bank Transfer, Payeer, FasaPay, Bank Wire Transfer. There are no added fees for depositing into Circle Markets, however, you should check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any outgoing transfer fees of their own. It should be noted that the 0% deposit fees for Credit/Debit cards are for deposits under $2,000, for deposits over you should contact the customer service team to find out what the cost will be.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, however, they each now have their own fees and conditions.

  • Credit/Debit Card – There is an added fee of 2.5% when withdrawing, you can only withdraw the same amount that you deposited, any additional withdrawals will need to use another available method.
  • Local Bank Transfers – There is an added fee of 2.5% for withdrawals.
  • Euro Transfer – There are no added withdrawal fees.
  • Payeer – There are no added withdrawal fees.
  • FasaPay – There are no added withdrawal fees.
  • Bank Transfer – A fee of $20 is added to the withdrawal request.

As always, you should check with your own bank or processor to see if they will add any fees for incoming transfers and processing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Circle Markets will start the withdrawal process within 1 hour of your request, and it takes 1 working day by us before you are credited with your funds via the same payment method you used in order to deposit. Neteller and Skrill are the fastest systems for withdrawal, overseas wire transfers are often very fast reaching European banks the next day, some intermediaries can cause delays of up to 7 days for clients in certain countries.

Bonuses & Promotions

When looking through the site we did not come across any information on promotions or bonuses so it does not appear that there are any active ones at the time of writing this review. This does not mean that there won’t be any so if you are after a bonus, you could always contact the customer service team to see if any are coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few small aspects available on the site, the first is a forex compounding calculator allowing you to see how the compounding of your account will work, there is also a currency converter available. The next section is an economic calendar, this details different upcoming news events and also indicates any potential effect the news could have on the markets. There is also a guide to CFDs and even a few small guides based on how to use the trading platforms.

Circle Markets offers VPS hosting, however the plans that they have all cost around $20 a month minimum, this is a shame as a lot of brokers are now offering a free VPS to their clients as long as they have a certain balance or, maintain a certain trading volume.

Customer Service

The Circle Markets support team is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week so they are always reachable. You can contact Circle Markets using the available submission form, simply fill it in and you should then get a reply via email. They also provide you with a postal address, email address and a phone number for a choice of contact methods.

Address: 1 Bank St, Warkworth, New Zealand
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (+64) 9889 1223

Demo Account

In order to open up a demo account, you will need to sign up for an account, due to this we do not know what the trading conditions of the demo account are or if there is an expiration time on it. The demo account will allow you to test out new strategies or trading conditions without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “Circle Markets Ltd does not provide services for citizens/residents of certain regions, such as Canada, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, The United States. We Only accept New Zealand clients who are defined as ‘Wholesale Investor’ or ‘Eligible Investor’ as per New Zealand law for Financial Services Providers Act FSPA 2008.“

Conclusion

Circle Markets offers a small choice in trading conditions through their various accounts, the leverage is good up at 1:500, the spreads are also reasonable, combined with the industry average of $6 per lot traded on the ECN account, the trading costs are competitive. There are enough assets to keep you busy and when it comes to funding methods there is a choice available, however, they are slightly limited, there are also fees when withdrawing depending on the method used. There is a little bit of education but nothing that will make you an expert and the customer service team is available 24/7 which is good to see.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

DaxBase Review

DaxBase is a broker based in the Marshall Islands and focuses on a number of key features which are its fast withdrawal times, non-stop trading (even over weekends), a wide range of deposit and withdrawal methods, 100% secure trading, 24/7 support and they have over 10,000 transactions processed every day. We will be using this review to look into what is on offer and to see how they compete with the competition.

Account Types

There are three different account types available, they do not outline the trading conditions however they each have their own features, this is what we know so far.

Bronze Account: This account requites at least a deposit of $250 to open, it comes with 24/7 live video chat support, withdrawals are within one hour and there is a demo account available.

Silver Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $1,000, it comes with 24/7 live video chat support, withdrawals are within one hour, there is a demo account available and you get access to a master class web session.

Gold Account: The Gold account requires a deposit of at least $3,000. It comes with 24/7 live video chat support, withdrawals are within one hour, there is a demo account available, access to a master class web session and a personal success manager.

Platforms

DaxBase uses its own trading platform, unfortunately, there was not much information provided about it so there isn’t too much we can say in this section of the review.

Leverage

Leverage on all accounts can go up to 1:100, leverage can be selected when opening up an account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened though.

Trade Sizes

DaxBase does not use the traditional lot system, instead, they trade using dollar amounts. The minimum trade size is $1, we do not know what the maximum trade size is though.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there is any commission on the trading accounts, there is no mention of it anywhere on the site so we will assume that there aren’t any.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown of the viable assets. This is a shame as a lot of potential clients will ook to ensure that the instrument or currency pair that they prefer to trade is available, not having this information present could cause them to look elsewhere. Dax Base does have several cryptocurrencies shown on their home page, so we have included those for you below.

Spreads

We, unfortunately, we do not have any information about the spreads on the accounts or due to the nature of the broker if there are any at all.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250 which will get you access to the Bronze account, if you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $1,000. We do not know if the minimum deposit amount reduces once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We have outlined the available deposit methods below along with any potential fees.

  • Visa / MasterCard – 5% fee
  • Bitcoin – No added fee
  • Ethereum – No added fee
  • Altcoins – No added fee
  • Perfect Money – No added fee

While DaxBase does not add fees to the majority of the methods using some method such as crypto coins will incur a network fee that you will be responsible for paying.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with and we have outlined the same withdrawal fees below.

  • Visa / MasterCard – 5% fee
  • Bitcoin – No added fee
  • Ethereum – No added fee
  • Altcoins – No added fee
  • Perfect Money – No added fee

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The processing time for the withdrawals should happen within 1 hour from the request being made. The amount of time it takes after that will depend on the method used but should be available to use within 1 business day.

Bonuses & Promotions

You can receive a bonus up to 100% of your deposit, we, unfortunately, do not know the terms of the bonus such as what you need to do to make it withdrawable or if there is an expiration time. The available bonus is based on your deposit amount.

There is also a contest with up to $20,000 in prizes, the contest is based on the number of trades that you make within a week. Again, the terms of the bonus are not available or exactly what sort of trade counts for the competition.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t seem to be any educational material or tools on the site which is a shame as a lot of brokers are now trying to help their clients improve so it would be nice to see something similar here.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can contact them using an online submission form, you send it off and should get a reply via email. There are also phone numbers in English, Russian, Chinese, Thai, Singapore, and Australia.

English Phone: +1-829-9476391

Demo Account

You can sign up for a demo account through a link on the site, you can select the account currency but that is the only option available, the rest of the trading conditions re the same as what is written above in this review, we are not sure of any expiration times on the account. The demo account allows you to test out the platform and conditions without risking any real capital.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “Daxbase nor its agents or partners are not registered and do not provide any services on the USA territory.” You can also check with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account just in case you are still not sure.

Conclusion

DaxBase works a little different to a normal broker, their three accounts do not really offer much different apart from a little bit of extra support. The trades start low at just $1 and the minimum deposit is just $250 making them quite accessible. Lots of methods available to deposit and withdraw with including cryptocurrencies which are good to see, there are also not many fees for moving your money around. While the conditions seem good, if you are looking for a traditional trading experience you will need to look elsewhere for a more traditional broker.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BMFN Review

BMFN is a foreign exchange broker based in Vanuatu and is under the provision of the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission. They state that they have been in the markets since 1988 and have 14 offices worldwide, offer segregates client trust accounts and have over 12 deposit methods along with an immediate withdrawal system. We will be delving into the deepest parts of the site to find out exactly what services are offered and to help you decide if they are the right broker for you to use.

Account Types

There doesn’t seem to be a breakdown of available accounts or any sort of comparison so we are not able to list any features here. Throughout the review, we will be looking at different aspects of the brokers if there are any indications of differences or multiple accounts we will outline any differences within those individual sections.

Platforms

BMFN use MetaTrader 4 as their trading platform of choice, MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help make your trading more straight forward. It also offers high levels of customization and flexibility, impressive analytical tools and is accessible via a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader. There is a reason why it is one of the most used platforms and trusted by millions of traders all around the world.

They also have a platform called UniTrasder, which is designed for both novice and professional traders looking for an edge. The logical interface, comprehensive reporting, and position keeping windows make UniTrader the best choice for people who want to trade various financial products at once. Trailing Stop and Take Profit functionality are implemented server-side. You can be sure that your positions will be closed at the best price, even if you are not near your computer.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available for all accounts is 1:400, this can be selected when you first open up an account and you will need to contact the customer service team if you wish to change it on an already active account.

Trade Sizes

A lot on BMFX equals 10,000 units instead of the usual 100,000. The minimum trade size is 0.1 lots which are the same as a 0.01 lot on a normal trading account. Trades then go up in increments of 0.1 lot. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there are any added commissions on the trading accounts however the front page does seem to indicate that there are no added charges, what we do know is that there are swap charges, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader trading platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, we will now outline the instruments within each one.

Forex:
EURUSD, USDCHF, USDJPY, EURJPY, EURCAD, CHFJPY, CADJPY, GBPUSD, EURGBP, GBPJPY, NZDUSD, GBPCHF, AUDUSD, AUDJPY, EURAUD, NZDJPY, GBPCAD, GBPAUD, AUDNZD, AUDCHF, EURCHF, AUDCAD.

Commodities:
US Crude Oil, Silver, Gold, Platinum.

Indices:
Europe 50, US SP 500, US JJ 30, France 40, Germany 30, Nasdaq 100, FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, USD Index.

Equities:
There are plenty of shares available from the likes of Yahoo, Verizon, Target, Intel, and IBM.

Spreads

There isn’t too much information on spreads, the front page of the site states that they aim for a target spread of 1.4 pips on most major forex pairs, however no indication for any others. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets when there is added volatility they will be higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $50, we do not know if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The front page of the site indicates that there are over 12 different methods for depositing, however, the deposit method only indicates Skrill and Credit/Debit card. The FAQ also mentions Bank wire Transfer as a method. BMFN does not charge any fees for deposits. The only fees that are charged are the bank fees (third party fees) which depend on every bank policy.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods should be available but as we do not know them all we only know that Bank Wire Transfer and Skrill are available to sue, as you cannot withdraw using Credit / Debit card. There are no fees added for withdrawals but when using Bank Wire Transfer there may be a fee of $50 added by the bank.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals/Deposits are processed within the first 24 hours after receiving the request. It takes between 3 to 5 working days for a Bank Wire to be received in general. It depends on the bank, the corresponding bank, etc.

Bonuses & Promotions

The FAQ indicates that there is a bonus available on deposits, however, the link provided takes you to a page that has no information about a bonus. So you may need to contact the customer service team to see if any are available and to find out what the terms of the bonuses are.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few tools available, the first being an economic calendar that details upcoming news and the markets that they may affect. There is also an education center that has a number of things like beginner courses, trading tools, trading strategies, MetaTrader tutorials and ebook available.

Autochartist is also available this tool offers traders automated market-scanning tools that highlight trade opportunities based on support and resistance levels. Autochartist products include chart pattern formations such as Triangles, Wedges, Head-and-Shoulders and Channels, Fibonacci Retracements, Extensions, ABCD, Gartley and Butterfly patterns, key Levels – the technical analysis of horizontal support and resistance levels, autochartist provides a list of currently active trading opportunities that have had a high probability of success over the past 6 months, performance statistics provide insight as to which patterns have reached their forecast levels over the last 6 months, e-mail subscriptions provide one with a technical outlook of the markets for the next 24 – 48 hours and event Impact Analysis provides a view on how the major currency pairs’ prices moved during major financial news releases.

Customer Service

The customer support team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week, they close over the weekends just like the markets do. Their contact form is very limiting, it only offers an online form to fill in with your name, email, phone and comment. The front page says that they have locations in 14 countries including Australia, the UK, UAE, Egypt and more, and it also states that the customer service team can speak any language as there are 2,5000 assistants worldwide. However, they don’t really offer a way to contact them.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but you need to have a full account in order to create one and so we do not know what the trading conditions or potential expiration of the demo accounts are.

Countries Accepted

When opening up the site, the following statement was presented: ”Please be advised, the services and products described on this website are not offered to citizens of E.U. member states, The United States, Canada, Japan, Turkey, and Australia. BMFN Limited and its products and services offered on the site www.bmfn.com NOT registered or regulated by any U.S. or Canadian regulator and not regulated by FINRA, SEC, NFA or CFTC..”

If you are still not sure you can check your eligibility with the customer service team prior to signing up.

Conclusion

We do not know too much about the specific trading conditions offered, we know what is mentioned on the front page of the site but nothing else, if we go only by those stated figures then the trading conditions seem quite competitive. There is an ok selection of assets and when we look at the deposit and withdrawal methods we are left a little empty, there is not much information about them, it says there are over 12 ways to deposit but we only saw a specific mention of 3 of them, no fees (apart from Bank Wire) is good though.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Xtream Forex Review

Xtream Forex is a forex broker that is regulated and registers in the Marshall Islands. They state that their main advantages are their deep liquidity, competitive prices, the superior quality of order execution, tight limit/stop levels, the security of funds, fastest deposits and withdrawals, exceptional customer service and the list continues. In this review, we will be looking into the services actually being offered to see if they live up to the expectations they have put on themselves.

Account Types

Should you decide to sign up with Xtream Forex, you will have the choice of 5 different accounts each with their own features and requirements, here is an overview of each one.

Micro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of just $5 which makes it very accessible. It has spread starting from 1 pip and has no additional commission. The margin call level is set at 50 % and the stop out level at 20%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:1000. This account can be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with a maximum number of 250 trades open at any one time. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 5 lots and it is eligible for bonuses.

Standard Account: The Standard account has an entry requirement of $250. It has spread starting from 1 pip and has no additional commission. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:400. This account can be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with a maximum number of 500 trades open at any one time. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 50 lots and it is eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

ECN Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $250 to open. It has spread starting from 0 pips and due to the low spreads has an added commission of $7 per lot traded. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:400. This account can be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with a maximum number of 500 trades open at any one time. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 50 lots and it is eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

ECN Pro Account: This account increases the minimum deposit of up to $5,000. It has spread starting from 0 pips and due to the low spreads has an added commission of $5 per lot traded. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:200. This account can not be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots with a maximum number of trades open at any one time is unlimited. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 100 lots and it is not eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

VIP Account: This account increases the minimum deposit of up to $20,000 and is the top-tier account. It has spread starting from 0 pips and due to the low spreads has an added commission of $1 per lot traded. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:200. This account can not be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots with a maximum number of trades open at any one time is unlimited. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is unlimited and it is not eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

Platforms

Xtreme Forex uses MetaTrader 4 as its only trading platform, which is of course perfectly fine. Millions of FX traders choose to use Meta Trader 4. Not only is the platform used for its unique features and flexible trading system, but also for its advanced charting & technical analysis tools, expert advisor functionality, and various technical indicators.

Leverage

The maximum leverage that you can use depends on the account that you are using, we have outlined them below.

  • Micro: 1:1000
  • Standard: 1:400
  • ECN: 1:400
  • ECN Pro: 1:200
  • VIP: 1:200

The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it on an already open account you can do so by getting in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

The minimum and maximum trade sizes are based on your account type and are as follows.

  • Micro: 0.01 min / 5 max
  • Standard: 0.01 min / 50 max
  • ECN: 0.01 min / 50 max
  • ECN Pro: 0.1 min / 100 max
  • VIP: 0.1 min / Unlimited

We would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The Micro and Standard account use a spread based system and so have no added commissions. The ECN account has an added commission of $7 per lot treaded, the ECN Pro account $5 per lot traded and the VIP account ahs an added commission of $1 per lot traded. The standard at the moment seems to be $6 per lot traded so the values offered are in line or better than this.

Swap charges are also present, these are interest charges that are incurred for holding trades overnight, they can be both negative or positive and can usually be viewed from within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

There are plenty of assets available, Xtream Forex has broken them down into a number of different categories, we will outline some examples of the instruments available within each category.

Forex: AUDCAD, CADCHF, EURCZK, EURGBP, EURUSD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, USDCAD, USDDKK, USDSGD, USDZAR. There are more available, this was just a small selection.

Commodities: Natural Gas, WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Gold and, Silver.

Indices: AUD 200, ESP 35, EUSTX 50, FRA 40, UK 100, GER 30, JPN 225, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, US 30, HKG 50, Copper and Dollar.

Stocks: Loads of stocks, too many to list, but a few include the likes of Amazon, Apple Tesla, Google, Netflix and, Ferrari.

Cryptocurrencies: There are a lot of tradable pairs each crypto is tradable against multiple assets such as Bitcoin against USD, GBPO, JPY and, EUR. Coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Eidoo and many more are available to trade.

Spreads

The spreads that you get also depend on the account you are using, the Micro and Standard accounts have spread starting from 1 pip, the ECN, ECN Pro and VIP accounts have spread starting from as low as 0 pips due to their added commissions.

The spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while AUDCAD may start at 2.3 pips, other assets like GBPCHF may start slightly higher, in this case, 3.1 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open an account is $5, this gets you the Micro account. If you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $250.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are stated as being accepted: Neteller, Skrill, Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit/Debit, QIWI Wallet, Bitcoin, Bank Wire Transfer, Jeton and WebMoney. There are no added fees for depositing your funds, but be sure to check with your bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

It seems that the same methods are available to withdraw with, these are Neteller, Skrill, Visa Credit/Debit, MasterCard Credit/Debit, QIWI Wallet, Bitcoin, Bank Wire Transfer, Jeton and WebMoney. Once again there are no added fees for withdrawing but check with your bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We could not locate this information on the site so we cannot say how quickly Xtreme Forex will process your request, depending on the method used it can take between 1 to 5 business days for the money to process once Xtream Forex has processed the initial request.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different bonuses currently available.

100% Credit Bonus: Receive up to $20,000 credit per account, this bonus is for trading purposes and is not withdrawable, if you withdraw funds then you will lose a proportion of the bonus too. Original deposit and any profits are withdrawable, however, each withdrawal will reduce the bonus amount equal to what is being withdrawn.

30% Tradable Bonus: Receive up to 30% as a tradable bonus, the more you deposit the more you will get. The bonus is withdrawable once a trading volume has been met, 10% of the bonus must be traded in lots, so a bonus of $200 will need 20 lots to be traded for it to be withdrawable.

The other promotion is for Introducing Brokers so we will not get into that at it is not relevant to us.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different educational aspects to the website, the first is a trading tools section which has a number of different calculators including a position size calculator and a pip calculator. There is also an economic calendar that details upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. There is also an e-course, which his a very basic course on trading, giving a base understanding of what things are and how they work, ok for beginners but for those that have traded before t is nothing you won’t have already seen. Finally, there is a news section, which you can probably guess is just market news.

Customer Service

The customer support team is available 24/5 and is closed over the weekends and on bank holidays just like the markets are. We didn’t locate a dedicated contact us page, instead of needed to go to the bottom of the site to find some details. There is a live chat feature to speak to someone quickly, there is also a phone number should you wish to contact someone over the phone and finally there is an email address in case you prefer communicating that way.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available to sue by signing up and filling out a short form, unfortunately, information like the trading conditions or if there is an expiration on the account is not available. Demo accounts allow potential new clients to test out the trading conditions and servers while it allows current clients to test out new strategies without risking any of their capital.

Countries Accepted

The information about which countries are accepted and which are not is not present on the website, so if you are interested in joining, be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to check if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

Trading conditions offered by Xtream Forex seem pretty competitive, the spreads are ok for all account types and those with a commission are either in line with the industry standard of $6 or under. Plenty of assets to trade is positive along with plenty of deposit and withdrawal methods. There was a little information surrounding the deposit and withdrawals missing, such as processing time, however, the majority of the information is present, they just need to add a few of the finer details.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Forexite Review

Forexite is a foreign exchange broken that started trading in 1998, Forexite is licensed and regulated by the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC). Some of their standout features according to themselves are heir really nice customer support, safe platform, unique trading platform, variety of instruments including cryptocurrencies, their regulation, confidentiality, and their honesty with no ads, bonuses or contests. We will be looking into the services being offered to see if they really do offer all of these things.

Account Types

There seems to be just the one account type on offer, as we go through the review we will outline some of its features in a little more detail, but some of its basic features are as follows.

Account Information:
The minimum deposit required is $1, the minimum trade amount is also $1 with a maximum trade size of $5,000,000. The account has access to the singular trading platform and can use stop and limit order types.

Platforms

Forexite uses Traderoom as their trading platform, there is a whole PDf going over its features which is too much for us to go through, instead, we have listed below the key features that it offers.

1) A possibility to trade with low risk – a safety Forex trading.
2) No slippage at the order execution (in normal market conditions).
3) The trading terms on both real and virtual accounts completely coincide.
4) A public quotation.
5) Confidentiality.
6) No restrictions on the minimum deposit.
7) A daily accrual of interest.
8) Any amount of deals.
9) Virtual (demo) trading without restrictions.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:100, we are not actually sure if there are any other leverage options available, as the only number stated is 1:100.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots. In addition, there are minimum and maximum dollar amounts, as shown below.

Trading Costs

In terms of trading commissions there don’t seem to be any included as the account uses a spread based system, there are however swap charges which are fees charged when holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform that is offered as well as directly on the website.

Assets

Forexite has a few different instruments available to trade, we have outlined them below so you can get an idea of what is on offer.

Forex:
EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, USDJPY, EURGBP, EURCHF, EURJPY, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, CHFJPY, USDCAD, USDCAD, EURCAD, AUDUSD, AUDJPY, NZDUSD, NZDJPY, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDDKK, USDCZK, USDHUF, USDPLN, USDSGD, USDZAR, USDRUB, EURRUB, USDUAH, EURUAH, USDHKD, EURHKD, USDCNH, EURCNH, USDILS, EURILS, USDMXN, EURMXN, USDTRY, EURTRY, EURNOK, EURSEK, EURDKK, EURCZK, EURHUF, EURPLN, EURSGD, EURZAR, GBPCAD, GBPAUD, GBPNZD, AUDCHF, AUDCAD, AUDNZD, NZDCHF, NZDCAD, CADCHF, CADJPT.

Metals:
Gold and Silver.

Crypto:
BTCUSD, BTCEUR, ETHUSD, ETHEUR, LTCUSD, LTCEUR.

Indices:
Nasdaq, S&P 500, DJI, USX

Commodities:
WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil

Spreads

Spreads start from around 3 pips, it is not completely clear to us whether the spreads are variable or fixed so we cannot say for sure. Different instruments do have different spreads, so while EURUSD has a spread of 3 pips, GBPJPY has a spread of 7 pips stated.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $1, this is also the amount that you need to maintain in order to be able to trade on the account, this low limit can make Forexite a very accessible broker for those with fewer funds, however, the recommended deposit amount is $500 and due to the spreads being so high we would not recommend depositing under this $500.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few methods available to deposit with, these are Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney and Credit and Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard). When depositing these are no additional fees added by Forexite, however, you should always check with your own bank or payment provider to see if they will add any outgoing transfer processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same three methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification those are Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney and Credit and Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard), there is also the addition of Cryptocurrencies. There are some additional fees when withdrawing through these methods, we have outlined them below for ease of understanding.

Bank Wire Transfer – No fee on the broker side
Credit and Debit Card – 3% fee, min 5 USD
WebMoney – 1% fee, min 1 USD
Cryptocurrency – 1% fee, min 5 USD

With cryptocurrencies being available for withdrawal it is strange that they are also not stated as a deposit method.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Forexite will try to process withdrawal requests as quickly as possible, it will most likely take between 1 to 5 working days for your withdrawal request to fully process and be available in your account, this will depend on the method used and that methods own processing time.

Bonuses & Promotions

Forexite has made it clear that they do not offer any sorts of bonuses or contests, so if you are looking for a bonus you will be out of luck and would need to look towards a different broker.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t appear to be any available educational material or trading tools to help with your trading. This is a shame as many brokers are now aiming to help their clients improve on their trading skills, so it would be nice to see Forexite do something similar for their clients too.

Customer Service

The customer service page doesn’t state what the team’s opening times or availabilities are. They have provided their clients with a postal address as well as a legal address, there is then also an email address and phone number available to use.

Address: Forexite Ltd., Drake Chambers, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Phone: +1 718 663 0013
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

We didn’t notice any information about demo accounts, this does not mean that they are not available, just that we did not see them mentioned anywhere. Demo accounts allow you to test out the servers and also new strategies without any real risk to your capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site so if you are thinking of signing up then we would recommend contacting the customer service team to make sure you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

Forexite has tried to make things simple by offering just the one account type and also just the one trading platform. The issues come when we start looking at the trading conditions, with just the one account type available there is no way to reduce the initial spreads, they are starting at 4 pips which is incredibly high, and if there are variable they could go even higher. There is a limited amount of ways to deposit and withdraw which could limit some people who prefer to use other methods. The good news is that there are plenty of assets available to trade.

Hopefully, you should now have enough information to decide if they re the right broker for you to use. If not then be sure to check out some of the other reviews to find the broker that is right for you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Capital BTC FX Review

Capital BTC Fx is a foreign exchange broker that was founded in 2013 and is located in the United Kingdom. Capital BTC Fx aims to offer outstanding customer support, a multi-product bouquet, advanced trading platforms, tight spreads and to offer an experienced founding team. We will be using this review to look at the services being offered and to see if they achieve these and also so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available to sue with Capital BTC Fx, each having its own features and requirements, so let’s briefly outline what they are.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $500, the account does not come with any additional features.

Classic Account: The Classic account requires a minimum deposit of at least $5,000, it comes with online chat and access to all platform features.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $50,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager and an individual telephone line.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $150,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager, an individual telephone line, special promotions on one on one trading and personal reports on the stock markets.

Platforms

The only platform available to trade with at Capital BTC Fx is MetaTrader 4, this platform offers robust functionality for active trading and advanced market analytics. Its software package provides numerous unique order options, tools for technical analysis, custom indicators and trade automation.

Through the development and implementation of cutting-edge technologies, MT4 is able to provide a sophisticated suite of features. It is highly accessible as it can be used as a desktop download, mobile application or as a web trader within your internet browser.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:200, it is not clear which accounts this is relevant to but the homepage simply states that the max is 1:200. This can be selected when opening up a new account.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade sizes start at 0.,01 lots and go up in increments of 0.02 lots so the next available trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is not known but whatever it is we would suggest not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to execution speed and slippage. It is also not known to us what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

There has been no mention of any additional commissions added to the account so as far as we understand there aren’t any. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There, unfortunately, isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets, this means we do not know what is available to trade. This can be quite off-putting to potential new clients who will often look to see if a broker has their favorite instruments to trade, not knowing will make them look elsewhere.

Spreads

We do not have a full breakdown of the available assets so we also do not have a full breakdown of the available spreads. The only spread mentioned is on the home page which says that the spread on EUR/USD is around 1.6 pips, we would be assuming that this is the starting figure and would be relevant to the top tier account. Lower tier accounts will most likely have higher starting spreads. The spreads are variable though, which means they move with the markets when there is added volatility they will be seen higher and different instruments will have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

Unfortunately, we do not know what the minimum deposit amount is or the deposit requirements for opening up any of the available accounts.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a dedicated funding page detailing deposit methods, instead, we can only go with the information provided which is an image of Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller and AstroPay at the bottom of the site. There are no added fees for depositing and we would always suggest contacting your bank or processor to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As there was no information for deposits you would be right if you assumed there wouldn’t be any for withdrawals either. The same images are present which are Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, and AstroPay so we would expect those methods to be available for withdrawing to. Unlike with deposits, there is no information about any potential withdrawal fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know how long it will take for Capital BTC Fx to process withdrawals but we would hope for any requests to be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days from the time the request is made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a 30% bonus available, the only details about the promotion are on the account sign up page which states that you can get a 30% bonus on your first deposit. There is no more information surrounding it such as how to convert the bonus into real funds or what the maximum bonus available is.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t seem to be any educational stuff on the site apart from the account page indicating some one on one training and reports, the one thing it does mention is that Autochartist is also available, this offers features to help with your trading, it can identify and react to market movements, check the quality and competitiveness of your broker’s pricing, manage your cash exposure, optimize your stop loss and take profits, capitalize on known outcomes of news events and identify and react to market movements that are not typical.

Customer Service

Should you wish to contact the customer service team you can do so 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can use the online submission form to fill in your query and then get a reply back via email, or you can use the provided phone number, email address or skype username.

Address: 5 North Colonnade, London, E14 4BB, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +39 0282947312
Skype: capitalbtcfx.com

Demo Account

We did not see any mention of a demo account so this leads us to believe there isn’t one unless you can sign up for one once an account has been opened. Demo accounts can offer potential clients a way to test out the trading conditions and also for current clients to test new strategies without any risk, so if they are not available Capital BTC Fx should look at adding them to their service.

Countries Accepted

This information is not stated on the site and so we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account prior to signing up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the Capital BTC Fx website, things like tradable assets, spread, deposit and withdrawal methods are all vital bits of information that just aren’t there. Without it, it is impossible to get a real picture of the trading conditions or costs of using Capital BTC fx as a broker, it is enough to put us off and any potential clients off from signing up. Due to those reasons, we cannot currently recommend them as a broker to use at this point in time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BNFX Review

BNFX does not give a lot of information about themselves away, but it appears that they are a foreign exchange broker that is looking to provide the most transparent, stable and neutral trading environment to their clients. They pride themselves in their safety of funds and advanced technology. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the services being offered so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different accounts on offer, each one having different trading conditions and requirements, so let’s briefly look at what is on offer.

STP – Mini Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50 and can be in either EUR or USD. It comes with leverage up to 1:100 and the typical spreads are between 1.5 pips to 3.0 pips on major pairs. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and it uses MetaTrader xStation as its trading platform. Mobile trading is also available as is market data, there is also no software fees or inactivity fees. There is no added commission on this account.

STP – Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500 and can be in either EUR or USD. It comes with leverage up to 1:100 and the typical spreads are between 0.9 pips to 1.8 pips on major pairs. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and it uses MetaTrader xStation as its trading platform. Mobile trading is also available as is market data, there is also no software fees or inactivity fees. There is no added commission on this account.

True ECN Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000 and can be in either EUR or USD. It comes with leverage up to 1:100 and the typical spreads are between 0 pips to 0.4 pips on major pairs. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and it uses MetaTrader xStation as its trading platform. Mobile trading is also available as is market data, there is also no software fees or inactivity fees. There is an added commission of $0.04 per 1000 traded (0.01 lot) so $4 per lot traded.

Platforms

There are two different platforms available to trade with, one is the highly popular MetaTrader 4, the other is something called the BNFX xStation, so let’s see what they offer.

MetaTrader 4: MT4 has quickly become the world’s most used trading platform hosting millions of traders. Accessible as a mobile application, desktop download or web trader, it is accessible from anywhere in the world. It’s compatible with hundreds and thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help with your trading needs.

BNFX xStation: BNFX X Station was designed for advanced currency traders who prefer more control, flexibility, customizations, and speed than traditional retail trading software packages. It provides true one-click trading on Level 2 market depth/order book views, built-in trading calculator, in-platform economic calendar, customizable layouts saved in the cloud, and a direct connection to the BNFX liquidity infrastructure. It was designed from the ground up as an ECN/STP platform

Leverage

All three accounts come with a maximum leverage of 1:L100, the leverage can be selected when you open up a new account and should you need to change it on an already open account you will need to send your request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots (also known as micro-lots) on all three accounts, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. It is not known what the maximum trade size is but we would not recommend trading under 50 lots due to execution and slippage issues. We are also not clear on what the maximum number of open trades that you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

There is only one account that has any added commission and that is the True ECN account, it has a $0.04 commission per 1000 traded (0.01 lot), so $4 per round lot traded which is below the industry average of $6 per lot traded. The STP Mini and STP Standard accounts have noa added commissions as they use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review.

There are also swap fees which are charged for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown or product specification available, this means that we are not able to see exactly what assets and instruments are available to trade. This information is always good to have especially as many potential clients will look to see if their favorite assets are available before signing up. Not having this available makes it appear like there may not be a huge selection of instruments available to trade.

Spreads

The three different accounts have different starting spreads, we have outlined the ranges of them below.

  • STP – Mini: Variable, starting between 1.5 pips to 3 pips for major pairs.
  • STP – Standard: Variable, starting between 0.9 pips to 1.8 pips for major pairs.
  • True ECN: Variable, starting between 0 pips to 0.4 pips for major pairs.

The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, when there is added volatility they will often be seen higher and, as shown above, different instruments will have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $50 which allows you to open up an STP Mini account, should you want to use the ECN account then you will need to deposit at least $1,000. It is unknown if the minimum deposit requirement reduces for further deposits to top up an account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sadly there isn’t any information on the site regarding deposit methods or anything to do with them except for two little images of Visa and MasterCard, so we will be confident to say that they will be available, but we cannot say about any other methods. We also cannot comment on whether there are any added fees for depositing by BNFX.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As there is no information about deposits you would be right to assume that there is none about the withdrawals either, we could not find anything apart from the two images of Visa and MasterCard mentioned before. Just like the deposits, there is also no mention of any potential fees for withdrawing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Sadly we also do not have any information on this topic, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days after the request is made depending on what methods are available to withdraw with.

Bonuses & Promotions

From what we can see there are no active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, however, if you are interested in bonuses, you could contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t seem to be any educational content on the site which is a shame as a lot of modern brokers are looking to help their clients improve through education or tools, so it would be nice to see BNFX do something too.

Customer Service

If you want to get in contact with BNFX it is unfortunate that there is only one way to do it, and that is via an online submission form. When filling out the form you can select the department between General Questions, Compliance Department, Media Relations and Technical Support. There is no access to a phone number or direct email address which is a little concerning.

Demo Account

There is an open demo account button, unfortunately clicking it brings up a page that doesn’t want to load properly, so it is currently impossible for us to open up a demo account. In regards to the demo account, there is no information about the trading conditions that they use or if there is an expiration time, however, this may have been present on the page that is not loading for us.

Countries Accepted

The only statement about accepted countries is the following “THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO SOLICIT RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” So if you are not sure of your eligibility we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

It is nice to have a choice between different types of accounts, in this case, STP and ECN, the trading costs of the ECN and STP Standard accounts seem reasonable and having a choice of trading platforms are good to have. Unfortunately, we do not know what assets are available as there is not a breakdown or specification and even more worryingly is the lack of information on funding. Not knowing how to deposit or withdraw and even how much it will cost you is a real concern. This coupled with the fact that there is only one way to contact the customer service team which can be quite limiting is enough for us to recommend looking elsewhere for your trading needs.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Henordy Review

Henordy is a foreign exchange broker situated in the United Kingdom. They state that they are dedicated to developing new products, providing excellent customer service and an EA intelligence trading system. In this review, we will be looking into what is actually being offered so you can decide if Henordy is the right broker for you.

Account Types

Information regarding different accounts is not readily available on the website. From looking over the website it seems that there is only 1 type of account, the standard account. This account requires a minimum deposit of $100, has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and maximum leverage of 1:100. It has an average spread of around 3.3 pips and it used MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Platforms

Henordy only offers a singular trading platform which is MetaTrader 4, let’s take a look at what MetaTrader 4 offers. In terms of accessibility, MT4 is second to none, available as a desktop download, an app for Android and iOS devices and as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great trading solution to have. There is however also a copy trading service where you can copy a number of different accounts, we, unfortunately, can not say how profitable or safe these accounts are.

Leverage

The maximum leverage provided is 1:100 which is low when comparing it to the competition, although 1:100 can still provide good profit opportunities. Leverage can be selected when opening up an account, you will need to get in contact with the customer service team should you wish to change the accounts leverage once it is already open.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots which are also known as a micro lot. They then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We did not see any information regarding the maximum trade size, but no matter what it is we would not recommend trading trades larger than 50 lots as the bigger the trade becomes the harder it is for the markets and liquidity providers to execute the trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The account information that we found shows that the account uses a spread based payment structure and so there is no additional commission added to the trades or account.

There are swap charges though, which are either negative or positive and are paid when holding trades overnight, these swap fees can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Henordy has broken down its assets into three categories, Forex, Metals, and CFDs. In terms of forex pairs, there is not a full breakdown or even a stated amount of how many there are so this is a complete unknown to us. In terms of metals, there are the usual 2 which are Gold and Silver, when it comes to CFDs there is a small selection including US 30, SPX 500, NAS 100, UK 100, ESP 35, FRA 40, HIKG 33, JPN 225, AUS 200, US Oil and UK Oil.

Spreads

Unfortunately, there is not a full breakdown of what spreads are available, they seem to be averaging around 3.3 pips though for EURUSD which is relatively high. The spreads are also variable which means they move with the markets, when the markets are being volatile the spreads often widen and get bigger and can be seen higher than 3.3 pips or lower too. You should also keep in mind that different instruments will have different spreads, so while EURUSD may average around 3.3 pips, different pairs such as AUDNZD will average at a higher spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit when opening up an account is $100, this is also the minimum deposit amount for any further top-up deposits made to an already opened account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Henordy does not actively state which methods of deposit they use, however looking through the site there is an image of UnionPay on the homepage which would indicate that they are usable on the site. There is also mention of Bank Wire Transfers when looking through the help section of the site so we can safely assume that Bank Wire Transfer is also available. There does not seem to be any further information and there is also no information in regards to any fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like the deposit method information, there is not any present on the website, so we can only assume that the same UnionPay and Bank Wire Transfers are available to use. Just like deposits there is no information on fees either, be sure to check with whatever processor or bank you use to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

This information is currently not present, as Bank Wire Transfers are one of the withdrawal methods we would expect withdrawals to take at least 2 to 5 working (business) days to become available in your account.

Bonuses & Promotions

From looking through the site it does not appear that there are any active promotions or bonuses if this is something that you are after then we would suggest checking back regularly tor getting in touch with the customer service team.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a learning center on the website, this comprises some very basic information on trading systems, risk management and teaching you how to use MetaTrader 4. This information is very basic and if you have traded at all before, it will not be the most helpful so we would suggest looking elsewhere for your learning needs.

Customer Service

The customer service page is as basic as most of the other things on the site, there is a physical address posted as well as a singular email address. There is also a web submission form, where you can fill in your query and you should then get a reply via email. No mention of opening times but we will expect them to be closed over the weekends at the same time as the markets are closed.

Demo Account

We could not locate any information regarding demo accounts so it does not appear that they are currently available with Henordy. This is a shame as potential clients often like to use them to test out the trading conditions and servers, while current clients often like to use them to test out new strategies without risking any of their own capital. Henordy should really look to add demo accounts to their arsenal.

Countries Accepted

Henordy does not specify which countries are eligible or not, so if you wish to sign up we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are able to have an account with them.

Conclusion

Henordy aimed to be innovative and different, however they fell short of this expectation, there is so much information missing from the website, a full breakdown of tradable assets is always good but it is not present here, along with a complete lack of information regarding the accounts that can be used. The accounting side doesn’t get much better with little information about deposit and withdrawal methods and even more so about any potential fees, considering Henordy is going to be holding our money, this information should have been a basic requirement. Pretty much the only information available is what trading platform is available, due to all this, we find it hard to recommend Henordy as a broker to use at this time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

FXLatam Review

FXLatam is an online foreign exchange broker that is based out of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, they don’t actually provide a lot of information about themselves, so a few of their main selling points include instant withdrawals, live chat, an industry-leading platform, forex and crypto in one account. We will be using this review to see if they really do offer those services and to find out any additional information about them that we can.

Account Types

There are 5 different account types available to use, they do not seem to have any different trading conditions, and the account comparison page doesn’t actually indicate any differences within the accounts, just the required amounts and trading volume needed. We outlined the requirements below.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500 and a minimum trading volume of $2,500.

Platinum Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000 and a minimum trading volume of $10,000.

Diamond Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $5,000 and a minimum trading volume of $50,000.

Emerald Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 and a minimum trading volume of $100,000.

Crown Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000, the minimum trading volume is not known and simply states to call them for more information.

Platforms

FXLatam uses its own trading platform rather than one of the more established platforms like MetaTrader 4. The platform is relatively basic, it doesn’t have many of the features that many traders will not be used to.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available from FXLatam is 1:200, this is applicable for all account types, this leverage can be selected when first opop[enign up an account. We are not sure if you are able to change it once an account is set up, if you need to change it we would suggest sending a change request to the customer service department. You can buy and sell and select the size of your trades, there is very limited graph information and functions available. The platform looks more like it would be at home at a Binary Options broker rather than this forex broker.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 1,000 units which are the same as 0.01 lots. Trades then go up in increments of 100 units which is 0.001 lots, so the second available trade is 0.011 lots and then 0.012 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is, or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is no mention of any commissions, and when using the demo platform there was no indication of any commissions, and this is good due to the spreads being so high (we look at these in a later section of the review). There is also no information about potential swap charges, the majority of brokers have them so we expect that FXLatam will as well, but we cannot say for sure.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a number of different categories, there wasn’t a list available on the site which is a shame as many potential clients won’t want to open up a demo account just to see what is available, but that is exactly what we did, we have outlined the available instruments below.

Forex: AUDUSD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDHKD, AUDFJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, CHFNOK, DKKSEK, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURDKK, ERUHUF, EURILS,. EURMXN, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURRUB, EURSEK, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCNH, GBPNZD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDILS, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Indices: AEX25, Australia 200, CAC 40, China A50, CNX Nifty, DAX 30, Dow Jones, Euro Stoxx 50, FTSE 100, Hang Seng, IBEX 35, Nasdaq 100, Nikkei 225, Russell 2000, Swiss Market, S&P 500, US Dollar Index.

Crypto: ADA, BTC, BTG, DASH, EOS, ETC, ETH, IOT, LTC, NEO, QTUM, TRX, XLM, XMR, XRP, ZEC.

Commodities: Coca, Coffee, Corn, Cotton #2, Orange Juice, Soybean, Sugar #11, Wheat, Brent Crude Oil, Gas Oil, Heating Oil, Natural Gas, RBOB Gasoline, WTI Crude Oil, Copper, Gold, Palladium, Platinum, Silver.

Stocks: There are stocks from countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the dUnite States.

There are also plenty of EFTs and Bonds available to trade.

Spreads

There isn’t a list or set of examples of the spreads available on the site, instead, we had to scour the internet, for example, a few different sites seem to indicate the same starting spreads which lead us to believe they should be accurate. The spreads for EUR/USD seem to be around 3,.5 pips and are fixed, this means that they do not move no matter what is going on within the markets. 3.5 pips are very high and indicate that the trading is quite expensive here, different instruments will also have different spreads, so 3.5 pips will be the lowest, higher spreads will also be present.

Minimum Deposit

There is some contradictory information on the site regarding the minimum deposits. The accounts page indicates that the minimum amount required to open up an account is $500, while the FAQm states that it is $250, so we believe that the figure has changed at some point, but we are not clear on which one is the actual amount, just to be safe, we will say that it is $500 as this covers both scenarios.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a lot of images displayed at the bottom of the site, however very little information to go with them, there are in fact so many pictures it can make it a little hard to work out which are payment methods and which are assets or banks. So the ones that we can work out are QIWI Wallet, WebMoney, Visa, MasterCard, Yandex, WebPay, and Bitcoin.

There isn’t any information surrounding any possible fees, this does not mean that there aren’t any, it just means they aren’t stated on the site, we would also suggest contacting the payment provider that you will be using to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Once again, there isn’t any information on the site regarding withdrawal methods, we only have the same pictures at the bottom of the screen which are QIWI Wallet, WebMoney, Visa, MasterCard, Yandex, WebPay, and Bitcoin. There is only some information stating about Card and Bank withdrawals within the funding terms and conditions.

Similarly to the deposits, there isn’t any information surrounding any fees when withdrawing, again, this does mean that there won’t be any, it just means they aren’t stated on the site, we would also suggest contacting the payment provider that you will be using to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal times are not stated on the site which is a shame, due to this we would expect any withdrawals to be fully processed between 1 to 7 days from the request it is made, this will depend on the processing times of FXLatam and the processing times of the method that you have used to withdraw with.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is the usual affiliate scheme, refer people to the broker and earn, there is also an initial deposit bonus. You can receive up to a 100% bonus, this sounds good in principle, but it is buried in so many terms that it really isn’t worth it. As we went through the bonus conditions it became more and more apparent that this is something to avoid, some of the terms state that in order to withdraw, you would need to make further deposits, you would also need to trade 25 times the value of your deposits (all deposits) and the bonus funds, any withdrawals will remove the bonus completely so your funds will be locked in. This is a bonus that you should probably avoid.

Educational & Trading Tools

There isn’t much when it comes to education being provided by FXLatam. The only things that are available seem to be on the homepage, which is a news section consisting of a list of top trades, popular trends and financial news (however that is currently giving an error). There isn’t anything that will actually educate you or to help your analysis, which is a shame as a lot of modern brokers are trying to help their clients improve on their trading technique and knowledge, so it would be nice to see FXLatam do something similar.

Customer Service

FXLatam is offering a number of different ways to get in contact with them, they do not state what their opening times are though. You are able to use the online submission form, fill it in and you should then get a reply via email, you can also use one of the many phone numbers which are available in countries such as Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru, UK, and Colombia. There is also a postal address available and an email address, so plenty of ways to contact them.

Address: Get Financial LTD Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Center P.O Box 1510 Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
UK Phone: +442031502952
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

A demo account is available to use, the account uses the same trading conditions that we have stated throughout this review. The demo account allows you to test out the platform without having to risk any of your own capital.

Countries Accepted

This information does not seem to be available on the site, so we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check whether you are eligible for an account or not, prior to signing up for one.

Conclusion

FXLatam offers plenty of account types but they don’t seem to have any differences, at least not any differences that are noted on the site. The actual trading conditions are a little expensive, the leverage available is 1:200 which is fine, but the spreads are starting from 3.5 pips which can make things very expensive to trade, the good news is that there are plenty of assets to trade. There is also a bit of confusion with the funding, mainly just images at the bottom of the screen and no real information on the methods or costs. Due to these things, at this point in time, we would recommend looking elsewhere for a broker to use.