Tag: Forex Broker Review

Fidus Investments Review

Fidus Investments Cyprus (FIC), is a broker that has little information on its website and does not offer its customers the opportunity to have a demo account. Additionally, Fidus Investments Cyprus (FIC) ensures a wide range of investment services. FIC is the trademark of Fidus Investments Cyprus Ltd. This company is authorized and regulated by […]

FIC is the trademark of Fidus Investments Cyprus Ltd. This company is authorized and regulated by the Exchange Commission (Cysec) and Cyprus Securities. The company has its headquarters in Nicosia, capital of Cyprus, and as we have mentioned has CYSEC regulation, with the license number 326/17 as of 05/12/2017, and company registration number 355918.

Cyprus has certainly become a popular destination for Forex brokers in recent years. Perhaps that is because the United Kingdom already has a date for leaving the European Union. Financial regulation in Cyprus requires compliance with numerous rules and standards. Cysec is the body that will monitor compliance with these standards.

EUR 730000 is the capital to be held by all investment firms wishing to establish themselves in Cyprus. This requirement serves to demonstrate the good financial situation of the company. In addition, brokers have to report all their transactions and have clients’ money in accounts segregated and separated from the operating funds of the company.

All brokers and financial companies regulated by Cysec are members of a clearing fund for client investors. This means an important guarantee for traders who have an account with a broker with this regulation. The amount insured if the broker goes bankrupt is a maximum of 20,000 euros. In addition, all brokers or investment companies regulated by Cysec also comply with the European Mifid. This gives companies the right to offer their financial services in the EU.

ACCOUNT TYPES

We have been researching the types of accounts that this broker may have, but we have not found any information about it. The website of Fidus Investments does not report this either. We think they will probably only offer one type of account, but this is just a supposition.

PLATFORMS

We have not been able to know what type of platform Fidus Investments uses to perform trades. It is a supposition to think that it is very possible to use the MT4 platform because having its own platform is very expensive for a broker. We have written an email to the broker to ask about this issue and have not received an answer yet.

LEVERAGE & TRADE SIZES

Fidus Investments is a very opaque broker in terms of the information it offers. That is why we have not been able to find such basic information anywhere, including on the Fidus Investments website.

TRADING COSTS

Trading with this broker can be much more expensive than the industry average. Fidus Investments have the following commissions for all their accounts. A full breakdown of the fee schedule is provided on the following PDF: https://www.fidusinvestments.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/APPENDIX4-FEES-SCHEDULE-2.pdf

ASSETS

FIDUS INVESTMENTS offer multiple trading platforms and phone desk execution enabling investors to access all asset classes (FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Bonds, and Derivatives).

SPREADS

Fidus Investments is a very opaque broker in terms of the information it offers. That is why we have not been able to find such basic information anywhere, including on the Fidus Investments website.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

Fidus Investments is a very opaque broker in terms of the information it offers. That is why we have not been able to find such basic information anywhere, including on the Fidus Investments website.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

A negative aspect of Fidus Investments’ deposit policy is that it only accepts bank transfers. In this section, we miss at least the opportunity to make deposits with credit or debit cards and some electronic wallet. The banks we have available in the name of Fidus Investments to make the deposits are Bank of Cyprus, Eurobank Cyprus, and Societe Generale Bank Cyprus. On the broker’s website, the customer has all the information related to these accounts, IBAN number, Beneficiary, and Payment Details. A full breakdown of the bank details can be found on the following PDF: https://www.fidusinvestments.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/DEPOSIT-PAYMENT-METHOD-v.2.pdf

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

Withdrawals from your account can only be made through bank transfer. The refund account must be the same as the account with which the first deposit was made. Commissions for cash withdrawals via bank transfer vary depending on the currency of the account.

Withdrawal Fees:

Transfer Currency – Withdrawal Amount – Withdrawal Fee

USD All Amounts 0.15 % min. USD 35 max. USD 350
EUR All Amounts 0.15 % min. EUR 25 max. EUR 250
GBP All Amounts 0.15 % min. GBP 23 max. GBP 230
CAD All Amounts 0.15 % min. CAD 40 max. CAD 400
CHF All Amounts 0.15 % min. CHF 35 max. CHF 350
DKK All Amounts 0.15 % min. DKK 250 max. DKK 2,500
NOK All Amounts 0.15 % min. NOK 250 max. NOK 2,500
SEK All Amounts 0.15 % min. SEK 250 max. SEK 2,500

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

The Broker does not report waiting times to receive our refunds. Experience tells us that normally, a withdrawal via bank transfer if all bank details are correct, ranges between 2-5 business days.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Fidus Investments does not currently have any bonus or promotion. Neither does it have an affiliation system or Introducing Broker.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

Fidus Investments has no educational platform, no courses, or seminars. There are no basic elements for any trader such as news or economic calendar on their website.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

We can contact Fidus Investments customer service through 2 channels: Email and phone. We have not had an answer to an email we have sent asking for some basic information for the realization of this review.

Their details are as follows:

16 Kennedy Ave. 3rd Floor, 1087. Nicosia, Cyprus
Main Line: +357 22 502900
Trading Desk: +357 22 502999
Fax: +357 22 502 960
E-Mail: [email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

Fidus Investments does not have a demo account for its clients. We consider this a negative aspect. Having a demo account is important, especially for all those novice traders who need to simulate a real operation without taking risks and gain experience in different markets.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

Citizens of the following countries will not be able to open an account with Fidus Investments: USA, Canada, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

CONCLUSION

In spite of being a regulated broker in Europe and that could offer good services, we have found it difficult to know such basic aspects as the minimum deposit required, spread, leverage, and trade sizes. There are other negative aspects, they do not provide information about the platform they use, we have not been able to find out what types of account they have, and the absence of basic trading tools.

Another negative aspect is that they do not offer a Demo account, something we think is essential in any broker. The communication we have attempted has not been possible with Fidus Investments. Many reasons to think that this broker is not an option to consider if we want to open a trading account.

Tags Fidus Investments, Fidus Investments Review, Forex Broker Review

Forex Brokers

FXOptimax Review

FXOptimax is an Asia-based forex broker that is registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They offer their clients direct access to trading instruments and state that they provide an excellent online foreign exchange trading environment. We will be using this review to see if they really do offer a competitive service or if they […]

Account Types

There is a choice of three different accounts when joining Optimax. Some of the features remain the same for all three but others are different, so choosing the right account for you is important.

Pro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $100, it comes with 3 digits for JPY and 5 for other pairs. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and they go up in increments of 0.01 lots. Hedging is allowed and the spreads on the account are floating from 0 pips but average around 0.2 pips. There is an added commission of $7 per round lot traded and the account can be leveraged up to 1:500. The stop-out level is set at 50% and the execution style is market.

Precision Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $10, it comes with 3 digits for JPY and 5 for other pairs. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and they go up in increments of 0.01 lots. Hedging is allowed and the spreads on the account are floating from 1.8 pips but average around 2 pips. There is no added commission on the trading and the account can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The stop-out level is set at 20% and the execution style is market.

4-Digits Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $10, it comes with 2 digits for JPY and 4 for other pairs. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and they go up in increments of 0.01 lots. Hedging is allowed and the spreads on the account are fixed and start from 2 pips. There is no added commission on the trading and the account can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The stop-out level is set at 20% and the execution style is market.

Platforms

FXOptimax offers both manual trading through a trading platform and also automated/social trading. All modes of trading can be completed via MetaTrader 4, while social trading can be done via myfxbook AutoTrade and ZuluTrade. With all of these options being made available, traders should have no issues when it comes to trading in the exact manner they wish to trade.

Leverage

The leverage that is available to you depends on the account you use, if you have the Pro account then the account can be leveraged up to 1:500, the Precision and 4-Digit accounts can be leveraged all the way up to 1:1000. We would suggest not using more than 1:500 though. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it, you will need to send your request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all accounts 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 what the maximum number of open trades/orders is.

Trading Costs

There is an added commission on the Pro account, which is set at $7 per lot traded, there is no commission on the other two accounts as they use a spread-based system. There are also swap charges on all accounts which are charged for holding trades overnight.

Assets

There just seems to be forex and metals available to trade, we have outlined the available instruments below.

Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, USDJPY, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, EURGBP, EURCHF, GBPCHF, AUDCHF, EURJPY, GBPJPY, AUDJPY, CHFJPY, CADJPY, NZDJPY, EURCAD, AUDCAD, GBPCAD, EURAUD, GBPAUD, AUDNZD, GBPNZD, EURNZD, CADCHF, EURSEK, USDSEK, EURDKK, EURHUF, EURPLN, EURTRY, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR, ZARJPY.

Metals: Just Gold and Silver are available to trade.

Spreads

Each account has a different style of spread. The Pro account uses raw spreads which can be as low as 0 pips but will most likely be seen slightly higher. The Precision account uses variable spreads which start from around 1.8 pips, as both of these spreads are variable they will move with the markets. The 4-Digit account has fixed spreads starting at 2 pips, fixed spreads mean they will not change no matter what is happening or how much volatility there is.

Different instruments will also have different spreads. On the Precisions account, EURUSD has a spread of 1.9 pips while USDCAD has a spread of 3.1 pips, each instrument on each account will have a different spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $10 which will allow you to open either a Precision or 4-Digit account. If you want to open up a Pro account you will need at least $100 as the initial deposit amount.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different methods available, we have outlined them below along with any fees added to each method.

Bank Wire Transfer – Bank fees only
USD Coin – Transfer fees covered by the client
Neteller – 2.6% fee
Skrill – 3.9% fee (Min USD 1.2) + USD 0.5
Visa/MasterCard – 4.2% fee
FasaPay – 0.5% fee(Covered by FXOptimax up to IDR 50,000)
Perfect Money – No fee (Covered by FXOptimax)
OK Pay – No fee (Covered by FXOptimax)
Union Pay – No fee

As you can see the fees can be a little high, when using Bank Wire, you should check with your own bank to see if they add any transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

When withdrawing there are the same methods available, however, some are limited and there are fees attached.

Bank Wire – 0.8% (min $85, max $135) + Intermediary Bank Fee
USD Coin – Covered by Client
Neteller – No Fee (Covered by FXOptimax)
Skrill – 1% (No Fee for USD 10 to USD 5000 withdrawal)
Visa/MasterCard – Withdrawal to the same Credit Card ($10 fee will be applied) or through Bank Wire – (bank fees will be applied)
FasaPay – 0.5% (Covered by FXOptimax up to IDR 50,000)
Perfect Money – No Fee (Covered by FXOptimax)
OK Pay – No Fee (Covered by FXOptimax)
Union Pay – Withdrawal through Bank Wire

It is a shame to see so many fees attached to both the deposits and the withdrawals, this is a practice that some brokers are getting rid of so it would be nice to see FXOptimax follow suit.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

FXOptimax will aim to process all withdrawals within 48 hours, the time it takes after that depends on the method used.

Bank Wire – 2 business days after withdrawal request is confirmed
Note: Bank transfer may take 1 to 4 days before arriving in your bank account
USD Coin – 1 business day after withdrawal request is confirmed
Neteller – 1 business day after withdrawal request is confirmed
Skrill – 1 business day after withdrawal request is confirmed
Visa/MasterCard – Withdrawal to the same Credit Card or through Bank Wire
FasaPay – 1 business day after withdrawal request is confirmed
Perfect Money – 1 business day after withdrawal request is confirmed
OK Pay – 1 business day after withdrawal request is confirmed
Union Pay – Withdrawal through Bank Wire

Bonuses & Promotions

The main promotion on offer is a 25% deposit bonus. Get 20% extra on your deposit and when you trade enough volume it will be converted into real funds. We have outlined the requirements below so you can decide if it is worth taking or not.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are three little tools available, the first is a margin calculator, this simply tells you the margin that you will require and the pip value based on the live markets. There is then a small learning section which details some very basic information about forex and trading, ok for new traders but if you have traded before you will most likely know everything there. The next section is some market analysis, but we can’t really say much about it because it hasn’t been updated since October 2018.

Customer Service

You can send your concerns or questions to the customer service team in a few different ways, there is everyone’s favourite online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. There is also a postal address available along with a Skype ID, email address, and various phone numbers.

Address: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, West Indies.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +358753251112

Skype: fxoptimax.global (Business Development)

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out new strategies and trades without risking any of your own capital, so it is good to see them available from FXOptimax. You can fill in a short form to get one open, you can select the leverage up to 1:1000 and the account type as well as the deposit amount. There is no mention of an expiration time so we assume they will stay open indefinitely.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is on the website:

“FXOptimax does not provide services for United States residents.”

If you are still not sure of your eligibility then get in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

FXOptimax makes their accounts very accessible with low minimum deposit requirements, there is also a choice of the number of digits the markets have which is nice to see. Leverage can go as high as 1:1000 which offers a lot of possibilities, however, we would suggest sticking to 1:500. The trading costs are ok, the low spread account has an added commission of $7 per lot while the other accounts have spreads starting around 2 pips, which is ok when comparing to the competition. There isn’t a whole lot of tradable assets though, so you may be left with some downtime. Plenty of ways to contact the customer service team which is good, so now you have the decision to decide if they are the right broker for you, or if you need to look elsewhere.

Tags Forex Broker Review, FXOptimax, FXOptimax Review

Forex Brokers

FinoTec Review

Finotec is an online foreign exchange broker that is based in the UK, it is fully licensed and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They have pointed some of their main advantages as boing:

Fully FCA regulated and compliant broker
MT4 – MT4 web – MT4 Mobile platform
Lightning Fast Execution
Tailored account solutions
MAM Account Options
IB Solutions
Professional and Experienced Trading Brokers
Advanced Trading Tools

As we go through this review, we will be looking into their services in a little bit more detail to find out exactly what is on offer and to see how they compare next to the competition.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available from Finotec, and they all seem to offer the exact same trading conditions. The main differences are in the extra services that are available to them, so in regards to trading conditions we will outline them as we go through each individual section of this review, we have outlined the key features of each account below.

Classic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $1,000, it comes with daily briefings & research, access to the desktop and mobile trading platform, and access to video tutorials.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $10,000, it comes with daily briefings & research, access to the desktop and mobile trading platform, access to video tutorials, competitive spreads, and access to webinars & seminars.

Platinum Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $25,000, it comes with daily briefings & research, access to the desktop and mobile trading platform, access to video tutorials, competitive spreads, access to webinars & seminars, the account has a general account manager, and SMS news & signals.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $100,000, it comes with daily briefings & research, access to the desktop and mobile trading platform, access to video tutorials, competitive spreads, access to webinars & seminars, the account has a general account manager, SMS news & signals, access to premium daily analysis, and access to premium customer care.

Platforms

Finotec uses the powerful MetaTrader 4 trading system that allows you to implement strategies of any complexity. Market and pending orders, instant execution, and trading from charts, stop orders and trailing stops, a tick chart, and trading history, all these tools are at your disposal. 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 of algorithmic/automated trading programs. The platform is also usable as a desktop download, mobile application, or from within your internet browser in the form of a web trader.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:1000 which is very high, normally we would not recommend trading over 1:500 as once you go any higher the risk to the account grows exponentially, but it is nice that leverages so high are offered. You are able to select the leverage when first opening up the account, should you wish to change it on an account you are already using, you should send the customer service team a request to change it for you.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.1 lots which are known as mini-lots, we do not know if the increments go up in 0.01 lot sizes or 0.1 lot sizes. We also do not know what the maximum trade size available is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There aren’t any commissions or fees stated on the site, however, within the terms of business, there is the following statement:

“You will pay our charges without set-off or deduction, details of which have been provided to you by your Relationship Manager (subject to any additional charges set out in this agreement).”

This indicates that there may be some trading fees, but we do not know what they are. There are however swap charges, these can be positive or negative charges for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform and from on the website directly.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into three different categories, we have outline those categories as well as the instruments and assets within them so you can get a better understanding of what is on offer from Finotec.

Forex: EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDSGD, USDCHF, USDJPY, ERNOK, EURSEK, EURTRY, GBPSEK, GBPTRY, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDTRY, GBPZAR, USDCZK, USDHUF, USDMXN, USDZAR, ZARJPY.

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

Commodities: Gold, Silver, US Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas.

Spreads

Spreads seem to start from around 0.4 pips, we had to use the demo account to find this out as there wasn’t any information provided on the site, due to them being so low it makes us believe that there may well be a commission charged on the live account, either that or the spreads will be higher on the live accounts. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets, the more volatility, or less liquidity the higher the spreads will be, as usual, different instruments also had different starting spreads, so some did not go as low as 0.4 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $1,000 which will allow you to open and use the Classic account, we do not know if these amounts are reduced for further top-up deposits into an already open account, but based on the higher opening deposit, it is most likely that there will be a reduced limit.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only methods that seem to be available to use are Bank Wire Transfer, SafeCharge, and UnionPay. We say only, SafeCharge allows you to use up to 250 different methods including Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, and more, so your preferred method of deposit should be available to use. There are some additional fees when depositing which we have outlined below.

Bank Wire: Unknown

SafeCharge:

$0 – $500,000 – 2.95% fee
Over $500,000 – 2.8% fee

UnionPay: 3.95% plus $0.35 per transaction.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, SafeCharge (which included hundreds of methods such as Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal), and UnionPay. Just like with the deposits, there are some additional fees when withdrawing your funds.

Bank Wire: Unknown

SafeCharge:

$0 – $500,000 – 2.95% fee
Over $500,000 – 2.8% fee

UnionPay: 3.95% plus $0.35 per transaction, plus a 2% credit fee plus 20 EUR.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Finotec will aim to process your withdrawal request within 24 hours of it being made, however, you should allow up to 3 days for verification. Once the request has been processed by Finotec it could take an additional 1 to 5 working days for the transfer to fully process depending on the method used.

Bonuses & Promotions

We did not notice any information pertaining to bonuses or promotions so it does not look like there are any active at the time of writing this review. If you are interested in them, you should get in touch with the customer service team, they will be able to let you know if there are any coming up that you may be able to take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few sections relating to education and tools. For education there is a page simply explaining what Forex is and another letting you know what CFDs are, they are rather basic and won’t necessarily make you a better trader. There is a video tutorial page, but it currently appears to be empty, so not the most useful, there is also an eBook available, this is going over the basics of trading, which could be useful if you are just starting out. The final educational thing is a glossary, this details different trading-related terms that you can refer back to in case you come across something you do not know the meaning of.

There are also a few tools available, the first being an economic calendar, it details upcoming news events and also lets you know what potential impact they could have on the markets, there is also a profit calculator available along with some real-time charts, the final tools is a traders chat, this has a blog, forum and chat where you can communicate with other traders for ideas and help.

Customer Service

The customer service team can be contacted from the bottom of the site, their opening times are not stated but we suspect that they will be closed over the weekends and on bank holidays.

You can use the online submission form, simply fill in your query and you should then get a reply via email. There is also a phone number, email address, and postal address available should you wish to use any of those methods of contact.

Address: Finotrade UK, 1-4 Bury Street, Holland House, London EC3A 5AW, United Kingdom

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +44 2033 187 716

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available for the MetaTrader 4platform and will allow you to test out the trading platform as well as the possible trading conditions and new strategies without any real risk. We suspect that the demo conditions mimic those of a live account, we do not know if there is an expiration time on the demo account though.

Countries Accepted

This information is not stated on the site, so if you are interested in an account, we would highly recommend contacting the customer service team just to make sure you are eligible for an account before you open one up.

Conclusion

Finotec offers a wide range of accounts that offer different features, they all seem to have the same trading conditions though. You are able to sue a massive 1:1000 leverage which is nice to have but better to stick to a slightly lower number, trade sizes start at 0.2 lots which is fine for deposit over 1,000, however, we do not really know the true trading costs, we do not know if there are any commissions but we suspect that there are based in the terms of business and low spreads in the demo account.

Thanks to SafeCharge, there are plenty of ways to deposit your funds, however, there are fees for both depositing and withdrawing which is a bit of a shame. MetaTrader 4 is available and there are enough ways to contact the customer service team, as well as plenty of assets to trade. Now that you have the information, the decision to use them is all yours.

Tags Finotec Forex, Finotec Review, Forex Broker Review

Forex Brokers

ContraFX Review

Contra FX is a Forex and CFDs broker in stock indices and commodities. It also has a wide range of shares to trade. The website reports that Contra FX is a partner of Contra Forex Ltd. We have investigated and have not found any information about this company. They also say that their accounts are maintained with BRE or Earthportfx which are entities registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), but Contra FX does not report any registration or license, so we can’t know anything about its regulation. It has come to our attention that in several internet forums, Contra FX usually has good reviews.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Against FX you can open 3 different account types, Individual or Joint, Corporate, and Trust. For the opening of the account, a complete request of the client, a copy of identification issued by the government, proof of address will be required. A copy of the business partnership agreements and a copy of the trust agreement will also be requested in the corporate accounts. The commercial characteristics of each account are not explained in the section “Account Types.”

PLATFORMS

Contra FX offers its customers the MT4 platform in its desktop version to be able to trade from your computer. They have their own platform designed exclusively for use on mobile devices, such as Smartphones and tablets. They promise an intuitive and user-friendly environment. To download the mobile app it is necessary to contact customer service to provide the corresponding download link.

They also have software for managing multiple accounts. It would be an FX trading tool for asset managers. One of the improvements of this platform with respect to MT4 is that it promises to be faster to change accounts from one client to another, which in MT4 you have to do manually by entering the data of each client.

LEVERAGE

We have encountered the general difficulty of collecting different information concerning this broker. One of them is that we do not currently know the leverage levels that Contra FX can offer in their accounts to their customers.

TRADE SIZES

We do not have information about the trade sizes available for each of the 3 accounts offered by the Counter FX broker.

TRADING COSTS

Against Fx, it informs us on its website that it does not apply commissions to trades and that its benefit is implicit in the spread. We can also talk about a cost that is common in all brokers, which is overnight financing. Here we explain how it works.

When it comes to, for example, foreign exchange positions, overnight financing is calculated using one-day interest rate spreads for both currencies. You receive interest on the currency you purchased and pay interest on the currency you sold. The financing shall be accounted for in a single currency.

For a position on a Friday or non-business day on the market, the financing shall be applied in the number of days until the next business day.

ASSETS

We will detail the assets you can trade with this broker. We will report on Forex, indices, commodities, and bonds.

Forex: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, USD/CAD, AUD/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/ JPY, GBP/JPY, CHF/JPY, EUR/CHF, NZD/USD, GBP/CHF, AUD/JPY, EUR/AUD, EUR/CAD, NZD/JPY, CAD/JPY, GBP/CAD, GBP/NZD, GBP/AUD, AUD/NZD, AUD/CHF, and USD/MXN.

Índices: CAC 40, DAX 30, Dow Jones 30, FTSE 100, NASDAQ 100, Nikkei 225, S&P 500, and Swiss 30

Commodities: Copper, Gold, Silver, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Soy.

Bonds and other indices: USD index, 10-year US T-Note, and 30-year T-Bonds.

Additionally, this broker offers a range of 60 Exchange stocks to trade. We understand that the range of marketable assets offered by the reverse FX is extensive and reasonable.

SPREADS

The spreads have not been informed and the search for this information has been unsuccessful. This lack of clarity in the information on the part of the broker is unprofessional.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

When a deposit is made by bank transfer, the minimum deposit is $5,000 USD, without specifying a maximum amount. When a deposit is made by bank card the minimum deposit is USD 5,000 and the maximum deposit is USD 50,000. We find it a very high demand for a first deposit compared to most brokers.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

The deposit methods detected on the broker’s website are 2, bank transfer and debit or credit cards, Visa or Mastercard. Contra FX does not allow deposits in virtual currencies such as Paypal, Neteller, Skrill, and others. They recommend making a bank transfer, at least for the first deposit. Deposits made by credit card can be delayed up to 1 business day to be displayed in the account. All transactions made using a bank card are automatically converted into US dollars and there is the possibility that the bank issuing your card may charge fees for currency conversion.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

We understand that withdrawal methods are the same ones that the broker offers for deposits, that is, bank transfer and credit or debit cards. Withdrawal costs have not been reported by the broker on his website.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

In the absence of accurate information on the costs of withdrawals and deposits, we have no information about either. Withdrawal processing & wait time. The only information we have found is that Contra FX reports that funds deposited with a credit card will not be available for an upcoming withdrawal for a period of thirty calendar days. The period that seems to us excessively high.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

There are currently no bonuses or promotions available. Researching the Internet, we have detected that during the year 2019, Contrafx had a promotion consisting of 10% bonuses on deposits. This promotion was valid for both new and existing clients. The minimum deposit to qualify for this promotion was USD 2000, to get USD 200 bonus, and the maximum deposit was USD 50,000 to get USD 5,000 bonus. A certain volume had to be traded in order to be awarded the amount of the bonus.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

Contra FX has an educational section where we find a glossary of terms related to Trading. The glossary is extensive, but it seems insufficient for an educational area. As for the trading tools, we have not found anything of interest. We usually comment that an updated news section and an economic calendar where the most important events of the day are indicated are basic tools that every broker must offer to his clients.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To contact customer service, we have the following ways:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: + 3278480563 (only available for active accounts)
Mailing Address: 126 Boulevard Anspach, Brussels, Belgium

A contact form is also available. There is no online chat, which we consider to be of interest as it is a quick way to contact and resolve doubts or questions practically instantly.

DEMO ACCOUNT

Contra FX offers its customers a free Demo account, based on the MT4 platform. This demo account is available to customers up to a maximum of 30 days, time which we consider insufficient and which should be unlimited to offer good service.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

We have found no exceptions to any citizen or jurisdiction that cannot open an account with this broker. If you are interested in opening an account with Contra Fx you should contact your customer service for this information.

CONCLUSION

Advantages: Only the variety of available assets has seemed to us a positive aspect. Because this broker does not provide information related to important aspects, we have not found more relevant advantages to open an account with him.

Disadvantages: Few payment methods. Very high minimum deposit (5,000 USD). Much lack of information is important for the trader, such as Trade Sizes, Trade costs, Spreads, and leverage. Regulation doubtful.

Tags ContraFX, ContraFX Review, Forex Broker Review

Forex Brokers

Forex24 Review

Forex24 is a broker you can trade with a wide variety of assets, 68+ currency pairs: majors, minors, and exotics, 11 commodities, 12 indices, 57 stocks, and 20 cryptocurrencies. It offers several types of accounts and has a very complete website, and it is available in several languages, such as English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, […]

Forex24 is a broker you can trade with a wide variety of assets, 68+ currency pairs: majors, minors, and exotics, 11 commodities, 12 indices, 57 stocks, and 20 cryptocurrencies.

It offers several types of accounts and has a very complete website, and it is available in several languages, such as English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Finnish, Greek, and Arabic.

But one of the most critical factors when comparing brokers is the regulatory aspect. Forex24 is a trademark owned by Lydya Financial Ltd. and is supervised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Cysec), licensed HE334292. This is a very reputable regulatory body within the EU, which monitors and enforces high standards for companies offering financial services under its license.

Forex24 is also a broker with an STP business model, that is, a broker that processes transactions directly with the market, not being the counterpart of its customers. This aspect is not so important when we talk about a broker with proper regulation, but many traders prefer this business model to the “Market Makers,” whose brokers earn money when their clients lose it.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Forex24 has three different accounts. You can access them from a minimum deposit of USD 250 (Mini Bronze account), and access a wide variety of trading assets. The following are the characteristics of each account:

PLATFORMS

Forex24 offers two trading platforms, and both are available for use on computers, mobile devices, iOS, or Android. We talked about the popular MT4 platform and the Forex24 Webtrader platform.

The MT4 platform does not need a presentation, as it is the tool most used by traders. It has a great rapidity in the execution of orders. It offers the user a multitude of technical indicators. It has a very advanced graphics package and provides the possibility to automate your trading, through the EA’s (Expert Advisors).

On the other hand, the Webtrader platform has a high-quality design and is based on MT4. It allows excellent customization, is simple and easy to use. It can analyze up to 10 charts simultaneously and has up to 5 different chart types.

In summary, two excellent trading platforms that Forex24 makes available to its customers.

LEVERAGE

Leverages vary depending on the type of account you have. In Bronze and Classic accounts, the leverage is the same. In the Pro Gold account, you can have larger leverage. Keep in mind that trading with greater leverage does not guarantee better results, in fact, it is often said that leverage is the main reason why beginners lose money in markets.

TRADE SIZES

The minimum trade sizes are 0.01 lots (micro lot), and the maximum trade size is 50 lots, here is an extract from a table on the broker’s website:

Symbols – Min Position Size – Max Position Size

EURUSD – 0.01 Lots – 500 Lots
GBPUSD – 0.01 Lots – 500 Lots
USDCAD – 0.01 Lots – 500 Lots
USDJPY – 0.01 Lots – 500 Lots
USDCHF – 0.01 Lots – 500 Lots

TRADING COSTS

In addition to the costs for the spread (the difference between the purchase price and sale price), there are costs per lot traded, depending on the type of account are the following:

Commissions per Account Type:

Bronze: 0.0029 % Per Side
Silver: 0.0025 % Per Side
Gold: 0.0020 % Per Side

To these costs must be added the cost of the swap, that is, any position held overnight, which will incur a maintenance cost (interest). This amount can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and the direction of the position, and its amount is fixed by the central banks of the base currency of the open position.

In the event of not engaging in any commercial activity, the broker has the right to charge customers for all fees related to incoming and outgoing transactions, at least 10 units of the base currency, and not more than 2.5% of the total amount deposited.

ASSETS

Forex24 has a wide variety of assets to trade with. You can trade 68+ currency pairs: majors, minors, and exotics, 11 commodities, 12 indices, 57 stocks, and 20 cryptocurrencies.

SPREADS

We have detected that spreads are based on account type. Below, we have provided the lowest possible spreads for each account type.

Bronze: Floating Low Spreads from 2.8 pips
Silver: Floating Ultra Low Spreads from 1.7 pips
Gold: Floating Ultra Low Spreads from 1.2 pips

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit depends on each account; we show the different accounts with the minimum deposit required for each of them:

Mini Bronze account: Minimum: $ / £ / € / 250
Classic Silver account: Minimum: $ / £ / € / 500
Pro Gold account: Minimum: $ / £ / € / 1000

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

The deposit methods of the broker, and its costs, are as follows:

Credit or Debit card: Covered by the bróker. Deposit Time, 1 hour
Bank Transfer: Covered by the bróker. Deposit Time, 2-5 working days
Skrill: Covered by the bróker. Deposit Time, 1 hour
Neteller: Covered by the bróker. Deposit Time, 1 hour

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

The withdrawal methods and their costs are as follows:

Credit or Debit card: 1 unit of the base currency of your account
Bank Transfer: Dependent on amount & banks involved
Skrill: Withdrawal Fee, 1%
Neteller: Withdrawal Fee, 0.15 EUR

*Note, if the withdrawal requires more than one transaction via the card processor to execute the full amount, each additional transaction will be charged with 1 unit fee. An additional 1.5% fee will apply for amounts above the initial deposited amount.
**It can take an additional 2-5 working days for the banks to process the amount into your account. Click on the link to see additional information on our service payment providers.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

Withdrawal Processing Time is 1 working day for all withdrawal methods after you must add the time that each withdrawal method entails, which usually ranges from 1 to 5 working days.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Forex24 does not currently have any Bonuses or promotions, and we don’t even know he’s had them in the past.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

Forex24 offers its clients a very complete glossary of terms. In this glossary, we find words related to trading and terms of economy in general, really very instructive. On the broker’s website, we also have an economic calendar. We consider this tool to be fundamental, and it should be consulted daily, as it includes all the essential events of the day that can affect the different assets we trade.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

There are basically 3 ways to get in touch with Forex24 customer service, are phone, email, and a contact form that you will find on their website. The data are as follows:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +357 25 26 20 49
Fax: +357 25 25 13 93
155 Ayias Fylaxeos, Ersi Court Suite 202, 3083 Limassol, Cyprus.

You can also contact the broker through their social networks, Facebook, Linked In, Google Plus, and Twitter.

DEMO ACCOUNT

With Forex24, to have a demo account, you must fill out a questionnaire with your personal data, and wait for manual approval with the instructions for installation. It cannot be created automatically as on the pages of other brokers. We believe that this is an aspect that can be improved.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

Forex24 does not offer its services to U.S. residents, Canada, Japan, North Korea, Iran, Belgium, and some other regions. For more information, please contact customer service.

CONCLUSION

Forex24 is a Cysec regulated foreign exchange and CFD broker. The spreads offered by this broker are not up to the average of the rest of the industry. We cannot say that they are very high, but they will have an impact on our accounts if we trade with them for a long time.

There are several reasons why Cypriot brokers can be considered serious brokers. The local Commission is under the European umbrella MIFID, which is one of the most active agencies that implemented rules for financial companies that it oversees.

Let’s just mention below two of the principles that guarantee the safety of your funds:

– Customer account segregation: this is a common rule in the EU, meaning that Forex24 cannot touch your deposits. This is done through segregated bank accounts. Your funds will be in one account, and the broker’s operating account will be a different one.

– There is insurance against the insolvency or bankruptcy of your broker. All companies regulated by Cysec participate in a clearing fund. This system guarantees that your funds will be refunded if the broker goes bankrupt, up to a limit of 20,000 euros.

Advantages:

Regulated broker offering guarantees to its customers (CySec regulation)
STP model (broker earns commissions, not on the losses of his clients)
Available 2 excellent trading platforms, MT4 and Webtrader
Variety in deposit methods
Minimum deposit available. 250 USD
High leverage, possible with the Pro Gold account

Disadvantages:

High spreads, even in the Pro Gold account
We can find many brokers cheaper than a spread of 1.2 pips + commission

Tags Forex 24, Forex 24 Review, Forex Broker Review, Forex24, Forex24 Review

Forex Brokers

GFS Partner Review

GFS Partner is an online foreign exchange broker that is looking to evolve the trading world. They claim that some of their key benefits are: Ultra-fast trade execution with no-dealing-desk intervention Aggregation of prices from multiple LPs & access to a deep liquidity pool Ongoing investment in technology & research They also make a point […]

GFS Partner is an online foreign exchange broker that is looking to evolve the trading world. They claim that some of their key benefits are:

Ultra-fast trade execution with no-dealing-desk intervention
Aggregation of prices from multiple LPs & access to a deep liquidity pool
Ongoing investment in technology & research

They also make a point to say that their client-centric approach is based on a number of factors which include:

To make trading accessible to all by offering ongoing support & educational resources
To continuously update our services to meet trader demands
To lead the way by supporting transparency & the adoption of ethical trading practices throughout the industry

They are also committed to the following things:

Unwavering commitment to transparency, excellence & innovation
Investment in technology and research
Expansion & refinement of our business model with trader needs in mind

We will be using this review to look through the services on offer to see if they manage to achieve all of these things and to see how they compare to the competition in this very competitive industry.

Account Types

There isn’t account information or a comparison page, it also appears that there is just one account type available, so instead of writing any information we find here, as we go through each individual section of this review, we will outline the different conditions that are offered to the single available account. It should be noted though, that in order to sign up to an account you do require an invitation code, how you get one we are not sure, but most likely you need to know someone who already has an account.

Platforms

GFX Trading is offering their clients MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform, the platform has a huge amount of accessibility through its use as a web trader, mobile app, and desktop download, it is also highly compatible allowing you to alter it to suit your trading style and needs. It has a number of built-in indicators to allow for analysis and is also compatible with thousands more to really help you to analyze the markets. It can also use expert advisors which allow for automated trading, there are many other features such as one-click trading that help make MetaTrader 4 one of the most popular trading platforms that are used by millions all over the world.

Leverage

There isn’t a mention of the available leverage anywhere on the website, looking at various sites on the internet, they all provide varying figures, so there is nothing that we are able to go by, so at this point in time, the maximum leverage is a mystery to us.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are another aspect where there isn’t any information available, many brokers offer 0.01 lots as their minimum value but we do not know if GFS Partner does or not, we also do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

Once again, this is a part of the broker that we know nothing about, we do not know if there are any added commissions when trading, as as we also do not know anything about the spreads, it is impossible for us to work out whether there may or not be commissions. There is also no mention of swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight, however, 99% of brokers have them so we would suspect that GFS Partner would also have them on their accounts.

Assets

There are multiple different asset classes including Forex, Metals, Indices, Futures, and Commodities, there may be more but it is hard to tell. Unfortunately, while we know a few of the categories, we do not have any actual examples of the instruments and assets within them, so it is hard to tell what there is to trade. GFS Partner claims that there are over 250 different assets to trade, we just don’t know which ones.

Spreads

We again do not have any information on the spreads, we do not know what their starting points are, or whether they spreads are fixed or variable, not having any of these trading conditions available can make it very hard to actually understand what is on offer and the overall costs of trading.

Minimum Deposit

There doesn’t seem to be any information regarding the minimum deposits so we do not know how much is needed to open up an account, this is not good as some clients may go through the registration process just to find out they do not have enough for the minimum deposit, ultimately wasting their time.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We, unfortunately, do not have any information about which deposit methods are available, or if it will cost any money to deposit. It is important to have this information available as clients need to know if their preferred methods of depositing are available, they do not want to go through the signup process only to find they cannot deposit as they do not use the available methods, it is also important for them to know how much it will cost to deposit into the broker.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

This information is also missing and is just as vital as the deposit methods and people need to know how they can get their money out, it is also important to know how much it will cost as you do not want to deposit, trade and then try to withdraw only to find it will cost you half your profit to do it, this information along with the deposit methods needs to be made visible and accessible to potential clients.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know what the withdrawal methods are, it is also hard for us to estimate what the processing times may be as GFS Partner does not mention on their site what their own processing times are. We would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed between 1 to 7 days from the date that the request is made, this will depend on which methods are available to sue.

Bonuses & Promotions

Looking through the site it was clear that there wants any information available regarding bonuses and promotions, this does not mean that there won’t be any 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

There is just a single page of information that could be considered educational, the help page has a little bit of information about how trading forex works, it isn’t anything amazing and won’t help you become a master trader, more needs to be done on this aspect of the site if they wish to compete with the better brokers in the industry.

Customer Service

There isn’t dedicated customer support or contact us page not that we could see anyway), there is just a single email address positioned at the bottom of the site. It is a real shame to see just the one method available, it does not help to build confidence and it is vital for clients to be able to get in contact with them in a number of ways. The website does suggest that there is 24-hour support 5 days a week, but if this is just via email it kind of defeats the point.

Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Apparently, there are demo accounts available, however, we were not able to access them as you need to sign up for a full account in order to open one up. The demo account gives clients a way to test out new strategies and potential clients a way to test out the platform and trading conditions but considering you need an account, new clients do not get this opportunity, we also do not know if there will be an expiration time on the demo accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not made clear to us on the site, so if you are thinking of signing up with GFS Partner then we would suggest trying to get in contact with their customer support team just to make sure you are eligible for an account prior to trying to open one up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the site, so much that we do not know what the trading conditions are such as the leverage, commissions, spread, or even what assets are available to trade, on top of that we do not know which payment methods are available to deposit or withdraw with and if there are any fees. If that wasn’t bad enough, there is a complete lack of ways to get in touch with the customer support team, just an email address is available and nothing else. With all this missing information it is impossible for us to recommend them as a broker to use and would suggest looking elsewhere.

Tags Forex Broker Review, GFS Partner, GFS Partner Review, GFSPartner Review

Forex Brokers

IMMFX Review

IMMFX is a foreign exchange broker, located in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and licensed by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Financial Service Authority (SVGFSA) of the Eastern Caribbean States (CELAC) and (CARICOM). IMMFX boasts a number of features that make them stand out from the crowd including fast account opening with instant deposits and same-day withdrawals, extensive global market (technical & fundamental) analysis on a daily basis 24/5, an industry-leading client MetaTrader 4/Mobile trading platforms, convenient funding by major credit cards, swap-free accounts available for both Muslims and non-Muslims as well.

Tight Spreads with Low Latency and Fast Execution is in place. Welcome, and Recurring Marginal Bonuses are available upon request. Hedging capability and Negative balance protection. High Leverage up to 200:1, No rejection and No re-quotes. Zero Trading Commission, No hidden costs, Bank commission fees will be reimbursed with every Deposit. Highly Protected Segregated clients funds with No withdrawal restrictions. Trade 50+ Currency pairs,(majors-crosses-exotics), Precious Metals, Energy, Indices, commodities and CFDs, and alternative methods of Account Funding via, Fasapay, Payza, Perfect Money, i-Account, Wire Transfer, Paysafecard, OKPAY, Union Pay, UA EXCHANGE, WESTERN UNION, MoneyGram and many others are available.

That is a lot to claim, so we will be looking into the services on offer to see if they do in fact offer all of these and how they stand up to the competition.

Account Types

There are two different account types available to trade with, we have outlined the key features of both of them below.

Pro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $100, it comes with spreads starting from 0. pips and has flexible leverage up to 1:200. It can trade currencies, energies, metals, and indices with trade sizes starting at 0.01 lots and going up in increments of 0.01 lots up to a maximum of 20 lots. Swap-free versions are available and there is no added commission on forex but there is an $18 commission on stock indices, energies, and crypto. You can have a maximum of 300 trades open at any one time, the margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out level at 30%. The account uses market execution and expert advisors are allowed, the account uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Prime Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $100, it comes with spreads starting from 0.2 pips and has leverage up to 1:200. It can trade currencies, energies, metals, and indices with trade sizes starting at 0.01 lots and going up in increments of 0.01 lots up to a maximum of 50 lots. Swap-free versions are available and there is an added commission of $8 per lot traded on forex and $18 commission on stock indices, energies, and crypto. You can have a maximum of 1,000 trades open at any one time, the margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out level at 30%. The account uses market execution and expert advisors are allowed, the account uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Platforms

The platform on offer is the powerful MetaTrader 4 which allows you to implement strategies of any complexity. Market and pending orders, Instant Execution, and trading from a chart stop order and trailing stop are just a few of the execution methods available. Analytical functions are one of the MetaTrader 4 platform’s strongest points. Online quotes and interactive charts with 9 periods allow you to examine quotes in all the details quickly responding to any price changes. 33 analytical objects and 30 built-in technical indicators greatly simplify this task.

Thousands of free and paid signals with various profitability and risk levels working on a demo and real accounts are at your fingertips. The built-in Market is the best place to find an Expert Advisor or the newest technical indicator. Almost any trading strategy can be formalized and implemented as an Expert Advisor so that it automatically does all the work for you. A trading robot can control both trading and analytics freeing you from the routine market analysis.

Leverage

The leverage on both accounts can go as high as 1:200, this can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by contacting the customer service team. The website states that the leverage may state higher, but 1L:200 is the actual limit, even if a higher number is stated.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on both accounts start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots, the maximum trade size depends both on the account you use and also the instruments that you are trading. We have outlined them below.

Instrument	Pro-Account Max Size	Pro Plus Max Size
Forex Majors	20 lots	50 lots
Forex Minors	15 lots	50 lots
Forex Exotics	10 lots	50 lots
Gold	10 lots	50 lots
Silver	10 lots	50 lots
CFDs	10 lots	50 lots

The Pro account can have a maximum of 300 trades open at any one time while the Pro Plus account can have up to 1,000 trades and orders open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are a few added commissions. The Pro account does not have any added commission on trading forex, however when trading indices, energies, and crypto there is an added commission of $18 per lot traded. The Pro Plus account has an added commission for forex which is $8 per lot traded (a little over the $6 per lot average) and also has the $18 commission per lot on indices, energies, and crypto.

There are also swap charges which is an interest fee charged or received for holding a trade overnight, there are also swap-free versions of each account in case your beliefs do not allow you to accept or pay interest.

Assets

The instruments have been broken down into a number of categories, we have outlined them below along with the instruments found within them.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCZK, EURGBP, EURHKD, EURHUF, EURILS, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPUSD, NOKJPY, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDHUF, USDILS, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Metals: Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium.

Indices: AUS 200, ESP 35, ESTX 50, FRA 40, GER30, HKG 33, ITA 40, JPN 225, NAS 100, SPX 500, UK 100, US 30.

Energies: UK Oil, US Oil, and Natural Gas.

Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

Spreads

The spreads that you get depends on the account you use, the Pro account has spreads starting from around 0.6 pips while the Pro Plus account has spreads starting from 0.2 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, the more volatility in the markets the higher the spreads will be, different instruments will also have different starting spreads, so while the lowest may be 0.6 pips, others may start from 2 pips or more.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum account deposit required to open up an account is $100, once an account is open, the minimum amount reduces a little to $10 or $50 depending on the method used.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There is a large selection of methods available when depositing, they are EPay, FasaPay, PaySafeCard, Perfect Money, SticPay, UnionPay, Wire Transfer, UAE Exchange, Western Union, MoneyGram., PayGo, Payeer, AdvCash, Universal Money Transfer, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and KHADAMATI.

The good news is that there are no added fees when depositing, but be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they add any transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The methods available to withdraw with are EPay, FasaPay, PaySafeCard, Perfect Money, SticPay, UnionPay, Wire Transfer, UAE Exchange, Western Union, MoneyGram., PayGo, Payeer, Universal Money Transfer, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and KHADAMATI. AdvCash is the4 only one not available to withdraw with. A complete list of withdrawal options and costs can be viewed at: https://immfx.com/funding/withdrawal

There are a number of fees that we have outlined below:

EPay – 5.8% fee
FasaPay – 4.2% fee
PaySafeCard – 4.2% fee
Perfect Money – 2% fee
SticPay – 4.2% fee
UnionPay – 4.2% fee
Wire Transfer – 20 – 80 USD fee
UAE Exchange – 8.8% fee
Western Union – 8.8% fee
MoneyGram – 8.8% fee
PayGo – 4.2% fee
Payeer – 4.2% fee
Universal Money Transfer – 4.2% fee
Bitcoin – 3% fee
Ethereum – 4.2% fee
Litecoin – 4.2% fee
Bitcoin Cash – 4.2% fee
Bitcoin Gold – 4.2% fee
KHADAMATI – 2% fee

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All withdrawal requests should be executed within 24 hours of the request being received. It will then take between 1 to 5 working days for your withdrawal request to fully process based on the method used or your own banks’ processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a 20% welcome bonus available to new clients. The full terms of the onus are not known such as how to convert the bonus into real funds. The actual promotion states:

“For a limited time only, take advantage of our deposit bonus! Fund now and receive a FREE cash bonus added to your account. The more cash you deposit, the more Free Cash you get.”

So this makes it seem like the bonus is cash, which we would find hard to believe, without knowing the full terms we cannot comment on how profitable the bonus is.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are quite a few different tools and educational content on the site. There is a VPS on offer, however, at the moment, it states that this service is temporarily unavailable. There is a currency converter, trading calculators including pips, margin, Fibonacci,m pivot points, CFD profit/loss, and stop-loss limit calculators. There are daily signals which are updated daily, TradingView charts, trading signals using MQL5, an economic calendar detailing upcoming news events, and trading charts. There is also some education that consists of Webinars, video libraries, daily financial news, live quotes, and a section about teaching the basics of forex and trading.

Customer Service

There are plenty of ways to get in touch with IMMFX who are available to contact 24 hours a day 5 days a week. You can use the online submission form, simply fill in your query and you should get a reply via email. You can also use the UK or USA phone number and there are email addresses available for general inquiries, technical support, partnerships, finance, sales & marketing, compliance department, human resources, and portfolio management.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are a great way to test out new strategies without any risk to your own capital. IMMFX offers these accounts, they have unlimited usage, offer real market conditions, 1 click trading, and have a balance of up to $50,000. The conditions will mimic the real trading accounts so you can get a better feel for the conditions on offer from the real accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site and so we would suggest getting in touch with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account prior to signing up.

Conclusion

The trading conditions available from the two accounts are pretty competitive, the spreads on the Pro account are low when we compare to other non-commission based accounts, the commission on the Pro Plus account is a little higher than the average $6 sitting at $8 but this is nothing that should put you off trading thee. There are also a lot of tradable assets and plenty of ways to deposit and withdraw, the main downside is the withdrawal fees, some of them can be a little high so make sure the method you would be using is not one of the expensive ones. There are also plenty of ways to contact the customer service team which is great.

Tags Forex Broker Review, IMMFX, IMMFX Broker, IMMFX Review

Forex Brokers

TradeFred Review

*IMPORTANT NOTE* The TradeFred website was down as of the time of this review posting. We’re providing the review anyway, on the off-chance that the site may be up again in the future. TradeFred is a brand name of BrightFX Capital Limited, a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) that is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus […]

*IMPORTANT NOTE* The TradeFred website was down as of the time of this review posting. We’re providing the review anyway, on the off-chance that the site may be up again in the future.

TradeFred is a brand name of BrightFX Capital Limited, a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) that is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). TradeFred opens its doors to all sorts of traders, working tirelessly to ensure their clients are fully satisfied through the use of five-star customer service, and advanced trading technology. We will be looking into the services on offer to see if they achieve this or fall short and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available, they do not give too much information away about the trading conditions though, os throughout this review in each section we will outline any differences between the accounts that we find. So let’s look at what we do know.

Basic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $100, it has one-day withdrawals and access to eBooks and educational videos.

Standard Account: The minimum deposit requirement is increased up to $500, it has one-day withdrawals, access to ebooks and training videos as well as free trading signals, and lower spreads.

VIP Account: This is a top-tier account and it requires a minimum deposit of at least $5,000. It comes with one-day withdrawals, access to the ebooks and educational videos as well as free trading signals, lower spreads, and access to a VIP account manager.

Platforms

TradeFred uses MetaTrader 4 (MT4) as its sole trading platform. Boasting a wide range of features, MetaTrader 4 provides ultra-fast execution and lets you execute complicated strategies with ease. You also get access to the latest market updates, analytical tools, and trend charts. With MT4 you are able to trade six asset classes, get five-star customer support, exclusive educational material, available as a desktop download, mobile app, and WebTrader. It is highly accessible and allows you to access the markets wherever you are.

Leverage

The maximum trade size seems to be set at 1:30 which is rather low. This may be due to TradeFred following the recommendations from the ESMA which are:

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

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

There are no added commissions on any of the accounts or the tradable instruments, the only things that have any commissions are shares that have a 10% commission on all accounts. There are also swap charges, these are fees for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 platform.

Assets

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

Forex: EURGBP, CADCHF, CHFJPY, EURCHF, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, USDCHF, USDJPY, EURCAD, USDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDUSD, EURDKK, EURHUF, EURNOK, EURPLN, EURSEK, GBPAUD, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDRUB, USDSGD, AUDNZD, EURAUD, EURNZD, GBPNZD, NADUSD, USDCNH, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDZAR, EURTRY, USDTRY, AUDCAD, NZDJPY.

Metals: Silver and Gold are the only available metals to trade.

Energies: Brent Crude Oil, Lite Sweet Crude Oil, and Natural Gas are available.

Shares: There are plenty of shares to be traded, these include the likes of Alibaba, Apple, Bank of America, eBay, Facebook, and Netflix.

Indices: CAC 40, DAX 30, Dow Jones, FTSE 100, Nasdaq, S&P 500, Hang Seng Index, Madrid 35.

Commodities: Cocoa, Cotton #2, Palladium, Platinum, Soybeans, Coffee, Sugar #11, Aluminium.

Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin is tradable against USD, EUR, and GBP.

Spreads

The accounts page states that there is a difference between the three accounts in regards to their spreads, but when looking at the product specification we cannot see any differences listed. The spreads listed start from 1.7 pips and are variable which means they will move with the markets when there is added volatility they will often be slightly higher. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100 which will allow you to use the Basic account, if you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $500, We do not know if this amount reduces for further top-ups.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available which are Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Cards, and Online Wallets. Unfortunately, we do not know what the online wallets are, as they are not mentioned by name, however at the bottom of the website there are images of Skrill and Neteller. In terms of fees, TradeFred does not add any of its own. However, any fees added by your bank or payment processor will be your responsibility to pay.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, these are Bank Transfer, Credit ./ Debit Cards, and Online Wallets. Again, we do not know exactly which wallets they are. Just like with the deposits, there are no added fees from TradeFred but you should check with your bank or processor for any fees added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will be processed within 1 business day. The amount of time it takes after this will depend on your bank or processor but should be fully processed between 1 to 5 working days from the date of the request being processed.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t seem to be any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, however, if you are after bonuses you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you can take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is quite a lot when it comes to the educational and tools side of the broker. There are some daily reviews that give brief highlights of trends and events affecting the markets. There is an economic calendar that shows upcoming news events and they could affect your trading strategy. A news and blog section with the latest market events, plus informative articles about Forex trading and techniques. You can get free trading signals that can help you decide on your next investment position. You can also watch televised market updates, get market analysis and technical analysis from partners in the trading central part of the site.

There is also an education center that has information on trading, how to trade, what CFDs are, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, a glossary, FAQs, eBooks, video tutorials, and webinars. So there is plenty to help you along your trading journey.

Customer Service

The TradeFred support team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and closes over the weekends when the markets are also closed. You can use the online submission form to send your query and then get a reply via email, you can also use the postal address provided as well as a support email or phone number.

Address: 24 Piraeus Street, 4th Floor, Office 401, Strovolos, Nicosia 2023 Cyprus

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +357-22009101

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out the markets, conditions, and strategies without risking anything. The demo account comes with funds of $10,000 and uses the same market conditions as the live accounts, we are not sure if there is an expiration time on the accounts though.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site and so if you are thinking of signing up you will need to contact the support team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

TradeFred offers three different accounts however we do not really know what the differences between them are, they state that the higher tier accounts have lower spreads but there was no indication of what they are. The broker follows recommendations from the ESMA which means the leverage is very limiting. There are plenty of assets available to trade and a few different methods of moving your money in and out, however not all of them are detailed, no added fees are also a plus. You now have the information to decide if they are the right broker for you, or if you need to look elsewhere to satisfy your trading needs.

Tags Forex Broker Review, TradeFred, TradeFred Review

Forex Service Review

ICap Forex EA Review

ICap is an EA created in July 2019 by developer Supun Sameera Manasinghe. It was first published in July of 2019 and is still being offered in 2021, which is an excellent sign. The software is at version 1.9 as of this review. This Expert Advisor can act in 3 different ways: Fully auto trader […]

This Expert Advisor can act in 3 different ways:

Fully auto trader

Once you have set the parameter “Self Start” in “On”, the EA will start operating automatically without human intervention. As a regular EA. For this EA to open operations, it uses a trend tracking mechanism. You can work with this EA in M1 time frames and the EA will be stable even during news release moments. The EA will only be negotiated when closing the candle. Not with tick data.

Note: ICap is using Grid and Martingale mechanisms to recover lost positions. But you can control the increase in position size with the parameter “Sizing Control”. The ideal value will be 0.25.

Semi-auto trader

You can open an operation manually and then the EA will continue to monitor running operations. If trade is profitable and the market is trying to reverse, EA will close down its trade and remain inactive until the next manual trade is opened. If your business is at a loss, the EA will use a network and martingale (With minimum risk) to close your trade at the break-even point or at the profit percentage set out in the “Cover Profit” section.

Trend line operator

This EA can open operations with trend lines. We know that trend lines are vital points for opening operations and placing the “limit of sale” or “limit of purchase” at the right point with the conventional trading system is difficult. You can now run this EA with “Self Start”, set it to “Off”, and draw its trend lines so that EA will open operations with those trend lines. For this to work, you must write some parameters in the trend line description section.

Parameters of the Trend Line

Enter these parameters in the description section of the trend line so that those trend lines will act as described below. Write all letters in the upper case. Use the semicolon (;) to close each parameter unless otherwise specified.

SLMT; The trend line will act as a selling limit.

BLMT; The trend line will act as a purchasing limit.

FL; Fixed lots; If you specify FL=0.1; the EA will open 0.1 trade size on the trend line.

Example: SLMT; FL=0.1; In this line which is a sales limit, the EA will open a sales order with lots of 0.1.

SL; You can specify the loss of Stop for your trade so that the EA will place the loss of Stop at the time of the opening of trade.

Example:

SLMT; FL=0.1; SL=100;

In this line which is a limit of sale, the EA will open a sales order with 0.1 lots and loss of stop of 100 points.

SLMT; FL=0.1; [email protected];

In this line which is a limit of sale, the EA will open a sales order with 0.1 lots and with the loss of stop will be put at the price 1.2547.

RC; Specifies the risk capital for your operations. With this parameter, EA will calculate the risk capital with SL you specify.

Eg: SLMT; RC=2; SL=100;

The EA shall calculate the batch size according to the parameters SL and RC. If you did not specify the SL parameter (Stop loss) then the FL parameter will be used and if the FL parameter is not present, then the minimum allowable batch size will be opened. (Ex: 0.01)

TP; Specifies the take benefit for your orders.

Example: SLMT; RC=2; SL=100;TP=200;

A 200-point loss stop order will open when the price reaches the line. As with Stop Loss, you can use the parameters @C and @P as TP=@C; or [email protected]

BTP Take Profit for purchase orders. If you have purchase orders then this line will close those purchase orders if the price reaches this line.

STP Make profit on sales orders. If you have sales orders on your chart then EA will close any sales order if the price reaches this line.

The developer gives us the following notes:

This EA has been shown to bring about 15% growth per month. It is advisable to use the default parameters.

Home Page: EN
Start size: 0.03 percent
Size of control: 0.25
Benefit of coverage: 0.1

Service Cost

The selling price of this EA on the MQL market is 10 USD, which will allow you to use it for 1 year. A free demo version is available for download at this time.

Conclusion

In short, we are talking about a robot that appears to be quite complete and profitable. We lack comments from users who have tested the system to see their ratings, but there are none. Another issue we never like, the systems that work with Martingale, as is the case with ICap.

We recommend downloading the trial version to get to know this robot better and to become familiar with all the parameters that it offers and that have been mentioned here.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Forex Service Review, ICAP, ICap EA, ICAP Review

Forex Brokers

LidyaTrade Review

LidyaTrade is an online foreign exchange broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They do not give a lot of information about themselves away but pride themselves in the fact that they offer over 200 tradable assets, have tight spreads, allow for micro lot trading, have 24/5 customer support, offer a variety of account types, have one to one training, offer account sin EUR and USD, offer MetaTrader 4, have swap-free accounts and have the best stop out and margin levels. As we go through the review we will see if these things are available and we will also see how they compare to the competition.

Account Types

There are two main accounts on offer from LidyaTrade, we have outlined them below along with some of their features and requirements.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $300 in order to open it up. The account comes with spreads starting from 1 pip, can be leveraged up to 1:200, and has access to micro lot trading (0.01 lots). The account uses an STP execution method and has access to 24/5 customer support.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500 in order to open it up. The account comes with spreads starting from 0.7 pips, can be leveraged up to 1:200, and has access to micro lot trading (0.01 lots). The account uses an STP execution method and has access to 24/5 customer support.

Platforms

LidyaTrade offers MetaTrader 4 as its sole trading platform. It is a great platform to have and it is one of the most used trading platforms, used by over 1 million traders worldwide. The platform can be used anywhere as a desktop download, web trader, and mobile application. It is compatible with thousands of expert advisors and indicators which can help with your analysis as well as allowing for automatic trading. The platform is highly customizable and offers multiple charts and timeframes to allow you to trade in the style that you prefer.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:200 which is relevant to both account types. This can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed on an active account by contacting the customer service team. If you opt for a bonus then you will be limited to maximum leverage of 1:100 instead of 1:200.

Trade Sizes

A lot is equal to 100,000 base units when trading with LidyaTrade. The smallest trade size available is 0.01 lots (1,000 base units) and they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

We did not notice any information pertaining to added commissions on the account so we do not know if there are any added, however, due to there being spreads, it is most likely that there aren’t any. While not mentioned we suspect that there are also wap charges for holding tares overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. A swap-free account will also be available for those not able to pay or receive interest.

Assets

There isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets and instruments. We know that currencies, metals, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and US stocks are available to trade, but we do not know which individual assets are available. The only specifics that we do know are Gold, Silver, Palladium, Oil, Natural Gas, Wheat, Bitcoin, Ethereum, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDTRY, EURTRY, and USDCAD.

Spreads

The accounts state that they have spreads starting from 1 pip on the Standard account and 0.7 pips on the VIP account. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets when there are levels of low liquidity or high volatility they will often be seen higher than the stated amount, different instruments will also have different natural spreads so some will always be higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $300 for the Standard account, if you want to use the VIP account then you will need to deposit at least $500.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t actually a funding information page, the only details on the available methods are images at the bottom of the screen, we can see an image for Bank Wire, Visa, MasterCard, WebMoney, Bitcoin, and Perfect Money. We do not know if there are any additional methods available.

We did not locate any information regarding deposit fees, on the site of the FAQ, so we do not know if they are included, you should always check with your own bank or payment service to see if they add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The only information that we have to go on is the same images at the bottom of the site, for clarification, these are Bank Wire, Visa, MasterCard, WebMoney, Bitcoin, and Perfect Money. Once again there is no information on any potential fees but check with your own bank or payment option to see if there are any incoming processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not have any information on the processing times from LidyaTrade, however, we would hope that any withdrawal request would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made and will vary based on the method used.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different bonuses available but they all work in very similar ways. You are able to receive a deposit bonus between 10% and 50% depending on the bonus that you choose, some bonuses can be used on accounts where other bonuses have already been used, allowing you to have multiple deposit bonuses. Simply select a bonus and deposit, you will then receive the percentage of the bonus as bonus funds. The bonus funds can be converted into real funds, however, the actual terms of how to do this are not made clear and so we cannot work out how profitable or worthwhile the bonuses actually are.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few small pages and tools available to the clients of LidyaTrade. Firstly there is a simple introduction to the forex page, this details some very basics of trading for complete beginners. There is an article page available, although at the moment there is just one article so it does not look like it is being actively updated. There is an economic calendar available, this tells you what upcoming news events are going to happen, it can also give an idea of the impact that the news could have on the markets. The final page is about technical analysis, there isn’t any actual analysis, instead, it is some basic dials indicating the sentiment of a buy or sell, based on a number of indicators.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available to help 24 hours a day 5 days a week, they close over the weekend at the same time as the markets close.

You are able to submit a contact form, fill in your name, email and query and they should get back to you via email. You can also use the postal address that they have provided as well as the direct email address or phone number.

Address: 19 Boroughbridge Road, Birmingham, B1 5NB – United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44-20 36953384

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available from LidyaTrade, you are able to use the demo account to test out the markets and strategies without any real risk. The demo account can have a demo balance of $10,000, has over 200 tradable assets, uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform, and also has access to the 24/5 support that the real accounts do.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site, so if you are thinking of signing up, we would highly recommend contacting the customer support team to check that you are eligible for an account prior to opening one up.

Conclusion

There is a lot on offer from LidyaTrade but they don’t make it easy to find all the information, in terms of the accounts and trading conditions, the leverage is acceptable at 1:200, a little under what we see elsewhere though, there does not seem to be any added commissions and the spreads start from as low as 0.7 pips which can make it relatively cheap to trade, however, we suspect the majority of spreads to be above this figure. We don’t have any information on funding apart from the images at the bottom of the screen which is a little concerning as it is important for potential clients to know how they can get their money in and out and also how much it will cost them, we also do not have a breakdown of the available assets, there are plenty of categories and the site states that there are over 200 assets, but we do not know which ones they are.

Tags Forex Broker Review, LidyaTrade, LidyaTrade Review

Forex Brokers

Number One Capital Markets (N1CM) Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 11 May, 2021
No Comments on Number One Capital Markets (N1CM) Review

Number One Capital Markets (N1CM) is a fully licensed and regulated forex and CFD broker. N1CM aims to combine technological ingenuity and attentive personal service to become a leading provider of forex trading. Catering for both novice and professional traders we will be looking into the services being offered to see if they are the […]

Account Types

There are three different accounts on offer with differing requirements and trading conditions, let’s have a look at what they are.

Cent Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $5 with a maximum deposit of $1,000. The account comes with variable spreads and leverages up to 1:1000. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and the account can have up to 50 positions open at one time. 1 lot is equal to 1,000 units on this account and the max trade size is 5 units. It uses instant execution and has a margin level of 100% and stop-out level of 30%. It can only trade forex pairs (major and minor), the account currency must be in USD and it uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

STP Account: The account requires a minimum deposit of $10 and there is no maximum deposit. It has a choice of variable or fixed spreads and has no added commission. Leverage can be up to 1:1000, the trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and there is no maximum number of trades. 1 lot is equal to 100,000 units and the maximum trade size is 50 lots. It uses market execution and has a margin call level of 100% and a stop-out level of 30%. It has Forex, Metals, Indices, Energies, and CFDs available to trade on the MetaTrader 4 platform, the account currency must be in USD.

ECN Account: The account requires a minimum deposit of $10 and there is no maximum deposit. It has a variable spread and has an added commission of $5 per lot traded. Leverage can be up to 1:1000, the trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and there is no maximum number of trades. 1 lot is equal to 100,000 units and the maximum trade size is 50 lots. It uses market execution and has a margin call level of 100% and a stop-out level of 30%. It has Forex, Metals, Indices, Energies, and CFDs available to trade on the MetaTrader 4 platform, the account currency must be in USD.

Platforms

There is just a single trading platform on offer from Number One Capital Markets, this is the popular MetaTrader 4 platform. MetaTrader 4 (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

Leverage can be selected from between 1:25 all the way up to 1:1000, we would suggest going no higher than 1:500 though as the risks grow exponentially above this. Leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it on an already opened account then you can do so by getting in touch with the customer service team with your request.

**The leverage on the STANDARD FIX account cannot exceed 1:500.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots (known as a micro lot) on all accounts, 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. The maximum trade size on the cent account is 5 lots, while the STD and ECN accounts have a maximum trade size of 50 lots which is great as we would not suggest trading over 50 lots in a single trade anyway. There is no limit to the number of open trades allowed at any one time.

Trading Costs

The Cent and STP accounts do not have any additional commissions and instead use a spread-based system that we will look at later in this review. The ECN account has an added commission of $5 per lot which is just under the industry average of $6 per lot traded. Swap charges are also a factor, 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

Number One Capital Markets have broken down their assets into a number of different categories but do not give a lot of information about them away, they simply state that they have 52 currency pairs to trade, but no examples of which ones. For commodities, they simply state Gold, Silver, Oil, and more. Stocks are available for the world’s biggest companies and there are 120 different indices to trade. It would have been nice to see a full breakdown because often potential clients will be looking for specific instruments to trade, not having them visible can put them off.

Spreads

The actual spreads are not specified on the site so we do not know what they are starting from. The Cent and ECN accounts have variable spreads (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. The STD account can have either variable or fixed spreads, fixed spreads do not move no matter what the markets are doing but they are normally higher than variable spreads start. It is also worth noting that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads so they will not all be the same.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open a Cent account is $5, in order to open an STD or ECN account you will need to deposit $10. Once an account is open any subsequent top-up deposits have a minimum value of $1.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are plenty of ways to deposit your funds into Number One Capital Markets, we have listed them all for you below.

Visa Debit/Credit, MasterCard Debit/Credit, Fasapay, Skrill, Neteller, China UnionPay, Perfect Money, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, WebMoney, ePayments, China Bank Wire, Indonesian Bank Wire, Malaysia Bank Wire, Vietnam Bank Wire, QIWI Wallet, Wire Transfer, OKPay, and the Number 1 Capital Markets Prepaid Card.

There are no added fees apart from OK Pay which has a 1% or minimum 5 USD charge, also check with your bank when using bank transfers to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawal, we have classed them into different sections based on their withdrawal fees.

0.5% Fee: Fasapay, Perfect Money, QIWI Wallet
0.8% Fee: WebMoney
1% Fee: Skrill, China UnionPay (min 6 CPY)
2% Fee: OK Pay
2.5% Fee: Visa and Mastercard (+7.5 USD / 6 EUR)
50 EUR Fee: Bank Wire Transfer
0% Fee: Neteller, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, ePayments, China Bank Wire, Indonesian Bank Wire, Malaysia Bank Wire, Vietnam Bank Wire, Number One Capital Markets Prepaid Card.

Along with the withdrawal fee, be sure to check with your bank in case they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

A withdrawal request will be processed within 2 working days however on occasion they can take up to 5 days. You will then receive your money from between 1 hour to 5 additional days based on the processor and bank processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are three promotions currently advertised on the site however one of them, the welcome bonus has expired as it ended January 1st, 2020, so we will disregard that promotion.

Protection Bonus: You can receive a bonus of up to 65% for each deposit. The more you deposit the bigger the bonus will be. The maximum bonus is $5,000. For each lot closed $1 of bonus funds will be converted into real funds.

Free Gift: You can receive a free iPhone, in order to get this you will need to deposit a certain amount and then trade a certain amount of volumes, we have detailed them as:

iPhone 8 (64 GB) – $5,000 min deposit – 400 lots traded
iPhone 8 Plus (64 GB) – $5,000 min deposit – 500 lots traded
iPhone XR (64 GB) – $10,000 min deposit – 500 lots traded
iPhone XS (64 GB) – $10,000 min deposit – 600 lots traded

Educational & Trading Tools

There does not seem to be any educational tools available which is a shame as a lot of brokers these days are looking to help their clients develop as traders by providing some training so it would be good to see Number One Capital Markets do a similar thing.

*UPDATE* A series of training videos have been added to the site, which is excellent. An economic calendar and market news have also been added.

Training video example.

Customer Service

If you want to get in contact with the customer service tame you can do so by using the online submissions form, simply fill in your query and you should receive a reply via email. There is also an email and phone number should you wish to contact them directly. The customer service team is open Monday to Friday between 9 am and 6 pm, it is closed over the weekend and on bank holidays, the same time as the markets are closed.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but there is no information about what features the account has, such as the trading conditions or if the accounts expire after a certain period of time.

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

Number One Capital Markets offer some nice trading environments in terms of leverages and number of assets available to trade, however, there is a lack of information on what the assets are or more importantly what the spreads are, we just know that they are variable or fixed, not what they actually are. Plenty of ways to deposit and withdraw, some with no fees others unfortunately with them, and there are plenty of ways to get in touch with the customer service team.

Tags Forex Broker Review, N1CM, N1CM Review, Number One Capital Markets, Number One Capital Markets Review

Forex Brokers

INMARKET FX Review

INMARKET FX is a Spanish foreign exchange broker based in Vanuatu. Their mission statement is provided below and so we will be using this review to see if they manage to achieve these goals or if they fall short of their targets. “We want to provide you with the best service and provide you with […]

“We want to provide you with the best service and provide you with fast execution. We are in continuous growth and the most important thing for us are our clients, we want them to feel comfortable working with us and offer you the best conditions that a true ECN can offer, in addition to providing you with the best technology you need to develop your business.”

Account Types

There seem to be two different accounts available, one standard and one VIP.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $250, it comes with spreads as low as 0 pips, the account can be leveraged up to 1:400 and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500,000, it is a managed account and comes with spreads as low as 0 pips. There isn’t much more information available to it, but we will be concentrating on the Standard account throughout this review.

Platforms

There are three different platforms available to use, including MetaTrader 4 (MT4), Currenex, and CTrader. Most who trade Forex have already heard of MT4 and CTrader, but may not be familiar with Currenex. Be certain to check out each of these platforms before deciding which one(s) to use.

Leverage

There is a little message on the homepage of the site which states that leverage can go as high as 1:400, this is the only information available, this 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 start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not, however, know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

This is another aspect of the broker and accounts that we do not know, there is no mention of commissions anywhere on the website, but also no mention that there aren’t any. They also do not mention anything about swap fees, however, this normally means that they are present as most brokers would make a big deal out of there not being any swap charges.

IN MARKET FX Home page

Assets

Yet another aspect of the site which is completely missing, there is no product specification and not a breakdown of available assets, in fact, there is no information about them at all. Many potential clients will look to see what assets are available before signing up, and when there is no information available it can give the impression that there isn’t much to trade, even if there actually is.

There is in fact a little information present on the front page, the only information is a very small message on the front page stating that there are 25 of the most liquid currency pairs, precious metals including Gold and Silver, European CFDs, and US Indices.

Spreads

Once again this information is not available, spreads are often an indication of the full cost of trading, so them not being available means we do not know how expensive or cheap the broker is to trade with.

The INMARKET FX Offices

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250 which gets you to access the real account. We are not sure if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened. If you wish to use the VIP account then you will need to deposit at least $500,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, we do not know what the available deposit methods are, we also do not know if there are any fees for depositing. Whatever methods are available, you should check with them to see if they charge any commissions of their own for outgoing transactions.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We also do not know what the withdrawal methods are, we would assume that they will be the same as the deposit ones. You should check with the processor used to see if they have any incoming processing fees added to incoming transactions.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not have any specific information about withdrawal times, however, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made, however, we do not know for sure.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not seem to be any active promotions or bonuses as at the time of writing this review, if you are looking for one, you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

This is another aspect of the site that seems to be lacking, there doesn’t seem to be any educational material which is a shame as many brokers are now providing their clients with additional learning to try and help the clients improve on their trading knowledge and skills. It would be good to see In Markets FX do something similar for their clients.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available between 07:00 and 16:00 GMT-5 from Monday to Friday. You can get in touch with them using the online submission form, simply fill in your query and you should get a reply via email. You can also use the provided postal address, email, phone number, or Skype username to contact them.

Phone: +1 (321) 396-5170
Email: [email protected]
Skype: inmarketfx

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out the markets and new strategies without risking any of your own capital. The demo accounts from In Markets FX last for 30 days and offer you access to the three available platforms, it is totally free and allows you to select a custom leverage level and account balance.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website:

“Our broker is legally allowed by the VFSC to have clients from Spain and all countries of the world without restrictions except in the USA.”

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the site and the information that is available is as basic as it can get. The leverage is acceptable at 1L400 as this is a relatively good amount to use, we, however, do not know anything about the trading costs or spreads, so we have no clue over how expensive or cheap it is to trade with INMARKET FX. We also do not know what assets are available or what methods are available to deposit or withdraw with, this is all vital information as clients need to know how they can get their money in and out and also how much it will cost. Without those bits of important information, it is hard for us to recommend them as a broker to use and would instead suggest looking elsewhere for a broker that offers a little more info to its clients.

Tags Forex Broker Review, In Market FX, INMARKET FX, INMARKET FX Review

Forex Brokers

Marquis FX Review

Marquis FX is a foreign exchange broker that has the vision to make you a Marquis of the trading world (although a Marquis is a French nobleman who defends the frontlines, so we are not sure how that really works). They claim to offer a responsive, responsible, and reliable service as well as offering a deluxe and hassle-free trading experience with safe and secure accounts. We will be looking into the service on offer to see if they really do offer these and so you can see what they are like and decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

It seems that there is just the one account type available from MArquis FX and so we will outline some of the basic features here, but everything we write on the other sections of the review will be relevant to this one account.

The account requires a minimum deposit of $100 in order to open, there are 50+ tradable assets and there is a 1% deposit fee, however, this is given back as a credit rebate. The minimum trade size for forex is 0.1 lots and the support team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week. Not too much information is available in the account section, so please see each individual review section for more information.

Platforms

Marquis FX offers MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform, this is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and comes with many features to help with your trading and analytical needs. Some of the features include high-speed order execution, low resource consumption, it offers a wide range of trading instruments, allows for automated trading through the use of Expert Advisors, offers a comprehensive account history and there is 24/7 customer support through the platform. MT4 is accessible through a desktop download, mobile app, and web trader however we are not sure if all of these options are offered by Marquis as only the desktop version is mentioned.

Leverage

The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, this is a suitable amount and is what a lot of brokers are now aiming for. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and you can change it on an already open account by contacting the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0o.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is but would suggest not trading over 50 lots in a single trade. We also do not know what the maximum number of trades you can have open at any one time is.

Trading Costs

There are no additional commissions added to the account as it uses a spread-based system (we will look at this later in the review). There are swap charges on the account though these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight. These fees can be seen within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into just two categories, we will quickly outline the instruments within them.

Forex: EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, USDCHF, USDCAD, NZDUSD, EURGBP, EURCHF, EURJPY, GBPJPY, EURCAD, EURAUD, AUDCAD, GBPCHF, AUDJPY, CHFJPY, NZDJPY, AUDNZD, EURNZD, GBPCAD, USDTRY, USDCNH.

Forex Derivatives: AUDJPY, AUDUSD, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USD CAD, USDJPY.

Spreads

The spreads can be as low as 0.2 pips, however, on average the lowest spread sits at around 1.2 pips. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets and when there is added volatility in the markets they will often be seen a lot higher. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while EURUSD may have an average spread of 1.2 pips, other instruments such as EURCHF have a higher average, currently at 2.04 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100, this will allow you to open up the only available account, we do not know if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available, they are Credit Cards, Moneybookers / Skrill, Web Transfer, and China UnionPay.

There is an added fee of 1% for deposits however you receive this back as a credit on your account, not quite as good as having no fees but better than not having the credit at all.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The deposit/withdrawal information page doesn’t specify any differences between deposits and withdrawals so we would assume the same methods are available, for clarification these are Credit Cards, Moneybookers/Skrill, Web Transfer, and China UnionPay.

We do not know if there are any added fees for withdrawals but be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they will add any incoming transfer or processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests should be processed within 48 hours of the request being made, the time it then takes will depend on the method used but should take between 1 to 5 days to fully process and be available for use.

Bonuses & Promotions

While there aren’t any standard bonuses so to speak, you are able to get your deposit fees back as a credit in the account, we do not know what the terms of these credits are or what is needed to be done to convert them into real funds. There are also gifts available as well as giveaways but again, the terms of these are not known or what you need to do to enter.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the educational side of the site, the first is a simple overview of trading, what it is and how it works. There is then a page detailing what and how to perform both technical and fundamental analysis, it is rather basic information but could be helpful for beginners. There are also some tips and strategies along with information on trading holidays. The final section is an economic calendar, you can use this to see what new events are coming up and it also details any markets that the news could have an effect on.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer service team in a number of ways and they are available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, closing over the weekend. You can use the online submission form to send in your question and you should then get a reply via email, you can also use the provided email address directly.

Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

We do not recall seeing any information about demo accounts and another quick look doesn’t provide us with any information. As they use MT4, we know that demo accounts can be created from within the platform but we do not know what the trading conditions or potential expiration times on the accounts are.

Countries Accepted

Marquis put the responsibility of knowledge onto their client with the following statement:

“It is the responsibility of all visitors to ensure that their interaction with the website is strictly within the frame of the law and corresponds to the strictures enforced in their own country of residence.”

We would suggest contacting the customer service team to check on your eligibility prior to signing up for an account.

Conclusion

Marquis FX provides you with a choice of just the one account type, they also keep things simple by offering just the one trading platform. The trading conditions are ok spreads averaging around 1.2 pips with no commission is what you would come to expect in the modern era of forex brokers. We would expect there to be slightly more assets available as the current list is looking a little thin. There is also not enough information on deposit and withdrawal methods but at least there is some information available.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Marquis FX, Marquis FX Review

Forex Brokers

Stock STP Review

Stock STP is a foreign exchange broker based in Cyprus, it is registered and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). They state that their main advantages are that they are licensed and regulated, offer advanced technology, have excellent trading conditions, offer seamless execution, have fast deposits and withdrawals, offer news and analysis, and provide trading education. We will be looking into the services offered to see if they truly are offered and live up to and so you can see if they are a broker that you would want to trade with.

Account Types

There are two categories of accounts and within each is three different account types, we have outlined the main features of the accounts below.

STP Pro Accounts

Mini Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $250, it comes with a variable spread starting from 2.4 pips and there is a commission as low as $0. It uses market execution and has access to a junior account manager. The account also has access to news and analysis, a limited amount of social trading, video tutorials, and the account has a margin level of 150% and a stop out level of 50%.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $3,000, it comes with a variable spread starting from 2.1 pips and there is a commission as low as $0. It uses market execution and has access to a junior account manager. The account also has access to news and analysis, social trading, video tutorials, webinars, a free VPS, and the account has a margin level of 150% and a stop-out level of 50%.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $50,000, it comes with a variable spread starting from 1.8 pips and there are no added commissions. It uses market execution and has access to a senior account manager. The account also has access to news and analysis, social trading, video tutorials, webinars, 1 to 1 training, a free VPS, and the account has a margin level of 150% and a stop-out level of 50%.

ECN Accounts

Classic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $250, it comes with a variable spread starting from 0.8 pips and there is an added commission on the account. It uses market execution and has access to a junior account manager. The account has access to a free VPS service, can be used as an Islamic swap-free account, has access to news and analysis, video tutorials, and webinars. The account also comes with a margin call level of 150% and a stop-out level of 50%.

Advanced Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $5,000, it comes with a variable spread starting from 0.6 pips and there is an added commission on the account. It uses market execution and has access to a senior account manager. The account has access to a free VPS service, can be used as an Islamic swap-free account, has access to news and analysis, video tutorials, webinars, and 1 on 1 training. The account also comes with a margin call level of 150% and a stop-out level of 50%.

Retirement Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $50,000, it comes with a variable spread starting from 0 pips and there is an added commission on the account. It uses market execution and has access to a senior account manager. The account has access to a free VPS service, can be used as an Islamic swap-free account, has access to news and analysis, video tutorials, webinars, and 1 on 1 training. The account also comes with a margin call level of 150% and a stop-out level of 50%.

Platforms

There are two main platforms available, including Sirix Station (WebTrader) and Metatrader. Sirix Station seamlessly connects traders with a variety of currencies and markets. It’s compatible with both Mac OS and Windows. MetaTrader is one of the most used and most trusted trading platforms. Some of its features include instant execution, request execution, complete technical analysis package, inbuilt indicators and charting tools, the ability to create various custom indicators, different time periods (from minutes to months), and much more.

Leverage

Stock STP follows the recommendations of the ESMA which are below. 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

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots which then go up in increments of 0.01 lots until they reach the maximum which varies by currency or asset but can go as high as 100 lots. We would recommend not trading over 50 lots at a single time though, we also do not know how many open trades or orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

The ECN accounts all have commissions added to the account, there isn’t a fixed amount as they get a certain amount of spread charged as a commission, if we take AUDCAD, the Classic ECN account has an added spread commission of 5.6 pips, the Advanced account has an added spread commission of 4.3 pips. The other accounts all use a spread-based system that we will look at later in the review.

There are also swap charges which are a fee that is charged when you hold a trade overnight or over the weekend., They can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

There are plenty of assets available, there is a product specification available which goes over a lot of the accounts, there are too many for us to go through as different accounts shave different assets available, we have outlined the ones that we can below.

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

Metals: Gold and Silver are available to trade.

Indices: We cannot see all of them but some include FTSE 100, S&P 500, Dow Jones, DAX, and US 30.

Commodities: Again, we do not know them all as they are scattered about. A few include Natural Gas, Brent Crude Oil, and WTI Crude Oil.

Shares: Plenty of shares available including Alibaba, Apple, Tesco, GMW, and Metro.

Spreads

The spreads that you get depends on the platform and account that you are using. When looking at MT4, the mini account has spreads starting from 2.4 pips the premium account from 2.1 pips and the VIP account starts at around 1.8 pips. For the ECN accounts, the Classic account has spread starting from 0.8 pips, the Advanced account starts from 0.6 pips and the Retirement account has spreads starting from 0 pips.

The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, the less liquidity or more volatility in the markets the higher the spreads will be. Different instruments will also have a different starting spread so be sure to check each individual asset spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $250, this will allow you to get access to the STP Mini account or the ECN Classic account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can deposit using Bank Wire Transfer, or Credit/Debit cards. At the bottom of the website, there is an image of Skrill, but there is no mention of it on the withdrawal information page, so we do not know if it is a usable payment processor. Stock STP does not add any fees to the deposits however you are responsible for any fees added by your own bank or card issuer.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same two methods are mentioned for withdrawals which are Bank Wire Transfer and Credit/Debit card, the same notice of no additional fees is present for the withdrawals too. Once again, check with your bank or card issuer for any potential incoming processing fees added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The expected timescale of the withdrawals is not mentioned on the site. We would be expecting any withdrawal requests to be fully processed between 3 to 5 days from the date of the request being made. This can depend on the processing time from Stock STP and also the processing time of your bank or card issuer.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a free VPS on offer as stated on the account page and also on the promotions page, however when you go into the promotion to get more information it simply states that it is coming soon, so we do not know what you need to do to get the free VPS or if the promotion is actually running. If you are after bonuses, you could always contact the customer service team to find out if there are any available for you to use.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side of the site offers a page detailing what forex is and why people trade it. There is also a guide to investing PDF which is just a straightforward guide on how to trade and use the trading platforms. There is also an economic calendar present, this details different upcoming news events and gives an indication of the effect that it could have on the markets and currencies. That seems to be all that is available when it comes to tools and education.

Customer Service

Stock STP offers a few different ways to get in touch with them, you can use the online submission form, fill it in and then get a reply via email. You can also use the postal address provided along with the number of phone numbers based in the UK, Cyprus, and Spain and an email address for support.

Address: 11 Vizantiou str, 4th Floor, Strovolos 2064, Nicosia, Cyprus
Phone (Cyprus): +357 25056454
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are a great way to test out a broker’s trading conditions and also new strategies without having to risk any of your own funds. Demo accounts are available from Stock STP however we do not know which account they mimic, you can select the base currency and the use of MetaTrader 4, but there doesn’t seem to be any further customization options. We also do not know if there is an expiration time on the demo accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statements on the site:

“Information and services contained within this website are not directed at residents of the United States of America & Canada.”

If you are still not sure of your eligibility or would like to check, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

There is a wide selection of accounts on offer, each delivering you a different trading environment, when going through the assets it can be a little confusing as to what each account offers. The leverage is unfortunately rather low as Stock STP is following the recommendations from the ESMA, so the broker is limited in this department. There is also a small lack of deposit and withdrawal methods, being stuck with just Bank Wire and Credit/Debit Cards can limit those that prefer to use other methods. While the overall conditions of the broker seem ok, the small little issues detailed throughout the review are enough for us to recommend looking elsewhere.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Stock STP, Stock STP Review

Forex Brokers

SSFX Limited Review

This is an offshore broker founded in 2017 with a focus on the southeast Asia market offering CFDs on several asset categories. According to the SSFX limited website, they are regulated by the Financial Services Authority of St Vincent & The Grenadines with license number 24046. Although, on further investigation, SVGFSA does not have this brand name in its directories, meaning investors will face high risk. Whatsmore, the broker is very ambiguous about its history, staff, location, business practice, and trading conditions. SSFX Limited website feels outdated and holds mostly redundant, promotional material without any argumental data.

Typical phrases such as being the industry leader, having vast experience, top-tier banks, and funds safety are not argumented, the only tangible relation is the MetaTrader 4 platform offer. Generally, the whole website is lacking much of the elementary information about trading, assets, costs, and fees. Visitors with just basic knowledge about trading will recognize the unprofessional approach to the client with almost no usable content. User ratings are missing as the broker is focused on the market where English language webpages are not frequently visited or censored. For this reason, SSFX is a complete unknown, this review will try to identify their quality of service and the key arguments for an investment decision.

Account Types

SSFX Limited has a page dedicated to the account types comparison which points out differences in several trading conditions. There are 4 accounts, Nano STP, Standard, ECN, and Pro. The most affordable Nano STP requires a very small minimum deposit and is limited to a maximum balance of $3000. This account is considered to be a type of Cent account where traders can experience live trading conditions with very small deposits. Assets availability for these accounts is Forex and Metals, with a higher than average leverage level. Spreads are the widest but there are no commissions charged and no swaps. Managed Nano STP account is not available. Bonuses for this account are optional under certain terms and conditions.

The Standard Account is also affordable without commission, same leverage as Nano STP, and somewhat tighter spreads. The rest of the conditions are the same, including bonus availability. This account is swap-free by default.

ECN Account should provide ECN model but SSFX does not have different executions, all of the accounts are using the same STP, ECN model except this account has a commission and much tighter spreads. The leverage level for ECN Account is lowered, includes swaps, and has increased minimum trade sizing policy. No bonuses are available for ECN Account and no option to have a Managed portfolio. Even though the minimum deposit requirement is increased for this account, it is still affordable for most traders.

The final, Pro Account requires a much higher deposit few will be willing to spill knowing the risks. According to the table, the asset range is extended with other CFD instruments for this account, but it is not disclosed exactly. The spreads are the same as with the ECN Account and include commission. It is not mentioned if the commissions are lower but the same leverage is applied. No bonuses are available and this account has the option to be managed using the same, increased trade sizing as the ECN Account. Swaps are applied. All of the accounts have the same Stop Out and Margin Call levels at 50% and 90%. The Terms and Conditions link displayed when opening an account will lead to an empty page.

Platforms

SSFX Limited offers only the MetaTrader 4 platform in a downloadable installer package for Windows and iOS operating systems. The web-accessible version is not included, so traders will have to register for an account to see the trading conditions. The MT4 is updated to the latest version, registered to SSFX Ltd. It presented us with two SSFX servers to select, real and demo, with about 114ms ping rate. Everything is by default platform settings, the 4 charts with major currency pairs are set to a 4H timeframe with the default indicators. There are no additional templates or indicators included in the package. The Symbols are neatly organized in 7 asset categories matching their description. Traders will have no hassle finding the right instruments.

One-click trading buttons are not displayed but they can be enabled within the context menu. We see that the specification window is filled with enough trading information but without any mention of the commission costs. Execution times are under 0.2 sec, 180ms on average with small deviations of 10ms, meaning this trading environment is good for fast trading strategies or EAs. During our testing, we have noticed one connection drop with the MT4 platform but this single occurrence does not confirm the SSFX Limited servers are unreliable. All of the trading instruments are liquid without any off-quotes warnings. The trading terminal window shows commission and swap charges.

Leverage

According to the table published on the SSFX website, Nano STP and the Standard Account feature 1:500 leverage, while the Pro and ECN have 1:100 maximum. There is no additional information if this leverage is applied to all assets so we have opened a demo to check the leverage within the platform. To our surprise, for all Forex currency pairs, the leverage is actually 1:1000, for precious metals also 1:1000 while for Indexes it is 1:200. We are unsure if this leverage is maintained for live accounts.

Trade Sizes

SSFX seems to be restrictive with the trade sizes for the ECN and Pro Account providing traders with a minimum trade size volume of 0.1 lots while the Standard and Nano STP accounts have 0.01 lots minimum. In the MT4 platform representing the Standard Account, the maximum trade size is set to 100 lots, some to 1000, and additional steps to 0.01 lots retaining the standard contract sizes. This trading size scheme is applied to all precious metals, commodities, and Index CFD instruments. Stops level is defined to 0 points, thus giving traders complete freedom at what price level pending orders can be placed. All of the assets in the MT4 platform have 0 Stop levels.

Trading Costs

SSFX Limited does not disclose any information about the commissions charged for the ECN and Pro Account, they are just called “standard commission”. For Standard and Nano STP there are no commissions. There are no legal documents where we could find any more information. As for the swaps, they are calculated in points, tripled on Wednesdays. Positive swaps are common and are under normal levels. EUR/USD has -10.48 points swap on the long side and 4.73 points on the short, GBP/USD -6.14 points on long and 1.45 on short, USD/JPY 3.62 points on long and -8.41 short, AUD/USD -2.97 on long and 0.14 on short, and USD/CAD -1.87 long and -1.02 points on short side. Some of the exotics have a surprisingly low swap such as for the USD/THB with -2.05 on long and 0.75 points on short or USD/ILS with -7.5 on long and -33.9 on short. This data implies that the broker is using Asia-Pacific banks as liquidity providers.

Not all of the exotics have such swaps, EUR/TRY, for example, has a very high -1080.2 points swap on the long side and just 35 points positive on the short but USD/MXN has -398.82 on the long and 187.6 positive swaps on the short side. It seems that the TRY pairs only have unbalanced swaps. Spot Gold against the USD has a normal swap of -11.66 points on the long and 5.1 positive on the short while Platinum has -10 on long and 1.49 on short. Oil assets have all negative swaps but below 1.3 points, tripled on Fridays. Interestingly, Natural Gas does not have any swaps. We could not confirm that SSFX Limited does not charge any inactivity or other fees related to trading.

Assets

SSFX does not have a lot to show when it comes to the asset range but some categories are very well developed. Forex range has a total of 61 currency pairs with a good amount of exotics. Notable rare pairs are USD/THB, USD/RUB, USD/MXN, USD/TRY, USD/ZAR, USD/ILS, USD/CZK, USD/PLN, USD/HUF, USD/CNH, GBP/TRY, GBP/HKD, EUR/ZAR, EUR/TRY, EUR/MXN, EUR/PLN, EUR/HKD, EUR/HUF, EUR/CZK and Scandinavian currencies quotes with several majors.

Precious metals range is very good counting Gold, Platinum, Silver, Palladium, and Copper as a commodity metal. Spot Gold is available also against the EUR too. This category offers more than other brokers on average. Indexes range holds 11 total instruments. This is like the default in the industry, offering all the major Indexes with a few Tier 2 like the Hang Seng Index, DAX, CAC 40, Euro STOXX 50, and IBEX 35. Commodities are limited to the two Oil assets, Brent and WTI with the addition of Natural Gas. This is all that is offered in the MT4 platform with the demo representing the Standard Account.

Spreads

SSFX has floating-type spreads for all accounts in the offer. The Standard and Nano STP accounts have a mark up instead of the commission which is applied to the Pro and ECN accounts. According to the table comparison, Nano STP has spread from 1.6 pips and Standard from 1.2 pips. MT4 platform showed us a lower value, for example, the EUR/USD has 8 points spread, USD/JPY – 11 points, GBP/USD – 12, USD/CHF – 11, AUD/USD – 11, NZD/USD just 9 points, and USD/CAD – 13 points. So all majors have spreads below 1.5 pips. Minor currency pairs do not go over 2 pips except for the EUR/CAD – 26 points, GBP/JPY – 21 points, GBP/CHF – 28 points, and EUR/NZD – 32 points, and GBP/NZD 42 points.

Exotics have a higher spread compared to other pairs. For example, pairs with the widest nominal spreads are EUR/CZK – 1390 points, USD/RUB – 4000 points, and GBP/TRY with 602 points. Other exotics have competitive spreads, EUR/MXN – 283 points, USD/ILS 194 – points, EUR/ZAR – 503 points, USD/THB – 54 points, and USD/TRY – 194 points. Spot Gold against the USD has a very good spread of 28 pips, Silver at 24, Platinum at 219, and Palladium against the USD has an extreme 1407 pips or $14.07 spread.

Pro and ECN accounts have spread from 0.4 pips but we are unable to test this statement and we are not sure the website presents valid information at all.

Minimum Deposit

According to the table account comparison, the minimum deposit for the most affordable Nano STP account is $10. This is also considered a cent account with the maximum possible balance of $3000. The next tier is the Standard Account most of the clients will be interested in with the minimum deposit requirement of $100. ECN Account is obscured with the unknown commission data, still, it requires at least $200 which is what most can afford. Pro Account is not following this trend and requires at least a $10,000 deposit.

Deposit Methods & Costs

SSFX Limited is focused on the Sout-eAst Asian market and presents local deposit methods for Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. Related banks for these deposit methods via bank transfer are Bangkok Bank, Ambank, Maybank, BCA, and Standard Chartered. The client can also add their bank account from the Login area and conduct a transfer to their landing Account. Landing Account is a transfers-only function account that is allegedly segregated from the broker while the Trading Account is used for trading.

Note that SSFX Limited has its fees for the conversions if the deposit and account currencies do not match. Deposits for Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, and Vietnamese clients are free of charge but the conversion is applied according to the broker rates. For IDR, the current rate is 14,000 for 1 USD. Some maximum amounts are mentioned but they are big enough not to pose an issue. There are no disclosed fees for international clients. Bank transfers seem to be the only option for deposits. SSFX Limited uses the paytrust888.com payment provider.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

SSFX Limited has a withdrawal fee for all clients. Also, the broker has another currency rate for withdrawals. So, for Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia the fee is 1.5% plus the conversion. For international clients, the fee may vary. We do not have any info about other withdrawal methods available except bank transfers.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

SSFX Limited does not state any time frames but bank transfers usually take up to 7 business days to complete.

Bonuses & Promotions

SSFX Limited mentioned bonuses available for the Mini STP and Standard accounts with the links to the Terms and Conditions page for them. The link connects to a blank page. There is no other information available. At the current state, the broker does not seem to offer any kind of bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

SSFX Limited does not have any worthy educational content. 4 pages may be related as educational, What are DFDs, Why Trade CFDs, What is Forex, and Why trade FX are pages with some explanations mostly mixed in with clumsy marketing, promoting the market’s most dominant advantages. There are no Economic Calendars or tools offered on the SSFX’s website or on the side.

Customer Service

The broker is reachable only by email and the contact form. Even though the support is advertised as 24/7, we have not received a reply from the staff.

Demo Account

The demo account is available and can be opened by registering on the SSFX Limited website or directly within the MT4 platform. The demo does not show the commissions or the CFD assets allegedly additionally available for the Pro Account.

Countries Accepted

SSFX Limited is focused on the South-East Asia region but international clients can also apply for an account. There is no information if there are any restricted countries.

Conclusion

This section will conclude SSFX Limited review with additional information and a summary. Even with the obscured information available on the internet about this broker, according to what is seen on the website and the platform it is clear there are many inconsistencies and red flags. Firstly, the transparency is very low and it is compensated by the effort to fill in the already undeveloped website pages with redundant, promotional content serious traders simply do not appreciate. What is presented is also not what is seen in the MT4 platform. Visitors will not have a clear image of what this broker is or what kind of accounts, service, and security they offer. As for the regulation, sometimes it is better not to mention if there is none than to present false information such as in the case of SSFX Limited. At the current state, this broker should be avoided, solid trading conditions are secondary if there are extreme broker-related risks to your funds.

Tags Forex Broker Review, SSFX Limited, SSFX Limited Review

Forex Brokers

RBFX Pro Review

This is an offshore, unregulated, and relatively new broker offering CFDs on Metals, Forex, Commodities, and Indexes. RBFXpro is not popular in the market, very few traces can be found on the internet about the RBFXpro LTD company. The location of the broker is, according to the unconfirmed sources, in Vanuatu, and on the same address used by at least 20 other brokers with a similarly unknown background. Whatsmore, the broker claims to have an Administration Office in The Royal Courts of Justice, London, which is, obviously, a false statement used for manipulation.

Visitors to the RBFXpro website will not be impressed with the design, structure, or content. It is sloppily made, spelling errors are common and transparency is low, especially the Company Profile section where there is no specific or relevant information. Some of the pages are empty or are dead links. Trading Conditions are presented better where traders can see most of the information needed for trading. By the looks of the website, the broker is focused on the Russian market as there are some pages made in Russian only. A lot of false promotional statements are present such as that RBFXpro is one of the most well-known companies in the industry yet it is barely noticeable on the internet. In this RBFXpro review we will analyze what services are offered and their quality by sections.

Account Types

The broker offers Cent Account and several with normal contract sizes. The main features of the Cent Account are no minimum deposit, fixed spreads, micro-lot minimum trading sizes, and Forex only trading. Any additional information about the leverage and other conditions is not disclosed.

Normal contract accounts are classified into two groups Forex Classic and ECN. They are differentiated by the spread type. Under the Classic class, there are 3 account types called Micro, Mini and Standard. Mini Account is the most affordable with a minimum deposit that is a bit above what is usually offered in the industry as a basic package. The Account has the largest maximum leverage and is entitled to have a 50% bonus. We are unsure what kind of bonus this is, details are in the Bonus and Promotions section of this RBFXpro review. It is also stated that there are Stops levels but not how much. The next tier is the Mini Account with a higher deposit minimum.

There are no evident advantages for investing double the amount of the Micro Account except for the higher maximum trade size. The leverage is reduced compared to the Micro Account, according to the table published on the website, there are no other differences. Some may wonder what is the actual benefit of having a higher Account tier. Standard Account requires now a steep minimum deposit and has even lower leverage for some instruments. All other trading conditions are the same except the maximum trade size limit increase.

The second class where the ECN-mini and ECN-pro Accounts are offered has the floating spread type. None of them have commissions and the ECN-mini have the same minimum deposit requirement as the Classic Mini. Also, these Accounts have less tolerant Stop Out and Margin Call levels than Forex Classic accounts. The highest tier, ECN-Pro account has a very high minimum deposit requirement and further decreased leverage. There are no other evident differences except for the increased maximum trade size limit. We expect a major difference in the spreads, more info on this category in the Spreads section. All ECN Accounts do not have Stops and Limit levels as per the broker trading conditions, also they are not qualified to receive any bonuses.

Note that the actual range of account types during the registration process is different. The drop list offered us a Forex Classic account, ECN account, ECN-pro account, and ECN VIP account. Additionally, there are Invest, Partner, and Demo accounts that are grayed out. Deposit currency offered are USD and EUR only. There are differences in the asset range offer, Classic accounts do not have the same assets as ECN. More info in the following sections.

Platforms

RBFXpro offers only the MetaTrader 4 platform by MetaQuotes. The MT4 is usually available for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices running on Android and iOS operating systems. In the case of the RBFXpro, only the desktop platform is downloadable while mobile platform links do not work. Also, there is no web-accessible version that most brokers have. This way, one could easily see what are the trading conditions and the market situation online, without any installation. Once installed the MT4 client will present you two RBFXpro servers, Demo and Live, with 123.8ms ping and Demo with only 26.6ms. The client is not on the default template, the background is set to white with a black candle type chart.

Timeframe settings are on Daily and H4 and there are no other changes from the default presentation with 4 major currency pairs. ECN type account will have a BTC/USD pair set as first on the daily timeframe, having the rest of the template look the same. The About window shows the latest update of the MT4 with the registration to RBFXPRO LIMITED in Vanuatu. We have opened the indicators and templates folder to see if there is anything new or altered but we have not found anything. One-click trading buttons are turned off but can be enabled. The Symbols are very nicely composed into several groups that accurately depict what instrument category is inside. ECN type accounts will have an “e” suffix in the instrument name that makes the 4 starting template charts show “waiting for the update” from the market.

In the Specification, there is enough information filled in about the trading conditions except for the Cryptocurrencies where the swap is missing. The terminal is showing all the trading columns correctly. The execution times are 98ms on average with small deviations of 10 ms but with good consistency, proving to be a good condition for fast trading and Expert Advisors. Some of the crypto-assets and other rare instruments are off quotes, meaning they are listed in the platform but do not have any trading value in this condition. Also, on some occasions, the server responded with “not enough money” on non-exotic currency pairs. This is a false warning where the underlying problem is actually low liquidity.

Leverage

RBFXpro has set the decreasing leverage maximum as the deposits go higher. So for a Micro Account, the maximum leverage is 1:500, 1:200 for Mini and two levels are for the Standard Account type, 1:200 and 1:100 for some assets. From the ECN class accounts, ECN-Mini has 1:200/1:100, and ECN-Pro 1:100. We will check the most affordable Micro and ECN-Mini accounts for the asset-specific leverage in the MT4 platform. Mini Account Forex assets leverage is 1:500 including the less liquid currency pairs like the USD/NOK. For Cryptocurrencies, the leverage is 1:5 and Stocks 1:20. As for the ECN-Mini, the leverage is settable to 1:500 level and there is no difference. This points out that the published table is outdated.

Trade Sizes

According to the table published, all accounts have the 0.01 lots minimum trade size volume. Additional steps are also on micro-lots. The maximum trade size starts with 5 lots for the Micro Account and up to 100 lots for the ECN-Pro. We have found out that in the MT4 platform the maximum trade sizes are somewhat different but this is not critical. The maximum is 100 lots for the Mini Account and 50 lots as published for the ECN-mini. For the Indexes, the minimum trading volume is 1 lot and 100 maximum. For commodities, the minimum is 1 lot and 500 lots maximum trade size but note that the contract sizes are smaller, 100 units instead of the standard 1000 barrels for both Oil type assets. Crypto assets all have 0.01 lots minimum trade size and 100 lots maximum, including the low-value coins with the 1 unit contract size.

Stop level varies across Forex currency pairs, so, for example, EUR/USD has 0 but EUR/JPY has 30 points, or AUD/CAD – 70 points. The biggest Stops level is for the NOK quoted pairs at 450 points. For commodities, it is set from 7 to 8 points and for stocks is up to 10 points. Precious metals Stop level is set at 60 points. For those not familiar, the Stops level defines the range around the price of an asset (in points) where the pending order placement is not possible. Stop level for the ECN type accounts is set to 0 for all assets confirming the published specification table statements.

Margin Call is set to 25% for the Classic accounts and 100% for the ECN type accounts. Stop Out is at 50% and 130% respectively.

Trading Costs

RBFXpro is a no commission broker, even for their ECN type accounts that are promoted to start from 0 spread. The negative swaps are the only other trading only costs. They are calculated in points and tripled on Wednesdays but for the crypto they are unknown. As the Cryptocurrencies listed in the MT4 are not mentioned on the RBFXpro website, we do not have any other information about these assets, let alone their swaps.

Contract Specification page does not show the swaps levels as in the MT4 platform so we confirm that even this table is outdated. EUR/USD swap is -1.28 points on the long and a positive 1.4 on the short side. USD/JPY swap is also low with 0.66 points on the long and -3.28 on the short, GBP/USD swap is also very low, both sides have below 1 point swaps, and AUD/USD has 1.94 points on the long and -1.61 point on the short side. As we move toward less common pairs like the GBP/AUD the swaps are increased to double digits, -22.3 points on the long and 4.83 points for the short. Similar is for the EUR/NZD with not so negligible -35.6 points for the long position and 7.93 points on the short. This setup means that the longer-term traders should not seek to trade minors or crosses and focus on the majors only. Gold swap against the USD is -8.41 on the long side and 0.058 on the short.

Inactivity fees may exist as per the legal documents published. Considering that most of the content is outdated the information should not be taken seriously. RBFXpro will charge a fee of $5 per month during the entire period of inactivity.

Assets

The asset list on the website is outdated as we have observed some more assets in the MetaTrader 4 platform available. Namely, ECN accounts do not feature cryptocurrencies but the Classic does. Whatsmore, Stocks are also listed in the MT4. Starting with the Classic account category, there are 34 currency pairs, most of which are majors and crosses and a very limited range of exotics. They are USD/ZAR, EUR/ZAR, EUR/TRY, and Scandinavian currency pairs. If you are not seeking exotics, this range is enough. Note that you may find liquidity problems with the exotics mentioned.

Indexes range is limited to only 7 majors in total. There are S&P 500, Nikkei 225, NASDAQ 100. FTSE 100, DJ30, and CAC 40. Precious metals range is minimal, spot Silver and Gold against the USD. Similarly, minimal ranges are for other categories. The commodity range is composed of two Oil types, Brent and Crude Oil and there are also Stocks. Stocks range traded as CFDs are very small compared to the industry average that offers this category. A total of 5 popular companies are offered, all from the US, Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Facebook, and Microsoft.

The highlight of the RBFXpro range offer is Cryptocurrencies. This is one of the best offers with over 70 pairs. There are many altcoins and many combinations with the BTC and another crypto further extending the cryptocurrency range. Aside from the majors, there are rare to see coins such as Ardor, Synereo AMP, Bytecoin, Monero, Blackcoin, Bela, Burst, Decred, Expance, Florincoin, Golem, Lisk, OmiseGO, and many more and rare combinations. Now, in practice, there is very low liquidity with these exotics and therefore off quotes. This means only the majors are possible for trading.

ECN Accounts do not have much to offer in terms of the instrument range. There are a total of 31 currency pairs tradeable. There are 31 currency pairs in total, others are listed but closed for trading. Aside from Forex, there the same Oil, precious metals, and Indexes offered as with the Classic accounts, Stocks are left out.

Spreads

Classic accounts have fixed spreads while ECN accounts have dynamic spread types. Classic Mini account has higher spreads than the industry average. Starting with the majors, EUR/USD has 4 pips, AUD/SUD 2 pips, USD/JPY 2 pips, CHF/JPY 5 pips, GBP/USD 3 pips, and NZD/USD 4 pips. Higher spreads are for the crosses, for example, AUD/CAD has 7 pips, AUD/NZD 9 pips, EUR/AUD 7 pips, and GBP/NZD 9 pips. The wide spread is for the EUR/NOK and USD/NOK with 45 pips. Precious metals spread is also somewhat wider than usual with 60 points. Bitcoin against the USD has a dynamic spread moving a bit above $1 and this is one of the best spreads for BTC in the industry.

ECN-mini account spread is not below 1 pip for any asset. ECN-pro interestingly does not have lower spreads at all, on the contrary, EUR/USD spread was around 20 points while for the ECN-mini was around 14 points. This fact makes RBFXpro Accounts packages completely illogical. Other assets have similar spreads, not going above 20 points except for the EUR/NZD with 31 points, and GBP/NZD with 40 points. The wide spread is attributed to the Scandinavian exotics at 100 points flat, since the liquidity is non-existent. Spot Gold against the USD is at 30 pips and Silver at 19.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is stated to be from $500 for the Classic Micro account, and no deposit minimum for the Cent account. The second tier, Classic mini requires $1000, then Classic Standard requires no less than $5000. ECN accounts start from $1000 for the ECN-mini and $10,000 for the ECN-pro. These minimum deposit requirements could be out of date but at the current level, they are higher than what other brokers require.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are several deposit methods, we will present what we see in the “Personal Office”, available once you register and sign in. There are 7 options and all 7 require USD currency. These are Bitcoin, VISA/MasterCard, WebMoney, Payeer, Advcash, Fasapay, and Payza. VISA/MasterCard and WebMoney options will redirect you to Interkassa, a Ukrainian-based payment provider that has connected to the RBFXpro as their merchant. This means the bank cards and WebMoney are not really supported, as you will have to use other methods available, such as using the bank card to purchase BTC or another crypto to deposit on the Interkassa website. Other methods work as intended.

Costs associated with the deposits are not disclosed in the Personal Office but there is some relevant info on the website for VISA/MasterCard, it is 5.5%, while other methods presented on the deposit/withdrawal page are not offered in the Personal Office.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The broker offers only two withdrawal options as we can see in the Personal Office, Bitcoin and WebMoney. This means that the funds are not returned using the same method and are not subject to any AML policy.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

According to RBFXpro, the wait time is up to 7 days for withdrawals. Bitcoin transactions require a certain time for confirmations and the WebMoney withdrawal method could be offline as the deposit is done via Interkassa, not WebMoney.

Bonuses & Promotions

The broker offers bonuses and we are not sure which one applies. One page about the bonuses is empty while the other mentioned a 100% deposit bonus. It is said that is designed to increase trading activity with clients, therefore it could be they are based on the trading volume before they are released. No conditions or details are disclosed.

Educational & Trading Tools

RBFXpro website features an Economic Calendar that is updated every day but does not have any kind of filtering or sorting. It is made like a list with countries, impact level, and 3 figures for prognosis, actual and past event levels.

The Beginners section is intended to give some educational content. IT starts with the history of the Stock Exchange and moves on to sections about the Forex products, Fundamental and Technical Analysis, some Financial legal info, and Terminology list. All of the content is about one page long without pictures or videos. The quality is good enough but it is not well suited for beginners, also, some of the text looks like a part of a book.

Customer Service

The broker can be contacted by phone, email, and chat. None of these channels worked for us. The chat service is offline and the chat app has to be opened in Internet Explorer.

Demo Account

A demo account has a time limit of 90 days. The demo can be opened within the MT4 platform only. From the Personal Office, this option is grayed out. It is possible to open multiple demo accounts and select the leverage and the amount of initial virtual funds. Demo accounts will not be visible in the Personal Office so you cannot change the leverage once set. The demo accounts should reflect the Live trading conditions, but we are uncertain as the Live server has higher latency.

Countries Accepted

It is not known what countries are not available for RBFXpro services. The list contains countries such as the United Kingdom, but traders from the UK will be met with a page that states they cannot open an account at the moment and to check back later. Still, clients from Russia will not have this problem.

Conclusion

As we finish with the RBFXpro review, we are certain that this broker does not meet the minimal safety requirements traders can accept for trading. There are too many inconsistencies, low-quality website design, services, complex deposit methods, company obscurity, no support whatsoever, low popularity, and ratings. We can even mention low liquidity problems but at this point, traders should certainly look away and search for a better service. If RBFXpro revitalizes its business, the highlight will certainly be the Cryptocurrency offer and the possibility to have both fixed and floating spread accounts. Once that is done, RBFXpro can pursue a better image and their own space in the market. Of course, this is if the broker has the intention to get into the Forex industry seriously in the first place, but it is not always the case, unfortunately. Be especially careful when you deposit without direct payment processing to the broker bank using debit/credit cards, this will void your right to a chargeback.

Tags Forex Broker Review, RBFX Pro, RBFX Pro Review, RBFXpro, RBFXpro Review

Forex Brokers

Spreadex Review

Spreadex is a spread betting and foreign exchange broker that is based out of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom and is both registered and regulated by the Finance Conduct Authority (FCA). The financial trading side of the business was launched in 2006 and has since been awarded various accolades and been featured in many of the UK’s top lists. We will be using this review to look into the services on offer and to see exactly how they compare to the competition, it should also provide you with the information to decide whether they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

It seems that there is just one account type available to use, so as we go through this review, all information provided will be relevant to this singular account type, as a brief overview, the account does not have a minimum deposit requirement. It comes with leverage up to 1:200 and variable spreads starting from 0.6 pips. We will go over these features in a little more detail as we go through this review.

Platforms

Spreadex has created its own proprietary trading platform. The platform can be used as applications on your devices including Tablets, iOS phones, and Android phones. There are a host of features mentioned by Spreadex as to why their platform is worth using:

Trade spread bets and CFDs from one account
A fully customizable screen to organize your trading
Advanced Charting tools with Pattern Recognition and Pro Trend lines
Fast and fair, award-winning execution
Advanced Orders including Force Opens
Price Alerts by text, push, or email

There are also some additional features:

Trade via Charts
Automated Pro Trend lines and Pattern Recognition
A wide range of advanced technical indicators
Macro-data directly available on our charts
Sophisticated drawing tools
Extensive price history of over 10 years
Templates that you can create, save and edit
Go long and short on the same market (Force Open)
Guaranteed stops
One-click dealing, for instant access to the markets
Price Tolerance Threshold, so you can get your trades filled in times of extreme market volatility

Leverage

Leverage limits on the opening of a position by a retail client range 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

You are able to get leverage up to 1:200 if you are classed as a professional trader.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and 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 open trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There does not seem to be any added commissions added to the trading accounts as they mainly use a spread-based system that we will look at later in this review. There will most likely be swap charges though, these are fees that will be charged or received depending on the interest rates when holding trades overnight, they can often be viewed within the trading platform itself.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, we have outlined the categories below along with a number of different instruments within those groups.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCZK, EURDKK, EURGBP, EURHUF, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURUSD, EURZAR, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPDKK, GBPEUR, GBPJPY, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPUSD, GBPZAR, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHUF, USDINR, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Commodities: Brent Crude, Cocoa, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton, Feeder Cattle, Gold, Lean Hogs, Light Crude, Gas Oil, Lumber, Natural Gas, Gasoline, Oats, Orange Juice, Palladium, Platinum, Rough Rice, Silver, Soybean, Sugar #11, and Wheat.

Indices: Germany 30, SPX 500, UK 100, Wall Street, Australia 200, China A50, Euro stocks 50, France 40, Hong Kong 50, India 50, Japan 225, and US Tech 100 are a few of the available indices.

Shares: There are hundreds of stocks available including the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Tesco, Citigroup, Tesla, Netflix, and many more.

Spreads

The spreads are kept quite low which is great to see, spreads for some instruments such as EURUSD are constantly under 1 pip and can be seen around 0.6 pips. The spreads are variable, so they will move about and be influenced by the markets, different instruments and assets will also have different available spreads and they won’t all be as low as 0.6 pips.

Minimum Deposit

There is no minimum amount required to open up an account, this means the accounts are accessible to all sorts of traders, big and small. We would, however, recommend depositing at least $500 as this allows for better profit potential and the ability to run proper risk management.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only methods that seem to be available are Bank Wire Transfers and Credit/Debit Cards. This could potentially limit those that prefer to use other methods. We are not sure if there are any added fees or commissions when depositing, we would always suggest contacting your own bank or card issuer to find out if they will add any outgoing transfer fees of their own. The following statement is present though:

“Spreadex reserves the right to charge £1 on debit card deposits under £50.”

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same two methods are available to withdraw with, again these are Bank Wire Transfers and Credit/Debit Cards. You can probably imagine that there isn’t any information on potential fees, so hopefully, this means that there won’t be any, but we cannot say this for sure. You should check with your own card issuer or bank to see if they will add any incoming processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Spreadex should process your request within 24 hours but it could take as long as 48 hours depending on when the request is made. It will then take an additional 1 to 5 working days for the request to fully process, this time will depend on the processing time of your card issuer or bank.

Bonuses & Promotions

Looking through the site, we did not come across anything that looked like a bonus or promotion, if you are after a promotion, 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 seems to be quite a lot when it comes to education and tools, the help section of the site has a video trading center, thus has a number of different videos teaching you how to place trades and how to use the Spreadex platform. There is also an FAQ for Charts, Trading, and Technical trading, finally, there is also a glossary of trading-related terms to refer back to if you come across something you do not understand the meaning of.

There is also an Analysis part of the site, this section has a number of different tools available, the first is an economic calendar that details different news events that are coming up and also how those events may affect the markets. There are also some pages that teach you about chart analysis, chart patterns, and how to analyze them. There are also a number of blogs and update pages that can give you some idea about news and possible market movements.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 7 days a week between 8 am and 5:30 pm GMT. Spreadex has provided a postal address, phone number, and email address to use, so you have a choice of your preferred method to use.

Address: Freepost RRRS-GTBG-HGZB, Spreadex Ltd., Churchill House, Upper Marlborough Road, St Albans. Hertfordshire, AL1 3UU

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 01727 895 000

Demo Account

Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be a demo account available when using Spreadex, this is a shame as demo accounts allow potential and existing clients to test out the platforms, conditions, and new strategies without having to risk any of their own strategies. So if they are in fact not available, it is something that Spraedex should look at adding to their list of services.

Countries Accepted

The following statement can be found at the bottom of the website:

“The information on this website is not targeted at the general public of any particular country. It is not intended for distribution to residents in any country where such distribution or use would contravene any law or regulatory requirement.”

This does not provide a lot of information, so if you are thinking of signing up, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check whether you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The Spreadex website is very well laid out and professional-looking, providing most of the information we needed. They have been around for a long time and their trading conditions seem to be quite competitive with leverage at 1:200, no commissions, and spread starting under 1 pip. There are also plenty of assets available, the one bit that we feel falls short is the lack of deposit and withdrawal methods, just Card and Bank Transfers are available which could limit some clients.

The way the website is shown, makes us believe that they are aiming more towards the UK client base due to them also offering spread betting, so if you are from the UK, they could be a decent broker to sue, from outside the UK, we would suggest possibly looking somewhere else, however, there is nothing to say that you can not join up with Spreadex.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Spreadex, Spreadex Broker, Spreadex Review

Forex Brokers

CFsum Review

CFsum is a relatively new brand made in 2018 under the Bestfolio Consulting OU company in Estonia. The company is not known and is obscured, not present as a registered company in any official directory. The address is virtual and the regulation is also absent. Right from the start, CFsum states they are the best broker in the world. CFsum’s website presents all the fancy, rich, and business-looking action, just what unaware visitors associate with the Forex world.

On the surface, the broker is promoting all superlatives commonly used in low-quality marketing, typically when nothing substantial can be offered. Aside from redundant, self-praising content, CFsum has a very small website structure unsuitable for this business. Probably the template used for the website building remained in its original form, meaning little effort is put into building it. As we go deeper to check the trading conditions, we found very limited information.

Very quickly, it became clear that we are dealing with an extremely risky broker screaming with red flags. One of the interesting parts could be the platform and the assets offered. This CFsum review will reveal all the highlights to give you a complete picture of what is going on with this broker and should you invest.

Account Types

CFsum does not offer any account packages. Therefore there is just a single account with undisclosed conditions. From what we can see, the minimum deposit is not extremely high and the leverage can be adjusted to average levels. Contract sizes are also interesting and non-standard, like adjustable to your trade size. We are not sure if this is the contract CFD size or just a way to obscure the minimum trade sizes. There is no other information on the account, therefore we will describe what we can extract from the platform in the following sections.

Platforms

CFsum does not offer any of the MetaTrader platforms or other adopted by the majority of brokers. Instead, they use a web-based platform that does not require any installation and acts as an interactive page once you register for an account. Many big, market maker brokers develop their platforms that are accommodated to their services range. These platforms very rarely offer any freedom with the automated trading software of custom indicators. In addition to their platform, they also offer other popular licensed platforms like MT4 to give traders the possibility to have the best from both worlds.

The CFsum platform is certainly one of the most basic and unprofessional platforms in the industry, not used by serious brokers. Not only are you deprived of any trading software, but also any indicators, timeframe settings, instrument trading information, risk management tools, chart types, and many more essentials. CFsum’s platform can be best described as a pretty platform for first lesson teaching that is user-friendly and will not scare away by the complexity of normal platforms.

It is using a dark theme with blue elements. On the central dominant window is the chart in the style of a histogram showing the price up to just two decimals. So, for example, the EUR/USD rate will be presented as 1.10 over the whole chart range unless zoomed out to the maximum. The timeframe is locked to 1 minute. On the left side of the screen is the instrument listing. As the windows are not resizeable in any way, they are presented in a list mode showing the Bid/Ask prices and the daily change percentage.

The search tool is on top of the list beside the instrument category selector. We found no sources for the instrument specification data. On the right side of the chart window are ordering and profile management functions. As with everything with this platform they are simplified. When ordering you can select the order size in units and the leverage with the addition of Take Profit/Stop Loss orders in units. Profile management is just allowing you to select the account if you have multiple and the option to log out. Finally, the bottom part of the screen contains your open and closed positions without much information on the trading costs. As no demo was available, we could not test the liquidity and execution times.

Leverage

The leverage levels vary across the assets. As the leverage is not disclosed on the CFsum’s website, we have used the information about the maximum allowed leverage in the platform. Forex currency pairs allow up to 1:100 leverage maximum, stocks are limited to 1:25, Precious metals, Indexes, and commodities are set to 1:10. Cryptocurrencies are all set to 1:5 maximum leverage.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are measured in units but they can be calculated in lots. For the Forex assets, we have noticed it is possible to set the minimum trade size to 250 units. The usual, micro-lot trade sizes are 1000 units or 0.01 lots, where 1 contract is 100,000 units. The same instrument contract size is used in this platform but the leverage is just multiplying your margin, not reducing the amount required to open a trade. This means the platform is limited to 0.25 lot minimum trading volume size which is very unfavorable to the majority of traders. In relevance to the minimum deposit requirement, this trade sizing is inadequate.

The same minimum trade size of 250 currency units is for all other assets. A platform like this is extremely unfriendly and confusing for a trader who has just started. At least for Bitcoin, the minimum is not set to 1 lot considering the current price of around $9500 for one. Additional step volume is also set to 250 currency. The platform is made for pushing traders to invest much more than $250, regardless of the official minimum deposit requirement. There is no information about the Stop Loss and Margin Call levels or Stops level.

Trading Costs

One of the most controversial segments of CFsum is the fees. As with other key info about trading, commission, or other costs are disclosed on the website. In the platform, we have noticed a small note which states the platform fee of 0.05%. We assume this is a commission, but there are other costs involved. Swaps remain an unknown. There is no information about them anywhere on the website or legal documents except that they are charged by the broker.

Whatsmore, new fees arise, a monthly maintenance fee of 50 USD/EUR/GBP is charged and a 1% fee on all executed trades. This said we can say that the total commission is 1.05%. The fees list continues, an incomplete verification fee of 100 USD/EUR/GBP will be charged if the client does not verify their account in 30 days. Also, for inactive accounts, a fee will be calculated freely by CFsum and close the account if no activity is attained for 61 days.

Assets

The broker has a list of assets published on the website but it is outdated as there are more assets and categories in their platform. There are a total of 28 currency pairs in the Forex category. This range is limited to majors and minors, no exotics are present.

The precious metals category range is not limited to the classic two, Silver and Gold against the USD. We can say this offer is one of the best as there is Palladium, Platinum, and other commodity metals such as Aluminium, Zinc, Copper, and Nickel.

Commodities are also good with 9 agricultural assets and 4 energy. WTI and Brent Oil are accompanied by Natural Gas and Gasoline. Out of classic commodities, uncommon ones are Orange Juice, Cotton, and Rice.

The index range is also very interesting and extended with a total of 18 instruments. Those that stand out besides the majors are TA 35, Tadawul All Share Index, OMX Stockholm 30, US Dollar Index Futures, ASX 200, Johannesburg Stock Exchange Index, FTSE MIB (Milano Indice di Borsa), Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, and Hang Seng Index.

Cryptocurrencies are also extended with a total of 18 non-repeating instruments. Out of these, some are also quoted in GBP, EUR, not just the USD. From the exotics, we found Dashcoin, BTC Gold, Monero, and Stellar.

Spreads

We suspect the spreads are a fixed type, but it is hard to discern as the prices are not updating in real-time. There is no specific info on them on the website. The CFsum platform does not show the spread so we have calculated it manually. For the EUR/USD the spread is 15 points, USD/JPY also 15 points, GBP/USD 25 points, AUD/USD 25 points, USD/CHF also 25 points as well as USD/CAD and NZD/USD. Minors have a wider spread, so for example, GBP/NZD has 105 points, AUD/CAD 65 points, the same as NZD/CAD and EUR/AUD. Gold against the USD has a 55 pip spread while Palladium has 319 pips. Interestingly Platinum has a wider 350 pips spread. Bitcoin against the USD has $36.24 spread and Ethereum has 121 points.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is stated to be $250. Nother since the minimum trade size volume is set to also $250, this amount is far from enough. Note that the minimum requirement for a Bank Wire is $500.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The methods available will be displayed once you verify your account. These include Wire Transfers, MasterCard or VISA, and via the Bitcoin network. The costs associated with deposits are not known.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

CFsum continues with unusual practices with withdrawals too. To withdraw by Bank Wire you need to have at least 1000 USD/GBP/EUR available in the trading account. For Credit/Debit Card transfers the minimum is 100 USD/GBP/EUR. The broker states that any withdrawal fees will be compensated for wire withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal request will be processed within 7-10 business days once instructions have been accepted. This time is not the usual and much longer compared to other brokers. We have noticed that the withdrawal request is not completely functional but this could be because you need to verify your account first.

Bonuses & Promotions

CFsum does not directly promote the bonuses. From the Terms and Conditions document, there are terms for the deposit bonus. The first deposit amount needs to be traded 15 times to be eligible for withdrawing. As for the bonus amount, It is not disclosed. Interestingly, there are unusual additional conditions for the bonus too. For a position to count towards the needed turnover, the trade must be open for 24 hours. Also, sold positions do not count towards the needed turnover. Note that the broker also applies this condition to your whole balance until the trading volume is reached, consequently locking up your funds. This practice is common for dishonest brokers. The formula for the trading volume condition is (bonus amount + Deposit) x15.

Educational & Trading Tools

The only educational content is related to the FAQ section. CFsum FAQ does not have elementary questions covered. Promotional and broker-beneficial answers to questions are more than noticeable. Therefore it can be said that there are no tools nor educational content.

Customer Service

The broker does not have any other channel for contact except the email. The response rate is longer than 24h and probably infinite.

Demo Account

The demo account is not available with CFsum.

Countries Accepted

United States citizens are explicitly avoided by the broker. No other info is available.

Conclusion

To conclude this CFsum review we will disclose some additional information about this broker. We can confirm that this broker is completely illegal with many red flags. Starting with the official FCA warning about the company behind the CFsum brand, Bestfolio Consulting OU, one of the common practices by fraud brokers is to cover behind an allegedly consulting agency that is just referring their leads to the website, or broker brand. This way they claim no responsibility for the damage done by the broker.

The absence of normal deposit methods is also a sign of fraud since these companies cannot establish a legit channel with highly regulated payment processors. Note that if the deposit by credit/debit card is also circumvented using another payment party, not directly connected to the receiving bank account of the broker, it may also mean your chargeback may be obstructed. Interestingly, the Terms and Conditions document shows clear signs that it belongs to another FCA-regulated company with statements about the document verification.

In the case of CFsum, there is no part without clues of a serious possibility that traders will be scammed. Transparency is non-existent, over-promotion makes the majority of the content, unprofessional platform designed for manipulation and sales, no support, extreme fees structure, and absolute negative ratings on the benchmark sites and internet in general.

Tags CFsum, CFsum Broker, CFsum Review, Forex Broker Review

Forex Brokers

Scandinavian Capital Markets Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 4 May, 2021
No Comments on Scandinavian Capital Markets Review

Scandinavian Capital Markets is a Sweden-based foreign exchange broker that offers its clients a safe and secure trading environment. Companies like Scandinavian Capital Markets who are on the Finansianspektionen’s list of registered brokers, promote transaction transparency, no conflict of interest, and are highly trusted worldwide. Sweden’s regulatory environment provides unique opportunities for global Forex trading, […]

Account Types

When signing up with Scandanavian Capital Markets there are three different accounts to choose from, we will briefly outline the differences and features of these accounts.

Standard Account: This account has a minimum deposit of at least $10,000. It is an ECN style account and has 58 different currency pairs available. Its base currency can be in USD, GBP, EUR, or SEK, and the spreads start from 1.7 pips. The account can be leveraged up to 1:100 and the minimum trade size is 001 lot with the maximum trade size being 1M (10 lots). There is no added commission on the account and it has access to 24/5 support, hedging is allowed and so is one-click trading, there are no minimum volume requirements on this account.

Advanced Account: This account has a minimum deposit of at least $25,000. It is an ECN style account and has 58 different currency pairs available. Its base currency can be in USD, GBP, EUR, or SEK, and the spreads start from 0.0 pips. The account can be leveraged up to 1:100 and the minimum trade size is 001 lot with the maximum trade size being 10M (100 lots). There is an added commission of $10 per lot traded on the account and it has access to 24/5 support, hedging is allowed and so is one-click trading, there are no minimum volume requirements on this account.

Custom Account: This is a special account that requires a minimum deposit of at least $250,000. You need to contact the support team to set one up as it has a custom selection of tradable assets, leverage, spreads, base currencies, and trade sizes. Leverage remains at 1:100 and the minimum trade sizes stay at 0.01 lots. The account requires a minimum trading volume of $250 million.

Platforms

There are a few different platforms available, including MetaTrader 4, cTrader, and Currenex. Each of these platforms is well-known and well-liked among traders, so there are no problems to report in this area.

Leverage

Leverage on all accounts goes as high as 1:100, this can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it you can do so by sending a request to the customer support team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sixes on all accounts start from 0.01 lots (known as micro-lots) and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The maximum trade size depends on the account used, the Standard account has a max trade size of 10 lots while the Premium account has a maximum trade size of 100 lots, the limit for the Custom account can be chosen on setup. We don’t know how many open trades you can have at any one time though.

Trading Costs

The Premium account has an added commission of $10 per lot traded on MT4 or $100 per million traded on cTrader which equates to a similar amount. The Custom account has commissions but this needs to be negotiated before opening up the account. The Standard account uses a spread-based system and so there are no added commissions.

There are swap charges for all three accounts, these are fees for holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

We only have a breakdown of the available forex and metal pairs so we will outline the below.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Metals: XAGUSD and XAUUSD.

Spreads

The spreads that you get depends on the account you are using, the Standard account comes with a starting spread of 1.7 pips while the Premium account comes with a starting spread of 0 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets and when there is added volatility they will be seen higher. Different instruments will also naturally have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount required to open up an account is $10,000 which could price out a lot of potential retail traders. It is not clear if this amount reduces once an account is open but as it is so high we would expect that it does.

Deposit Methods & Costs

It seems that only Bank Wire Transfers are available to deposit with, deposits can be made in USD, EUR, GBP, and SEK. It is not clear if there are any fees added for withdrawals but nothing is mentioned.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As Bank Wire Transfer is the only deposit method it is also the only withdrawal method. Just like with the deposits it is not clear if there are any added fees but you should check with your own bank to see if they will add any transfer or processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will be processed within 24 hours if made on a business day or the next business day if made over the weekend or on a bank holiday. Once it is processed it will take a further 1 to 5 working days for your own bank to process the transfer.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t seem to be any promotions or bonuses running at the time we are writing this review. If you are looking for bonuses we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out if there are any coming up.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the educational side of the site, the first is a simple news section, the news seems quite in-depth, the main problem is that there are no timestamps, so we do not know when it was posted or if it is at all relevant anymore. There is an analysis section, which is actually the same section. There are webinars, but they have not been running since October 2019. The final section is events, which is just the news and analysis section again.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week, closed over the weekends and on bank holidays. You can use the online submission form in order to send in your query and then get a reply via email. There is also a postal address along with an email and a number of phone numbers for your choice of communication method.

Address: Scandinavian Capital Markets SCM AB, Kistagangen 16, 164 40 Kista, Stockholm, Sweden

Phone: + 46 8 559 26 151

Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out the trading conditions and new strategies without risking any of your own capital, so it is good that they are available here. You can create a demo account of either of the three account types and also chose the currency and platform of the account. We do not know of a potential expiration time so hopefully, there won’t be one.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website: “Scandinavian Capital Markets does not accept clients from the U.S, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Yemen, and Cuba.” If you are still not sure if you are able to sign up, simply contact the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

The three accounts on offer give you a choice of three distinct trading conditions, a low spread commissions account or a spread-based commission-free account. The trading conditions on both are ok, the commission-based account has a commission of $10 per lot which is a fair bit higher than the average $6 per lot. There wasn’t a huge selection of tradable assets available on the site, whether there are more or no we do not know. Deposit and withdrawals are a little limited with just Bank Wire Transfers available so they may push those that do not want to use this method away. You have all the information now, so the decision to use them or not is up to you.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Scandinavian Capital Markets, Scandinavian Capital Markets Review

Forex Brokers

TDMarkets Review

TDMarkets is an online foreign exchange and binary options broker that is based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. We will be using this review to look into the services that are being offered by TDMarkets, to not only see how they compare to the competition but to also see if they are a worthy […]

Some of the features on offer (as stated by TDMarkets) include:

Instant Withdrawals
Live Chat with Experienced Traders
Industry-Leading MetaTrader 4 Platform
Direct Market Access from Interbank.Exchange
Forex and binary options on one account
Education with one of the Top 3 Forex Training companies in the world. (This is only for clients who fund with $1000 or more)

TDMarkets offers both forex and binary options to trade, for the purpose of this review, we will only be looking at the foreign exchange side and not the binary options side of the broker.

Account Types

There is just the one account type available which TDMarkets calls a Smart Account. This account can use all aspects of the site and take part in all aspects of trading. As we go through this review, all the information that we state will be relevant to this single account type, we have listed a few of the features below, but will go into them in more detail throughout the review.

Account Features:

A minimum deposit of just $50, a maximum of $10,000,000.
Low interbank spreads
Segregated fund accounts
Comes with $10 already deposited
24-hour support
Access to training materials
Negative balance protection
Access to an account manager
A 2.3-millisecond trade execution time.

Platforms

The forex side of the broker uses MetaTrader 4 (MT4) as its trading platform. MT4 offers a whole range of features that helped to make it one of the world’s most used trading platforms. It offers a no dealing desk environment, high execution speeds, compatibility with thousands of expert advisors for automated trading and indicators for analysis, one-click trading, no-requotes, and many more features. The platform is also accessible from anywhere in the world as it can be used as a desktop download, mobile application for both iOS and Android devices and it can be used as a web trader within your internet browser.

We won’t go into detail on the binary options platform as we are not concentrating on binary options in this review.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available to TDMarkets clients is 1:500, this is a good amount to have as it offers a good risk to reward ratio and is the amount that a lot of brokers are now aiming to offer. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account, it can be changed, but to do so you will need to contact the customer service team with your change request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start as low as 0.01 lots which are known as micro-lots and are also equal to 100 base currency units as a lot with TDMarkets is equal to 10,000 base currency units. The trades go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots. Based on the maximum pip value of $5,000 mentioned on the account page, it would lead us to believe that the maximum trade size is 500 lots, however, we would suggest not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to slippage and execution times. We do not know how many open trades and orders you are able to have at any one time, but it will be quite high if a single trade can go as high as 500 lots.

Trading Costs

While there isn’t much information on the site regarding commissions (not that we could see anyway) we had a look around the internet for information and various sources all indicated that there was a $2 commission per lot traded, this is relatively low when we consider that the industry average seems to be around $6 per lot traded.

There are also swap charges to think about, these are charges that will be either negative or positive and are based on a change of interest when holding trades overnight, they can be viewed from within the MT4 trading platform.

Assets

The website does not have a full breakdown of the available assets to trade, so instead, we had to download the MT4 platform in order to view them within, so we have outlined the instrument that we have found below.

Forex Currencies: EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, NZDUSD, AUDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, GBPJPY, GBPCHF, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURNZD, NZDJPY.

Metals: Only Gold is available to trade.

Indices: DJI, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500.

Shares: Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft.

As you can see there isn’t a very large selection to trade which could be disappointing, and this could be the reason why they are not listed on the website, as many potential clients would be looking for a large selection of tradable assets and instruments.

Spreads

The spreads that are on offer start from around 0.8 pips, these spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets, the more volatility or less liquidity will mean that the spreads grow larger. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads, so while some may start at 0.8 pips, others will be higher at 1 or 2 pips.

Minimum Deposit

You are actually able to start trading with $10 without having to deposit any funds as long as you verify all of your documents. There is no minimum to the amount you can deposit, that will depend on the minimum amount accepted by the payment processor that you chose to use (see next section of this review).

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are few different methods available to deposit with, these are Bitcoin, Credit & Debit Card, and Bank Wire Transfer. This is a slightly limited set of options as there are no e-wallets which could off clients who prefer to use methods that aren’t currently provided.

In terms of fees, when using Credit & Debit Card or Bitcoin there are no fees apart from the ones that the payment provider may charge you themselves, when using Bank Wire Transfer, when depositing over $200 there are no added fees, however when you deposit under $200, you will be charged the banking fees from TDMarkets.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same three methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification they are Bitcoin, Credit & Debit Card, and Bank Wire Transfer, any withdrawal requests made must be withdrawn back to the same method that was used to make the deposit, so any Card deposits must be withdrawn back to the same card.

There are no added transfer fees from TDMarkets as long as the withdrawal is over $200, any withdrawals under this amount will be liable to pay the bank fees or transfer fees of the method used.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

TDMarkets will aim to respond to any withdrawal requests within 24 hours, however, you should allow up to 3 working days for TDMarkets to process your request as it may be delayed for verification purposes. Once it has been processed by TDMakrets, it could take a further 1 to 5 working days to be fully processed by your own bank or payment provider, this will depend on their own processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t appear to be any special promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, the only thing that would be classed as a bonus is the fact that you are able to start trading with $10 before depositing any funds, in order to receive the $10 you will need to fully verify your account documentation. Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of information about this $10 such as if you are able to convert it into real funds and if so, how to do it.

Educational & Trading Tools

The only thing that TDMarkets offers is an economic calendar, this details different news events that are coming up, it also gives an indication as to what impact the news could have on the markets, it is always worth keeping an eye on an economic calendar when trading. There isn’t any actual education on the site which is a shame as many brokers are now looking to help their clients improve both their knowledge and trading skills, so it would be good to see TDMarkets add something to its site too.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day every day that the markets are trading, so that means Monday to Friday but closed on bank holidays. You are able to use the provided email address, there is also a skype username available as well as a live chat feature. There is also a separate contact us page that has an online submission form that you can fill in and then get a reply via email.

Email: [email protected]
Skype Name: Care@TDMarkets

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and offer a great opportunity for people to test out the trading platform, trading conditions, and new strategies without having to risk any of their own funds. TDMarkets offers demo accounts and they can be accessed using a simple online form. The demo account will mimic the trading conditions of the live account, there was not a stated expiration time so we suspect that they will last indefinitely.

Countries Accepted

This information is not stated anywhere 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. As the broker is based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, we suspect that most countries would be accepted, but it is always better to double-check.

Conclusion

TDMarkets keeps things simple by offering just the singular account as well as the singular trading platform in the form of MetaTrader 4. The trading conditions seem quite competitive, with low commissions of just $2, way below the industry average, and accompanying spreads as low as 0.8 pips, the only downside to the trading is the lack of tradable assets, only a small list exists. There is also a limited number of deposit and withdrawal methods, there are fees, but they are negated by depositing and withdrawing over $200. Not much education around and unfortunately, there isn’t a wide range of ways to contact the customer service team. You should now have the information you need to decide whether or not TDMarkets is the right broker for your trading needs.

Tags Forex Broker Review, TDMarkets, TDMarkets Review

Forex Brokers

ProfitLevel Review

ProfitLevel is a foreign exchange and CFD broker operating out of Cyprus and is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Their priority is the protection and security of their clients’ funds as well as offering strong trading conditions and platforms along with the top quality customer service team. We will be using […]

Account Types

It appears that there is only one account type on offer and you automatically get it by signing up, a few small details about it include a minimum deposit requirement of $100 leverage up to 1:200 for professional users and a spread starting around 3 pips. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the trading conditions and other features offered and all will be relevant to this account.

Platforms

ProfitLevel is currently offering just a single trading platform, the good news is that it is an extremely popular and well-known platform, so what is it? MetaTrader 5. MT5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to aid in virtually any style of trading.

Leverage

Leverage depends on son a number of factors, ProfitLevel is following the new regulations put in place by the ESMA, so for retail clients, the available leverage is:

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

For clients considered as professionals, the maximum leverage is increased up to 1:200.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lots, they then 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 indication 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 the maximum number of open trades allowed.

Trading Costs

There is no added commission as the account uses a spread-based system that we will look at later in this review. The account does have swap charges, 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 and instruments available to trade, ProfitLevel has broken them down into 4 different categories, we have listed them out along with some examples of the assets available in them.

Forex: Over 60 different currency pairs are available to trade from major pairs, minor pairs, and exotic pairs, some of these include AUDCAD, EURPLN, GBPCHF, EURUSD, NOKSEK, USDCHF, and ZARJPY.

Commodities: Lots of commodities are also available including the likes of Gold, Silver, Natural Gas, Brent Crude Oil, Cotton, Coffee and, Sugar.

Indices: A nice selection of Indices is also there including Germany 30, France 40, Australia 200, US 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones.

Shares: Plenty of different shares available from three different regions which are the EU, Hong Kong, and the US, some shares include Amazon, Goole, Tesco, BMW, Tesla, and IBM.

Spreads

Spreads start from around 3 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 3 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $250, once an account is open the minimum will drop down to $100 for any subsequent top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Just two different methods are available for depositing, these are Bank Wire Transfer and Credit/Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard). ProfitLevel does not add any fees of their own, however, you should check with your bank or card issuer to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

When withdrawing, only Bank Transfer is available, just like with deposits, ProfitLevel does not add any fees of their own, however, you should check with your bank or card issuer to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

ProfitLevel will process withdrawals within 1 business day once they receive the request, it will then take a further 1 to 5 business days for the money to become available based on your bank’s own processing time.

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 usual economic calendar is available which shows you upcoming news events and the currencies that they may affect. Apart from that, there doesn’t appear to be anything in regards to education or trading tools. This is a shame as a lot of brokers these days are looking to help their clients improve and become more profitable with educational courses or tools to help them trade or analyze. It would be nice to see ProfitLevel do something similar for their clients.

Customer Service

ProfitLevel is offering a number of different ways to get your queries or questions over to them. There is a general phone number and email address to get through to the standard support department, there are also a number of different departments including phone order placement, customer support, compliance, payments, and sales each with their own phone number and email address so you can get in contact with the department that you need.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and they mimic the conditions of the live account, the demo account lasts for 30 days, and then it will expire, you can open up a new one once it expires though. The demo account allows potential new clients to test out the trading conditions of the servers while letting current clients test out new strategies without risking any of their own capital.

Countries Accepted

Conclusion

Just having one account available, ProfitLevel is keeping things simple, they do not offer any commission-based account yet their spreads are still relatively high which can make trading quite expensive. There are a lot of instruments and assets available for trading which is always a good sign. Limited methods for depositing and withdrawing can be a little off-putting but there are no added fees which is a big plus. Lots of ways to get in contact with the customer support team are also nice. If you are able to look past the high trading conditions then ProfitLevel could be appropriate, but there are far cheaper brokers available.

Tags Forex Broker Review, ProfitLevel, ProfitLevel Forex, ProfitLevel Review

Forex Brokers

Trade Platinum Review

Trade Platinum is a foreign exchange broker and managed investment firm looking to provide their clients with the most robust service available from a dedicated support team to educational material. We will be using this review to dive into the service on offer so you can decide if it is worth signing up with Trader […]

Account Types

Plenty of choices when it comes to accounts at Trader Platinum, in fact, there are 6 different accounts on offer. We will briefly outline the different features they offer now.

Basic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $250, it comes with access to the desktop, and mobile trade as well as video tutorials, base currencies, exotic currencies, indices, commodities, stocks, CFDs, Crypto, and leverage up to 1:100.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,500, it comes with access to the desktop, and mobile trade as well as video tutorials, base currencies, exotic currencies, indices, commodities, stocks, CFDs, Crypto, and leverage up to 1:150. It also has a choice of floating or fixed spreads and access to an account manager.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $20,000, it comes with access to the desktop, and mobile trade as well as video tutorials, base currencies, exotic currencies, indices, commodities, stocks, CFDs, Crypto, and leverage up to 1:200. It also has a choice of floating or fixed spreads, access to an account manager, PRIME contracts, and an extra deposit bonus of up to 100%.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000, it comes with access to the desktop, and mobile trade as well as video tutorials, base currencies, exotic currencies, indices, commodities, stocks, CFDs, Crypto, and leverage up to 1:400. It also has a choice of floating or fixed spreads, access to a personal account manager, PRIME contracts, and an extra deposit bonus of up to 200%. There is also the addition of news and signals, express wire transfers, and a referral cashback program.

Tailored Account: You will need to contact an account manager to get this account opened and so the minimum deposit is not known. The account comes with access to the desktop, and mobile trade as well as video tutorials, base currencies, exotic currencies, indices, commodities, stocks, CFDs, Crypto, and leverage up to 1:400. It also has a choice of floating or fixed spreads, access to a personal account manager, PRIME contracts, and an extra deposit bonus of up to 200%. There is also the addition of news and signals, express wire transfers, and a referral cashback program. You also get the ability to participate in company events and have access to social trading, the dealing room, and the ability to meet other traders.

Robot Account: This account is intended for those that wish to use the robots provided by Trader Platinum, The account requires a minimum deposit of $5,000 and has access to the desktop and mobile platforms. There are additional robot and algo trading support and a discount on the available robots, the account can be leveraged up to 1:100.

Platforms

The only platform available is the Microsoft Windows-based MetaTrader 4 platform that was released by MetaQuotes in 2005 and has become one of the most used trading platforms on the planet. MT4 It is accessible anywhere as it can be used as a desktop download or mobile application. 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

The leverage that you receive is based on the account type you are using. We have outlined them below.

Basic: Up to 1:100
Standard: Up to 1:150
Premium: Up to 1:200
VIP: Up to 1:400
Tailored: Tailored amount
Robot: Up to 1:100

Leverage can be selected when opening up an account for the first time, should you wish to change it on an already open account then you can do so by contacting the customer service team with the request.

Trade Sizes

Unfortunately, this information is not available on the site however we would assume that the minimum trade size is 0.,01 lots, and would go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We can’t speculate on what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

This is another aspect that we cannot comment on, there is no mention of commissions or even spread on the site so we do not know what the costs are. We also do not know if there are any swap charges but we would assume that there are.

Assets

There is not a full breakdown or product specification available, what we can see is that there are Forex, Indices, Commodities, and Bonds available, there are a few examples of each but that is it.

Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD, USDCAD.
Indices: SPX 500,m Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones, Nikkei 225, DAX, FTSE 100.
Commodities: E-Mini S&P, Euro, Gold, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Corn.
Bonds: Eurodollar, T-Bond, Ultra T-Bond, Euro Bund, Euro BTP, Euro BOBL.

Spreads

This is another aspect that we do not know about due to this information not being known the overall trading cost is also not known to us.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250 which will get you the Basic account, if you want a higher tier account then you will need to deposit at least $2,500 for the Standard account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can use a few methods including Credit/Debit Cards, Wire Transfer, WebMoney, and Local Payment Methods. We do not know of any potential fees that come with depositing but be sure to check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We do not have any concrete information on withdrawals but we would expect the same methods to be available, the main method preferred by Trader Platinum is Bank Wire Transfer. We also do not know of any potential fees added by Trader Platinum.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We also do not know anything about the processing of withdrawal requests, it states that you can do it anytime you want but no timescales are offered, we would hope that it would be between 1 to 7 days from the date of the request.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a bonus available up to 200% as stated on the account comparison page however it is not mentioned anywhere else on the site and so we do not know what the full terms of the bonus are or how easy it is (if at all possible) to convert the bonus funds into real funds.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different sections relating to tools and education, the first is some eBook, they cover subjects such as Forex Chart Patterns and Day Trading, there are 6 in total to download. There is then a glossary that tells you the meaning of trading-related terms so if you come across anything you do not understand you can refer to this page.

In terms of analysis, there is a news section that was last updated in December 2019, there are also live signals, these are simple buy or sell indicators taken from TradingView. The economic calendar provides you with information about upcoming news events and any potential impact they have on the markets. Next up are some live charts which you can guess, are just live charts of the markets and the final section contains some calculators including pips, position size, profit, and a currency converter.

Customer Service

The usual methods of contact are available, there is an online form to fill in, there is also a postal address available along with an email and phone number. We do not know what the opening times of the support department are though.

Demo Account

It does not seem like demo accounts are available from Trader Platinum.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site, so if you are thinking of joining we would recommend contacting the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

TraderPlatinum offers a wide range of accounts each having different perks but just the one trading platform in the form of MetaTrader 4. There is a lot of information missing from the site in regards to trading conditions as well as tradable assets, there is also enough information missing regarding the funding and withdrawals from the account to make us suggest looking elsewhere for your trading needs.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Trade Platinum, Trade Platinum Review

Forex Brokers

EGM Securities Review

In 2018 a licensed broker in Kenya, Execution Point Limited, rebranded to EGM Securities Limited to become one of the branches of the Equiti group of companies also operating in the United States, United Kingdom, Armenia, Jordan, UAE, and New Zealand. EMG Securities is regulated by Capital Markets Authority Kenya and promoted as the first brokerage to obtain one. CMA regulation is not as strict as the FCA but has the features of funds segregation, capital adequacy, and security measures.

The brand is relatively new and does not have attention on the internet but applies the popular NDD/ECN model most traders prefer because of the better conflict of interest policy, costs, and executions. Other brokers belonging to the group receive average to good ratings. EGM Securities website is very well designed with eloquent expressions, good transparency on both the company and the trading conditions.

Additional value to traders is given by offering a very good information digest on the markets, company, and events. Additionally, the Academy section is full of useful content adequate for beginners and established traders. Some parts of the website are still undeveloped or empty as the menu is still not filled out yet. The broker is working hard to set the initial business cycle and it can be seen in several aspects by providing a good mix of marketing, transparency, and quality. This EGM Securities review will test the key areas so traders can decide if this broker is the right choice for them.

Account Types

EGM Securities currently has two account types to offer, Premiere and Executive. The accounts do not differ much, only in two aspects, the minimum deposits and the choice of having lower spreads with the commission or just higher spreads. Both accounts are designed for the MetaTrader 4 platform, the MT5 still just mentioned and in the introduction. The affordable Executive Account has a reasonably low minimum deposit requirement, higher spreads, and no commissions compared to the Executive. The Premier Account minimum deposit is a more serious amount traders will probably avoid since the broker still has to prove the quality and reliability of service.

There are no differences in the assets range, leverage, trade sizes, execution method, or Stop Out levels. Both accounts are available only in the USD currency according to the webpage but during the registration, we have also found GBP, EUR, and AED as optional. As we are informed by the support staff, hedging, scalping, and EAs are allowed and Swap-free accounts are available. Stop out is set to 30% but the Margin Call is not disclosed.

Platforms

EGM Securities’ servers are all located in London, UK (LD4). LD4 means the broker is utilizing Equinix data centers in London, they are proven to be one of the market leaders in the industry. EGM Securities offers only the MetaTrader 4 platform with the MT5 in the introduction. The MT4 is offered in a downloadable installer package for Windows but we are unable to find the link to the web-accessible or Android versions. Once installed, the platform presented us with two EGM Securities servers, live and demo with a very good ping rate of 30 and 35ms. MT4 client is updated to the latest version and registered to the appropriate EGM Securities broker and address. The default template contains 4 major currency pairs set on the H1 timeframe without any special indicators to showcase. One-click trading buttons are not visible but can be enabled.

The indicator list contains only the default list that comes with the MT4 installer and there are no additional templates. The Symbols list is organized into several groups where the same asset category is divided into smaller groups. Grouping logic seems to be according to the instrument’s liquidity levels although in our opinion there are too many of them. The instrument specification window is filled with enough information for each asset. The trading Terminal is showing all the information about the trading costs, commissions, and swaps. The execution time is one of the best in the industry with an average below 100ms with small deviations of up to 10ms. This environment is very good for fast trading EAs, especially in combination with unrestrictive trading conditions described in the following sections.

Leverage

EGM Securities feature 1:400 maximum leverage for all accounts. Therefore there are no ESMA limitations for clients in the EU. Note that this may be a subject of change in the CMA since this is the first broker with a license. Not all instruments have 1:400 leverage, in the Forex category currency pairs such as EUR/TRY and USD/TRY have 1:5 maximum according to the published list but we have found 1:20 leverage for these pairs in the MT4 platform. Interestingly, exotics like the USD/RUB or USD/MXN have the promoted 1:400 leverage which is very rare and favorable for exotic pair traders with smaller accounts.

Spot Gold against the USD has the default leverage of 1:400, Platinum against the USD also has 1:400 leverage – high levels comparing it with the competition where the usual leverage is 1:100 or lower. Indexes leverage is 1:100 while non-energy Commodities have 1:33. Oil type assets, including the futures, have 1:100 leverage and Natural Gas has a maximum of 1:400. Shares have leverage from 1:5 to 1:20 maximum depending on the company.

Trade Sizes

EGM Securities sticks to the default micro-lot minimum trade volume sizing for most instruments offered. For the Forex currency pairs, the minimum is therefore 0.01 lots with the additional steps also 0.01 lots. The maximum per trade is 150 lots for majors, 100 for minors. For some exotics, the maximum is reduced to 50 lots but the minimum remained at 0.01. Stops level is zero for the complete assets range, therefore there are no restrictions where traders can put their pending orders. Precious metals also have the 0.01 lots minimum trade sizing. Indexes have a 0.1 lot minimum except for the Nikkei 225 for which the minimum is set to 1 lot and 300 lots maximum.

Trading Costs

The Executive account does not have a commission while the Premiere Account has a commission of $7 per lot traded. For Stocks, the commission is 0.02% per lot and there are also financial expenses per year, -0.25% for short positions and -4.25% for long. Swaps are the only trading costs remaining if traders are not applying for swap-free accounts. They are calculated in points and tripled on Wednesdays. EGM Securities have positive swaps but not as much as one would expect, especially for the exotic currency pairs.

Major pairs have low positive swaps and higher negatives, for example, EUR/USD has -9.87 points on the long positions and 3.98 on short, USD/JPY 2.82 points on long and -8.93 points short, GBP/USD -6.8 points on the long and 0.613 on short, AUD/USD -3.43 long and -0.9 on short, EUR/GBP -5.22 long and -0.30 short position swap. As we go to minors, all negative swaps are more frequent, so for AUD/NZD, the swap is -7.21 points on the long side and -5.21 on short, CHF/JPY has -5.21 long and -1.59 points short, CAD/CHF 0.8 on long and -9.466 points short swap or GBP/NZD with -9.64 long and -2.22 short side all negative swaps.

Exotics do not have many positive swaps although they are not extreme. USD/RUB has -254.9 points on the long and -60.47 points on short, USD/MXN -453 on long and 90.99 on short, MXN/JPY 40.19 points on the long and -197.5 on short or EUR/TRY with -285.5 points on the long side and 65.84 on the short.

Precious metals swaps are under normal levels. Spot Gold has -10.27 points on the long and 3.14 on the short, Platinum -15 on long and -1.92 on short and Silver has -2.11 long and -0.215 points on the short side. There are no fees for inactive accounts and no account maintenance fees.

Assets

EGM Securities has Precious metals, Forex, Stocks, Commodities, and Index categories in their retail CFD offer range. The most developed is the Forex with a total of 68 currency pairs although 7 of them are not opened for trading. Traders will be happy to find many interesting pairs and new opportunities EGM Securities has to offer and plans to include. Notable, rare to find pairs are CAD/SGD, CHF/SGD, EUR/HKD, EUR/MXN, EUR/TRY, GBP/HKD, HKD/JPY, MXN/JPY, SEK/JPY, USD/CNH, USD/RUB, and USD/PLN.

Precious metals range is extended although more by the EUR quote offer for the Gold and Silver than with the actual metals. Aside from Gold and Silver against the USD and EUR, EGM Securities offers Platinum against the USD. The metal range also has futures CFD for High-Grade Copper, Gold, and Silver.

Out of Commodities, we have found both Oil types, Brent and WTI with the futures CFD instrument too. Out of the energy assets, traders will also find Natural Gas futures CFD. Non-energy commodities are limited to Cotton, Coffee, and Cocoa.

Indexes range is interesting with 15 total unique indexes. The range is interesting because there are many futures CFD optional instruments extending the range to well over 20 total. The most interesting Indexes are Spain 35, US Dollar Index futures, Hong Kong 50, Germany 30, and France 40.

Spreads

EGM Securities have published a list with average spreads so visitors can compare the two account types. Executive Account has floating spreads that are not the best in the industry but there are no commissions. According to the list, the typical spread for the EUR/USD is 1.6 pips for the Executive Account, 2.1 pips for AUD/USD, 2.5 pips for USD/CHF, USD/JPY – 2.1 pips, NZD/USD – 2.2 pips, and GBP/USD – 2.3 pips. We have checked for the validity of these levels in the MT4 and we have measured lower values by around 2 points. Among the minors, the highest spreads are for the EUR/NZD with 38 points, GBP/AUD – 46 points, GBP/NZD with 57 points, NZD/CHF with 42, and GBP/CAD with 47 points.

The widest spreads are for the exotics, 1057 points for the USD/ZAR, 381 for USD/TRY, 336 for USD/RUB, 987 for USD/MXN, and 1080 points for GBP/NOK. As seen, some of these exotic pairs have very competitive spreads. Gold against the USD has 28 pips spread according to the MT4, 149 pips for the XPT/USD, and 20 pips for XAG/USD. Against the EUR, Gold has 37 pips spread. As for the Oil assets, both types have around 20 points spread on spot.

Premiere Account spreads are usually more than 100% lower compared to the Executive Account. For example, according to the published comparison, EUR/USD has 4 points spread, AUD/USD – 4 points, USD/CHF and USD/JPY also 4 points, NZD/USD – 9 points, and GBP/USD – 4 points. The widest average spreads are for the USD/ZAR with 41.2 pips, 20.2 pips for USD/RUB, 33.2 pips for USD/MXN, and 40.4 pips for GBP/SEK.

Minimum Deposit

The most affordable Executive Account requires a $200 minimum deposit. Premiere Account steps up to $5000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

EGM Securities supports Credit Cards, Wire Transfers, and Mobile Payments. USD, KES, UGX, and TZS currencies are supported, accommodated to the in-area clients. Bank Transfers should be completed in 1 to 3 days, for cards is 1 business day and within 24 hours for mobile payments. There are no costs charged by the broker. There are several methods for Mobile Payments, some of which are available only in African countries. These are Mpesa, Lipa na Bonga, EazzyPay, Airtel money, eLipa, Visa Mastercard, Vadacom, and MTNMoney (UGX). Note that Netteler and IPAY are also mentioned in the FAQ.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawal methods used for withdrawals must be the same as with the deposit. All withdrawals are free except for the international Wire Transfers which have a $16.5 fee. According to the broker, the withdrawal fee is subject to daily currency exchange rates which may vary from time to time. The Mobile Payments methods available for withdrawals are the same as with deposits. Note that international clients will need to use the Wire Transfer for withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal process is initiated through the My EGM Area after registration. The withdrawal process for Wire Transfers will take 3 to 5 days to complete and 24 hours for Mobile Payments.

Bonuses & Promotions

We have noticed that the Live Account registration form contains a promo code but we are not sure if any bonuses are available. The website does not mention any bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

EGM Securities has several educational and informational sections. A Blog, News Room, Technical Views, and Academy section. The Blog seems to contain many interesting headlines but as we have opened them we found very little information or value to traders. Even though they are written by the Equiti staff, they leave the impression to be there just to fill the menu. The latest article is from October 2019 and goes back to 2017.

On the other hand, the Latest News section is updated daily with good coverage of what is going on in the world market. Again, similar to the Blog, the content is extremely short but it seems to catch the gist only like it is meant to summarize the news to the elementals. Some traders will appreciate this approach.

The Technical Views section follows the same idea of minimal and elemental information in the reports. Technical analysis is very short with the big chart with included MACD and RSI indicators. In our opinion, technical analysis should have more information.

The Market Wrap Up section has very good content and analysis by Ben Robson. Unfortunately, this section is not updated with new articles since September 2019.

EGM Securities has developed a few calculators with examples and embedded codes. There are Pip value Calculator, Profit/Loss Calculator, and Margin Calculator. They are nicely designed with good and professional explanations on how to use them. Very good for beginners.

The Economic Calendar is on the menu but it is not developed.

The Academy section has a menu that may lead to empty or bogus pages. It is evident that EGM Securities has not yet filled this section with content but leaves a good impression of what is coming up. The Academy section contains Videos, Guides, Glossary, Infographics, Seminars, Webinars, and Market research. There are a few elementary guides about the forex, some really nice infographics but we could not find anything more in the Academy section.

Customer Service

EGM Securities has invested in the 24/5 customer service that is available through phone, chat, and email. We have contacted the broker through the Zendesk chat app service to confirm it is 24/5 and also very responsive. We have not waited for longer than a minute to reach a representative. It is evident that the staff is new and lacks experience but there is a great effort to be kind and assistive.

Demo Account

The demo account is available and promoted throughout the website. Premier Account conditions are not available to try in the demo for now even though it is in the drop list. The demo is reflecting the actual trading conditions and can also be opened through the MT4 platform directly, with more than 10,000 virtual funds. You will be able to change the leverage and the virtual currency amount. Your demo account will expire if it is not active after 90 days of opening it.

Countries Accepted

EGM Securities support provided us with the full list of their blacklisted countries. They are Afghanistan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Lao PDR, Libya, Myanmar, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, USA, Vanuatu, Western Sahara, and Yemen.

Conclusion

To conclude this EGM Securities review, we will share some more information and opinion on this broker. To compare, 73.07% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider, which is about the average in the industry. Note that the broker still may have a small traders pool but is financed and owned wholly by the large Equiti Group with significant experience. EGM Securities is primarily focused on the Africa region as there are many interested citizens in Forex and trading. At this moment the broker has good trading conditions and a very good forex range. Funds safety should not be a concern although traders should know that CMA is very new and EGM Securities is their first regulated broker. FXPesa is another brand recently opened in West Africa belonging to the Equiti group but is fully developed. Lack of ratings should pose a red flag, there is a very low risk that the broker will pose any problems with the withdrawals, trading, or conduct any kind of manipulation. As the broker continues to expand, there are enough arguments for positive reviews.

Tags EGM Securities, EGM Securities Review, Forex Broker Review

Forex Brokers

Trading 212 Review

Trading 212 is a rebranded market maker broker formerly known as Avus Capital Ltd, with not so great reputation. Based in Bulgaria, Trading 212 holds multiple regulation licenses from FCA and Bulgaria Financial Supervision Commission. As an added protection, clients will enjoy the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and ICF Bulgaria although limited compensation up […]

One of the highlights is that Trading 212 regards itself as a market disruptor introducing the first zero-commission stock trading (not under the CFD) in the UK and Europe. The website is modern, using a small number of wide, large font pages with big elements promoting the zero commission, proprietary platform, ratings, media presence, instrument range, and other strong points. Visitors will see the right level of transparency but only once you find the right page. This is especially tiresome for experienced traders seeking specific data. The information is not presented immediately, but requires a bit of searching, to keep scary-looking numbers and terms away from beginners. This is common practice for large, market maker brokers, attracting beginner to intermediate traders who do not want to invest too much time on trading development and want an easy-going experience.

Trading 212 has everything right – good ratings, regulation, great asset range. But we cannot ditch the feeling we are dealing with a marketing giant and an expert in promoting their service and products. The marketing campaign scale is evident with many articles written by Forbes, Financial Times, The Telegraph, Independent, and other well-known media. Whatsmore, many users have complained about too many ads appearing in their browsers after registering. This Trading 212 review will reveal what is behind the good-looking phrases to present you just the naked quality of service.

Account Types

Opening an account is streamlined with several questionnaires you will have to fill in. A few of these ask about private income, sources, experience, and so on. Only at the end, you will be presented with 3 account types. They are called CFD, Invest and ISA and all can be selected at the same time. There is no comparison table with the details about each account. Not even in the FAQ Accounts section states any info experienced traders would want to know about. Traders will need to find the trading Conditions link on the homepage. This web page is not on the Trading 212 website menu so some visitors may never know about it. Still, once you find it, there is enough information.

The CFD account is offering CFD contract trading with zero commissions and tight spreads as promoted. Investing Account is for trading real stocks and ETFs without commissions or fees. Shocks and Shares ISA account allows tax-free gains without commissions. We will focus on the CFD Account offer in the next sections as this is what the majority of retail traders are interested in. The broker does not classify these accounts by the minimum deposit requirement. Clients will be presented with an amount slider once they want to deposit. The starting amount required is small enough even students should be able to afford it, meaning the broker target clients pool is wide.

Platforms

Trading 212 uses proprietary platforms developed for smart devices running on Android and iOS and for all types of computers that can access their browser-based platform. Ratings on these platforms on Google Play and App Store are very good, highlighting the ease of use. As with most proprietary platforms, automated trading systems and custom-made indicators are not available as with the popular MT4 or MT5. However, Trading 212 is partnered with the ProQuant app that enables traders to build their automated scripts or follow others. This system can be connected with the trader’s account with the API key.

The app is available for smart devices from App Store and Google Play and features testing, monitoring ability, and also a practice environment. Traders will need to open a ProQuant account and set up their algorithm. ProQuant is also partnered with Binance, Coinbase Pro, and HitBTC. This automated trading solution does not require coding knowledge to build one, it is more catered to wider masses and is not enough for serious automated trading programs. However, for many traders, this will be a very fun experience.

The Trading 212 platform is not promoted or described on the website but a tutorial will pop up once you log in. The web-accessible platform also has a plugin for a glance at the current market and other features. Once logged in you will see a white theme that can be changed to dark in the settings but will remind you of TradingView style. As with most platforms, there are 4 modules, the central chart window, the Watchlist module to the left side of the screen, the trading info panel to the right, and the bottom position management module. These can be resized but not detached and dragged, full screen is available and select modules can be completely hidden.

The top bar holds the opened chart tabs, a search box, the option to enter multiple chart mode, and an account management panel. Central screen charting has the same timeframe options as the familiar MT4 platform, 1, 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes, 1H, 4H, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. Chart types available are Candlestick, Heikin Ashi, Bar, Area and Line. What is useful are the info inserts that can show you on-chart the candle close time, candle patterns, price alerts points, position entry or close points, scale, and more. Adding indicators is possible of course, although traders will not be impressed with the selection. There are about 40 familiar indicators, they can be customized using several options including the coloring, line thickness, and other indicator specific settings. Mouse pointer can be set to show useful information and also be used as a measuring tool.

Drawing on the chart is possible with text, lines, Fibonacci lines, shapes, Elliot Waves, and so on. The Watchlist is customizable and traders can make their own. The spreads are not displayed in any mode, just the Bid/Ask prices. Traders can select the default instrument categories and also Top Winners/Losers, Cannabis, New on Trading 212, upcoming earning report companies, and Hot – most traded instruments. In Full View, the instruments list will have additional info for each, displaying a mini chart, price change in percentage and units, Low/High level, and the best of – the Sentiment indicator. This indicator does not show the sentiment chart but is still useful. You can customize what parts are displayed, so, for example, you can have only the sentiment indicator for each instrument or just the mini chart.

Entering a trade is possible from the Watchlist where you can also set the trade size and lock it. The right side Info panel shows stats such as price movements, the sentiment, price change on various timeframes, the instrument specification that has enough information about the trading conditions, and the trading hours chart. This module also has the option to open trades, set price alerts, and new pending orders. Additional goodies are integrated into this module, traders will find videos, news, analysis, Economic Calendar, notifications, and the ProQuant setup. Videos section contains videos from 2019, with good quality explanations, narration, and infographics. Some of the topics covered are “How To Make a Foreign Investment”, “The Different Ways Commission Free May Cost You Money”, “How To Use A Tight-Stop Strategy to Trade a Breakout” and many more about indicators, fundamentals, risk management, and other trading categories. They are all of great quality.

Trade 212 Chat service is also integrated here. Trade Box has a trade size slider, Once Cancels the Other -OCO, and Pending Orders tab. Stop Loss and TakeProfit are set by distance. Margin and Swap charge/credit is also displayed. The bottom Positions overview panel is simple but has enough information about the trader’s exposure also having the option to aggregate close positions on selected parameters. Pending orders and Price alerts tabs will show the current status and options to create new alerts or orders. The Trading 212 platform is very easy to use, in some areas is more advanced than the MT4 although it is not designed to serve experienced traders. Some key information is missing, such as the actual spread. The instrument details will show the Target spread that may not be the actual, real-time spread. In the Spread section of the Trading 212 review, we will disclose real-time spreads.

As for the mobile version app, it is very similar and has an intuitive design. User reviews show good ratings. However, several users complain about the inability to close positions on some high volatility scenarios. This issue is even reported on the benchmark websites that severely hit the Trading 212 image. The execution times are hard to measure although we have not experienced a single hiccup in the order execution, about less than 0.2 seconds. During the weekends, when markets are closed, except Crypto, the platform will simulate price movements on the practice accounts.

Leverage

Trading 212 applies the ESMA policy that limits the leverage level to 1:30 maximum for retail traders. Professional traders have the maximum leverage of 1:500. To qualify as a professional trader, the client will need to pass certain criteria and this will also void certain benefits such as FSCS compensation. Trading 212 leverage level also depends on the instrument specifics, so exotics currency pairs have lower leverage. The page about the trading conditions contains the leverage data for each traded instrument.

Forex currency pairs have 1:20 leverage, the exceptions are more liquid pairs such as CAD/CHF, CAD/JPY, CHF/JPY, EUR/CAD, EUR/CHF, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, EUR/USD, GBP/CAD, GBP/CHF, GBP/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CAD, USD/CHF, and USD/JPY all with 1:30 leverage. Cryptocurrency leverage is 1:2 while Professional clients mostly have 1:20. Precious metals have varying leverage, Gold against the USD, GBP, EUR, TRY, JPY, and AUD has 1:20 maximum leverage but Silver has 1:10. Professional clients mostly have 1:100 leverage. Palladium and Platinum are under the CFD futures contracts and are against the USD with 1:10 maximum leverage. Commodities all have a maximum of 1:10 leverage, including the Copper, Oil, and other commodity types. Equities including ETFs have 1:5 leverage for Retail traders, while Indexes can have 1:20 to 1:5 maximum leverage depending on the Index liquidity tier. For example, Hong Kong 50 has 1:5, but Australia 200 has 1:20.

Note that Trading 212 also preserves dynamic leverage based on the total balance on the client’s account. As stated, “for accounts with equity over €25 000, Trading 212 reserves the right to require a higher margin. Margin requirements are subject to changes, that you will be notified about in advance.”

Trade Sizes

Trading 212 does not have standardized minimum trading volume sizes, instruments in the same category will have various minimums. The trade volume is calculated in units, not in lots for Forex. Currency pairs trade minimum sizes start from 500 to 50000 units. We could not discern why, for example, USD/CAD has 500 units minimum but USD/CHF or USD/TRY have 1000. Anyways, most majors have 500 units minimum trade sizes such as EUR/USD, AUD/USD, or GBP/USD. Exotics will have a minimum of 1000 to 50000 units.

The biggest minimum trade sizes are for DKK/JPY, DKK/ZAR with 25000 units, MXN/JPY, NOK/JPY, NOK/PLN, NOK/SEK, NOK/ZAR, SEK/JPY, ZAR/CZK, and ZAR/JPY all have 50000 units minimum. Additional trades or scale-ins have the same minimum volume trade size policy. The maximum trade size seems to have no limits. As for cryptocurrency, the minimum trade sizes are in lots for some and others may be calculated in units. Bitcoin against the USD has a minimum of 0.01 lots, Ripple has 250 units, Ethereum 0.1 lots, Dash has 1 lot, NEO – 2, and so on.

As for the Gold against the USD, the minimum is 0.1 lots following the standard contract size of 100 Oz. This minimum trade size is in mini-lots, larger than usual. The broker also has the Gold Mini instrument with a smaller trade size minimum, but the trading is suspended for this one. Stops level information is not available but based on the Order panel, for major Forex instruments, it is 10 points. This level is not too wide for traders that apply fast trading methods or automated systems from the ProQuant app. Margin Call is set to 50% and Stop Out is at a 25% level.

Trading Costs

Trading 212 does not charge commissions although a currency conversion fee of 0.5% is charged. This means if you are trading an instrument in a different currency than your account currency the fee will apply to the trade order amount. The Swap costs are disclosed on the Trading Conditions page and also in the instrument details window in the platform. We have noticed that most of the swaps are negative, and positive ones are very small. Apparently, the absence of commission is compensated by the conversions fee, spreads, and the negative swaps for overnight positions.

The Swaps are presented in points, tripled on Fridays, but this info is not disclosed. Swaps are above-average in our opinion, comparing to other brokers, and in some cases extreme. To give some examples, EUR/USD has -14.2 on long side position and 0.2 points on the short, GBP/USD has -8.2 long and -2.6 points for short, and AUD/USD has -1.8 on long and -2.8 short. USD/JPY has an abnormal swap of -153.7 points on the long and -465.8 points on short, NZD/USD -2.6 long and -3 short.

Some notable exotic currency pairs swaps are for the USD/HUF with -684.7 points long and -1112.7 short side, USD/RUB with -2021.6 on long, 205.9 positive swap on short, USD/TRY has just -130.5 on long and 13.9 on short, EUR/MXN with -385.6 and 50.5, and EUR/JPY with an abnormal -1363.9 on long and -149 on short side. Precious metals traders will be shocked, especially the ones that leave overnight Gold positions. XAU/USD has an abnormal -15861.1 points swap for the long position and -7357.8 points for short.

XAU/EUR is similar, with -21134.7 on long and -9989.1 points on short. As for the crypto assets, BTC/USD Mini does not have identical swap rates on both sides. On the long side, the swap charge is -37310.1 points and 0 on the short. Interestingly, the JPY, Gold, and BTC have extreme swaps, yet they are commonly used for day trading. Traders should pay attention and open order details in the ordering panel to see the calculated swap value. The swap will not be presented in the Trading Terminal for open positions.

The inactivity fee is charged by Trading 212. As per the Client Agreement document, “an inactivity fee may become payable by you in case there are no generated transactions on your Account for at least six consecutive months”. It is not disclosed what amount is paid anywhere.

Assets

Trading 212 has over 1800 instruments across 6 categories. This great range is available only with well developed, large capital brokers. The Forex range consists of more than 160 currency pairs. All majors are present of course, and an astonishing number of exotics. Most interesting are the very rare ZAR/RUB, ZAR/CZK, USD/BGN, TRY/JPY, TRY/HKD, TRY/DKK, TRY/CNH, SGD/ZAR, PLN/MXN, NZD/ZAR, NZD/RON, NZD/MXN, HKD/ZAR, CHF/MZN, CAD/RUB, BGN/MXN, and many more. Forex range that offers so many opportunities makes Trading 212 unique.

Precious metals range is also extended featuring Palladium and Platinum under futures CFD, Gold quoted in many major currencies and even some exotics. Traders will find XAU/RUB, XAU/AUD, XAU/EUR, XAU/GBP, XAU/JPY, and XAU/TRY aside from the USD. The same currencies are combined with spot Silver. Gold Mini and Silver Mini instruments are also on the list.

Commodities range is the least developed compared to other categories, although you will find 9 assets under the futures CFD. This includes both Oil types, Brent and WTI, other commodities such as Sugar, Natural Gas, Copper, Coffee, Cocoa, and Cotton.

Indices range is great that includes ETF Indexes and some other hard fo find instruments. Apart from major and minor Indexes, traders will find USD Index, Lyxor Stoxx Europe 600 Telecoms, Media, Insurance, Tech, Healthcare, Banks, and Financial Services ETF Indexes. Whatsmore, the ETF Index range is extended to Lyxor Russia DJ Russia GDR, Lyxor MSCI Korea, Lyxor MSCI India, Lyxor HSI Hong Kong, iShares MSCI Brazil, Canada ETF, Crypto 30, Global Cannabis Giants Index, US Biotech Giants, US Cybersecurity Giants, and Lyxor Hang Seng China Enterprise.

The number of company stocks listed is very high. There are so many stock instruments that it will take some time just to scroll to the end. The focus of Trading 212 is equities, especially knowing they are the first to offer zero-commission stock trading service in the UK and Europe for retail clients. All of the equity assets are diversified and liquid.

The cryptocurrencies list is relatively short. This category is not promoted on the website but as per the Trading 212 platform, cryptocurrencies take the first 4 positions as most traded. These assets are included in the Forex category on the Trading Instruments page. There are a total of 16 instruments, major coins are listed and other, interesting additions are NEO, Dash, EOS, Monero, IOTA, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. Mini size instruments are available for Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero. Crypto 30 Index could also be very interesting for crypto traders. This asset category has 24/7 trading sessions.

Spreads

Trading 212 has mostly floating spreads although fixed spreads are set for certain instruments. On the broker’s Trading Instruments page and the platform, visitors may see the Target Spread for each instrument. This spread is not actual and could be regarded as a reference value. So, for the EUR/USD the target spread is 8 points but in reality, it is 11 points. USD/JPY has 8 points both target and real spread, AUD/USD has 15 points real spread and 25 points stated as the target, GBP/USD has 26 points real spread and 15 points stated as the target, USD/CHF has 20 points real spread, and NZD/USD with 26 points. Note that the actual spread has to be calculated manually as traders will not have it displayed anywhere on the platform. Spot Gold real spread is 48 pips, Silver 25, Palladium 229 pips, and Platinum 32 pips. In the crypto category, Bitcoin against the USD has a $35 spread, Ripple 35 points, and Ethereum has 111 points ($1.11).

Minimum Deposit

Trading 212 minimum deposit amount is $10 or €10 regardless of the account type selection. Upon registering, traders will have a slider for the deposit amount showing $10 minimum and $30,000 maximum.

Deposit Methods & Costs

According to the broker, the methods are bank transfers, credit/debit card payments, Skrill, Dotpay, Giropay, Carte Bleue, Direct eBanking, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and iDEAL. In the platform, where account funding is integrated, presents Credit/Debit Card, Bank Transfer, Skrill, and Google Pay. Therefore, some deposit options are not available for all clients. There are no fees charged by Trading 212 for deposits.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawal channels are the same as with the deposits. Trading 212 will send funds using the same method the client used for the deposit. If a client has used various deposit methods, the broker will return the funds to the credit/debit card. No fees are charged for withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals are made within the platform under the account settings. Trading 212 will process the request and settle the funds in 2 to 3 days to the investor’s bank account or card. Other methods could be faster although the exact wait time is not disclosed.

Bonuses & Promotions

Trading 212 does not currently offer any bonuses or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

Trading 212 has a well-developed educational section consisting of videos, articles, FAQ, and Blog posts. There are 7 videos covering topics like “How to Start Investing”, “RSI: Understanding Divergence”, and “The Stochastic Oscillator Explained”. These are solid although there is some marketing involved and the content does not include anything interesting for intermediate or advanced traders. The latest video is published in December 2019.

Articles are well organized but there are only two apparently, about Technical Analysis and about the platform’s abilities to have Hedging or Aggregation. The latter is not useful although the Technical Analysis covers some topics that are interesting to beginners. Still, they are not deep enough to be considered as a prime source for skill development.

The Blog seems to just announce what is new with the platform, the broker, or what assets are introduced. The latest post is from August 2019. Probably the most usable part for beginners is the Community Forum. There are many topics here and what is more important, they are active, updated, and made by users. The forum is well designed and organized.

Example of educational videos.

The analysis section contains The News, Economic Calendar and in-house made Daily Analysis content. Trading 212 daily Analysis covers multiple major assets from the metals, forex, indices, and commodities category. The content is short and mostly is influenced by the support and resistance levels. To some traders, Trading 212 hint will be enough to make a decision.

The Economic Calendar is also integrated into the platform and available on the website. The one in the platform is more versatile with the option to see the historical change chart. There is no sorting or filtering on either location, traders can only select the day events are covered for and the timezone.

Customer Service

Trading 212 invested into Customer Service that is available 24/7. Contact Form, email, chat and a UK phone line is available. The chat app is integrated into the platform and is not available on the website alone. So this service is only available once you fill in the KYC questionnaire and register. The staff response time is up to 5 minutes maximum. They are polite and have enough knowledge, but will not always respond fully, especially if it is not positive for the broker.

Demo Account

The demo or Practice account is made immediately once you register. Traders will have $50,000 funds and the same conditions as real money trading. The platform is on the same server for both accounts and does not have any restrictions.

Countries Accepted

According to the broker support agents, the US, Canada, Turkey, Syria, and Northern Cyprus are the countries that do not have access to Trading 212.

Conclusion

This section will summarize and conclude this Trading 212 review with additional important information. Trading 212 has an average general success rate as 76% of retail investor accounts lose money trading with this broker. Although it should be noted the broker is beginner-friendly and not very appealing to senior traders. Traders should vary that large, market makers of brokers with proprietary platforms have complete control over the orders and the trading conditions. This may pose a conflict of interest, regardless of the strong regulation.

According to the benchmark websites, Trading 212 occasionally blocks trading, leaving the traders unable to close their opened positions in the platform. Still, the broker does not have a bad reputation, clients recognize the good, intuitive platform packed with numerous instruments. Whatsmore, the minimum deposit is small enough for most traders and with the fractional sized assets, anyone can trade. If you are just begging into CFD trading, Trading 212 is the right choice. Senior traders will probably choose the MT4 platform, for example, expert advisors, customization, and direct access conditions.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Trading 212, Trading 212 Broker, Trading 212 Forex

Forex Brokers

SECURCAP Review

Securcap, oriented towards the Asian markets, is an offshore agency offering to trade on its Metatrader5 platform. Their customers can choose from the 2 account types available, both with high levels of leverage. Securcap broker has more than 40 currency pairs and various CFDs to trade, such as 15 commodities, 23 stock indexes, and 3 bonds. This diversification of underlying assets is always appreciated by traders.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Securcap broker has 2 types of accounts, called Live account and Premium account.

Let’s look at the characteristics of each of them:

Live Account:

Spreads from 3 pips
Leverage: up to 1:500
Account Base Currencies: USD
Max Trade Size (FX): 10 lots
Min Trade Size (FX): 0.1 lots
FX Pairs: 40+, Commodities: 15, Indices: 23, Bonds: 3
Min Deposit: $200 USD

Premium Account:

Spreads from 1 pip
Leverage: up to 1:1000
Account Base Currencies: USD
Max Trade Size (FX) 100 lots
Min Trade Size (FX): 0.1 lots
FX Pairs: 40+, Commodities: 15, Indices: 23, Bonds: 3
Min Deposit: $10.000 USD

PLATFORMS

Securcap makes the Metatrader5 (MT5) platform available to its customers. Although it is not the MT4, a platform to which most traders are accustomed, the presence of any of the Metaquotes platforms by a broker is always positive.

MT5 was born in 2010 and is actually very similar to its predecessor, the Metatrader 4. For example, advanced graphics, the multitude of indicators, the Expert Advisors (EA), and simplicity in use, are common on both platforms. MT5 was originally designed to operate in Forex, stocks, and commodities.

LEVERAGE

The maximum leverage available on both accounts is 1:500 and 1:1000 respectively. It is difficult to find brokers that offer such high levels of leverage. The leverage of up to 1:1000 offered by this broker can serve as the most aggressive trading strategy. But traders need to know that such high leverage is associated with a much greater risk of losing their funds with a small market fluctuation. That is why the leverage available to retail traders is limited in several countries, such as Europe 1:30, the US 1:50, and Japan 1:25.

TRADE SIZES

In the 2 accounts that the broker offers, the minimum size to trade is 0.1 lot (mini lot).

TRADING COSTS

The broker does not clearly specify the costs associated with the transactions. What we understand is that in the Live account, due to its high spreads, it is possible that it is exempt from commissions, while in the Premium account there may be some sort of commission.

However, like any broker, traders will pay a swap for transactions that remain open overnight. Swaps are interests based on the economic conditions and policies of the central bank of the country of origin of the currency.

ASSETS

More than 40 currency pairs and various CFDs to trade, such as 15 commodities, 23 stock indexes, and 3 bonds. The broker does not specify which currency pairs are the commodities and indices. We only know that the available bonuses are: BUND (5 years Germany Bond), SCHATZ (2 years Germany Bond), and TNOTE (10 years US Bond).

SPREADS

We see from the information on the Securcap website that the reference spread in EUR/USD is above 3 pips in the Live account type. These spreads are not attractive for traders. Because they are much higher than most traders offer 0.7 – 1.3 pips in the case of EUR/USD.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit for the Live Account is 200 USD, while for the Premium account, the minimum deposit is 10,000 USD. We consider the minimum deposit requirement for the Premium account to be very high. In the market, we find many brokers with better commercial conditions and a minimum deposit of 100 USD.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

It’s very curious that throughout the broker’s website, we don’t find deposit methods. We understand that once the account has been requested, the broker will inform us of the methods available for depositing. The most common deposit methods, and that virtually every broker offers, are bank transfer and payment by debit or credit card.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

Not knowing the deposit methods, we don’t know the withdrawal methods, let alone the costs. Normally to make a withdrawal, it is normal to do it in the same deposit method that has been used previously.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

We haven’t been able to figure out withdrawal processing or wait time. That information is not provided by the broker on his website.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Securcap does not have any bonuses or promotions currently available. Also, the broker has the possibility that the customer will become an Introductory Broker (IB). A program that several brokers offer and that consists of the collection of commissions for the clients that you take to the broker and that they trade with real money.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

There is an educational area with 12 video tutorials where you deal with basic aspects of trading, as well as the operation of the website. It also has a very long glossary of trading-related terms and an updated economic calendar.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Securcap has several options for contacting their customer service. It has a chat room that we think is very interesting to deal with all those questions that require a quick answer. It also has a telephone, 2 emails, a contact form, and a physical address.

ADDRESS: SECURCAP SECURITIES LTD. Office 4, Suite C2, Orion Mall, Palm Street Avenue, Victoria, Seychelles.

CONTACTS. Tel: +248 4323 763

EMAIL [email protected] , [email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

Securcap offers a free DEMO account with which you can trade in fictional money emulating a real-money operation. It is also important to know that the Demo account retains the same live prices and market conditions, simulating the exposure in a real account.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

The broker does not inform about the objection of certain citizens or jurisdictions to trade with their accounts, so we assume that any citizen of the world can be a customer of Securcap Broker.

CONCLUSION

This broker claims to be authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, but this agency is based in the Seychelles Islands. With the regulation of Forex brokers in Seychelles, they have no obligation to comply with any requirements and have little regulatory oversight.

Indeed, clients of such brokers are exposed to substantial risk, as their funds are not protected. Brokers registered in this type of offshore jurisdiction are not required to have a certain minimum capital, nor to keep clients’ money in segregated accounts, or to set up a clearing system in the event of insolvency.

Advantages: MT5 platform, a wide variety of CFDs, wide leverage possibility.

Disadvantages: No adequate financial regulation, high spreads, no information on deposit and deposit methods, costs, and waiting times in the process.

Tags Forex Broker Review, SECURCAP Broker, SECURCAP Review

Forex Brokers

KAB Kuwait Group Review

KAB is an innovative multinational financial group, focusing on global financial markets and investments. KAB was founded in 2002 and is named after three co-founders: Mr. KC Chan, Mr. Alan Chan, and Mr. Billie Lam. KAB International Holdings Ltd. has offices in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The KAB Group offers international financial investment products, services, and solutions for its partners and customers worldwide.

KAB is a broker with an extensive portfolio of products, including China and Hong Kong shares, global futures as well as currency pairs. The website and brokerage mark are operated by KAB Strategy Ltd., a Cypriot company authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Cysec) since 2005.

KAB operates in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In addition to its Cypriot unit, the group includes China Finance KAB Limited (a registered distributor under the Hong Kong SFC and participant in the SEHK exchange), KAB Bullion Hong Kong Limited (a member of the China Gold and Silver Exchange Society), and KAB International Trading Limited. KAB Kuwait Group (KABKG) is probably also a member.

Regulation in Cyprus involves certain rules and requirements for authorized brokers, such as having a minimum capital of at least € 730 000, which must be maintained. In addition, regulated companies should keep clients’ funds separate from the company’s operational assets and regularly report on transactions executed, among other requirements.

What is particularly important for retail investors is that all companies regulated by Cysec are members of the Investor Compensation Fund, which covers a maximum of EUR 20.000 if an authorized broker becomes insolvent or bankrupt. On the other hand, licensed brokerages in Cyprus have the advantage of offering their services throughout the European Union under Mifid regulations, as the country is a member of the EU.

KAB also targets the Chinese market by offering a language version on the website.

ACCOUNT TYPES

KAB has four different types of accounts:

HK Account/China Stocks

Designed to access and invest directly in one of the largest stock exchanges in the world in terms of capitalization such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, investing directly in its stocks, ETF, warrants, and IPO. KAB Hong Kong Securities Accounts are cash accounts that their customers manage directly on their online platform. The execution of operations is instantaneous. No minimum opening balance and no maintenance fees.

Portfolio Management Account

Designed to access the most important IPO market in the world. KAB has an asset management team to assess the investment and management needs of a portfolio in the Hong Kong securities market, using various investment strategies. The objective is to achieve an appreciation of long-term capital by investing in initial public offerings of shares Returns often significantly exceed those of HSI. Initial subscription minimum HKD 1,000,000. (OPI), pre-OPI, and private placement offer in the Asia Pacific region.

KAB MT4 Account

The KAB MT4 account is the traditional trading account, where you can trade CFD’s FOREX, stock indices, metals, energy, as well as coins and spot metals using our latest generation MT4 platform. KAB MT4 accounts are self-managed and allow leverage to be used for trading in standard mini lots on all assets.

ECN FOREX Account

To trade multiple currency pairs and access real-time prices from more than 60 banks worldwide with lower spreads through the Currenex ECN and KAB platform.

PLATFORMS

Like most foreign exchange brokers, KAB offers the most widely used foreign exchange trading platform: Metatrader 4. It also claims to provide Currenex for its ECN accounts, but this platform is not available to download on its website. The MT4 platform is available in both desktop and mobile versions for Android.

LEVERAGE

The maximum leverage offered by this broker on the MT4 platform is 1:500, which is considered high, although many brokers offer similar proportions. Some traders, especially beginners, tend to use the maximum leverage provided by a broker, as it allows them to trade in much larger amounts than they have deposited. However, this practice can generate large profits, but it can also generate losses above the initial investment.

TRADE SIZES

The minimum business size to trade with this broker on all your accounts is 0.1 lot.

TRADING COSTS & SPREADS

Maximum leverage is 1:100, with spreads as low as 0.1 pips. We tested the broker’s MT4 demo platform and discovered that spreads are two pips for the EUR/USD pair. To our surprise, KAB also charges a $50 standard lot fee, which means that the negotiation costs of this pair amount to 7 pips per lot, which is one of the highest we have seen in the industry. Traders will want to take this into account for certain.

ASSETS

This broker focuses mainly on stocks, also offers a wide range of Futures, Metals, and Forex. In total, there were over one-hundred to choose from at the time of this review

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

KAB offers 4 different types of investment accounts, containing over 40 types of products. The minimum investment deposits for their various products vary. For example, on precious metals, the initial margin for a standard contract lot is $1,000. They also provide 0.1 mini-contract lots with an initial margin of US$100. On their website, they invite you to contact customer service to find out the exact minimum deposits.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

KAB offers its customers the following modes of payment: bank transfer, credit and debit cards, also the Unionpay card. Deposits via bank transfer will be credited to your trading account within 1 to 3 days. Deposits made through any card are credited instantly. The broker does not report the costs associated with deposits, although most do not usually charge for a first deposit.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

The withdrawal methods shall be the same as for deposits. The Broker will handle the withdrawals of funds using the same method as with deposits. On the website, the broker does not describe the costs associated with withdrawals.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

To perform a withdrawal of funds, the customer must complete a withdrawal form that will be sent by fax or e-mail. When the broker receives the withdrawal form, he transfers the required funds to the customer’s account within one day. Clients can typically receive their funds within 1 to 3 days. (Generally, both deposit and withdrawal will require about 3-4 business days for processing, depending on the settlement procedure and the speed of your local banks.)

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

KAB is currently not offering any bonuses or promotions.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

KAB claims to offer training programs. We did note market news, an economic calendar, daily trends, chart analysis, and more. Please contact customer service to enquire about educational materials.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To contact their customer, service KAB offers four methods, phone, email, fax, and at their physical offices in Cyprus. A negative aspect is the absence of an online chat for the quick resolution of doubts or questions. Their data are as follows:

KAB Strategy Ltd. Office 203, Stavrakis Court, 13 Griva Digeni Avenue, 6030 Larnaca, Cyprus

Tel : (357) 2481 5186 Fax: (357) 2481 5187

Email: [email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

KAB offers a free DEMO account with which you can trade in fictional money emulating a real-money operation. It is very common for traders to open a Demo account before depositing money into a real account. It is also important to know that the Demo account retains the same live prices and market conditions, simulating the exposure in a real account.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

KAB does not accept as customers residents in Hong Kong, the U.S., United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Singapore. Its website is available in Chinese and English.

CONCLUSION

KAB STRATEGY LIMITED (Licence Number: 058/05 Registration Number: HE 165975) is a Cypriot investment company licensed and regulated under the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, authorized to operate within all EU member states under Mifid.

As part of a multinational financial group, KAB is a well-regulated broker, offering a wide range of financial products for trade. Unfortunately, when we tested their MT4 demo account, we noticed that they apply extremely high commissions.

ADVANTAGES:

Well regulated
MT4 available as well as Currenex
Part of an international group

DISADVANTAGES:

High commissions
Limited methods of payment

Tags Forex Broker Review, KAB Kuwait Group, KAB Review

Forex Brokers

Ortega Capital Review

Ortega Capital (not to be confused with the Ortega Capital Group) is a broker mainly dedicated to currencies (Forex) and metals. This broker is registered in Labuan, Malaysia. The company has a pretty decent offerings, but there are some gaps in the information they provide. Ortega Capital also has a legal entity based in Saint […]

Ortega Capital also has a legal entity based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Even if you think Labuan is a decent jurisdiction, this is an offshore zone. If you want to open an account with this broker, be sure to check which company you are registering with. Ortega Capital’s website is available in German and Chinese English.

Check this review to see what we like and what we don’t like about this broker.

ACCOUNT TYPES

The broker does not appear to offer multiple account types. Let’s think of their accounts as a standard account type, whose required minimum deposit is $5,000. The leverage of their accounts is 1:100, and the spreads are detailed in the corresponding section, but they start at 0.2 pips, to which must be added a commission of 8 USD for each lot traded.

Ortega Capital does not benefit from the losses of its clients. The terms STP, ECN, and NDD are mostly interchangeable in this context. This broker should technically be an ECN, since its profits consist of a commission for trading lots, in addition to the spread. By comparison, STP runners simply put their rate in the margin, which is what Ortega Capital does.

PLATFORMS

It is always good news that the broker has the MT4 platform available. MetaTrader 4 remains the leading forex platform in the trading industry, despite having been in the market for more than 11 years. This platform offers a very advanced graphics package, while still very intuitive. The main advantage of this platform is the ability to use a multitude of highly developed technical indicators and expert advisors (EAs). These Eas are available on the MQL market as well as other online suppliers.

Unfortunately, we were unable to test Ortega Capital’s MT4 platform, due to technical problems in its environment. So we couldn’t check the assets available, the spreads … etc. As mentioned above, we were not able to access the MT4 platform offered by this broker due to a connection problem. After registering an account (which required SMS verification) we created several demo accounts, but we were never able to access the company’s server.

LEVERAGE

The leverage offered by Ortega Capital is 1: 100, which we consider being optimal leverage to trade, fleeing the 1: 500 or 1: 1000 leverages provided by other brokers, and which instill a rather high risk for your account. Most professional traders trade with 1: 100 leverage.

TRADE SIZES

The broker does not report minimum or maximum trade sizes to trade with its assets. Nor have we been able to access the demo platform, as we have not been able to verify it in that other way.

TRADING COSTS

The broker charges a commission of USD 8 for each lot traded. This means an equivalence of 0.8 pips useful in the spread. We speak of the pairs where USD is the second quoted currency, the so-called pairs majors. This means that the minimum total spending with Ortega Capital would start from 1 pip in the most popular currency pair (0.8 pips which is equivalent to the commission they apply for trading, plus 0.2 pips of spread). These expenses increase more for the rest of the currency pairs; you can see the spreads detailed in the corresponding section.

To these costs must be added the night financing or swap, that is, any position held overnight, which will incur a maintenance cost (interest). This amount can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and the direction of the position, and its amount is fixed by the central banks of the base currency of the open trade.

ASSETS

Ortega Capital is a broker mainly dedicated to Forex. The assets available to trade are 69 currency pairs, and 4 metals. We didn’t find CFDs available. Although the number of currency pairs backed by Ortega Capital is quite high (69 currency pairs), they do not offer indices, commodities, or any other CFD. This is not as big a problem as some of the above, especially if the trader is interested in trading only in forex, but it is worth mentioning.

SPREADS

Below we detail several of the assets offered by the broker with their corresponding spreads:

With spreads at par EUR/USD as low as 0.2 pips and an $ 8 per lot commission, this is a fairly competitive commercial broker. We must clarify that these are only the broker’s information, which we have not been able to test properly, due to technical problems on your part.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit required is very high. With a minimum deposit requirement of $ 5,000, Ortega Capital will be a broker difficult for many traders to access. Indeed, many brokers have taken the other route on this topic, eliminating all deposit levels, in order to attract a more significant number of customers.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

This broker provides us with multiple deposit methods. Ortega Capital supports bank transfers, credit or debit cards (Visa or Mastercard), Skrill, Neteller, and China Union Pay. Basically, these deposit methods cover all popular payment solutions, except those used by Russian traders and those who want to use Bitcoin as a payment method.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

We have not been able to obtain information about withdrawal methods, but we understand that they must be the same as for deposits. Withdrawals are likely to come at some cost, but we have no information about them.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

We have no information about the processing time for withdrawals, although they are usually 1 business day for withdrawals made with bank cards and e-wallets, and 2 – 5 business days for withdrawals made by bank transfer.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

We have not found any current bonuses or promotions provided by Ortega Capital.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

We have missed a chapter with educational content for clients. There is not. And as tools for the trader, there is an economic calendar. This tool is handy for the trader because in it you can consult all the daily events and that can affect the assets that you are trading.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To get in touch with Ortega Capital’s customer service, we have 3 main ways of contact, email, a web contact form, and a live chat. The data collected are as follows:

Registered Address: Unit No. 3 A – 16, Level 3ª. Labuan Times Square. Jalan Merdeka. 87000 Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia.

Ortega Capital Limited (St. Vincent). Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, Beachmont P.O. Box 1510, Kingstown, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines.

Email: [email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

Ortega Capital offers a demo account, although we have had problems accessing it and we have not succeeded. We trust that this has been a one-time problem and that a client can generally obtain a demo account.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

We have found neither on the webpage nor in the legal documents any restriction to any particular jurisdiction. If you are interested in opening an account with this broker, it is best to contact customer service and check if you are a suitable customer or not.

CONCLUSION

Ortega Capital is a broker of currencies and metals. Their offer is attractive (especially considering the low trade costs), but we have to keep in mind that Labuan remains a jurisdiction that still has to prove its quality. We believe that the security of your investment should be a higher priority than saving a few dollars on each trade.

Trading with a broker in a well-established jurisdiction will allow you to have your funds secured. One of our favorite examples is the UK, where the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) strictly supervises brokers.

All investment intermediaries have to follow many rules and send reports frequently. The two most important measures are the segregation of customer accounts and the Financial Services Clearing System (FSCS). The first means that the broker cannot access your funds, which must be kept in individual bank accounts. The FSCS, on the other hand, if your business partner declares itself, insolvent will protect your investment, up to £50,000.

We think it is very positive that Ortega Capital is making the MT4 trading platform available to its clients, as it is very complete and valid for all types of traders. The 1: 100 leverage seemed to us very correct since most professional traders use it regularly. The spreads are unbeatable, with 0.2 pips in EUR/ USD almost no broker can compete, but the commercial costs are increased by the commission of 8 USD that applies for each lot traded, yet the total costs remain attractive.

The number of assets will only satisfy you if you want to trade in Forex and metals because it does not offer CFDs in indices or commodities. On the other hand, the amount required as a minimum initial deposit is excessively high, USD 5,000, and very few traders may want to access this broker for this reason. The deposit methods available are varied, but we lack an educational area with content of interest to customers.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages we have seen from Ortega Capital:

Advantages:

The broker uses an STP / ECN model.
Spreads and attractive commercial costs.
MT4 platform is available.
Variety of deposit methods.
Lots of currency pairs.

Disadvantages:

Very high minimum deposit.
No CFD is available.
No education area is available.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Ortega Capital, Ortega Capital Review

Forex Brokers

MXC Forex Review

MXC Forex is an offshore broker founded in 2015. This broker offers assets to trade as Forex, Commodities, Metals, and Cryptocurrency, all through the famous MT4 platform. The broker claims to have client accounts segregated and separated from the broker’s management accounts, which if true gives us more confidence in MXC Forex. The company behind […]

The company behind the trademark MXC is MX CAPITAL FINANCIAL LIMITED, a company that is registered in Labuan, Malaysia (LL12478). The website reports that MX CAPITAL FINANCIAL LIMITED is regulated by the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA). LFSA requires financial services companies to comply with certain capital requirements and procedures such as risk management, staff training, accounting, and auditing.

Let us not forget that Malaysia is a popular tax haven country and that the regulation of its country is not as strict as the FCA O Cysec.

ACCOUNT TYPES

MXC Forex offers 7 different accounts to choose from, according to the requirements of its clients. They are called, Gold Account, Wise Account, Jarvis Account, Standard Account, Mini Account, Perfect Account, and VIP Account.

Here we show you the differences and characteristics of some of them,

JARVIS Account

Products offered: Forex, Metal, Oil, Energy, and Cryptocurrency. Currency Options, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, XAU, XAG, CAD, and NZD. Account Balance Cap, No Limit. Leverage 1:100. Spreads, As Low as 2.0 Pips. Commission, Yes. Minimum Trade, 0.01 Lot. Max Position, 100 Lots.

STANDARD Account

Products offered: Forex, Metal, Oil, Energy, and Cryptocurrency. Currency Options, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, XAU, XAG, CAD, and NZD. Account Balance Cap, No Limit. Leverage 1:100. Spreads, As Low as 2.0 Pips. Commission, No. Minimum Trade, 0.01 Lot. Max Position, 100 Lots.

MINI Account

Products offered: Forex, Metal, Oil, Energy, and Cryptocurrency. Currency Options, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, XAU, XAG, CAD, and NZD. Account Balance Cap, 2000 USD. Leverage 1:500. Spreads, As Low as 0.3 Pips. Commission, Yes. Minimum Trade, 0.01 Lot. Max Position, 3 Lots.

PERFECT Account

Products offered: Forex only. Currency Options, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, XAU, XAG, CAD, and NZD. Account Balance Cap, 2000 USD. Leverage 1:100. Spreads, As Low as 2 Pips. Commission, No. Minimum Trade, 0.05 Lot. Max Position, 100 Lots.

VIP Account

Products offered: Forex, Metal, Oil, Energy, and Cryptocurrency. Currency Options, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, XAU, XAG, CAD, and NZD. Account Balance Cap, 2000 USD. Leverage 1:100. Spreads, As Low as 1,5 Pips. Commission, No. Minimum Trade, 0.05 Lot. Max Position, 100 Lots.

PLATFORMS

The trading platform used by this broker is MT4. MXC Forex offers its customers, as we have already said, the most famous application in the Forex industry. We will have the MT4 desktop version and also the mobile plication for use on tablets and smartphones.

MT4 is a well-equipped working tool that allows you to operate in financial markets (Forex, CFD, and Futures). It provides its users with many tools and resources to analyze the prices of financial assets, conduct business transactions and create and use automated software (Expert Advisors).

Also, MXC Forex customers have access to the Mirror Trader Platform, for copy trading, and the latest version of Tradency, Robox. The famous Autochartist technical analysis reports are also available to MXC broker customers.

LEVERAGE

MXC Forex offers leverage up to levels of 1:500, this is considered high leverage. But really, many brokers offer leverage of 1:500. We just have to keep in mind that using high leverage levels means a higher risk of loss. And even if this broker offers high leverage, the customer can, from his investor portal, adjust leverage to levels of 1:100 or 1:200 if he desires.

TRADE SIZES

The minimum trade size depends on the customer’s account but ranges from 0.01 to 0.05 micro-lots.

TRADING COSTS

Some accounts like the Jarvis account or the mini account have commissions, but unfortunately, the broker does not report the amount of them. Where we will always have an expense is in night financing if we leave open trades overnight. This is a small interest that varies according to the currency and can be negative or positive.

ASSETS

With MXC Broker you can trade assets such as Forex, Commodities, Metals, and Cryptocurrency. We do not have information about how many currency pairs there are, how many commodities, metals, or cryptocurrencies. We would have liked to know the variety of assets available, but that information does not appear on the broker’s website

SPREADS

The variable spreads offered by MXC Forex are above average, starting from 1.5 pips. In the market, other offshore brokers offer spreads averaging 1.2 pips on their accounts without commissions.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The broker does not clearly report the minimum deposit required to open an account. We only have information on the minimum deposits required in the different deposit methods.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

MXC Forex Broker offers its clients a wide variety of deposit methods, here we list what they are:

Mastercard: Minimum Amount, 5 USD. Maximum Amount, 1.000 USD, Transaction Cost, 4%. Processing Time, Instant.
Bitcoin: Minimum Amount. , NA. Maximum Amount, NA, Transaction Cost, 5%. Processing Time, Instant.
Local Depositor: Minimum Amount, 10 USD. Maximum Amount, 10.000 USD, Transaction Cost, No. Processing Time, Within 1 working day.
Bank Transfer: Minimum Amount, 5.000 USD. Maximum Amount, 100.000 USD, Transaction Cost, 10 USD + Bank Charges. Processing Time, Within 3 – 5 working days.
Neteller: Minimum Amount, 10 USD. Maximum Amount, 5.000 USD, Transaction Cost, 5% (Min. 1.00 USD) + 0.29 USD. Processing Time, Instant.
Skrill: Minimum Amount, 10 USD. Maximum Amount, 5.000 USD, Transaction Cost, 5% (Min. 1.00 USD). Processing Time, Instant.
WeChat Pay: Minimum Amount, 10 CNY. Maximum Amount, 5.000 CNY, Transaction Cost, 2%. Processing Time, Instant.
UnionPay Mobile: Minimum Amount, 10 CNY. Maximum Amount, 2.000 CNY, Transaction Cost, 2%. Processing Time, Instant.
UnionPay Desktop: Minimum Amount, 10 CNY. Maximum Amount, 100.000 USD, Transaction Cost, 2%. Processing Time, Instant.
Alipay: Minimum Amount, 10 CNY. Maximum Amount, 5.000 CNY, Transaction Cost, 2%. Processing Time, Instant.
FasaPay: Minimum Amount, 10 USD. Maximum Amount, 5.000 USD, Transaction Cost, NO. Processing Time, Instant.
Paypal: Minimum Amount, 5 USD. Maximum Amount, 1.000 USD, Transaction Cost, 4%. Processing Time, Instant.
Perfect Money: Minimum Amount, 1 USD. Maximum Amount, 1.000 USD, Transaction Cost, 3%. Processing Time, Instant.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS & WAIT TIME

MXC Forex broker also offers a wide variety of methods to make your withdrawals. Here we detail the methods, the commissions applied, and the waiting times:

Mastercard. Minimum Amount, 20 USD. Maximum Amount, 1.000 USD. Transaction Cost, 4%. Processing Time, Within 1 working day.
Bank Transfer. Minimum Amount, 1.500 USD. Maximum Amount, unspecified. Transaction Cost, Varies depending on bank charges. Processing Time, Within 1 – 5 working days.
Local Depositor. Minimum Amount, 20 USD. Maximum Amount, 10.000 USD. Transaction Cost, NO. Processing Time, Depends on Local Depositor availability.
Bitcoin. Minimum Amount, NA. Maximum Amount, NA. Transaction Cost, 5%. Processing Time, Instant.
Neteller. Minimum Amount, 20 USD. Maximum Amount, 5.000 USD. Transaction Cost, 2% (Min. 1.00 USD). Processing Time, Within 1 working day.
Skrill. Minimum Amount, 20 USD. Maximum Amount, 5.000 USD. Transaction Cost, 1% + 0.29 EUR. Processing Time, Within 1 working day.
RPNpay. Minimum Amount, 100 CNY. Maximum Amount, 100.000 CNY. Transaction Cost, 0.5% (min CNY 30 fee). Processing Time, Within 1 working day.
Fasapay. Minimum Amount, 20 USD. Maximum Amount, 100.000 USD. Transaction Cost, 0.5%. Processing Time, Within 1 working day.
PayPal. Minimum Amount, 20 USD. Maximum Amount, 1.000 USD. Transaction Cost, 4%. Processing Time, Within 1 working day.
Perfect Money. Minimum Amount, 20 USD. Maximum Amount, 1.000 USD. Transaction Cost, 3%. Processing Time, Within 1 working day.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

This broker does not have any Bonuses or promotions currently available. MXC Forex broker also has an Introducing Broker program. Basically, if a customer succeeds in making new clients for this broker, he will be rewarded with commissions that are generated by operating them.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

MXC Forex broker has a small educational area where some of the basic forex concepts that every trader should know are detailed:

What is Forex?, Who trades Forex?, How can I trade Forex?, Understanding Forex prices, Understanding currency pairs, Introduction to margin, Contract sizes, Majors and currencies pairs revisited, Approaches to trading the market, and Basic concept and additional Strategies.

It also has a FAQ with answers related to Forex and the relationship with the broker. And an academy called Mxcacademy in the web domain https://www.mxcacademy.com/ , which at the time of this review was not operational.

Trading Tools: It has a trading tool comparator such as mirror trader, tradeworks, dubips, echofin… etc. It also has an updated economic calendar, a link to download the Mirror Trader application, and another link to download and use Qyptech, which is an Expert Advisor (EA).

CUSTOMER SERVICE

MXC Forex broker has several methods of contact, such as phone, email, and live chat, plus an informed physical address. They are as follows:

MX Capital Financial Limited: 14th Floor, Main Office Tower, Financial Park Labuan Complex, Jalan Merdeka, 87000 Labuan F.T., Malaysia

Phone number: +6087599257

Email: [email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

We have not seen the broker offer a demo account, at least we could not find any information. This gives us a bad impression, as a demo account allows new traders to test trading conditions and test strategies before risking their own money. Any serious broker should include a download link to a demo account on their website.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

MXC Broker does not report in the legal documents available on its website any list of countries that are not accepted by the broker.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, trading with an offshore broker is unwise, although it must be said that many offshore brokers are reliable and do not cause any problems to their clients. However, if we can choose, it is better to invest your money in a licensed broker in the UK, Cyprus, or Australia, where traders have more protection and watchful regulators supervise their operations.

MXC Forex has online trading services available for its clients in Forex and CFD, however, trading margins are high. Worst of all, the company has poor regulation.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of MXC Forex:

Advantages: MT4 available, copy trading option, some accounts have no commissions. High leverage is available.

Disadvantages: No European regulation, high spreads.

Tags Forex Broker Review, MXC Forex, MXC Forex Review

Forex Brokers

FXTSwiss Review

FXTSWISS is an online market maker providing advanced trading solutions, or at least, that is what they claim on their website. From the get-go, we did notice that their website is quite outdated, their content has multiple typos and there is a ton of important information that is left out. Although their name includes the […]

FXTSWISS states that this company was set up with the aim of providing the best trading experience for their clients, however, they do not mention when and by whom this company was started. On their Why FXTSWISS page they mention a number of advantages that their customers will enjoy including; low fixed spreads, no commission or swap fees, the MT4 platform, guaranteed fills on all orders, instant deposits, the safety of funds, and a free demo account. Join us as we go through their website to determine whether these claims are factual or not.

Account Types

FXTSWISS seems to offer only one type of account for their customers, however, judging from the online form that customers have to fill in when creating an account, we assume that the broker might offer different trading conditions depending on the principal occupation or business, annual income, customer’s experience with Forex trading and the initial amount customers would want to deposit.

The information on their website states that no commission fees or swap fees are applied to these accounts, so we assume customers cannot hold trades overnight. We cannot confirm this as we were not given any answers when contacting the broker regarding these specifications. It is also stated that this account will enable customers to use leverage of up to 1:400, which is quite high.

Platforms

This broker offers a popular and multilingual MT4 platform. This platform is well known for its multitude of charts and built-in technical indicators. Strangely there is no download link for the MT4 on FXTSWISS’ website. Some customer reviews we found online stated that the Demo account offered by this broker does not in fact make use of the MT4, but rather a simplified platform that does not mimic the MT4 conditions.

Leverage

The only information this broker states on their website is that clients can make use of a leverage ratio up to 1:400. Recently many brokers have had to decrease their leverage because of new regulations set to safeguard clients’ funds, so this broker’s leverage is quite high in comparison. We always advise customers to be extremely cautious when dealing with such high leverages, especially when these are offered by unregulated brokers such as this one.

Trade Sizes

There is no information regarding minimum and maximum trade sizes available with FXTSWIS, apart from a brief mention of trade standard and mini lots being available, however since no specific details are given regarding this, we cannot comment any further.

Trading Costs

This broker claims that customers using their service will not be charged any commission or swap fees on their trading. Apart from this, the broker also states they offer a 1 Pip fixed spread on all their major currencies and under all market conditions. From online customer reviews and feedback, we concluded that this might not in fact be the case, as multiple past customers of this broker encountered higher spreads than those stated by the broker. We did try to get in touch with the broker to clarify these allegations, but we were not given a reply.

Assets

This broker offers trading on Forex currency pairs, precious metals, and also Bitcoin. However, the broker does not offer specific details regarding which assets they offer. On their bitcoin page, the broker states that customers can start trading bitcoin from as little as $500 and they can do so 24/7.

Spreads

According to a table highlighting the spreads available for their Forex currency pairs, the broker lists that all their major pairs, including EUR/USD, GPD/USD, USD/CHF, and AUD/USD have a fixed spread of 1Pip. One can find the spreads of other assets available with this broker, however, keep in mind that this table might not be representative of the current market situation, so it is always best to test out the Demo account before placing any trades with FXTSWISS.

Minimum Deposit

When opening a live account with this broker, customers are asked to state the amount they will deposit into their account, so we assume that this broker does not stipulate a fixed minimum deposit requirement to open up client accounts.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Customers wanting to deposit funds into their FXTSWISS account can do so either via credit card or bank transfer. After opening an account, customers will receive an email with their account log in details and deposit instructions that they have to follow.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Customers can withdraw their money via credit card or bank transfer. The broker does not state whether any charges will be applied for withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Although this broker has a dedicated page for deposits and withdrawals, there is no concrete information regarding fees and time frames customers should expect. We did find quite a large number of worrying customer feedback that this broker only allows customers to withdraw their funds after two months from opening their account. We cannot guarantee if this is the case, but we advise customers to be extremely cautious when dealing with this broker.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the moment, this broker is offering a few promotions. One such offer includes up to 50% in bonus funds, while another offers cash rebates. Contact the broker to request the terms and conditions surrounding these offers.

Educational & Trading Tools

On their website, FXTSWISS provides some information regarding the assets that they provide along with some historical information about the trading world. On their Crypto page, the broker does have a number of articles about the subject, however, the most recent article seems to have been updated in 2017 which makes it very outdated and irrelevant nowadays. In terms of trading tools, this broker offers an Economic Calendar on their website.

Customer Service

Clients wanting to get in touch with this broker can do so by requesting a call back via an online form found on their contact page. Strangely their Contact Us page does not include any of the usual information customers expect to find such as an address, email address, and telephone numbers. We did request a call back to clarify many details about their service, however, we did not receive any feedback within 24 hours, even though we contacted them during business hours on weekdays.

Demo Account

FXTSWISS does offer a demo account that enables their clients to test out their trading strategies on Forex, Oil, Gold, and Silver. Clients can choose either $5,000, $10,000, $50,000, $100,000 or $5,000,000 to be in their demo account. The broker does not state whether demo accounts expire after a certain amount of time.

Countries Accepted

The broker makes no mention of restricted countries when it comes to using their service. We also had a look at their country of residence list and we did not notice any missing countries.

Conclusion

FXTSWISS is a forex broker that was added to the RED (Registration Deficient List) by the U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commissions back in April 2017. Apart from the that this broker is not authorized or regularized by any regulatory body, we also found a ton of missing information on their website such as account characteristics, trade sizes, withdrawal, and deposit information, and updated education content. The lack of a terms and conditions document is also worrying because this implies that clients will be investing their money without knowing the full conditions they should expect.

Their educational content leaves much to be desired as most of it was very outdated and their customer service support is lacking as we were left without any answer after 48hours of contacting the broker. Adding this to the number of negative online comments we found about this broker, we can safely assume that this might not be the safest broker to invest your hard-earned money with. However, if you are still interested in this broker, head on to their website and request a call back to clarify any information.

Tags Forex Broker Review, FXTSwiss, FXTSwiss Review

Forex Brokers

Tao Trade Review

Tao Trade is a Greek online foreign exchange broker that is registered and regulated by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission. They claim to offer a comprehensive online trading course, useful market tools, and a personal Account Manager. They also claim to provide access to free education, trading tools, offer a high-class customer service team, multiple […]

Account Types

There are a massive 7 accounts available to retail clients, we have outlined their major features below.

Basic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $200 to $1,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts.

Discovery Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $2,000 to $4,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 10% price discount.

Silver Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $5,000 to $9,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 20% price discount and access to the trading central education center.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $10,000 to $14,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 30% price discount, 17% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

Diamond Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $15,000 to $29,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 40% price discount, 20% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $30,000 to $44,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 50% price discount, a 33% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

VIP+ Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 or more. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 60% price discount, a 50% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

Platforms

The platform on offer is called PROfit, it is available as both a web trader and as a mobile application for your devices. Some of its features include a clear design with an easy-to-use interface, one-click trading orders, on-time trading alerts, real-time quotes, powerful trading tools, easy navigation, a set of charts and daily analysis, and no downloads or installations required for the web trader version.

Leverage

Tao Trade follows the recommendations from the ESMA which state that 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

If you are eligible to use a professional account then your leverages change to:

200:1 for major currency pairs;
200:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices;
100:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices;
10:1 for individual equities and other reference values;
10:1 for cryptocurrencies

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in steps 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

Looking through the site it does not appear that there are any commissions added to the accounts as they use a spread-based system. There are however rollover charges which are charged when holding trades overnight and they are 0.015% for all assets except for Cryptocurrencies which has a 2% rollover for retail traders and 0.1% for professional traders.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a number of different categories. We have outlined them below along with the instruments within each category.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCNY, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURUSD, EURZAR, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, GBPZAR, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNY, USDDKK, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDZAR.

Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash.

Spot Commodities: Aluminum, Cobalt, Gold, Silver, Tine, and Zinc.

Equities: Plenty of equities and shares are available including the likes of Apple, Coca-Cola, eBay, Disney, and Intel.

Indices: ASX 200, CAC 40, DAX, Dow Jones, EURO 50, FANG, FTSE, HANG, JSE, IBEX, MIB 40, Nasdaq, Nifty, Nikkei, OMXH 25, OMXS 30, S&P 500, VIG, and WIG 20.

Commodities: Brent Oil, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Palladium, Platinum, soybean, Sugar, and Wheat.

EFTs: FAS, iShares iBocxx, NIGT, QQQ, SSO, TNA, UCO, UPRO, UVXY and, UWT.

Spreads

Spreads seem to start around 1 pip, the spreads are variable and move with the markets so they will always be changing. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads, so some will naturally be higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $200 which allows you to use the Basic account. We do not know if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The funding information page indicates Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill, however at the bottom of the site there is an image of PayPal, but we are not sure if that method is actually available or not. There isn’t any information on any potential fees but also none to say that there aren’t any, we would always recommend contacting the provider you are using to see if they add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can withdraw back to the same method that you used to deposit with. So these are Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill, and possible PayPal. Once again there is no mention of any fees but be sure to check with your own bank account or processor for any added fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will be processed by Tao Tarde within 1 business day. It will then take an additional 1 to 5 business days based on the method you use and their own processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t appear to be any active promotions or bonuses taking place so if you are thinking of joining and want to know if there are any coming up, you could always contact the customer service team to find out.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different tools available, the first is an economic calendar that details different upcoming and past news events and the potential impact that they can have on the markets. There is a simple page showing the history of forex and a page telling you how to use different charts. Finally, there is also a glossary available which tells you the meaning of different trading-related terms. The account page also mentions a trading central and trading insider but we do not have any information about these.

Customer Service

You can get in contact with the customer service team in a number of different ways and they are available 24 hours a day from Sunday to Friday. You can contact them using the online submission form, phone number, postal address, and various emails for customer services, dealing desk, complaints, and company info.

Address: 4, 28th October Street, Marousi, Greece.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: + 39 068 3464810

Demo Account

We did not notice anything on the site which indicated the demo account so we are not sure if they are available or not. If they aren’t then it is a shame as they allow potential clients to test out the markets or existing clients to practice new strategies without any risk.

Countries Accepted

The following statement can be found on the website: “VIE FINANCE A.E.P.E.Y S.A. does not provide services to the territories of the USA, Canada, Belgium, and Iran.”

Conclusion

The accounts on offer don’t seem to have different trading conditions, just additional account features. We do not know for certain if there are any additional commissions as the accounts use a spread-based system. There are plenty of assets available to trade which is great too. There was a little confusion with the funding methods as PayPal is not mentioned but its image is present on the site. We also do not know if there are any added fees for the depositing or withdrawal of funds.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Tao Trade, Tao Trade Review

Forex Brokers

Starfish FX Review

Starfish FX is a UK-based foreign exchange broker located in Northampton. They are not giving a lot of information about themselves away and so there is a limited amount about them on the site. Some of their main selling points stated by themselves are that they offer ECN accounts with interbank liquidity, offer more than 250 products, including forex derivatives, have greater accessibility, top-notch service and support, and a shared wallet. We will be looking deeper into the services that are being offered to see what really is on offer from Starfish FX.

Account Types

There are three different account types available, there isn’t a whole lot of information about them but we have outlined the information that we do know below and as we go through the review we will outline any differences between them within each section of the review.

Star Prestige Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $5,000, the account comes with trade sizes starting at 0.1 lots and can be leveraged up to 1:500. There are no restrictions on trading strategies and it is an ECN account. There is an added commission of 1 pip per lot traded and spreads can start from as low as 0.2 pips.

Premium Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $30,000 in order to open it up. The account comes with some additional tools such as adaptive indicators, trade aid, and others that will help with your trading and analysis. The account will close if the balance falls below $20,000.

VIP Account: This account will require you to deposit at least $100,000 in order to open it, the account comes with some other requirements such as trading 100 lots for 6 consecutive months. The account comes with some additional benefits such as interest on earnings, and cash rebates for trades during your birthday month.

Platforms

Starfish FX offers MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform of choice and it is the only one available, the good news is that MetaTrader 4 is one of the world’s most used trading platforms, and for good reasons. It is filled with plenty of features to help with both your trading and analysis. It has the ability to display multiple charts in multiple timeframes, it has compatibility with thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help customize your trading experience to suit your needs. It can also be accessed as a desktop download, mobile application, or as WebTrader within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great platform to be using and it is good to see it on offer from Starfish FX.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available on the Star Prestige account is 1:500, however, it depends on the balance that you have in the account, we have listed the requirements below.

Balance in Account	Available Leverage
$10,000 and below	1:500
$10,001 to $20,000	1:400
$20,001 to $30,000	1:200
$30,001 and above	1:100

There isn’t any additional information about the other two account types, but as they each require a deposit of more than $30,000 we would expect the maximum leverage to be 1:100 for both of them.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on the Star Prestige account start from 0.1 lots which are known as a mini lot. We do not know what the increments of the trades are or what the maximum trade size is, there is also no information about how many open trades you can have at any one time. The other two accounts do not have any information provided about them so we do not know what the trading sizes for those two account types are.

Trading Costs

The Star Prestige account has an added commission of 0.5 pips per trade side, so that is 0.5 pips when opening the trade and also 0.5 pips when closing the trade, this means that the total commission of 1 pip per lot traded. If you manage to trade 22 lots in a month, the commission is reduced down to 0.8 pips per lot traded, so a 0.2 pip discount. Once again there is no additional information about the other two accounts so we do not know what the added commissions on them are, but we suspect that there are some.

Assets

There isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets on the site, instead, they simply state that you should use their trading platform and look at the market watch within it, this isn’t a very user-friendly way to do it as many potential clients may want to see what is available prior to signing up or downloading anything. We do know that you are able to trade forex, commodities, indices, and more, but not exactly which instruments are available.

Spreads

The spreads on the Star Prestige account average from 0.2 pips to 0.6 pips. The spreads are variable which means that they will be influenced and move with the markets, the more volatility that there is in the markets the higher the spreads will be, also different instruments will have different starting and average spreads so some will naturally be higher than others. We do not know if there are any differences between the Star Prestige accounts and the other two account types in regards to their spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up the Star Prestige account is $5,000 if you want the Premium account you will need to deposit at least $50,000 and for the VIP account, you will need to deposit at least $100,000. The site doesn’t state that the deposit reduces once an account is open but we suspect that it would worth considering the fact that the initial deposits are so high.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You are able to deposit using Visa, MasterCard, Bank Wire, China UnionPay, and Skrill. When depositing you should take note that some of the methods have different deposit limits, so if you are after one of the higher tier accounts you will be limited in the methods available to you. There are also fees, we have outlined them below.

Visa: 4% fee, but there is a 6% bonus to offset this fee
MasterCard: 4% fee, but there is a 6% bonus to offset this fee
Bank Wire: Fee of 10-40 USD for each transaction
China UnionPay: 2% fee, but there is a 3% bonus to offset this fee
Skrill: 3% fee, but there is a 4.5% bonus to offset this fee

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for deposit with, for clarification they are Visa, MasterCard, Bank Wire, China UnionPay, and Skrill. There are also fees for using some methods which we have once again outlined below.

Visa: No fee, just bank transfer fees
MasterCard: No fee, just bank transfer fees
Bank Wire: Fee of 10-40 USD for each transaction
China UnionPay: No fee, just bank transfer fees
Skrill: No fee mentioned

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The processing times aren’t stated however we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 1 to 7 working days from the request being made, we cannot say this for sure though.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different bonuses available but there don’t seem to be any terms for them, so our actual understanding of the bonuses is pretty limited. There is a 10% bonus on deposits, both the first deposit and subsequent deposits, we do not know how to convert the bonus funds into real funds though. When using the VIP account, you can receive a 2.5% interest on your account margin and you also receive $2 cashback per lot traded when trading within the month of your birthday. Again, the full terms of both of these are not fully known to us.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few smaller tools and educational pieces available, the first is an economic calendar that details upcoming news events and also shows what impact they could have on the markets. There are also some tutorials on how to trade that talk you through the basics of trading and analysis.

There are two main tools on offer, the first is adaptive indications, these monitor the charts and then give you entry points and they can be used to predict future movements. The second tool is called TradAid, this is an indicator that helps you look at support and resistance levels as well as a few other aspects to help with your analysis and trading.

Customer Service

The customer service is available 24 hours a day, they can be contacted using a postal address, email address, or phone number, so there is a range of ways to get in contact with them

Address: Starfish Markets Limited, 6 Prospect Way, Royal Oak Industrial Estate, Daventry Northamptonshire, England NN11 8PL

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +852 8191 7339

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you can sign up for one using the online form. The trading conditions will mimic those of the accounts and conditions mentioned throughout this review. The demo account will allow you to test out the markets and strategies with no real risk, we do not know if there is an expiration on these accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is shown on the website:

Starfish FX’s services and all trading products including but not limited to CFD, Forex and Forex Derivatives are not available to both U.S Residents and U.S Citizens.”

If you are still not sure of your eligibility, then you should contact the customer service team to ensure you are eligible for an account prior to signing up for one.

Conclusion

The initial deposit amounts to trade with StarFX are quite high, the different accounts don’t seem to have different trading conditions, rather other features make them more unique. The trading conditions seem reasonable, the spreads are relatively low and the commission is just 1 pip per lot traded. There are a number of ways to deposit and withdraw which is good, but there are fees despite the site stating that there aren’t any, the fees are returned as a bonus but we do not know what the terms of these bonus funds are. There is also no information about available assets. It costs a lot to get started and with the little bits of missing information it could be concerning to deposit so much into a broker you don’t know everything about, whether or not you will use them, it is up to you.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Starfish FX, Starfish FX Review

Forex Brokers

NessFX Review

NessFX (formerly Rynki) claims to be an STP broker and offers to trade online on a wide variety of financial assets, including Forex, CFDs, stock indices, commodities, bonds, and stocks. Straight Through Process, or STP, brokers operate almost as well as ECN brokers. That is, they connect their client’s operations with the broker’s liquidity providers, […]

ACCOUNT TYPES

NessFX offers its customers 3 different account types, taking into account different types of traders. Its main features are as follows:

PLATFORMS

NessFX offers the MT4 platform, which is available in all versions, desktop version, for use on a computer, and web and mobile version for use on smartphones and tablets. NessFX customers who have a balance of $2,000 or more in their account can apply for free VPS hosting; it is a virtual computer that can be used to host their EAs. However, when we downloaded the MT4 from the broker, we noticed that it is provided by another company, called Belfx limited, a company registered in Belize.

LEVERAGE

NessFX differentiates between retail clients and professional clients, thus offering different leverages to each of them. Here is the summary:

Retail Clients, 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
Professional Clients: 1:500

As we see, the maximum leverage offered by NessFX is 1:500, which is a very high rate, knowing the risks involved, and the fact that Cysec recommends brokers regulated by it, offering predetermined leverage of 1:50.

When using very high leverage levels, the trader can quickly lose or earn a lot of money with small market swings. That’s why in some jurisdictions, leverage is limited by law: in the U.S. and the United States. Until 1:50, in Japan up to 1:25, and in Poland up to 1:100. By the way, in the Polish version of NessFX’s website, the maximum leverage indicated is 1:100.

TRADE SIZES

With this broker, we can start trading from only 0.01 lot (micro lot).

NessFX Margin Requirements

TRADING COSTS

Spread, trading fees and swap determine trading costs. The spreads, we have considered, are slightly elevated. The VIP account seems to offer good spreads, but its initial investment requirements are too high. (25,000 USD). There are no commercial batch commissions on the Basic, and Pro accounts. There are commissions in the VIP account, but they are not reported on the broker’s website.

On the other hand, we have the Swap, a standard cost for all brokers. The Swap is any position held overnight, which will incur a maintenance cost (interest). This amount can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and the direction of the position, and its amount is fixed by the central banks of the base currency of the open position.

ASSETS

NessFX offers its customers quite a variety of assets to trade with. Below are just a few of what is available.

SPREADS

Spreads vary by account type. Below is an example of spreads and trading conditions on the Micro account:

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The broker establishes a minimum deposit for each of the 3 accounts he offers, so in the basic account the minimum deposit is only USD 50, in the Pro account the minimum deposit is USD 10,000, and in the VIP account the minimum deposit is USD 25,000. The commercial conditions in the VIP account are indeed good, but a minimum deposit of 25,000 USD seems excessive.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

NessFX offers its customers different methods to make the initial deposit into your trading account. This is the summary of available methods and associated costs:

NessFX processes withdrawal requests within 24 hours. Below is a table of the estimated waiting times:

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

NessFX does not currently have any bonuses or promotions. This broker does not have any broker introduction program either.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

The broker has an economic calendar on his website. We have always commented that this tool is handy for any trader, because in it we can visualize the most important daily events, and that can affect the trading of the assets we are trading.

NessFX also has a Learning Center with several readings oriented to the beginner trader. The topics it deals with are: Introduction To Forex Trading, Learn Trading Terms and Technical Jargon, Understanding Forex Quote, How to Analyze the Market, Introduction to Trading Platform, Introduction to Forex Charts, Introduction to Candlestick Patterns, and Common Trading Mistakes and How to Avoid the Traps.

They also have a reasonably complete FAQ trading with questions regarding Forex / CFD Market & trading conditions.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

NessFX offers its customers 3 main ways to contact their customer service, telephone, email, and a contact form that you will find on their website. The data are as follows:

DEMO ACCOUNT

To get the demo account offered by NessFX, just fill out a form with your personal data, and they will respond with the instructions for installation.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

NessFX.com does not provide trading or any other services to residents of the following countries and regions: Belgium, Russia, Quebec, Japan, Turkey, Canada, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and the United States of America.

CONCLUSION

NessFX is one of the forex trademarks of Fxnet Ltd. This broker seems to be primarily aimed at Polish traders. The company behind NessFX is appropriately regulated in Cyprus, but on the other hand, its spreads are high and, besides, the MT4 it offers is provided by another company. The educational area and the tools for traders available on the web are more than acceptable.

To summarize the above, here are the advantages and disadvantages concerning this runner:

Advantages:

Proper regulation (Cysec)
MT4 available
A relatively low minimum initial deposit is required
Excellent educational and resource area for the client

Disadvantages:

Spreads are relatively high
MT4 provided by another company

Tags Forex Broker Review, NESSfx Review, Rynki Review

Forex Brokers

Gerchik & Co Broker Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 19 February, 2021
No Comments on Gerchik & Co Broker Review

Gerchik & Co’s account holders enjoy very narrow spreads, can access hundreds of financial assets, and may program their own automated trading algorithm. Moreover, Gerchik & Co’s individualized, one-on-one customer support offerings make them even more desirable to forex traders. The company has been servicing financial market participants since 2015. Moreover, in 2017, they expanded their tools and asset selection in order to appeal to a larger number of traders. Even though Gerchik & Co is based out of the Pacific Ocean island-country of Vanuatu, their offers extend to traders from all over the world (although some regional restrictions may apply).

In short, Gerchik & Co is a brokerage firm founded by and for traders. But should you open an account with them? This review will go over their different portfolio types, unique aspects about this broker’s trading conditions, the type of currencies that customers can trade, and other crucial aspects that you need to know before you decide to open an account.

Account Types

Gerchik & Co has an impressive selection of account types for retail traders. Moreover, 5 of the 6 accounts allow you to utilize algorithmic trading tools (that automatically open/close positions). The Platinum Account is the only one that enables you to create a custom code/algorithm, where a robot buys and sells forex pairs if they meet the technical and fundamental conditions that you would pre-establish.

Easy Start for Investors Account:

Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 0.4 pips
Commission: $10 per lot

Mini Account:

Minimum Deposit: $500
Spreads: From 0.4 pips
Commission: $10 per lot

Simple Account:

Minimum Deposit: $1,000
Spreads: From 0 pips
Commission: $10 per lot

Silver Account:

Minimum Deposit: $10,000
Spreads: From 0 pips
Commission: $9 per lot

Gold Account:

Minimum Deposit: $25,000
Spreads: From 0 pips
Commission: $8 per lot

Platinum Account:

Minimum Deposit: $100,000
Spreads: From 0 pips
Commission: $7 per lot

Even though the minimum deposit for Platinum, Gold, and Silver may be sizable, the Simple Account retains all of the features that the former 3 do, including account/performance statistics and 0-pip spreads. The only unavailable tools are the customized trading robots and access to individualized consultations, both of which are exclusive to the Platinum Account.

Platforms

Regardless of the type, Gerchik & Co’s account holders will trade through the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. In fact, according to the broker, it is used by 90% of forex traders from all over the world. While a new and more advanced version is available (MetaTrader 5 or MT5), many people still prefer MT4 because of its all-encompassing tools and features. For a start, it is designed to suit traders who follow different strategies, including scalpers, day-traders, and investors that want to hold on to positions for years. In addition, technical analysts can choose between 30 different indicators and view charts at 9 different times (such as 1-minute candlesticks, 1 hour, 1 day, …etc.). Lastly, the MT4 app, which enables you to open/close positions and manage your account (alongside much more), is available on desktops and smartphones. Moreover, you can access it from anywhere in the world.

Leverage

Even though Gerchik & Co has many competitive offerings that differentiate it from other firms in the industry, the buying power that all 6 account types have is relatively limited. You only have up to 100:1 in leverage. Portfolios with a balance of $500,000 or more will have even lower leverage of 50:1. This puts Gerchik & Co in the lower range, especially since some (but not plenty) brokers will give traders 400:1 in buying power. Nonetheless, if you are an experienced trader, Gerchik & Co may give you a 200:1 buying power after they learn about your strategy and past performance.

Trade Sizes

Both the Simple and Mini Account have a minimum position size of 0.01 lots, which is a micro lot. The other 4 account types, on the other hand, must enter trades that are not smaller than 0.1 lots (a mini lot) or the equivalent of 10,000 in the base currency.

Margin Call: 100% (all account types)
Stop-Out: 50% (all account types)

Gerchik & Co’s margin call policy is to require the trader to deposit more money. Otherwise, they can’t open new positions. At stop-out, the broker will close the biggest losing trading and, at times, others, up until the account has enough to satisfy the margin requirement.

Trading Costs

As previously outlined, each of the Easy Start, Mini, and Simple Account have a $10 per traded lot commission. These fees gradually go down to $9, $8, and $7 per lot for Silver, Gold, and Platinum, respectively. When you keep trades open overnight, there is also an interest amount, which you may earn or pay (depending on the forex pair). The swap is tripled on Wednesdays to account for Saturday and Sunday’s interest. Apart from that, you could also incur a spread expense. However, since 4 out of 6 accounts have a 0 spread, this is mostly minimal. We will discuss the details of this for all account types later in this article.

Assets

Gerchik & Co’s list of financial instruments includes 66 forex pairs, 7 cryptos, 10 commodities, 12 indexes, and almost 270 stocks. In short, this broker is ideal for those who like to diversify their trading and exchange different types of assets. Cryptos are traded as a pair against a fiat currency. For example, Bitcoin is offered as BTC.USD. The commissions for digital currencies is 1% of the position’s total value. In addition, cryptos have a 20% margin buying power, a more restricted maximum trade size, as well as a -10% and -4% overnight swap fee on short and long positions, respectively. Amongst the forex pairs, this broker offers both majors and exotics. The latter even includes the Czech Koruna, Chinese Yuan Offshore, Hungarian Forint, and Singapore Dollar.

Spreads

Despite the fact that the Easy Start and Mini can’t access the zero-spreads that other accounts do, their 0.4-pip gap between the bid and ask prices is competitively tight and advantageous. Keep in mind that these two account types have a relatively small deposit requirement. Even with the use of leverage, such a minimal spread will not cause you to incur significant costs. When it comes to all of the accounts that are offered by Gerchik & Co, the bid and ask quotes are floating, which means that they could change and become wider when the markets are volatile. This includes the prices that Simple, Silver, Gold, and Platinum see.

Minimum Deposit

The deposit requirements for each account type are outlined above. Gerchik & Co’s website doesn’t tell us what the minimum amount is for each transaction (after the initial deposit).

Deposit Methods & Costs

Needless to say, as a broker that offers access to cryptocurrencies, this firm has a variety of deposit methods, including the following traditional and electronic payment systems: Bank wires, ADVCash, Neteller, Payeer, Perfect Money, Skrill, WebMoney, and Visa/MasterCard. Account-holders also have the option of making deposits through their Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple wallets. Almost all transfers are processed immediately and become instantly available to use for trading. However, debit/credit card and cryptocurrency wallet transfers may take up to 1 business day. Bank wires, meanwhile, will be processed between 1 and 5 days.

As far as fees are concerned, those also depend on your payment method. Electronic systems (such as Neteller and Perfect Money) can have a transfer cost of between 0.5% and 4% of the transaction size. All deposits from your crypto wallet will come with a 0.5% fee. For example, if you fund your account with $10,000 through Bitcoin or Ethereum, Gerchik & Co will charge you $50 (0.5% of $10,000). Visa/MasterCard transactions have a 2.8% fee, while bank wires have a fixed rate of 5€ ($5.50) for each transfer.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use any of the available deposit methods to withdraw capital. Interestingly enough, the fees to take money out of your account are less. Most of the time, brokers will not charge you for deposit funds, in the first place. MasterCard/Visa only has a 2% fee, while outbound transfers through Neteller cost you 1% (as opposed to the 4% charge on deposits). Withdrawals also have minimums and maximums. The smallest amount you can transfer out of your account is $1 for almost all methods, apart from bank wires’ 100€ or $110 minimum transaction size. There is no restriction on the maximum withdrawal size, but bank transfers may vary based on your local laws.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It takes only 1 business day or less until the money is available on your debit/credit card or electronic wallet. You may have to wait longer (up to 5 days) if you withdraw funds through a bank transfer.

Bonuses & Promotions

Gerchik & Co doesn’t have any bonuses, but they run demo account contests and competitions on an ongoing basis. In fact, the list of competitors for this round, which is provided on the broker’s website, includes almost 5,500 participants. The 55 most profitable traders get $1,000 each. This year, however, Gerchik & Co is offering a contest where real/live accounts are evaluated, with $5,000 up for grabs. This broker also offers an affiliate marketing program. Participants get 40% of the commission revenue from their referral’s activity, up to $4 per trade.

Educational & Trading Tools

The value-rich trading tools that Gerchik & Co offers are amongst the firm’s main strengths. Furthermore, there are 3 different calculators that account holders have at their disposal. The ‘Pip Calculator’ shows you the monetary amount of profit/loss when a forex pair moves by 1 pip. It takes into account the trader’s default currency, which is a factor that may influence their returns after the position is closed and the profits are converted. The ‘Risk Calculator’ helps you to determine an appropriate place for your stop-loss orders, while the ‘Trading Customization’ tool allows you to examine different potential outcomes based on the position’s size, whether you’re long or short, the used leverage, your account type, and more. Apart from the calculators, Gerchik & Co’s ‘Traders Statistics’ offering, which accurately collects information about your account’s performance, identifies errors and crucial trends that can act as a guide when you make adjustments to your strategy.

‘Risk Manager’ is an automated program that is especially helpful for those who want to control their psychological impulses. When stop-loss orders get triggered too often or an account holder suffers from a series of unsuccessful trades, the Risk Manager tool automatically halts their activities. This gives traders some time to take a step back, reevaluate certain strategies, and make decisions after their emotions evaporate. It is important to note that Risk Manager is customizable, which means that you set the parameters and conditions that trigger it. Lastly, ‘Real Market Volume’ could act as a difference-maker to many technical analysts who rely on investment/exchange volume when determining whether to buy/sell a forex pair. Real Market Volume assembles that data, compare it to underlying technical trends, and alerts account holders when they spot a ‘false signal’ to buy or sell.

Customer Service

There are many ways to get in touch with support, including via phone, email, Skype, and a form on the firm’s website. Alternatively, you may send mail to their office or visit them in person. Gerchik & Co’s main location is in the Pacific Ocean country of Vanuatu. Only the Coral Sea separates it from Australia’s northeastern shores.

Phone:+44-203-318-42-01 (United Kingdom), 8 800 333 27 54 (Russia), 0 800 210 216 (Ukraine), +77-273-50-59-77 (Kazakhstan), 883510001243216 (Viber)

Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Before putting your actual money on the line, the demo account lets you test your strategy in a live market environment and learn how to take advantage of MT4’s different toolsets. Gerchik & Co integrated and pre-built certain strategies that you can immediately deploy after opening a demo. There are 3 steps that account holders would take. First, they understand how to analyze trade volume patterns and key price points.

After that, traders can identify breakout levels and crucial buy/sell signals. From there, the strategy tutorial shows them how to emulate successful trades and follow the patterns of major market participants. All of this can be found on demo account holders’ user dashboards.

Countries Accepted

Gerchik & Co have certain geographic restrictions and their services are available based on a country’s membership or standing with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Most nations around the world are members of FATF, but many countries in eastern Europe (including EU members like Poland), the Middle East, and Southeast Asia aren’t part of the organization. Additionally, in spite of their membership, this broker isn’t available to traders in the US, Canada, and Japan. Moreover, American and Canadian citizens, regardless of where they live, cannot open an account. However, citizens/residents of these 3 countries may do so under a few conditions. They have to demonstrate to Gerchik & Co that the firm’s customer contract and the services that they will get do not violate any local laws or regulations.

Conclusion

This broker’s spreads are remarkably low, if nonexistent. However, their commissions are undesirably high, especially in comparison to the industry’s average rates. In fact, if there is one obvious downside to using Gerchik & Co, it’s their fees. While many firms will not charge you money for depositing funds, this broker has fees on both inbound and outbound transfers. For that matter, withdrawals cost less than deposits. Yet the negative aspects stop here. When we look at Gerchik & Co’s trading tools, barely any other firm can outperform them. Not only does Gerchik & Co offer 3 customizable calculators, but they also have resources that help traders manage their psychology, minimize their risks, and identify false buy/sell signals while the rest of the market is making these errors. Even their demo account comes with an integrated, pre-built strategy that you may deploy in real-time conditions. More specifically, the demo helps traders analyze volume, identify key price levels, and, as a result, enter or exit trades at the right time and point.

Unfortunately, all of these great features are not available to American, Canadian, and Japanese citizens or residents. However, if you really like this broker but live in one of those countries, you may get an exception by showing that local laws aren’t in conflict with the firm’s services. From there, you may pick between 6 different account types based on your deposit size, commission preferences, and desired spreads. Another downside is that Gerchik & Co only gives you 100:1 in buying power. Yet just as with regional restrictions, there are exceptions to the rule. This broker is willing to increase professional traders’ buying power after they demonstrate their expertise and a track record of success. Another way to access more capital is by participating in the demo account contest and becoming one of the top 55 profitable traders that receive $1,000 each. In fact, the broker is hosting a live-account competition in 2020.

Listing the pros and cons can be difficult because they depend on where you live, how you trade, and what you prefer. However, this review gives you the details that you need to make an accurate assessment.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Gerchik & Co Broker Review, Gerchik & Co Review

Forex Brokers

Aura FX Review

No commissions, minimal spreads, and a small deposit requirement make Aura FX the perfect, easily-accessible match for traders who want to control their costs. Other than that, this broker’s strongest offerings include their lucrative cash bonuses, an array of trading tools, and live coaching services. These features are even more powerful when combined with the […]

All of this enhances the company’s commitment to its mission, which revolves around empowering traders. Since 2013, Aura FX has been providing market participants with state-of-the-art technology and a dedicated support team. The broker’s main office is in New Zealand, but they work with traders from all corners of the globe, including the United States.

Want to know more about Aura FX? This review should cover all the details that you need.

Account Types

Aura FX’s retail account is ideal for traders who are looking to minimize costs. The broker doesn’t charge any commissions and the spreads are well below industry averages. Furthermore, their minimum deposit makes Aura FX accessible to most traders.

Minimum Deposit: $300
Spreads: From 0.8 pips
Commission: $0

This broker only has one retail account type, the rest are for institutional traders (large companies such as banks) and long-term investors. However, they do have a strong demo account offering (more details to follow in this review).

Platforms

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is an incredible trading platform that suits market participants of all types and levels of experience. For instance, fundamental analysts can follow live newsfeeds that are related to a specific forex pair or the at-large markets. Similarly, MT4 provides traders with a wide selection of technical indicators and charting timeframes. It also has the toolsets and software that high-frequency trading algorithms require. Even beginners will appreciate the one-on-one consultations and other types of educational content. Above all else, MT4 is available on desktops devices (PC and Mac) and smartphones (Androids and iPhones). This platform is certainly ideal for a high-quality and user-friendly trading experience.

Leverage

It seems that Aura FX will give you up to 200:1 in leverage, but no more than that. Their website doesn’t offer any other details.

Trade Sizes

Aura FX follows the industry-wide trade sizes and, through MT4, account holders can trade standard, mini, and micro-lots, which are equal to 100,000, 10,000, and 1,000 in the forex pair’s base currency, respectively.

Margin Call: NA
Stop-Out: NA

The broker’s website gives no information about the margin requirements, stop-out level, and what would happen if an account’s balance reaches one of those points.

Trading Costs

There are no trading commissions levied by Aura FX. Moreover, their spreads are relatively narrow, much more so than other brokerage firms. However, whether or not you open an account with Aura FX, all positions that are kept overnight will incur a swap/interest expense. Brokers don’t determine the amount or frequency of these fees. Instead, the interest policy of the central bank that issued a given currency defines the swap costs.

Assets

Aura FX has a selection of currencies that encompasses exotics and majors. There are 40+ forex pairs that account holders may trade. Notably enough, those who like to trade exotic European currencies have access to the Czech Koruna (CZK), Danish Krone (DKK), Hungarian Forint (HUF), Norwegian Krone (NOK), and Polish Zloty (PLN), alongside the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD), Mexican Peso (MXN), and more. This broker doesn’t provide its account holders with cryptocurrencies, but they do allow you to trade 14 different stock indexes and a variety of precious metals.

Spreads

If you’re a trader whose strategies rely on tight spreads, Aura FX has a competitive and difficult-to-beat bid/ask gaps. Their minimum 0.8-pip spread can be found when exchanging several forex pairs, including the AUD.USD, EUR.CHF (Swiss Franc), and more. Several others have a bid/ask gap of only 0.9 pips, while almost none of the major pairs exceeds 2.5 pips. Nevertheless, exotic currencies, because of their more volatile and unpredictable nature, tend to have larger fluctuations between the bid and ask prices. Equally as important, Aura FX offers variable spreads, which are subject to change based on market conditions and at-large investors’ attitudes.

Minimum Deposit

To open an account, traders must fund their portfolio with $300 or more. Moreover, the more money that account holders deposit, the higher the bonus that they will be eligible for. This part will be discussed in more detail later in this article.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can transfer money through your bank or Neteller account. Moreover, Aura FX doesn’t charge any fees when it comes to deposits. The available currency options are USD, EUR, and GBP.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Alongside the 3 deposit currencies, withdrawals can also be made in the New Zealand Dollar and the Australian Dollar. No information is provided about withdrawal fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Both inbound and outbound transfers are processed through a form on Aura FX’s website. You can also email it to them or send it via mail. Either way, after receiving your request, the broker may take up to 2 days to complete the transfer.

Bonuses & Promotions

Aura FX’s bonuses are amongst its leading features, putting it ahead of many competitors in the brokerage market. The Deposit Bonus gives traders the chance to earn up to $10,000. Starting from your initial $300, this broker will give you a 100% bonus. However, these are distributed according to brackets. For example, deposits between $300 and $499 receive $300, while those that range from $500 to $749 get $500. This continues up to $10,000, which is the maximum Deposit Bonus amount.

Nonetheless, there is also a Referral Bonus. When participants refer a friend or family member to Aura FX and they open an account, the trader gets a bonus that is equal to 10% of the referral’s deposit. For example, if the referred person puts $1,000 to $2,499 in their portfolio, the broker gives the existing account holder $100. The maximum Referral Bonus is $1,000 for associates who deposit $10,000 or more. Lastly, you can enroll in Aura FX’s ProTrader Bonus, with gives you access to detailed market forecasts and guides. After contacting customer support, account holders will get 30 days for free, while those that fund their portfolios with $500 and $1,000 enjoy 90 days and 12 months of access, respectively.

Educational & Trading Tools

Another great aspect of using this broker is their educational content. More specifically, Aura FX offers live webinars, an economic calendar, a glossary, beginner guides, and a Pure Line Forex program. The latter allows you to view analysis and educational videos that are put together by successful, globally-recognized traders. Even though it costs $700, beginners will learn how to analyze articles, understand key elements that impact the market, and examine detailed forecast reports. All of which is done through live and pre-recorded video seminars. Additionally, anyone can register for and access Aura FX’s own webinars for an opportunity to learn from trading coaches while they actively participate in the market. This feature is offered for free.

The third, and final, educational tool that this broker has is their Beginners Guide. It is specially designed for those who are new to trading. The 21-page long PDF goes over the process of opening an account, key mistakes to steer clear of, skills needed to be successful in the market, and basic forex concepts. In fact, this can be particularly useful when utilized alongside Aura FX’s comprehensive glossary. Even experienced traders can deploy it while they trade, in case they come across any new or unfamiliar terms. Lastly, there is also an economic calendar that outlines major daily news events from different countries, such as interest rate decisions and GDP releases.

Customer Service

In addition to email, phone, and traditional mail, you can get in touch with the Aura FX customer support team on social media through LinkedIn and YouTube. If you prefer to mail them certain documents or requests, they are located in New Zealand. Otherwise, there is also a contact form on their website.

Phone: +64 988 97 872
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Aura FX will give you $50,000 in paper/fake money to practice with. The demo account enjoys access to 50 forex pairs and other financial assets. Here, you can test different strategies, go through the trial-and-error process, and define what works/doesn’t, all before putting any real money at risk. Just as importantly, anyone who is used to platforms other than MT4 could benefit from a demo. These accounts access the same live prices and trading conditions as those that have real money in them.

Countries Accepted

This broker’s services are available all across the world, including the United States. They also operate in Europe, Canada, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom. However, in order to stay safe and compliant, traders should check if any products or services that Aura FX offers are in-line with local laws and regulations. The simplest way to do so may be through directly contacting the firm’s customer support team.

Conclusion

First, opening an account with Aura FX is easy, especially because of the relatively minimal minimum deposit requirement. Second, after registering with the broker, you don’t have to worry about any commissions or large spreads. In fact, the firm will even give you a 100% cashback bonus, all the way up to $10,000. If you refer a friend, you get awarded, as well. On top of that, these lucrative promotions (and the broker’s services, in general) are available in different parts of the globe, with the United States, Japan, and Europe amongst them. There are other reasons why many traders open an account with Aura FX. They include a competitive selection of exotic European forex pairs, a wide set of trading tools, and the ability to transfer money in multiple currencies.

Nonetheless, there are also certain downsides. For example, leverage cannot exceed 200:1, no cryptocurrencies are offered, and only 2 deposit/withdrawal methods are available. However, many traders will overlook this because Aura FX’s spreads are well below the industry average. Additionally, beginners can pick between PDF guides, video tutorials, and live training seminars as they educate themselves about the markets. Meanwhile, experts can certainly rely on the broker’s economic calendar and other trading tools.

Tags Aura FX, Aura FX Review, Forex Broker Review

Forex Brokers

SIBFX Review

SENTRATAMA BERJANGKA INVESTOR (or SIBFX) is an investment intermediary in Indonesia. The company offers many different services, but in this review, we will focus on how they allow retail customers to trade in foreign exchange. Regulated in Indonesia, SIBFX is affiliated with all relevant institutions in Indonesia. They include the Supervisory Board and the Commodity […]

Regulated in Indonesia, SIBFX is affiliated with all relevant institutions in Indonesia. They include the Supervisory Board and the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI), the Indonesian Derivatives Clearing House (ICDX), and the Jakarta Futures Exchange (BBJ). While this seems like a very comprehensive regulation, it is merely how the legal system in the country currently works.

SIBFX is a company with a long history in the industry, as it has been operating since 2000. With two decades of experience, they have probably encountered all the possible technical and market problems that can be imagined.

SIBFX offers its customers managed accounts, and we usually mention this as a negative aspect, mainly when an offshore market maker provides the service. That said, this is a highly regulated company, which follows many rules. Although we have not seen the full record of the INVESTOR OF SENTRATAMA BERJANGKA, this review will provide a comprehensive breakdown of what they offer.

ACCOUNT TYPES

SIBFX appears to have only one account type to trade with, as it does not provide details on different types of accounts. The data provided by the broker for that account tells us that leverage of up to 1:100 is offered, spreads are up to 3 pips, and trading costs equal $30 commission per lot.

PLATFORMS

We have available Metatrader4. SIBFX is traded through one of the best trading platforms, especially when it comes to currencies. MT4 has possibly the most advanced graphics package in the business, and also includes a lot of additional features to back it up, such as the wide variety of technical indicators it offers. We are talking about additional tools, available in the MQL market (and some other external suppliers). Expert advisors, (Eas), are the easiest way for a regular trader to automate his trade. Metatrader is available in desktop version and also in mobile and web versions, for use on smartphones and tablets.

LEVERAGE

Leverage of up to 1:100 is offered. This is a “classic” level for a broker/trader relationship, and it has been implemented by many brokers in the past. We believe it provides the right balance in terms of risk. Make sure you understand the basics of position size before you start trading, this is very important.

TRADE SIZES

We have not been able to verify the minimum and maximum trade sizes that this broker accepts for trading. On the one hand, the website does not report on this important variable, and on the other hand, since we cannot access any demo accounts, we have not been able to find out that way either.

TRADING COSTS

Clearly, the trading costs of this broker are very high. We know that its minimum spread is 3 pips, and to this must be added a commission of no less than 30 USD for each lot traded. Frankly, these seem to us to be out-of-market costs. It is very easy to find brokers that offer a much lower spread and no commissions.

ASSETS

The products offered by SIBFX are Stock Index Participation Units (Stock Index Future), Units of Foreign Exchange (Foreign Exchange), and Commodities Unit. As far as our efforts are concerned, we have not been able to obtain information about how many currency pairs it has to trade, and what they are.

SPREADS

The most negative aspect of SIBFX is the high trade costs. While this should not be the most crucial factor when comparing brokers, the conditions of this broker are not in line with the current offer of the industry. A spread in EUR / USD of 3 pips and a commission of 30 USD per lot traded, is simply somewhat exaggerated compared to the majority of brokers out there now in the market.

Each dollar in the “return” commissions (charging once per trade, instead of at the opening and closing of the position) is the equivalent of 0.1 pips (for pairs where the USD is the second currency). This means that the effective spread in SIBFX will be at least 6.0 pips, which is much more than one can imagine.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

There is no information on the minimum deposit required. SIBFX does not specify any minimum amount to start trading with them. This is a standard practice in the industry as the work required to process a $10 transaction is similar to that of a $10,000 deposit. Obviously, some clients will bring more business to the broker than others. Today, some companies want even the smallest possible customers, although the average deposit requirement is around $100.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

SIBFX apparently only accepts bank transfers as a deposit method. Actually, this does not seem to us any concern, as everyone has access to a bank and a current account, but undoubtedly many traders will miss other payment methods, such as credit or debit bank cards, Skrill, Neteller, or even Bitcoin.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

Withdrawals are to be made, the same as deposit, by bank transfer. The broker does not report on his website the costs associated with a withdrawal.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

There is no information about the procedure for withdrawals, or how long it takes the broker to process them. Anyway, as with the rest of the brokers, we will have to wait between 2 and 5 days after the transfer is issued until we can see it in our account, that is the usual time.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

We have not found that this broker is currently offering any bonus or promotion.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

SIBFX has an area with tools of interest to the trader. It has a section for technical analysis, fundamental analysis, trading opportunities, and a calculator for Forex and Indices. The most exciting thing, in our opinion, is another section where they have economic news and an economic calendar. We always say that an economic calendar is a very useful tool for the trader because in it all the relevant events of the day appear and that they can affect the assets that the trader is trading.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To contact SIBFX customer service, we have mainly 3 ways to do it, by phone, email, and a contact form that they have on the web. The data we have collected are as follows:

Menara Rajawali, 11th floor, Jl. DR Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung Lot 5.1. Mega Kuningan district South Jakarta 12950. Indonesia

Ph. + 62 21 5793 7700 (hunting)

Fax. + 62-21 5793 9938

Email: [email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

SIBFX does offer demo accounts but has not provided any details regarding the length of time that this account type may be utilized. Feel free to contact SIBFX to learn more.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

We have not found on this broker’s website any restrictions on citizens who cannot open an account with them. In any case, after a thorough analysis of its website, it seems that this broker is targeting its services to the Indonesian public.

CONCLUSION

SENTRATAMA INVESTOR BERJANGKA or SIBFX is a well-established broker in the Indonesian financial markets. With 20 years of experience, they are expected to have all the knowledge necessary to run a brokerage agency with full professionalism. That being the case, their foreign exchange offer, which was the main subject of this review, is not so impressive, mainly due to the widespread.

If you are looking for better business conditions, going with a more globally oriented company may be the best option. Be sure to look for a well-regulated broker. Some of the most important brokers are supervised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We will briefly mention two of the benefits of trading with this type of brokers (the Indonesian vigilante – BAPPEBTI also implements similar rules):

The regulations in question concern the security of your investment. In principle, customer accounts should be segregated and separated from the broker’s operational account. Also, the Financial Services Clearing System (FSCS). The first means that client funds must be kept separate from the company’s core funds. This prevents many problems. The FSCS, on the other hand, offers protection in case of insolvency of its broker. Each trader is insured for the value of his account, up to £50,000.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages we have found to this broker:

Advantages:

With experience since 2000.
Metatrader4 available
Leverage 1: 100
It has an educational area and acceptable trader tools.

Disadvantages:

Regulated in Indonesia.
Spreads are very high.
Only bank transfers are allowed as a deposit method.
No information on the minimum deposit.
No demo account offered.

Tags Forex Broker Review, PT. SENTRATAMA BERJANGKA INVESTOR, SIBFX Review

Forex Brokers

SMFX Solidary Markets Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 17 February, 2021
No Comments on SMFX Solidary Markets Review

SMFX Solidary Markets is a New Zealand-based Forex broker offering Over 70 Forex Pairs, Metals, CFDs, and Cryptos for trading. In the review that follows, we’ll provide information on the account types, trading platforms, trading conditions, and other specifics related to this Forex brokerage. SMFX has three types of commercial accounts, calls, Standard, Top, and […]

SMFX has three types of commercial accounts, calls, Standard, Top, and Elite. All three accounts offer access to a relatively complete portfolio of assets. It also provides the possibility to trade binary options in 26 currency pairs, gold, and silver. SMFX Solidary Markets offers its customers a free demo account, so they can practice with the platform before investing their real money.

This broker also offers a VPS (private virtual server) service for its clients. For this service, there are three types of monthly rates, ranging from €12 to €22, to which a single installation fee of €5 must be added. This service is efficient for traders who do automatic trading, as they can shut down their computers with the peace of mind that the virtual server will continue to trade. In what currency can you open your account at SMFX Solidary Markets? You can open it in Euros Australian Dollars, or American Dollars.

SMFX Solidary Markets is an STP broker. The STP brokers (Straight Through Processing) are those who send the orders of the clients directly to the liquidity provider, and these liquidity providers trade in the interbank market. The result is that traders have access to the real market, and their orders will be executed very quickly.

Another characteristic of SMFX Solidary Markets is that it calls itself solidarity because it claims to donate part of its benefits to charitable and social causes. An initiative we’ve never seen in any broker.

The broker’s website is available in English and Chinese.

ACCOUNT TYPES

As already mentioned in the intro, SMFX Solidary Markets offers three types of accounts. Below is a summary of the characteristics of each of them.

Standard Account:

Minimum opening deposit 50 USD / EUR. Maximum opening deposit, Unlimited. Maximum balance, Unlimited. Max. Leverage, 1:200. Instruments, Over 70 Forex Pairs + Metals+ CDFs + Cryptos. Minimum size position, 0.01. Maximum size position, 100. Execution, STP Market Execution. Time execution in VPS, Average execution time 50 ms. Spread, Variable Raw Concept from 1.3. Commission 0 USD. Margin Call 200%. Stop Out 100%. Account Currency USD, EUR.

Top Account:

Minimum opening deposit 50 USD / EUR. Maximum opening deposit, Unlimited. Maximum balance, Unlimited. Max. Leverage, 1:200. Instruments, Over 70 Forex Pairs + Metals+ CDFs + Cryptos. Minimum size position, 0.01. Maximum size position, 50. Execution, STP Market Execution. Time execution in VPS, Average execution time 50 ms. Spread, Variable Raw Concept from 0. Commission 2.9 USD per lot (0.0029% notational)/side. Margin Call 200%. Stop Out 100%. Account Currency USD, EUR.

Elite Account:

Minimum opening deposit 50 USD / EUR. Maximum opening deposit, Unlimited. Maximum balance, Unlimited. Max. Leverage, 1:200. Instruments, Over 70 Forex Pairs + Metals+ CDFs + Cryptos. Minimum size position, 0.01. Maximum size position, 100. Execution, STP Market Execution. Time execution in VPS, Average execution time 50 ms. Spread, Variable Raw Concept from 0.2. Commission 3.9 USD per lot (0.0039% notational)/side. Margin Call 200%. Stop Out 100%. Account Currency USD, EUR.

We have analyzed that the fundamental differences between them are in the spread and the commissions. For a novice trader, the standard account is sufficient, has a spread of 1.3 pips, according to the market, and will not pay commissions.

For more advanced traders, and more experienced, Top and Elite accounts, offer lower spreads for a fee ranging from 2.9 USD to 3.9 USD. If the volume of transactions is high, then it is more convenient to pay a commission, which will always be less than the savings you get for the lowest spread.

PLATFORMS

SMFX provides access to its own web platform, called SMFX Web Trader. The SMFX Webtrader platform, which uses Solidary Markets FX has been developed with the latest technologies and offers essential tools such as, Technical indicators, trend lines, oscillators, volatility data…but we still prefer the popular MT4 platform of Metaquotes. SMFX also offers the FX Lite Bo mobile application for its binary options trading service; this software is developed by the company Tradetools FX.

The broker also makes available to its customers the Myfxbook Autotrade application, which serves for automated trading. Autotrade was created in 2013 by Myfxbook, a UK-based forex analytics tool company, and a famous portal for the trader community. As an automated social trading copy service, Myfxbook’s Autotrade offers traders to search, compare, analyze, and share their business strategies. Myfxbook is not a broker in itself, and traders must register with one of its associated brokers to get permission to use the platform.

LEVERAGE

The broker has a leverage of up to 1:200. This level of leverage can only be maintained on trading accounts with a balance sheet of up to EUR 50,000/USD. You can change the leverage of your trading account at any time, simply request it by email at [email protected], and in less than 24 hours, you will have the change made.

TRADE SIZES

The minimum size position is 0.01 lots (micro lot), and the maximum size position is 100 lots. Traders, with the broker’s permission and with sufficient liquidity in the markets, may request the opening of positions of up to 500 lots. The exception is the TOP account, where the áximum trade size allowed is 50 lots.

TRADING COSTS

Traders can have two trading costs apart from the spread. Commissions for trading in 2 of the accounts offered by the broker (Top and Elite) are 2.9 USD and 3.9 USD per lot operated, respectively.

At this cost, you have to add the swap, that is, any position held overnight, which will incur a maintenance cost (interest). This amount can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and the direction of the position, and its amount is fixed by the central banks of the base currency of the open position.

ASSETS

The assets available to trade with this broker are varied and include over 70 Forex Pairs, Metals, CFDs, and Cryptos.

SPREADS

The spreads that Solidary Markets FX applies to its accounts are as follows:

Standard Account – Variable Raw Concept from 1.3 – Commission 0 USD

Top Account – Variable Raw Concept from 0. 2.9 per lot, (0.0029% notational)/side.

Elite Account – Variable Raw Concept from 0.2. 3.9 per lot, (0.0039% notational)/side.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit required by SMFX Solidary Markets to open any of the 3 accounts available is USD 50 / EUR. This is a very affordable amount to start trading, and the standard account conditions are optimal for a novice trader.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

How to deposit money into an SMFX Solidary Markets account? There are currently four options available:

1) Bank transfer

2) Credit or debit card

3) Skrill

4) Neteller

What fees will you have to pay for making a bank transfer to SMFX Solidary Markets? For SMFX Solidary Markets there are no commissions. For transfers from European Union (EU) countries the SMFX bank does not charge a commission. For countries outside the European Union, there is a cost of 15 USD / EUR /AUD.

What is the commission for entering money with my credit card? The cost for coming with card is 3.8% of the total. Is there any limit to entering by credit card? Yes, up to a maximum of 25,000 USD / EUR.

Neteller or Skrill, summary:

Neteller. Currency: USD/EUR. Minimum Deposit: 10 USD/EUR. Maximum Deposit: 5.000 USD/EUR. Fee: 4.09%. Wait Time: 1-12 hours.
Skrill. Currency: USD/EUR .Minimum Deposit: 10 USD/EUR. Maximum Deposit: 5.000 USD/EUR. Fee: 3.5%. Wait Time: 1-12 hours.

There are three options available to enter by bank transfer, and these are the options:

Bank Transfer. Option 1. European Bank. (SEPA). Currency: EUR. Minimum Deposit: 10 USD/EUR. Maximum Dep.: N/L. Fee: 0.75%. Wait Time: 2-5 days.

Bank Transfer. Option 2. European Bank. (SEPA). Currency: EUR. Minimum Deposit: 10 USD/EUR. Maximum Dep.: N/L. Wait Time: 2-5 days. Fee:

Up to 1.000 – 10 EUR
from 1.001 to 5.000 – 12 EUR
from 5.001 – 17 EUR + (0.06% max. 250 EUR)

Bank Transfer. Option 3. European Bank. (SWIFT). Currency: EUR (SWIFT). Minimum Deposit: 10 USD/EUR. Maximum Dep.: N/L. Wait Time: 2-5 days. Fee:

Up to 1.000 – 35 EUR
from 1.001 to 5.000 EUR – 35 EUR + 0.28%
from 5.001 – 40 EUR + (0.28% max. 3000 EUR)

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

What is the limit you can withdraw with a card? Up to 25,000 USD / EUR.

What is the minimum amount I can withdraw from my account?

– By card 100 USD / EUR.

– Through bank transfer, there are no limits.

– By Skrill or Neteller from 10 USD / EUR.

Neteller. Currency: USD/EUR. Min. Withdrawal: 10 USD/EUR. Max. Withdrawal: 5.000 USD/EUR. Fee: 2%. Wait Time: 1-12 hours.
Skrill. Currency: USD/EUR. Min. Withdrawal: 10 USD/EUR. Max. Withdrawal: 5.000 USD/EUR. Fee: 1%. Wait Time: 1-12 hours

Bank Transfer:

Bank Transfer. From European Bank Option 1. (SEPA).

Countries: Inside the European Union
Currency: EUR. Min. Withdrawal: 100. Max. Withdrawal: N/L.
Fee: 85 EUR up to 12.000 USD/EUR, 0.75% from 12.001
Wait Time: 2-5 days
Countries: Outside the European Union
Fee: 85 EUR up to 12.000 USD/EUR. 0.75% from 12.001
Wait Time: 3-7 days

Bank Transfer. From European Bank Option 2. (SEPA).

Countries: Inside the European Union.
Currency: EUR. Min. Withdrawal: 100 USD/EUR. Max. Withdrawal: N/L.
Fee: Up to 1.000 – 20 EUR, 1.001 – 5.000 – 25 EUR, >5.001, 30 EUR + 0.08%
Wait Time: 2-5 days
Countries: Outside the European Union (*)
Fee: Up to 1.000 – 35 EUR, 1.001-5.000, 35 EUR + 0.28%, 5.001, 40 EUR + 0.28%. (max 3.000 EUR)
Wait Time: 3-7 days

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

How to withdraw your funds?

In the menu “Enter or Withdraw” you select “Withdraw Funds,” there you will find an option to request your refund by “Bank Transfer.” Following the instructions, you will arrive at a form, you must fill it out with your bank details. When the broker receives your request, they will send you a confirmation, informing you that the refund process has been done correctly. The broker agrees to process your withdrawal request no later than 2 hours after receipt (provided it is on business hours). The time limit within which the money must be in your account will be 2 to 5 working days.

How long does it take for my deposit to be available in my trading account? If the deposit has been made by bank transfer, the standard term is 2 to 5 working days. In the case of a deposit by credit or debit card, the balance will be available within 1 to 12 hours. Deposits made using Skrill or Neteller, the balance will be available within 1 to 12 hours.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

They currently have a promotion where they give away a mobile phone of the Xiaomi brand. They offer 3 models: Xiaomi Note 8T, Xiaomi MI 9T, and Xiaomi Note 10. The requirements for you to choose one of these mobile phones are: Open a trading account with SMFX. Deposit in the account a minimum of 2000 EUR or 2300 USD. Stay in the trading account for 24 months. The value of the mobile phone will be retained in your account. You also have the option to finance it and pay it in 6, 12, 18, or 24 months.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

In this section, we have found an economic calendar, which is always important to consult to know the most important events of the day, and which can influence the movements of assets. SMFX Solidary Markets also provides a complete forex course free of charge, which we have seen and enjoyed the content. Add that this is provided by an external agent, https://www.whitetigertools.com.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

There are several ways to contact the SMFX Solidary Markets customer service, as follows:

Phone: +64 (0) 36694803
Customer Service: [email protected]
General Information: [email protected]
Technical Support: [email protected]
Opening Accounts and Withdrawals: [email protected]
Skype: service_smfx ; smfx_info

They also have an online chat available 24 hours from Monday to Friday.

DEMO ACCOUNT

The broker provides us with a Demo account based on your SMFX Webtrader version. The demo account will become inactive if you do not use it for a period of 30 days. After that period, you can activate a new Demo account if you wish.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

We have not been able to find a list of restricted countries on the website. We have gone to the registration page to check the countries accepted, and we have detected that at least 4 countries are not on the list, and therefore will not be able to open an account with this broker. The excluded countries are the United States of America, Canada, Libya, and Syria.

CONCLUSION

Solidary Markets NZ Ltd owns SMFX Solidary Markets. This company is registered and based in New Zealand, but is not regulated by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). The company claims to be a Financial Services Manager but is outside the policies of the 2008 Financial Law; therefore it does not require it to belong to the FSP Registry for companies providing services within New Zealand.

The broker claims that he keeps the client’s funds in segregated accounts, which is good practice and is one of the requirements of the strictest regulations. It seems that the broker is serious despite not being regulated. It is based in New Zealand, a country that maintains an excellent regulatory reputation. We can say that their trading conditions are quite good and they are within the average of the industry sector.

Advantages: Very acceptable minimum deposit requirement. It has several commercial platforms. It offers VPS at a reasonable cost. Tasty variety of accounts. Wide range of assets to trade. Attractive welcome promotion.

Disadvantages: Not regulated but appears to be a serious broker.

Tags Forex Broker Review, SMFX Solidary Markets, SMFX Solidary Markets Review

Forex Brokers

Varchev Financial Services Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 16 February, 2021
No Comments on Varchev Financial Services Review

The Varchev broker offers trading in forex, CFDs, ETFs, agricultural goods, stocks, as well as in futures on metals, oil and gas, and indices. The broker’s currency portfolio contains about 40 pairs, major and minor in the Metatrader account, as well as some exotic pairs in the account called VAT. Varchev is a Bulgarian financial […]

Varchev is a Bulgarian financial services company with 17 years of market experience. It is regulated as an investment mediator by the Bulgarian Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), which means that the company can provide its services throughout the EU, thanks to the Mifid passport rules. Also, Varchev Finance is registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom as a foreign company from another EEA country.

Varchev Finance is also a member of the Investment Compensation Fund in Bulgaria, which covers up to 90% of the amount due in the event of the company’s insolvency, but not more than 40.000 BGN (around 20.000 EUR). The FCA points out that the Financial Services Clearing Service may also compensate specific customers if the company closes for economic reasons. This makes Varchev a highly regulated and secure broker who can provide its services throughout the European Economic Area with guarantees.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Varchev offers 2 types of accounts for trading in Forex and CFD, called Metatrader and VAT (Varchev Absolute Trader). This latter account is actually the xStation platform of the main Polish broker XTB, which offers it through a white label association. The platforms have more or less the same trading conditions with the clear main difference in spreads. The broker also offers a free demo account with $10,000 virtual for trial purposes.

PLATFORMS

Varchev Brokers offers two trading platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and Xstation in collaboration with XTB, renamed Varchev Absolute Trader (VAT). Both platforms also offer apps for Android and Apple, for use on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The XStation platform was the “Best Trading Platform 2016” given by Online Personal Wealth Awards and offers fast execution speeds, technical analysis, graphics tools, social trading, and a host of other options.

For their part, the platforms of MetaTrader, both in its version 4 and in its version 5, much more modern, do not need too much presentation. They are, without a doubt, the platforms most used by traders all over the world. These platforms are highly appreciated for their excellent advanced graphics package, their variety of technical indicators, their ability to use their well-known Expert Advisors (Eas), very useful to automate your trading, your historical data for backtesting, and testing the effectiveness of your strategies, etc. And on the MT5 platform, the possibility to include all the characteristics of its predecessor, and also to be able to trade in derivatives and futures, all on the same platform.

LEVERAGE

The leverage will depend on whether the trader is professional or retail. In this way, a retail trader will have the leverages recommended by the ESMA, with a maximum of 1: 30 for certain currencies and a professional trader will be able to obtain leverage of up to 1: 500 depending on his balance sheet or volume. Here are the leverages for each client group:

Retail Traders

1:30 for all Major Forex pairs: EUR USD, USD JPY, USD CHF, USD CAD, EUR GBP, GBP USD, EUR JPY, EUR CHF, EUR CAD, GBP JPY, GBP CHF, GBP CAD, CHF JPY, CAD JPY, and CAD CHF.
1:20 for non-major Forex pairs: AUD USD, NZD USD, EUR AUD, EUR NZD, GBP AUD, GBP NZD, AUD CAD, AUD CHF, AUD JPY, AUD NZD, NZD CAD, NZD CHF, NZD JPY, USD BGN, GBP BGN, USD TRY, and EUR TRY.
1:20 for Gold and Major equity índices: DAX, CAC, UKX, DJIA, SPX, NDX / DE30, FRA40, UK100, US30, US500, US100, JAP225, EU50, and GOLD
1:10 for minor equity indices: ITA40, SPA35, SUI20, and W20
1:10 for Commodities and Metals: Silver, Palladium, Platinum, Aluminium, Copper, Nickel, Zinc, NATGAS, OIL, OIL WTI, Cocoa, Coffee, Corn, Cotton, Soybean, Sugar, and Wheat
1:5 for Stocks and ETFs: American stocks, European stocks, and ETFs
1:5 for all other CFDs
1:2 for Cryptocurrencies: BTC USD, ETH USD, XRP USD, and LTC USD

Professional Traders

Leverage Balance/Equity

1:500 up to $ 10,000
1:400 $ 10,000 – $20,000
1:200 $ 20,000 – $50,000
1:100 $ 50,000 – $250,000
1:75 $ 250,000 – $400,000
1:50 above $ 400,000

Volume Leverage

Up to 10 lots (1 mil.) 1:500
From 10 lots (1 mil.) to 20 lots (2 mil.) 1:400
From 20 lots (2 mil.) to 100 lots (10 mil.) 1:200
Above 100 lots (10 mil.) 1:50 under negotiating

TRADE SIZES

With Varchev, in any of its 2 available accounts, you can trade with a minimum trade size of 0.01 pips (micro lot). This is a good fact because the majority of novice traders demand the possibility of being able to start trading with small positions to minimize their risks.

TRADING COSTS

The trading costs with this broker will be determined basically by its spread and commissions to trade. Barchev offers 2 accounts and we have detected a big difference in costs, in terms of spread, between them, so we will take as reference the VAT account that offers spreads in EUR / USD from 1 pip.

Additionally, this broker does not charge commissions for trading, so to assume a cost from 1 pip in the major currencies, is a very reasonable cost and even a little below the industry average.

The other cost we have to take into account is the Swap or Overnight Financing, which is any position held overnight, which will incur a maintenance cost (interest). This amount can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and the direction of the position, and its amount is fixed by the central banks of the base currency of the open position.

ASSETS

Varchev makes available to its clients a wide range of assets to trade, including CFDs, cryptocurrencies, indices, metals, commodities, stocks, and Forex.

In this review we give priority to forex trading, so we will show only the currency pairs we will have available to trade with this broker:

AUD CAD, AUD CHF, AUD JPY, AUD NZD, AUD USD, CAD CHF, CAD JPY, CHF JPY, EUR AUD, EUR CAD, EUR CHF, EUR GBP, EUR JPY, EUR NZD, EUR TRY, EUR USD, GBP AUD, GBP BGN, GBP CAD, GBP CHF, GBP JPY, GBP NZD, GBP USD, NZD CAD, NZD CHF, NZD JPY, NZD USD, USD BGN, USD CAD, USD CHF, USD JPY, and USD TRY.

SPREADS

In the Metatrader account, Varchev Brokers offers fixed spreads of between 2 to 4 pips, which is a little above the industry average. The spread in the other account (VAT) is 1 pip in the EUR USD pair, which is much more favorable. The company does not charge commissions or fees on any of the account types to trade. We find this cost difference somewhat incomprehensible, which will undoubtedly make the majority of potential customers opt for the VAT account, which is considerably cheaper.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

Varchev Brokers, like its Bulgarian counterpart Benchmark, does not require an initial deposit requirement to open a trading account. Naturally, to start trading, customers need to make a deposit. However, we have not been able to find information on what is the minimum deposit requirement, if any.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

Varchev Brokers accepts customer deposits through bank transfers, credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, and Maestro), as well as through online payment systems Neteller, Skrill, Ukash, Giropay, Itau, the Bulgarian ePay, and Paypal online payment system. The company also accepts deposits at Bitcoin.

It is also possible to make cash deposits. You can deposit with cash by going to the broker’s offices available in Sofia and Varna. For deposits, the broker will not charge any commission to his customers, only the costs that a bank transfer may have on the part of the customer’s bank will have to be taken into account.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

The withdrawal methods will be the same as those detailed in the section on deposits. The only difference is that no cash withdrawals can be made at the broker’s offices, but must be made by bank transfer to an account in your name if you used that deposit method before.

All withdrawals from Varchev Finance to its customers will be returned to where the funds originated initially, that is when they were initially transferred to Varchev Finance. The broker does not report on its website about the costs that may exist for making deposits using any method.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

Varchev undertakes to process withdrawals requested by its clients within a maximum of 1 business day. Then you have to add the waiting times that each payment system has. Withdrawals made by credit/debit cards and e-wallets are usually paid on the same day. Withdrawals by bank transfer will take between 2 and 5 days to appear in your bank account balance.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Varchev Brokers has a bonus program with various types of offers.

The first is the “Account” bonus, which is a credit rate of up to $1000, depending on the volume of deposit made by the customer. This promotion applies only to new customers on their first deposit. For example, for deposits of at least 3,000 USD, the broker will add a bonus of 250 USD, and for deposits of at least 10,000 USD, the broker will add the maximum bonus of 1,000 USD. These bonuses are removable subject to a number of trading volume conditions. Varchev has not clearly reported the terms on its website. There is also a cashback bonus and a promotion for when you refer to a friend or a third person.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

We haven’t found a specific educational area, but we have found a lot of interesting content. This broker has a fascinating blog, as well as a pervasive and high-quality economic news area. It also has market analysis and certain assets. There is also an economic calendar, which we always comment on is a handy tool for any trader by the information of the most important events of the day that come in it.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To contact the customer service we have several alternatives. We can do this by phone, by means of a contact form available on the web, through a live chat live, by telegram, or by personally going to any of the 2 offices in Sofia and Varna. Curiously we have not found an email address, and clarify that Telegram is an instant messaging service similar to WhatsApp.

The contact details collected are as follows:

Contact with dealer +359 700 17 600.
Varchev Exchange – +359 700 115 44.
London Phone: +44 20 8144 1497.
25 Canada Square, Level 33, office 50, Canary Wharf London
Sofia – “Tzar Samuil” street N1 on the corner of Patriarch Euthymius
Varna – “Vladislav Varnenchik” bulevard 186, Floor: 4, office: 4.035

DEMO ACCOUNT

Fortunately, Varchev provides its customers with a demo account. The client will be able to choose the platform to have that Demo account, it can be MT4 or MT5. In order to have this account, Varchev has a specific area on its webpage where you can download the application and also obtain the necessary instructions for its use.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

The broker does not report on his website about citizens of any jurisdiction who may not be Varchev’s clients. In this case, if you intend to open an account with this broker, you will need to contact Varchev to check if you are a suitable customer or not.

On the Varchev registration page, we have detected that no United States of America appears, so we assume that citizens of this country are not accepted to open an account with this broker.

CONCLUSION

Varchev Brokers is a well regulated European broker, which means it is reliable and can offer its services throughout the EEA, and its association with XTB gives it an advantage over other brokers. On the other hand, Varchev offers greater leverage for professional traders (1:500) and offers many payment options, as well as an account (VAT) with no commissions and an attractive spread.

Tags Forex Broker Review, Varchev Financial Services, Varchev Review

Forex Brokers

VARIANSE Review

VARIANSE is the business name of the company VDX Limited, a company regulated by the FCA, specialized in electronic commerce technology, low latency systems, and market data. The broker offers its clients e-commerce in currencies, indices, energy products, metals, and futures through its comprehensive e-commerce platform, called Latentx. According to the VARIANSE website, this platform provides direct access to the STP market and a running speed of only 0.1 ms.

As mentioned above, VARIANSE is operated by VDX Ltd.; a company authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The UK financial regulator sets strict requirements for brokers. They are required to comply with certain rules and procedures that guarantee client funds, the execution of orders, and the minimum capital requirement.

Regulated brokers are required to keep clients funds separate from their operating funds in segregated accounts, and VARIANSE says on its website that the funds of segregated clients are deposited at Barclays Bank, London. Also, FCA-regulated brokers are required to hold at least €730000 to demonstrate their financial solvency. Regulatory authorities, such as the FCA, in most jurisdictions, require very similar minimum capital requirements for financial service providers. For example, brokers based in Cyprus must have at least €1 million to operate legally.

Concerning customer money security, we must say that all companies regulated by the FCA are included in the Financial Services Clearing System (FSCS), which guarantees customers up to £50,000 per person.

ACCOUNT TYPES

VARIANSE offers its clients a selection of three types of accounts: Classic, Ecnpro, and PRIME. The Classic account is designed for inexperienced beginner traders as well as those who do not want to trade in large volumes. The Ecnpro account provides direct ECN connectivity and is ideal for both regular and expert traders. Finally, the PRIME account is designed for professional traders trading in high volumes. FIX API and Free VPS connected, are available in this last account, but, no metals are offered for trading. Also, the commissions in the PRIME account are negotiable.

Here are the characteristics of each:

CLASSIC Account:

No. of Instruments 100 +
Spreads (from) 1 pip
FX Commissions (per side) Click for CFD rates. Non
Minimum Deposit (In Base Currency Units). 500 USD / EUR / GBP
Base Currency USD / EUR / GBP / PLN / JPY / AUD
Pro Leverage up to 1:400
Retail Leverage up to 1:30
Minimum Trade Size 0.01 lot
Minimum Trade Step 0.01 lot

ECNpro Account:

No. of Instruments 100 +
Spreads (from) 0 pips
FX Commissions (per side) Click for CFD rates. 3,5 USD / lot.
Minimum Deposit (In Base Currency Units). 5.000 USD / EUR / GBP
Base Currency USD / EUR / GBP / PLN / JPY / AUD
Pro Leverage up to 1:400
Retail Leverage up to 1:30
Minimum Trade Size 0.01 lot
Minimum Trade Step 0.01 lot

PRIME Account:

No. of Instruments 60 +
Spreads (from) 0 pips
FX Commissions (per side) Click for CFD rates. From 2 USD / lot
Minimum Deposit (In Base Currency Units). 50.000 USD / EUR / GBP
Base Currency USD / EUR / GBP / PLN / JPY / AUD
Pro Leverage up to 1:200
Retail Leverage up to 1:30
Minimum Trade Size 1 lot
Minimum Trade Step 0.1 lot

PLATFORMS

VARIANSE offers its customers two excellent trading platforms. The well-known MT4 and the Flextrade platform. MT4 is perfectly equipped for traders to take advantage of the power and movement of foreign exchange markets. It provides the necessary tools and resources to analyze prices and market trends. MT4 provides facilities for fast and efficient execution of trades and has the ability to create and employ custom algorithmic trading strategies (Expert Advisors) through customization built into the MQL editor.

On the other hand, Flextrade is only available for PRIME account customers. Maxxtrader, is the most professional option for Forex traders, and is a trading platform that allows advanced execution of trades. This platform supports advanced STP runs and electronic routing of orders, and you can see how it is used on the desks of forex operations of the world’s largest institutions.

LEVERAGE

The maximum leverage rates offered by VARIANSE are comparatively high, equivalent to 1:400 in the Classic and ECNpro accounts, and 1:200 for the Prime professional account. Traders need to know that greater leverage means higher risk, not just the ability to make big profits on a small deposit. It’s a double-edged weapon we need to know how to handle.

TRADE SIZES

The minimum trade size for the Classic and Ecnpro accounts is 0.01 lot (micro lot), while for the Prime account the minimum trade size is one lot. We think the minimum trade size required for Prime accounts is a bit excessive; we think a requirement of 0.1 lot (mini lot) would have been more appropriate. There is no information on the maximum trade size on this broker’s website.

TRADING COSTS

Now we’ll show you a table with the commissions that VARIANSE charges for trading its assets in the different accounts it offers.

To these costs must be added the swap, which is a typical cost in all brokers, the Swap, is any position held overnight, which will incur a maintenance cost (interest). This amount can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and the direction of the position, and its amount is fixed by the central banks of the base currency of the open position.

ASSETS

VARIANSE has a tasty variety of assets with which to trade, here we detail the complete list with the offer of this broker,

Forex:

AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CADSGD, CHFJPY, CHFSGD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURHKD, EURJPY, EURMXN, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNOK, HKDJPYS, MXNJPY, NOKJPY, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, SGDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, and USDZAR

Indices:

AU200 Australia 200, DE30 Germany 30, ES35 Spain 35, FR40 France 40, HK50 Hong Kong 50, JP225 Japan 225, EU50 Euro 50 ESTOXX, UK100 FTSE 100, US30 US 30, US500 S&P 500, and UT100 US Tech NASDAQ

Energy:

UKOil F Brent Crude Oil, USOil F West Texas Oil, and NGAS Natural Gas

Metals:

XAU USD Gold Spot, XAG USD Silver Spot, and Copper HG Copper

SPREADS

VARIANSE offers competitive variable spreads in its asset portfolio, starting from 1 pip in the main currency pairs for the Classic account without commissions. The other two accounts, ECNpro and Prime, offer tighter spreads, from 0 pips in EUR/USD in the most volatile hours on the markets, but have a commission amounting to USD 3.5 per lot traded in the ECN account, and 2 USD per lot traded in the Prime Account; This commission is negotiable depending on the volumes traded.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

VARIANSE requires at least 500 USD from its customers in order to open a real account. This is a relatively high initial deposit for the industry average. We can find other FCA regulated foreign exchange brokers that require smaller amounts. Remember also that the ECN account requires a minimum deposit of USD 5.000, and the PRIME account of USD 50,000, which is a considerable amount.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

VARIANSE offers to its clients several different methods of deposit, these include Bank transfer, credit or debit cards (Visa or Mastercard), Skrill, Sofort, Uphold, and Unionpay.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS & PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

On its website, VARIANSE says that all withdrawals are usually processed via bank wire transfer, and in some cases, they may be able to send funds back to your Credit Card, Skrill, or Uphold account if the funds were originally deposited via the method.

The withdrawal costs in the different methods are as follows:

The broker’s withdrawal processing time is 24 hours.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

On the VARIANSE website, we have not found any current bonuses or promotions. However, the broker has an Introducing Broker program. This program is made to reward individuals or companies who refer new clients, and they open trading accounts with VARIANSE. Every time one of the clients you have indicated to perform a transaction, your account will be rewarded in real-time. There is no limit to the number of clients or transactions that may be paid.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

We have not found any educational content on the VARIANSE website. Nor any tool of interest to the trader. We have missed some news section, or a simple economic calendar, very useful for trades so that they can know the most important daily events and that can affect the different assets they may be trading. For us, it is a negative point that this broker has not bothered to incorporate these tools for his clients on his website.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To contact the customer service of this broker, we have three main ways, phone, email, and an online chat. Here are the details:

DEMO ACCOUNT

A Demo account can benefit the trader in 2 ways:

– Practicing commercial techniques

– Learning the different tools of the platform.

It is widespread for traders to open a Demo account before depositing money into a real account. It is also essential to know that the Demo account retains the same live prices and market conditions, simulating the exposure in a real account. To get the demo account offered by VARIANSE, just fill out a form with your personal data, and they will respond with the instructions for installation.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

The information on the VARIANSE´s website is not directed at residents of the United States or any particular country outside the UK and is not intended for distribution to any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.

CONCLUSION

In general, the commercial conditions of VARIANSE are attractive, both for the new traders and for the more experienced ones, although the initial minimum deposit for the Prime account seems excessive (50.000 USD). The broker is well regulated (FCA), and says it offers high-speed execution in transactions. It also provides a good variety of assets to trade. A negative aspect is the absence of educational content and tools of interest to the trader, such as an economic calendar. The broker offers a demo account, which we consider essential, and 2 good trading platforms (MT4 and Flextrade). We don’t like the commissions you apply to both deposits and withdrawals.

To summarize the above, here are the advantages and disadvantages concerning VARIANSE:

Advantages:

Regulated by the FCA
Good trading platforms, too
Attractive spreads

Disadvantages:

Low levels of leverage
It has no educational material or tools of interest to its clients

Tags Forex Broker Review, VARIANSE, VARIANSE Review

Forex Brokers

TusarFX Review

Tusarfx is primarily a Forex broker, founded in 2011, but also deals in metals, gold, and silver. The website is available in several languages, including English, Russian, Indonesian, Chinese, Malay, and Thai. We can deduce from the broker’s interest in adding these languages that he wants to target the Asian public.

Tusarfx is an introductory broker (IB) of the offshore financial services provider FXCL. Introductory brokers are only intermediaries between brokers and traders. They only act as marketing agents, who get clients for their partner.

TusarFX is registered in a tax haven and offers four types of account with leverage of up to 1:500, Tusarfx customers can start with an initial investment of only $1, being able to use the popular Metatrader4 platform.

Tusarfx is the trademark of TUSARFX Ltd. This company is registered in Nevis, an island country in the West Indies. The broker does not mention anything on his website about whether or not he has a license. The financial authorities of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC), regulate only the banking sector and tend not to pay attention to the island’s registered foreign exchange and CFD brokers.

The situation of FXCL is similar: the broker is currently registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), where foreign exchange brokers are neither licensed nor controlled by any regulatory agency.

We have also discovered that the Indonesian government blocked more than 100 forex broker websites in 2013, including those of Tusarfx. But, although FXCL is an offshore broker, it has been trading for more than 10 years and has built a reputation for being a trustworthy, well-rated company.

Here is the review of this broker, after having made a thorough investigation about the company and having tested its platform. Make sure you read it before you invest with Tusarfx.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Tusarfx offers us 4 types of commercial accounts; the broker calls them, Premium account, Standard account, Light account, and Advanced account. Here we detail the characteristics of each one of them.

Premium Account

Minimum Deposit, Starting from 1.00 USD
Maximum Deposit, 10.000 USD
Deposit Method, Bank transfer, Credit or Debit card, OKPAY, DengiOnline, Perfect Money, Western Union, and MoneyGram.
Trading Platform, MetaTrader 4, Android Mobile Trader, iPhone Mobile Trader, Windows Mobile Trader.
Deposit Currency, USD/ EUR/ RUR
Margin Call Level, 60%. Stop Out Level 40%
Maximum Leverage 1:500
Spread, Dynamic, from 1.1 pip with a 5 digit price feed
Maximum Position Size 2 standard 100k lot
Minimum Position Size 0.01
Maximum Number of Orders Online, 30
Swap accounts – 0.6 pip per standard lot
Swap-free accounts – 1.6 pip per standard lot

Standard Account

Minimum Deposit, Starting from 1.00 USD
Maximum Deposit, 7.000 USD
Deposit Method, Bank transfer, Credit or Debit card, OKPAY, DengiOnline, Perfect Money, Western Union, and MoneyGram.
Trading Platform, MetaTrader 4, Android Mobile Trader, iPhone Mobile Trader, Windows Mobile Trader
Deposit Currency, USD/ EUR/ RUR
Margin Call Level, 40%
Stop Out Level 20%
Maximum Leverage 1:500
Spread, FIXED from 2 pips
Maximum Position Size, 2 standard 100k lot
Minimum Position Size 0.01
Maximum Number of Orders Online, 50
Commission, No Commission

Light Account

Minimum Deposit, Starting from 1.00 USD
Maximum Deposit, 7.000 USD
Deposit Method, Bank transfer, Credit or Debit card, OKPAY, DengiOnline, Perfect Money, Western Union, and MoneyGram
Trading Platform, MetaTrader 4, Android Mobile Trader, iPhone Mobile Trader, Windows Mobile Trader
Deposit Currency, USD/ EUR/ RUR
Margin Call Level, 40%
Stop Out Level 20%
Maximum Leverage 1:500
Spread, FIXED from 2 pips
Maximum Position Size, 2 standard 100k lot
Minimum Position Size 0.01
Maximum Number of Orders Online, 70
Commission, No Commission

Advanced Account

Minimum Deposit, Starting from 1.00 USD
Maximum Deposit, 7.000 USD
Deposit Method, Bank transfer, Credit or Debit card, OKPAY, DengiOnline, Perfect Money, Western Union, and MoneyGram
Trading Platform, MetaTrader 4, Android Mobile Trader, iPhone Mobile Trader, Windows Mobile Trader
Deposit Currency, USD/ EUR/ RUR
Margin Call Level, 60%
Stop Out Level 40%
Maximum Leverage 1:500
Spread, Dynamic, from 1.1 pip with a 5-digit price feed
Maximum Position Size, 2 standard 100k lot
Minimum Position Size 0.01
Maximum Number of Orders Online, 50
Commission, No Commission

We can observe that the main differences between the different accounts are found, in the spread, the margin call, the stop out, the maximum deposit, the Maximum Number of Orders Online, and the commissions.

MC / SO levels depend on account type: 40% / 20% for Standard and Light account types and 60% / 40% for Premium and Advanced.

PLATFORMS

Tusarfx offers the MT4 platform. As Tusarfx is an IB from another company, it is normal that offer trading on a Metatrader4 (MT4), powered by FXCL. Most traders use the MT4 platform, and therefore having it available in a broker’s offer is always good news.

This platform is known worldwide because it is very reliable, customizable, and easy to use. It is equipped with an excellent advanced graphics package, a wide range of integrated technical indicators, offers automated trading options with your well-known Expert Advisors (Eas), and a comprehensive backtesting environment for your strategies.

LEVERAGE

Leverage is a trading instrument that offers the ability to trade more funds than is presented in its balance. Leverage helps to maximize profits even with small market fluctuations, thus increasing the “risk-benefit” correlation. Tusarfx offers leverage of up to 1:500.

Leverage for metals will be half the size of leverage for Forex.

For example: if the leverage for Forex instruments is 1:500, the leverage for metals will be 1:250.

Keep in mind that trading with greater leverage does not guarantee better results, in fact, it is often said that leverage is the main reason why beginners lose money in markets.

TRADE SIZES

The minimum Position Size is 0.01 lots (micro lot), while the maximum Position Size is 2 standard 100k lots. We are struck by the fact that the maximum size is only 2 lots. Most brokers offer the possibility to trade with greater trade size.

TRADING COSTS

Spreads are reasonable, as we will see in the corresponding section. As for trading fees, 3 of the 4 accounts offered by Tusarfx have no commission, and Tusarfx only charges a commission on the Premium account, which costs 0.6 pip per standard lot.

The broker announces that if the account is not used, inactivity fees may be charged, but does not specify the time or amount. On the other hand, there is the cost of Swap, which is common in all brokers. The Swap is any position held overnight, which will incur a maintenance cost (interest). This amount can be negative or positive depending on the instrument and the direction of the position, and its amount is fixed by the central banks of the base currency of the open position.

ASSETS

When we tested the MT4 platform offered by Tusarfx in demonstration mode, we noticed that its asset portfolio is not very extensive. It included less than 30 currency pairs and CFDs on precious metals (Gold and Silver). We understand that many traders will lose trading instruments as popular as the S&P 500, the DAX 30, or trading Stock CFDs.

SPREADS

Trade conditions are apparently good. The spreads advertised on the Tusarfx website are really good on most types of accounts: fixed on 2 pips or floating, starting from 1.1 pips in EUR / USD. Additionally, when we tested the broker’s MT4 Demo platform, we found that the spread in EUR / USD effectively fluctuated around 1.1 pips.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

Tusafx provides all facilities to any potential customer, as their minimum deposit requirement is only USD 1.00. So you can start trading in minimal quantities, and affordable to any public.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

Tusarfx offers wire transfers and deposits using all types of credit cards through the payment systems OKPAY, Dengionline, and Perfect Money. It also offers deposits through Western Union and Moneygram payment systems. This broker does not charge deposit fees, but banks and payment systems can charge a specific transaction fee directly to the customer.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

Tusarfx does not charge withdrawal fees, but banks and payment systems may charge a specific transaction fee to the customer. With this broker, withdrawal requests of more than 700 USD must be processed only by bank transfer.

Can a withdrawal be made to a bank account in a tax haven? Yes, but with this broker, by choosing bank transfer as a withdrawal method, you will be charged an additional $1,000 if you withdraw your funds from an offshore bank. Offshore banks are banks located in the following countries: Burma, Cuba, Iran, Liberia, Lebanon, Syria, North Korea, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, etc. Also, know that Tusarfx does not cooperate with banks of the following countries, Liberia, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Japan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Libya, Guinea-Bissau.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

For the process of a withdrawal, we need to log in to our customer area of the broker’s website, choose the withdrawal section, and complete a small online form. Your request will be executed in one or two business days, and from there, it will take the bank to deposit your funds into your bank account, which can be between 2 and 5 additional business days.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Tusarfx offers a complicated Bonus system. Basically, it can be summed up to a 50% bonus for the initial deposit, up to a maximum of 2,000 USD, and always an additional 20% bonus for the remaining deposits.

Loss deposit bonus. The broker always returns 0.6 pips per lot operated, directly to your account. For the refund of losses we give the following example:

If you have lost 100 – 300 USD – Tusarfx pays you back 50% of your loss.
If you lost 301 – 500 USD – Tusarfx pays you back 60% of your loss.
If you lost 501 – 1000 USD – Tusarfx returns 70% of your loss.

But in order to be paid this bonus, you must deposit twice the amount of the bonus. For example, You have lost 200 USD. To get a 50% loss refund (200 / 2 = 100 USD) you must deposit at least 200 USD.

This type of Bonus makes us think that this broker is Market Maker. The broker offers an Introducing Broker program. An Introducing Broker is an agent that introduces customers to a broker. The IB’s receive compensation, in the form of a commission, for the clients they introduce but do not collect from the clients.

The most common forms of commission are CPA or Cost per Acquisition (a fixed payment for each customer), a % of the Spread, or a commission per lot operated established by the broker. In this case, TusarFX pays 40% of the spread, up to 3 pip per 1 standard lot.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

There is a news section with little content. It also has a Forex calculator. It has come to our attention that Tusarfx, despite having a quite complete website, does not have an economic calendar, a tool that we consider necessary and very interesting for the trader routine, as it allows us to know the most important daily events, and which may affect the different financial assets.

This broker has a partnership with FX Instructor, which is a course provider. Tusarfx offers its clients free Forex courses, a sophisticated daily Forex forecast, and a technical analysis of the markets. Unfortunately, the link to access and view the content does not work, so we cannot assess the quality of that educational content.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To get in touch with Tusafx customer service, we have 3 ways of contact, email, and online form you’ll find on the web, and a live chat. The available email addresses are:

[email protected] – technical support and troubleshooting
[email protected] – trading terms, conditions
[email protected] – partnership, advertising
[email protected] – promotions

DEMO ACCOUNT

A Demo account can benefit the trader in 2 ways :

– Practicing commercial techniques

– Learning the different tools of the platform.

It is widespread for traders to open a Demo account before depositing money into a real account. It is also important to know that the Demo account retains the same live prices and market conditions, simulating the exposure in a real account.

Tusarfx offers us a demo account on the MT4 platform. To access it, we must fill out a form with our personal data and some account details. We will then receive an email from the broker with instructions for installation.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

According to the policies applied by Tusarfx, Canadian, Japanese, and US citizens (regardless of residence), residents of Canada, and the US (regardless of citizenship) cannot open trading accounts with this bróker.

CONCLUSION

Tusarfx is an offshore company that acts as an introductory agent for FXCL, a company that is also registered in a tax haven. Although FXCL’s reputation is not bad, Tusarfx customers are exposed to the risks of trading with an unregulated broker.

As always, our best advice for traders looking for a reliable currency broker is to look for those licensed by reputable financial institutions, such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, or ASIC in Australia, for example.

We found good spreads and very generous leverage, up to 1: 500. The methods of deposit and withdrawal are varied, and in short, the years that this broker has been in the market gives us some confidence, together with the fact that we have not found negative customer reviews on other websites.

And finally, here are the highlights of our review of Tusarfx, where we value that there are many more positive than negative aspects:

Advantages:

Generous leverage, up to 1: 500.
Spreads are acceptable.
MT4 platform is available.
Very affordable initial deposit.
It is an IB of a known runner (FXCL)

Disadvantages:

No financial regulation.
His portfolio of assets is not very varied.

Tags Forex Broker Review, TusarFX, TusarFX Review

Forex Brokers

LUCROR FX Review

Lucror Capital Markets LP is a brokerage firm which is headquartered in Auckland New Zealand (registration number 2539816). This broker offers the popular MT4 platform which can be used when trading on their four available accounts and they also have quite an affordable minimum deposit requirement. Lucror FX offers a number of currency pairs and […]

Account Types

Customers of Lucror FX have a choice of four account types to choose from, namely: The Mini Account, The Micro Account, the Muslim Account, and the Standard Account. The accounts vary in their leverage ratios and minimum volume per trade, however, all accounts seem to offer quite similar conditions. The standard account has the largest number of available forex pairs, 29 whereas the other accounts all have a choice of 17 pairs, which when comparing it to what other brokers offer, seems to be quite limited. On their terms and conditions page, we found that this broker requires a minimum of $1000 to maintain an open account.

Here is a breakdown of the four accounts’ main characteristics:

Mini Account

Leverage – 100:1
Minimum Account size – 1000
Minimum Volume – 0.1
Swap-Free – No
Hedging – Yes
Available pairs – 17

Micro Account

Leverage – 200:1
Minimum Account size – 500
Minimum Volume – 1
Swap-Free – No
Hedging – Yes
Available pairs – 17

Muslin Account

Leverage – 100:1
Minimum Account size – 1000
Minimum Volume – 0.01
Swap-Free – Yes
Hedging – Yes
Available pairs – 17/20

Standard Account

Leverage – 100:1
Minimum Account size – 1000
Minimum Volume – 0.01
Swap-Free – No
Hedging – Yes
Available pairs – 29

Platforms

Lucror FX uses the Meta Trader 4 as their platform. The MT4 is the world’s most popular and most trusted trading platform and for good reason. This platform is compatible with several different operating systems including MAC and Windows-based, as well as iOS and Android. The MT4 is ideal for beginner traders looking to discover more about the industry and also for advanced traders who are looking for a data-rich experience and multiple tools to make the most of their trading.

Leverage

The leverage offered by this broker depends on the account type customers decide to open. The highest leverage customers can use is 200:1 which is available for those who have a Micro account. The other three accounts, Mini, Muslim, and Standard, all have a leverage of 100:1.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are also dependent on the account type, the Micro account has a minimum volume of 1 lot, the mini 0.1 lots and both the Muslin and Standard account have the minimum volume of 0.01 Lots.

Trading Costs

Regarding this topic, the information on Lucror FX’s website is quite lacking. There is no mention of commission fees applicable to trades on their account, however, in their Terms and Conditions documents, we did find commissions and fees mentioned quite often, however without any specific details about what type of commissions customers will be expected to pay. We did get in touch via Live chat, however, we did not receive any information about this.

Assets

From what we could see on their website, this broker does not have a very extensive list of assets available for trading. The only information given is that the Mini, Micro, and Muslim account have 17 FX Pairs available, whilst the Standard account has 29 available pairs, however, the broker does not specify which pairs these are. Apart from this, all available accounts can also trade precious metals, Spot Gold and Silver specifically.

Spreads

On their homepage, this broker claims that they offer highly competitive spreads, however, we could not locate any more information about the specific spreads customers should expect when trading with Lucror Fx.

Minimum Deposit

Although this information is not found on their Accounts page on their website, we did manage to find a section in their Terms and Conditions that states that a minimum deposit of $1000 is required to commence trading. We are not sure if this is applicable to all available accounts, however taking into consideration the lack of choice when it comes to trading assets, we feel this deposit requirement is quite steep.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Customers wanting to deposit funds to their Lucror FX accounts can do so via two payment methods, Bank Transfer or via Credit card. The broker does not state whether there are any charges that customers are expected to pay.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

To withdraw money out of an account, customers must send a signed withdrawal request via fax, email, or post. On the request, customers must include their account details, the amount they wish to withdraw, and the account that the money will be withdrawn to. Unfortunately, we could not find any information regarding commission or fees associated with withdrawing funds. We suggest that interested customers should speak to the broker beforehand to have a clear idea of what deductions might be made before deciding to open up an account and withdrawing money.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We found no information regarding processing and wait time for withdrawals so we cannot comment any further on this for the time being.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the moment there does not seem to be any available welcome bonuses, however, they are offering a completely free $15 account for new clients. Profits on that account can be withdrawn at any time, but there is a $15 charge for withdrawal. So this means that only profits can be withdrawn.

Educational & Trading Tools

When clicking onto the Education page on Lucror Fx’s website, we did not find any information however when we searched the term Forex a number of articles came up. These articles covered topics such as the best type of forex platform, exchange money rate, how to guide to Forex hedging, and a few more articles. Customers can also find a glossary outlining commonly used terms and phrases within the trading industry.

The website also has an Industry News page; however, the last article was posted back in 2011 which makes the information completely out of date.

Customer Service

For those wanting to get in touch with this broker, they can do so via telephone or through their live chat option. We did try and contact them through live chat however after filling in the short form to start the conversation, nothing really happened and we were left with unanswered questions. We also tried to reach the broker through their Facebook page, however it seems like this page no longer exists.

Here is their contact information:

Address – 1008-1009, Level 10,

300 Queen Street, Auckland 1010,

New Zealand

Telephone – +64.9.2813160

Demo Account

Lucror FX offer their Demo account for customers to test their trading strategies risk free and in a real-time environment. Once customers apply to open up a demo account, they will be given virtual cash (no details about the amount) and they will also be able to use a fully-functional version of the Lucror ProTrader. Customers can use the demo for 30 days before it expires.

Countries Accepted

This broker does not specify if they have any restrictions on any particular countries so we suggest that customers get in touch with them to find out whether their own residence it accepted.

Conclusion

Lucror FX is a New Zealand based broker that offers four similar account types with a limited number of available assets for trading. We did find that the information on their website is either not explained fully or not present at all, which is inconvenient for potential customers. We also noticed that they are quite limited when it comes to funding accounts as they only accept two payment methods. On the plus side, they do offer a demo account that can help customers determine whether the trading conditions offered by the broker are good or not.

Their customer service is quite lacking, and we were left with unanswered questions after 48 hours and although they do have quite a lot of articles on their education page, their news segment is very outdated with the latest news article having been put up more than eight years ago.

If you’re interested and would like to know more about what this broker has to offer, head on to their website and determine whether investing with this broker would be a good move for you.

Tags Forex Broker Review, LUCROR FX, LUCROR FX Review

Forex Brokers

CIX Markets Review

CIX Markets, a new project by CCC (City Credit Capital) is an FCA regulated company that offers 24/5 customer service with multiple platform options available for its customers. Customers of CIX can be assured that their funds are held in top-tier rated banks, separate from the company’s own funds. This broker has a broad range of products available which they offer using the latest technology. Join us as we delve into CIX Market’s website and determine whether they’re a good choice for you to invest your money with.

Accounts

CIX Markets have two types of accounts available which are the Live account and the Corporate account. One can open up a live account with this broker in 5 simple steps. Keep in mind that all customers must provide proof of identity and proof of address in order to do so.

Although this broker does not implement a strict minimum deposit requirement, we were informed via e-mail that clients should deposit around $500 when opening up their live account

To open a CIX Corporate account customers must complete the Corporate account form and they will then be contacted directly by one of CIX’s representatives. On CIX’s website, customers are given prime access to a research portal when opening a live trading account.

Platform

CIX MARKETS use their own trading platform, the CIX trader which has a loyal following among a multitude of traders. The sophisticated trading platform is fast, secure, and flexible allowing clients 24/5 access to a broad range of financial instruments including FX, Equity, Indices, Precious metals and, commodities. This platform is catered towards more advanced traders and this platform can be downloaded from CIX’s website. For those who want to trade on the go, the platform is also available on IOS and Android tablets and phones. Clients can make use of technical analysis and charting packages, position monitoring, live prices, and constantly updated market news which will help them make a good decision when trading.

Apart from their own proprietary trading platform, this broker also offers the most popular platform around, the MT4. This multilingual platform enjoys popularity all over the globe because of its advanced technical and analytical indicators.

Leverage

Although there is mention of leverage ratios on CIX’s terms and conditions page, they do not go into detail about the specific leverage that they offer.

Trade sizes

This broker sets minimum and maximum trade sizes for all their available assets. Customers can find this information on their proprietary trading platform via the Order Entry Screen. The broker warns that these sizes may vary from time to time depending on the specific market conditions. For those clients who would like to execute a trade size which is larger than the maximum size usually allowed by the broker, they can request it specifically and they will be quoted a different price. On their Market Information Sheet, we did find that for Forex pairs, Indices and Commodities the minimum trade size is 0.1Lots.

Trading costs

Apart from the spread and swap fees, this broker does not charge any additional fees for customers’ trading.

Assets

CIXMarkets offer quite a large variety of assets available for trading, including the most popular currency pairs, including some Exotic pairs as well, Indices including AUS200c, GER30C, and US500c just to mention a few, Commodities including Gold, Silver, and Copper including others as well as some Interest rates & Bonds including EURIBOR, EUROSWISS, and SHORT STG. You can find the full list of available assets on this Broker’s main page under the title FXMARKETINFO.

Spreads

This broker offers fixed, variable, and also target spreads, but this is dependent on the instruments chosen and the underlying liquidity. On their Market information sheets, one can find detailed tables comparing the difference in spreads for both the Fixed and Variable options, for example, the popular EUR/USD pair has a fixed spread of 1 and the AUD/CAD pair has a variable spread of 1.60. The majority of FX and Metal products are quoted using a fixed spread, which means the spread will remain unchanged no matter what the market situation is.

Minimum Deposit

Although there are no details regarding minimum deposit requirements on the broker’s website, we were informed via email that while there is no set minimum to open an account, the deposit should cover the initial margin for a trade. The company suggests that clients should deposit at least a minimum of 500Euro.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can deposit your funds via Visa credit, Visa debit, MasterCard, Maestro, Solo, Switch cards, Bank Wire, Neteller and, Skrill. Deposits can be made using a number of different currencies including; USD, GBP, EUR, or any other currency that the broker will agree on with you. Wire transfers, cheques, bank drafts, and some electronic wallets are also accepted. For those funding their account via cheque should allow a maximum of 3 weeks for their funds to be cleared and sent to their trading account.

Withdrawal Methods and Costs

Customers can withdraw their funds using the same methods they used to initially deposit funds into their accounts. There is no information regarding any withdrawal fees one might encounter when withdrawing funds with this broker, however, one should keep in mind that some banks may impose their own fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Once a withdrawal request is sent, customers must wait approximately seven business days for their requests to be completed.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the time of this review, we couldn’t find any bonuses and promotions being offered by this broker.

Education and Trading Tools

On their website, CIXMARKETS has a page dedicated to News and Education. On this page one can find a few articles which cover the basics of trading, including some historical information, which can be interesting to those just starting out in the trading world. Their News segment is frequently updated, with multiple articles updated daily. This will surely keep CIX’s clients up to date with the latest market news.

This broker has also partnered up with Trading Central, an independent research provider, in order to provide its clients with first-class trading signals and technical analysis to help them with their daily trading decisions. Clients can access this information via the Daily Market Brief which is found on their account page.

Customer Service

Clients can contact CIXMarkets either by email, telephone, or via an online message found on the main page of the website.

Here is their contact information:

Email – [email protected]

Tel: +44(0)20 7614 4688

+44(0)20 76144668

Address; 110, Bishopgate

EC2N 4AY

London

United Kingdom

Unfortunately, this broker does not offer a live chat option, however, we did test out their Message window and we were pleased to receive an answer just a few minutes after we submitted our query. Their customer support is fast and informative and we encourage potential clients to get in touch with the broker directly for more information.

Demo Account

Customers can test out trading with CIXMARKETS by opening a Demo account. This account can be opened in a few easy steps and customers will have $50,000 funds available to test their skills. Demo accounts expire after 4 weeks.

Countries Accepted

This broker does not seem to have any restricted countries apart from the USA at the moment.

Conclusion

CIX Markets is a trading company based in the UK that is authorized and regulated by the FCA. Although they do not have much variety when it comes to account types, they do have a vast array of assets available for all their customers. These assets can be traded on either the most popular platform around, the MT4, or on the broker’s proprietary trading platform, the CIX Trader. We did find that certain information, such as minimum deposits, spreads, and leverages are not easily found on their site, however, after speaking to their customer support we were given all the necessary information.

A major advantage of this broker is that they are fully authorized and regulated by one of the strictest regulators, the FCA. Customers can feel at ease when investing their funds with CIX Markets as their funds are held separately from the company’s own which is always a good point to note. If you are intrigued by what you’ve heard so far, head on to their website to get more information about this broker and what they have to offer.

Tags CIX Markets, Forex Broker, Forex Broker Review

Forex Brokers

UMarkets Review

UMarkets is a foreign exchange broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, they don’t actually have an about us page on the site which is a little strange so they are not giving much about themselves away, this is a little strange and a little concerning. We will be using this review to look […]

Account Types

There are four different accounts available when signing up with UMarkets, we will outline some of their features below.

Mini Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $500, it has a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots, and has access to online chat.

Standard account: This account needs a deposit of at least $5,000, it has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, has access to live chat, access to all platform features, and has access to Autochartist.

Gold Account: This account needs a deposit of at least $10,000, it has a minimum trade size of 0.05 lots, has access to live chat, access to all platform features and has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager, an individual direct telephone line and special promotions.

Platinum Account: This account needs a deposit of at least $35,000, has a minimum trade size of 1.5 lots, has access to live chat, access to all platform features and has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager, an individual direct telephone line, special promotions, one on one trading and personal reports on the stock markets.

Platforms

There are two different platforms available to use, and we have detailed them below.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): MT4 is one of the world’s most useful trading platforms and for good reason, it does everything you could ask to make your trading life easier and is accessible from anywhere as a desktop download, mobile application, or as a web trader. Some of its other features include a convenient and tunable interface, quotes in real-time mode, account control, and transaction management, printable charts of different time periods, a wide range of technical indicators and tools and, the ability to install your own indicators and trading robots.

xCritical Platform: xCritical is another popular trading platform, some of its features include More than 170 trading instruments, the ability to form your own investment portfolio, competent risk management with limit orders, history of previous deals for analysis of strategy, built-in technical advisor Autochartist, the ability to lock and duplicate positions and, built-in online support chat.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:200, we are not sure but it seems like this is the maximum for all four account types, leverage can be selected when opening up an account, and should you wish to change it you will need to contact the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

The trade sizes available to you depend on the account you are using, the different accounts have different minimum trading sizes, they are listed below.

Mini Account: 0.1 lots
Standard Account: 0.1 lots
Gold account: 0.5 lots
Platinum Account: 1.5 lots

We do not know what the maximum trade size is, or how many open trades you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

As the accounts all use a spread based system there is no added commission on any of the acocunts. Swap charges are there, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and they can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

The assets at UAccount have been broken down into a number of categories that we have detailed below.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, CHFSEK, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCZK, EURDKK, EURGBP, EURHKD, EURHUF, EURJPY, UERMXN, UERNOK, EURNZD, UERPLN, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, EURZAR, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPDKK, GBOHUF, GBPJPY, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, GBPPLS, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, GBPTRY, GBPUSD, GBPZAR, NOKJPY, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, SGDJPY, TRYJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDHUF, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZARM ZARJPY.

Indices: CACEUR, DAXEUR, DOWUSD, E50EUR, FTSGBP, HSIHKD, IBXEUR, NKYJPY, NSQUSD, SP5USD, SPIAUD.

Commodities: UKOUSD, USOUSD, XAGUSD, XAUUSD, XNGUYSD, XPDUSD, XPTUSD.

Cryptocurrencies: BATUSD, BCHUSD, BTCUSD, DASHUSD, EOSUSD, ETCUSD, ETHUSD, IOTUSD, LTCUSD, NEOUSD, OMGUSD, XAIUSD, XLMUSD, XMRUSD, XRPUSD, ZECUSD.

Shares: Hundreds of shares available including Amazon, Google, Tesla, Facebook, and Netflix.

Spreads

Each account has different starting spreads if we take EURUSD the following spreads are seen.

Mini Account: Starting from 2.5 pips
Standard Account: Starting from 2 pips
Gold account: Starting from 1.7 pips
Platinum Account: Starting from 1.1 pips

The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, more volatility means higher spreads. Different instruments also have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD on the Mini account starts at 2.5 pips, GBPAUD starts at 5.9 pips on the same account.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $500 which will allow you to open up a Mini account. We do not know if the minimum amounts reduce once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a dedicated funding page detailing any available methods. At the bottom of the page are some images of MasterCard, Visa, Neteller, Skrill, Bank Transfer, and Orangepay so we would be assuming that these methods are available to use. There is also no mention of any fees, however, we may have just missed them, be sure to check with your own bank for any potential fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

There is also no information on withdrawal methods, we assume that the same methods of MasterCard, Visa, Neteller, Skrill, Bank Transfer, and Orangepay are available to withdraw with.

The refund policy doesn’t specify any specific fees apart from a fee of 5% if less than 5 trades are made on the account, they also state that the client is responsible for any banking fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

UMarkets will aim to process any withdrawals in a timely manner, they do not give an exact timeframe. We would hope that any withdrawal requests will be fully processed within 1 to 5 business days from the date the request is made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a number of different bonuses available, we will briefly outline them so you can get an understanding of the sorts of things that are on offer.

Real Demo Account: You can make a profit while trading on a demo account, the account lasts for 2 weeks, any losses are ignored but any profits are transferred to a real account. You must trade the bonus amount 10,000 times in order to withdraw the funds.

Affiliate Program: As with most brokers, there is an affiliate program, refer people to join markets and you could get 15% of each deposit up to $1,500.

Welcome Bonus: You can receive a 30% bonus on your deposit, you can receive up to $10,000, in order to withdraw the bonus you must trade 10,000 times the volume of the bonus amount.

100% Deposit Insurance: You can have insurance up to $5,000, the insurance means that any losses during the promotion will be refunded. The returns are a bonus fund and must be traded 10,000 times to withdraw it.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the educational and toll section of the site, the first being a section for economic news, outlining different things that have happened in the markets. There are also articles available, which detail different aspects of forex trading, along with those there are some videos outlining different aspects of trading such as analysis and trading psychology. There is also a glossary of trading-related terms and an economic calendar detailing upcoming news events and showing which markets the news may affect.

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

You can get in contact with the customer service team in a number of different ways, we are not sure what the opening time of the support team is but we suspect them to be closed over the weekends and on bank holidays.

You can use the online submission form to fill in your request, you should then get a reply via email. You can also use a number of different phone numbers and email addresses to get in contact.

Phone: +501-223-2099

Email: [email protected]

Skype: umarkets.com

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but we do not know which account they use the trading conditions from, the only information is on the bonus page and that indicates that they only last for two weeks. A demo account allows you to test the markets and strategies without any risk to your own capital.

Countries Accepted

There is no statement about which countries are allowed and which are not so if you are thinking of signing up, before you do so, just check with the customer service team to check that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

UMarkets are keeping themselves pretty private, they don’t have an about us page so it is difficult to find out much about them. Their trading conditions can be a little expensive on the lower tier account due to high spreads, but these are better on the top-level acocunts. There are plenty of instruments to trade so you will always be able to find something to trade. There want much information on the deposit and withdrawal methods which is a little concerning but it doesn’t seem like there are any added fees which is good. The decision to use UMarkets as a broker is up to you, but without much information about the company, it is hard to recommend them.

Tags Forex Broker, Forex Broker Review, Forex Trading

Forex Brokers

UOB Kay Hian Review

UOB Kay Hian is a foreign exchange broker that is based in Singapore. There isn’t much on the site in regards to their history, instead, there is a single page indicating what some of their main selling points are, they include impeccable credentials, insightful research, user-friendly platforms, competitive rates, an extensive range of products and […]

Account Types

There isn’t an online account comparison as there is just the single account type, in order to open one up you will need to go directly to the offices in Singapore, and to be eligible you must be a Singapore citizen, Singapore permanent resident, or have an employment pass. As we go through this review we will look into the services in different sections, anything that we outline will be relevant to the single account type available.

Platforms

There are three different trading platforms available, we have briefly outlined them below.

UTrade Platform

The UTrade platform allows you to trade and purchase stocks listed in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, and the US. A few of its main features listed are its ability to change the way you trade, have access to research insights, invest smarter with sophisticated tools, interact with live price charts, access your statements online and to trade more and enjoy exciting rewards.

CFD Platform

The UTrade CFD Pro platform allows you to trade CFDs, a few of its main features include the ability to track market activity with live quotes, create watchlists, perform smart search, you can check your portfolio, monitor margin requirements, and oversee your order book.

Forex Platform

This platform uses MetaTrader 4 which is one of the most used platforms around the world. When using this platform with UOB you get access to 44 currency pairs, seamless and advanced orders, transparent trades, a user-friendly experience, deep liquidity, access to automated trading, configurable trading tools, and access to community trading, the platform can also be used as a desktop download, mobile application or WebTrader.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:20 which is mentioned on the Levergeaed Foreign Exchange page. There is no other mention of leverage on the other asset pages so as far as we know this is the maximum leverage available. On the same page, it does also state that there is high leverage so we are not sure if they consider 1:20 as high, or if there is, in fact, higher leverage available.

Trade Sizes

We could not locate any information regarding the trade sizes, either the minimum or maximum, or even how many trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are commissions charged when trading but we are currently not sure exactly what they are, we just know that they are present on all instruments except for forex and metals, where there is no added commision., we would expect swap charges to be present but we cannot say for sure as there is no relevant information about them.

Assets

There doesn’t seem to be a full breakdown of the available assets, instead, all we have is a few different categories which are bonds, CFDs for equities and indices, EFTs, equities, and Forex currency pairs. There isn’t a break down of the instruments within them so that is all that we do know, there are 40+ currency pairs available, but no list of what they actually are.

Spreads

When trading forex the spreads are starting from as low as 0.8 pips, this is the starting figure and as the spreads are variable, when there is added volatility or less liquidity in the markets, the spreads can often be seen higher than this figure. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while they may start at 0.8 pips for some, others will start higher at 1+ pips.

Minimum Deposit

This is yet another aspect that we do not have any information about, nowhere on the site that we could see did it state what the required amount is to open up an account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There was a mention of bank transfers on the site, but no solid information on the available methods or any added commissions for depositing. As you are required to be there in person to open up an account we would expect electronic payment providers to not be accepted and more formal processes of bank transfers to be the only real option.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

There is no information pertaining to withdrawals, so we do not know which methods are available or if there are any added fees from UOB Kay Hian when withdrawing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know which methods are available to withdraw, we also do not know how long it will take for withdrawals to fully process, we would hope that it would be within 7 days of a request being made but we cannot say for sure.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are 14 different promotions active at the time that we are writing this review, far too many for us to go over, but we will take a look at a few of them just to give you an idea of the sort of promotions that are available.

Alternative Product Promotion

When you trade CFDs and leveraged products you will earn points, when you trade you gain points for the commissions on CFDs or for each 400,000 volume traded on forex and metals. You gain 3 points for every 400,000 volume traded and the smallest prize will need 1,000 points to earn it. So it will take a while to achieve.

50th Anniversary Lucky Draw

Every $100 deposited gets you an entry into the draw, there are monthly draws for $2,000 and then a grand draw in August for $50,000.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different tools available, they include things called the CahrtGenie, ShareXplorer, Stock Alerts, StockScreener, and TechAnalyzer, they are all different ways to help you analyze and watch the markets for trades. Ther is also a research page which has different previews and news from around the trading world, we could not see the quality of it as you are required to log in to view it properly.

Customer Service

There are plenty of ways to get in contact with UOB Kay Hian, their customer support team is available from 8:30 am to 6 pm from Monday to Friday. You are able to contact them using an online submission form, fill it in and you will get a reply via email, you can also use the provided postal address, email address, or phone number.

Demo Account

There may be demo accounts available but there isn’t a way to open one up from on the website. As you need to go in person to open up an account you will most likely need to do that before you are able to open up a demo account. If demo accounts are available, they would allow you to test out the market without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

The following message is displayed at the bottom of the website: “This site is not directed at residents of the United States and countries belonging to the European Economic Area 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.”

Conclusion

UOB Kay Hian is clearly targeting their brokerage services to those that are living in Singapore, and this is obvious due to the fact that you need to live there in order to open up ana account. There isn’t a whole lot of information on the site and we assume this is due to them being a slightly more physical based broker so most of the information you will most likely get from them in person. The trading conditions are not fully known, and neither is the full breakdown of available assets. So if you are from Singapore then visiting them could make it worthwhile, but for those living in a different country, you will need to look for an international broker to join.

Tags Forex Broker, Forex Broker Review, Forex Trading

Forex Brokers

Optimus FX Review

Optimus FX is a company that acts as both its own company and as an introducing broker to IC Markets. They aim to improve on the quality offered by other brokers and to build long-lasting relationships with their clients. We will be using this review to better understand the services on offer and so you […]

Account Types

There are three different accounts available but there is not an account overview. The accounts on offer are Standard Accounts, True ECN Account sand an ECN (cTrader) Account. The different features of them are not made obvious but as we go through this review, in each section we will outline any differences between them.

Platforms

There are three different platforms so a lot to chose from, we have outlined the features of them below.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): MT4 is one of the world’s most beloved trading platforms and is used by hundreds and thousands of users. Some of its key features include a market watch, multiple order types, thousands of indicators, a huge number of compatible expert advisors, trading history, analysis tools, multiple charts, and automated trading.

cTrader: cTrader is chock full of features, some of them include market-leading spreads and low commissions, with servers in the LD5 IBX Equinix Data Center. There are no restrictions on limit orders, with traders being able to use multiple order types, detachable charts, expanded symbol display, real-time reports, and one-click trading.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5): MetaTrader 5 (MT5) is the newer version of MetaTrader 4. 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).

Leverage

Leverage can be chosen between 1:1 and 1:500 and is selected when opening up a new account.

Trade Sizes

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

Trading Costs

There is an added commission of $3.5 per 100,000 traded when using the ECN account, when using the Standard account there is no added commission as it uses a spread based system instead.

Assets

The available assets have been broken down into a number of different categories, we will be looking at what instruments are in them now.

Forex: EURUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, AUDCAD, and more.

Metals: XAUEUR, XAUUSD, XAGEUR, XAGUSD, XPTUSD, XPDUSD.

Spot Energy: WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, and Natural Gas.

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

CFDs: AUS200, US30, US500, UK100, DE30, HK50. USTEC, F40, STOXX50, IT40, JP225, ES35, US2000, CHINA 50, WIG20.

Cryptocurrencies: BTCUSD, BCHUSD, ETHUSD, DSHUSD, LTCUSD.

Spreads

The spreads on offer depend on a few factors. The first being the account type that you are using. The Standard account has spreads starting from 1 pip while the two ECN account shave spreads starting from 0 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets and will often be seen slightly higher than the stated figures.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $200. We do not know if this reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different methods available and can be deposited in AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, HKD, CHF, or CAD.

Available payment methods include:

Credit / Debit Card, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, FasaPay, Wire Transfer, Local Bank Transfer, POLi, Broker to Broker, WebMoney, Bpay, China Union Pay, Qiwi and Thai Internat Banking.

The only fees are for depositing with China Union Pay which has a fee of 0% – 3.5% and Qiwi which has a fee of 3%.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can withdraw using the same methods which for clarification are Credit / Debit Card, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, FasaPay, Wire Transfer, Local Bank Transfer, POLi, Broker to Broker, WebMoney, Bpay, China Union Pay, Qiwi and Thai Internat Banking.

Any fees that are there are charged by your own bank so check with them to see if any are added.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests should be processed within 24 hours (except over the weekend) it will then take between 1 to 5 working days for the funds to fully process depending on the method used.

Bonuses & Promotions

Thee does not appear to be any active bonuses at the time of writing this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

From looking around the site there are no educational materials or resources available.

Customer Service

You can contact Optimus FX by using an online submission form as well as there being postal address, phone number, and email address available.

Address: 4160 NW 1st Avenue, Suite 13, Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 1.800.771.6748
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available to use with MetaTrader 4, you can select any of the accounts to mimic as well as the leverage and initial deposit. Demo accounts are great as they allow you to test out the markets and new strategies without risking any capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present and so you will need to contact the support team to get this information.

Conclusion

Optimus FX shares a lot of its features with IC Markets but they also act as their own broker and introducing broker. There is plenty of options when it comes to acocunts and trading platforms as well as plenty of assets to trade. Lots of deposit and withdrawal methods with very few fees are also great. Optimus FX could be a good route to use when signing up but the ultimate decision is yours.

Tags Forex Broker, Forex Broker Review, Forex Trading

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.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker Review, Forex Trading

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 […]

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.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, Forex Broker Review

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.

Tags Forex Broker, Forex Broker Review, FX Brokers