Tag: forex broker reviews

CarterFS Review

CarterFS is an online foreign exchange broker with a mission to provide the best service available. We have seen brokers using this same website layout before so it looks like CarterFS could be a clone of another broker. Their main commitments are to offer their clients connecting opportunities, to maintain control, to allow for personal and professional support, and to offer freedom of choice. We will be going over the services on offer to see what they really offer and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There isn’t an account comparison or information page so to us it looks like there is just the one account type available, due to this we will be listing the features known to us within each individual section of this review rather than all in this one section. If there does turn out to be multiple accounts, we will outline any differences within each individual section.

Platforms

CarterFS uses its own trading platform rather than one of the more established trading platforms. We did not get a chance to try it out so we do not really know what features it offers, all that we do know is that it is a web-based platform, since the CarterFS site does not give much information about it either, we can not tell if it is a platform worth using.

Leverage

CarterFS is offering its clients leverage up to 1:200 which is a reasonable amount with a decent risk to reward ratio, although many modern brokers are now aiming to offer their clients leverages up to 1:500. The 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

There isn’t a lot of information on the trading conditions available, the trading sizes are one of them, we do not know what the minimum trade size is, many brokers offer 0.01 lots so we would expect CarterFS to offer similar. We also 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

Yet another aspect of the trading conditions that we do not know anything about, there is no information surrounding the trading costs or whether there are any added commissions, often we can work this out by looking at the spreads, however, as we also do not know them (see the Spread section of the review) it is impossible for us to work out whether there are any or not.

CarterFS also does not mention anything about swap charges for holding trades overnight, however, the majority of brokers and accounts will have these present so we expect that CarterFS will also have swap charges on their accounts.

Assets

The front of the website states that they currently offer over 800 high liquidity assets including Stocks, Commodities, Indices, Currencies, and more. There isn’t a full breakdown available though which is a shame, as it is all well and good to say that you have 800 assets available to trade, but not knowing what any of them are can put off a lot of potential clients, as there may be 799 stocks and one currency pair available.

Spreads

Spreads are the final parts of the trading conditions that we will be looking at and it is another section where we do not have any information available. Not knowing the spreads along with the commissions means that we do not know what the overall trading conditions are or how expensive it may be to trade with CarterFS.

Minimum Deposit

Sadly we do not know what the minimum deposit requirement is, so we do not know how much you need in order to open up an account. This is a shame to see as the last thing someone wants is to sign up for an account just to find out that you do not have enough to open up an account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sadly we do not have any information on the deposit methods, so we are unable to comment on them, we also do not know if there are any potential fees when depositing, it is important for potential clients to know this as they do not want to sign up only to find out that their preferred deposit method is not available to use.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As we do not know anything about the deposit methods you would be right to think that we also do not know much about the withdrawal methods. This information is some of the most important for potential clients to know, as you do not want to deposit and then try to withdraw only to know that your preferred method is not available to withdraw with, we also do not know the fees, so withdrawing could potentially cut into your profits, not something that you will want to happen.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know which methods are available to use, we also do not know how long the processing of any requests may take. We would hope that any withdrawal requests would be processed within 1 to 7 working days from the request being made, but we cannot say this for sure.

Bonuses & Promotions

While there isn’t any information about bonuses and promotions provided on the main site, when we looked into the terms and conditions there was one specific to bonuses, the terms state that there may be bonuses available and go over some basic terms such as the fact that you need to turn over the deposit 30 times in order to withdraw it. So if you are interested in bonuses, they are available and you should contact the customer service team in order to find out if there are any available for you to use.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different pages that make up the educational side of the site. There are pages on Forex Basics, Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis, Risk Management, Trading Plan, and Trading Volatility. The pages give a basic overview of them rather than giving you any actual analysis or plans to work with, it is ok for those just starting out, but won’t really help you if you have been trading for a while already.

Customer Service

There isn’t a dedicated contact us page or support page, instead, if you go all the way to the bottom of the page there is an online submission form that you can fill in and then get a reply via email, there is also a postal address and email address provided too. We do not know what the opening times of the support are but would expect them to be closed over the weekends and on bank holidays.

Address: CarterFS FinServices LTD, 1574 Sofia

Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

It is not clear to us whether or not there are demo accounts available, demo accounts allow you to test out trading conditions, platforms, and new strategies without any real risk. If there are no demo accounts available then it is something that they should look at adding to their arsenal.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site so if you are thinking of signing up with CarterFS we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check whether or not you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing and we mean a lot, we do not know what the trading conditions are, what the available assets are, what the deposit and withdrawal methods are and what the trading platform is. You can imagine that it would be hard for users to recommend them as a broker to use with so much information missing and you would be right.

Tags CarterFS, CarterFS Review, CarterFS.com, forex broker reviews

Forex Brokers

CornerTrader Review

CornerTrader is a Switzerland-based foreign exchange broker. They claim to offer a trading-based solution, powerful multi-asset platforms, top solidity, and a legacy of strength. CornerTrader was launched in 2012 and has established its own ways of offering its trading solutions. We will be using this review to look into the services on offer to see […]

Account Types

When signing up with CornerTrader you can choose between 3 different account types. We have outlined them below along with the features and requirements.

Private Trader Account: There is not a deposit requirement in order to open up this account. It comes with spreads on EURUSD starting from 4 pips, CFDs from 4.5 pips, and Futures from 12 pips. The account comes with access to a multi-device platform, free financial news, and you can get financial research for 10 CHF a month and Traders Card from 40 CHF per year. The account also comes with an account opening meeting, free live chat, trading support, post-trading support, stock transfers, and free in-house seminars.

Capital Trader Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least 75,000 CHF or equivalent. It comes with spreads on EURUSD starting from 3 pips, CFDs from 3.75 pips, and Futures from 8 pips. The account comes with access to a multi-device platform, free financial news, free financial research, and Traders Card from 40 CHF per year. The account also comes with an account opening meeting, free live chat, trading support, post-trading support, stock transfers, and free in-house seminars. It also comes with a dedicated service manager, free external workshops, free webinars, and free personal product training.

Pro Trader Account: This account requires a certain amount of trading volume to open. It comes with spreads on EURUSD starting from 0.2 pips, CFDs from 2 pips, and Futures from 2 pips. The account comes with access to a multi-device platform, free financial news, free financial research, and Traders Card for free. The account also comes with an account opening meeting, free live chat, trading support, post-trading support, stock transfers, and free in-house seminars. It also comes with a dedicated service manager, free external workshops, free webinars, and free personal product training, as well as free access to the pro-platform and tailormade pricing.

Platforms

There are two different platforms available from CornerTrader, we have detailed them below along with some of their main features.

CornerTrader Flexibility:

Some of the features of this platform include that it is ideal for traders and investors who are looking for an easy-to-use platform or are often on the move, it has a simple, modern & user-friendly, cross-device platform: trade from your smartphone, tablet, and desktop, it has single-screen support: max. 2 monitors, offers chart-trading: Trading by Chart Analysis, it allows for automated buy orders (algorithm orders), including USA Pre-Market, and it has access to market analyses & news, financial calendar.

CornetTrader Advance:

Some of the features of this platform include that it is ideal for experienced active traders, brokers, and investors, it offers extensive customization options & extended functions, it has multi-screen support: max. 6 monitors, chart-trading: trading by chart analysis, market-depth-trading (requires the purchase of real-time data Level 2), it offers algorithm orders, including USA Pre-Market, and it has innovative risk management tools.

Leverage

We do not know what the available leverage is on the CornerTrader accounts. There is mention of leveraging products but no figures are given.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes strangely seem to start from 0.05 lots, they go up in increments of 0.01 lots until the maximum trade size is reached, these vary by currency to currency but are seen up to 100 lots. We would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade though due to execution and potential slippage issues.

Trading Costs

There is an added commission of $10 per lot traded on the Private and Capital accounts, we do not know if there is an added commission on the Pro account but we suspect that there will be due to its lower spreads. There are also swap charges for holding trades overnight, these fees can be either positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform you are using. A PDF containing the full list of trading costs can be accessed here: https://www.cornertrader.com/export/sites/cornertraderCOM/.content/.galleries/downloads/website/Commissions.pdf

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, we have outlined some of them below along with the instruments within them.

Global Currencies: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, EURAUD, EURCAD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, HKDJPY, NZDSGD, USDAUD, USDCAD, USDCHF, and many more.

Metals: XAGAUD, XAGEUR, XAGHKD, XAGJPY, XAGUSD, XAUAUD, XAUCHF, XAUCNH, XAUEUR, XAUHKD, XAUJPY, XAURUB, XAUUSD, XAUXAG, XPTUSD, XPTZAR.

Stocks: Plenty of stocks are available including the London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, and the Nasdaq Global Markets.

Indices: Netherlands 25, Australia 200, France 40, Germany 30, Denmark 20, US 30 Wall Street, Spain 35, Germany Mid-Cap 50, US Tech 100, Japan 225, Switzerland 20, US SPX 500, EU Stocks 50, Sweden 30, Belgium 20, Norway 25, Germany Tech 30, Hong Kong.

Commodities: Copper, UK Crude Oil, USCrude Oil, Heating Oil, Gasoline, Gas Oil, Natural Gas, CO2 Emissions, Corn, Wheat, Soybeans, Sugar #11, Coffee, Cocoa, and Live Cattle.

Spreads

The spreads depend on the account you are using, the Private account has a spread starting from 4 pips, the Capital account has a spread starting from 3 pips and the Pro account has spreads starting as low as 0.2 pips. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while EURUSD on the Pro account may start from 0.2 pips, GBPCHF on the same account starts from 2 pips. The spreads are also variable which means they will move with the markets, the more volatility in the markets will cause the spreads to grow larger.

Minimum Deposit

There are no minimum deposit requirements when opening up an account as you can open a Private Trader account with any amounts. If you want the Capital Trader account you will need to deposit at least 75,000 CHF (or equivalent), if you want the Pro Trader account then you will need to contact the team in order to find out how much you will need.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, there is little to no information regarding deposits on the site, so we currently do not know how we can deposit funds into the broker, this is a shame as it is quite important, clients don’t want to sign up to then realize they do not use one of the accepted methods.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As there is no information on deposits there is also none for the withdrawal methods, not only do we not know the methods available, we also do not know if there are any fees for getting your money out. Again, this is important information, not being present means it can be hard for clients to build trust.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We also do not know how long it takes for CornerTrader to process requests, we would hope that any withdrawals would be fully processed within 7 days from the request being made, this would depend on the methods that are available to use.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not seem to be any active bonuses or promotions at the time that we were writing this review. If you are really interested in them, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to see if there are any promotions coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are some trading events available, these seem to be quite basic courses for beginners, there are also trading signals available, they are available on the site in the form of videos, while we can see a few of the recent ones, we do not know of their accuracy or profitability. There is also a set of tutorials, going from the basics of trading up to how to analyze the markets. The final section is a list of live exchange rates.

Customer Service

At the bottom of the page there is a phone number, email address, and postal address available to use, we do not know the opening times of the customer service team.

Address: Cornèr Bank Ltd. Tödistrasse 27, CH-8002, Zurich – Switzerland

Phone: +41 58 880 80 80

Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

You can sign up for a demo account, you are able to select to mimic any of the three available accounts and the demo account allows you to test out the markets and strategies without any real risk, they last indefinitely so you can keep on testing for as long as you need.

Countries Accepted

This information is not stated on the site, so if you are thinking of joining, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account prior to opening up.

Conclusion

The trading conditions are actually a little confusing, we don’t know some of the details such as the leverage available, and the trading costs that we do know are quite expensive with a $10 commission on account with spreads as high as 4 pips. The financial side of the broker is completely unknown which is really disappointing to see. We do not know how we can get our money in or out of the broker and we also do not know how much it will cost us. With all of this information missing, we would recommend looking elsewhere for a slightly more transparent broker.

Tags Corner Trader, Corner Trader Review, CornerTrader, CornerTrader Review, forex broker reviews

Forex Brokers

Rakuten Securities Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 18 May, 2021
No Comments on Rakuten Securities Review

Rakuten Securities is an Australian-based foreign exchange broker. Their aim is to focus on the fundamentals of being a good broker, highly competitive spreads, excellent local customer support, and the enduring strong principles of Rakuten, Inc. by which to run our business. We will be using this review as a way to find out what […]

Account Types

There are two different accounts available, we have outlined their key features and requirements below, strangely they don’t have specific names so we will name them Account 1 and Account 2.

Account 1: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50, it comes with a maximum leverage of 1:100. Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and it uses fixed institutional spreads. There are 40 currency pairs to trade along with Gold, Silver, and Indices. There is no added commission on trading when using this account.

Account 2: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50, it comes with a maximum leverage of 1:400. Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and it uses fixed institutional spreads. There are 40 currency pairs to trade along with Gold, Silver, and Indices. There is no added commission on trading when using this account.

*NOTE* Additional accounts (Retail and Pro VIP) have been added since the original Rakuten Securities review was completed. See the details for those accounts above.

Platforms

Rakuten Securities uses the MetaTrader 4 platform. There are also two social trading platforms available to use, the first being ZuluTrade and then AutoTrade. ZuluTrade hosts the largest social trading community, where Myfxbook AutoTrade is a next-generation trade copy service owned and operated by Myfxbook.

Leverage

Both accounts come with different maximum leverage, one account has a maximum of 1:30 while the other 1:400. The leverage can be selected when opening yo an account, it can then be changed by contacting the customer service team with your request to change the leverage.

Trade Sizes

Trade size starts from 0.01 lots and goes up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size for forex pairs is 20 lots while it is 10 lots for Gold. We do not know how many open trades or orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions on any of the accounts from Rakuten Securities as they use a spread-based system. There are however swap charges, these are interest fees charged for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the Metatrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Unfortunately, there is not a product specification available, the online information that we know is that there are 40 currency pairs, Gold, Silver, and indices available to trade, we do not know any more than that.

Spreads

There is also very little information on the available spreads, the information that we do have is just that they offer fixed institutional spreads. Fixed spreads mean that they do not change with the markets, however, the FAQ states that during bank holidays or periods of low liquidity they will turn into variable spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount required to open up either of the accounts is $50, we do not know if this amount reduces once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The main methods available are NAB, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay, and Instant Transfer. When using Skrill you also gain access to the use of Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Amex, and Bitcoin. There are no added fees for deposits, however, you should check with your bank or processor to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, we have listed them below along with any applicable fees added to them.

Neteller – 2% fee
Skrill – 2% fee
China UnionPay – No fee
Instant Transfer – No fee
NAB – AUD $25.00, USD $25.00, EUR €20.00 or GBP £15.00. Domestic AUD Withdrawal fee waived

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We have outlined the expected withdrawal processing times for each available method.

NAB – Domestic: 1-2 business days (International: 3-5 business days)
Neteller – Up to 1-2 business day
Skrill – Up to 1-2 business days
China UnionPay – Up to 3 business days
Instant Transfer – Up to 3 business days

Time will vary depending on the processing time of the method or bank used.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not seem that there are any active promotions at the time of writing this review. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be any in the future, so be sure to contact the customer service team to see if any are coming up if you are looking to get any bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side of the site offers some analysis and features to help you trade. The first is surrounding real-time trading ideas, this is coming from tweets that tell you potential trade setups. There are daily market updates in video format but these have not been updated since May 2019. The long-term insight section again has not been updated since April 2019 but should show you potential long-term trade ideas. There are also technical levels and trading ideas which again have not been updated recently.

The Autochartist MT4 plugin Identifies the best technical charting setups on all available currency pairs. You can select the probability of the price action moving into the target area with Autochartist backtested charting software. Autochartist 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

There are a number of different ways to contact Rakuten Securities, You can use the provided postal address, phone number, skype username, or WhatsApp number.

Address: Suite 5, Level 9, 3 Spring Street Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +612 9247 2483
Skype: Rakuten Securities Australia
WhatsApp: +614 5187 4916

Demo Account

You can open up a demo account that allows you to test out the markets and strategies without risk to your own capital. You can select leverage of 1:100 or 1:400 and the account comes with a balance of 10,000 in either AUD, GBP, USD, or EUR. We do not know if there is an expiration on the account though.

Countries Accepted

There isn’t any specific information but the following statement is available from Rakuten Securities:

“The information on this website may be accessed worldwide. This information and the products and services referred to on this website are only intended for recipients located in jurisdictions where the use of or access to the information, products or services does not constitute a breach of any law or regulation.”

If you are interested in an account and are not sure of your eligibility, we would recommend contacting the customer service department to find out prior to opening up an account.

Conclusion

There are two accounts available but they don’t seem to have any differences apart from the available leverage. Of course, we did not have enough information on the spreads to know if there was any difference regarding them. We also do not know what assets are available as there wasn’t a full breakdown which is a shame as many potential clients like to see if their preferred instruments are available before signing up. There are plenty of methods to deposit so that should be an issue and there are only fees for some of the withdrawal methods.

Tags forex broker reviews, Rakuten Securities, Rakuten Securities Review

Forex Brokers

LKM Groups Review

LKM Groups is a London-based foreign exchange broker that is authorized and regulated by the International Business Company (FCA). This has caused a little confusion on our behalf because the FCA actually stands for Financial Conduct Authority and not the International Business Company, there is also a lot of discrepancies in the information they provide and for a London-based company, the wording is not very coherent. They haven’t provided much information about themselves, so as we go through this review we will be looking into the services that are being offered, so you can decide if they are the right broker for you,

Account Types

There are four different account types available when trading with LKM Groups, they are the Economy Class, Premium Class, First Class, and Business Class accounts. There isn’t much difference on the account pages except for the spreads, due to this, as we go through the review, we will outline any differences (including these spreads) in the appropriate section of the review rather than listing them here and then again in each section of the review.

Platforms

LKM Groups is offering its clients the use of MetaTrader 4 as their trading platform. MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most used trading platforms which hosts the trades of over 1,000,000 traders worldwide. It offers a whole host of features including built-in indicators and compatibility with thousands of others to help with analysis and thousands of expert advisors to allow for automated trading. There are multiple chart windows and timeframes available as well as features such as one-click trading. Normally not having a choice of available platforms can be negative, but when the only platform available is MT4, it is not all bad.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:200, this can be selected when first opening up an account. The FAQ on the site indicates that there is different leverage available for different instruments however there isn’t a full breakdown of these leverages. We are not sure if the leverage can be changed once it is already open, but you could always send a change request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

A lot size is 100,000 base currency units when trading at LKM Groups, the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots which are equal to 1,000 base currency units, the trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size available is, or how many open trades and orders you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

The FAQ page on the site very clearly states that there are no added commissions when trading with LKM Groups as they only use a spread-based system that we will look at later in the review. There are however spread charges, these are fees that are charged when holding a trade overnight, they can be both positive and negative and can most likely be viewed within the trading platform that you are using (in this case MetaTrader 4). There are swap-free accounts available too just in case you are not able to accept or pay the interest due to your beliefs.

Assets

There are only two sets of assets available from LKM Group which slightly limits the overall assets available to trade. We have outlined all the instruments and assets below (and divided them up into further categories) so you can get an understanding of the sort of things that are there to be traded.

Currencies: EURUSD, EURJPY, USDJPY, GBPUSD, EURGBP, EURCHF, USDCHF, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, EURTRY, GBPTRY, TRYJPY, USDTRY, CHFJPY, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDHUF, EURHUF, SGDHKD, USDSGD, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDZAR, USDMXN.

Metals: Gold, Silver

Commodities: Brent Crude Oil, US Oil, WTI Crude Oil.

Indices: Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, FTSE 100, Euro Stoxx 50, CAC 40, DAX 30, IBEX 35, Swiss Market Index, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng

Spreads

The spreads that you get depend on the account type that you are using, we have listed down below the minimum spread value when trading with each account.

Economy Account: 2.1 pip minimum
Premium Account: 1.3 pip minimum
First Class Account: 0.8 pip minimum
Business Account: 0.6 pip minimum
Swap-Free Account: 1.0 pip minimum

Economy Class spreads

These spreads are the minimum value that they will be, the spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets, they will often be seen higher than the figures above. It should also be noted that different instruments will have different spreads, so on the Economy account, the GBPUSD pair has a starting spread of 2.1 pips, while NZDUSD has a starting spread of 2.9 pips.

Minimum Deposit

We didn’t actually come across the minimum amount required to open up an account, but by looking at various sources around the internet it seems that the minimum deposit may be 500 EUR, this may not be 100% accurate and we are also not sure if this amount reduces once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only method detailed in the FAQ is Bank Wire Transfer, however, at the bottom of the screen, there are images of Visa, MasterCard, and American Express so we suspect that Credit and Debit cards are also available to use. There is, in fact, a mention of i-payments in the terms and conditions, but we do not know what this actually entails. The FAQ on the website states that there will be no fees or commission added by LKM Groups, however, you will be liable for any fees added by your own bank or payment processor.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods seem to be available to withdraw with, once again they seem to be Bank Wire Transfer and Credit/Debit Card. Once again, the FAQ on the website states that there will be no fees or commission added by LKM Groups, however, you will be liable for any fees added by your own bank or payment processor.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

LKM Groups have not specified their exact processing times, so we do not know exactly how long it could take, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 1 to 7 working days from the date the request is sent.

Bonuses & Promotions

There wasn’t anything on the site indicating that there are any active promotions or bonuses, however, in the Terms of Service the following sentence is available:

“The Company, from time to time, and at our sole discretion, may offer several types of promotions and/or incentives through which Clients can earn specified rewards upon reaching or by completing pre-defined targets.”

So there have been promotions in the past and maybe more in the future, you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

As an example of a bonus, there is one in the term and conditions that states:

For deposits starting from EUR 1000 – EUR 2000 the bonus will be 100%.
For deposits starting from EUR 2000 – EUR 10.000 the bonus will be 75%.
For deposits starting from EUR 10.000 – EUR 50.000 the bonus will be 50%.
For deposits that will be more than EUR 50.000, the bonus will be 25%.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is an economic and technological news section of the site, however, this is actually just an economic calendar, this details some upcoming news events as well as the sort of impact that the news events could have on the markets. There does not seem to be any other educational information or tools available on the site.

Customer Service

The contact us page has a few different ways to get in contact with them, the first is an online submission form, fill it in and you will then get a reply by email, there is also a postal address provided along with a phone number.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out their conditions and trading platforms completely free of charge. You can open one up by using the online application form. We do not know which account it will mimic in regards to the spreads or whether or not there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information does not seem to be present on the site, should you be interested in joining up, then we would recommend contacting the customer service team just to check your eligibility before you sign up for an account.

Conclusion

Things didn’t start well with the confusion over the government and regulation bodies that LKM Groups use, when we look at their trading conditions they are ok, the spreads on the upper-tier accounts are relatively low when we also consider that there are no added commissions on the accounts. There isn’t a huge selection of assets to trade which is a little shame and when it comes to education the site is a little light. The funding options are also limited to just a few options, but the good news is that there are no fees for either depositing or withdrawing.

Tags forex broker reviews, LKM Groups, LKM Groups Review

Forex Brokers

GWG Review

GWG is a broker with which you can trade in currencies, indices, and commodities. The Broker is licensed and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Cysec) under license 291/16. The company operates in accordance with European Union regulations and directives and complies with MiFID II, aimed at strengthening investor protection and improving the functioning of financial markets to make them more resilient, efficient, and transparent.

ACCOUNT TYPES

We have not found information about the different types of accounts that GWG Broker offers. The only information we have is that to open an account you need a minimum deposit of 100 USD or equivalent currency, and that leverage ranges from 1:10 to 1:30 depending on the underlying asset. The minimum trade size is 0.01 (micro lot) and they charge a commission of 7 USD for each lot operated.

PLATFORMS

The software platform offered by GWG broker is the well-known platform Metatrader 4. MT4 is a reliable platform that offers high technology, such as advanced charts, a wide range of technical analysis indicators, automated strategies (EA), and many customization options.

LEVERAGE

Forex currency pairs have leverage between 1:20 and 1:30
CFDs have leverage between 1:10 and 1:20
Oil has a leverage of 1:10

TRADE SIZES

In Forex, the contract size is 100,000 units of the base currency, with the minimum trade size of 0.01 lot. In stock index CFDs, the minimum trade size is 1 lot, except for the Nikkei 225 which is 10 lots. In Oil, the minimum trade size is 1 lot. Stop out level equates to the forced closure of an order occurs when the equity/margin ratio is less than 50%

TRADING COSTS

All Forex transactions have a commission of USD 7 for each lot traded. For overnight financing (Swap), which is when you leave a trade open overnight, they report a 2% interest commission on long positions and 1% on short positions.

ASSETS

Among the assets that GWG Broker offers for trading are Forex, stock indices, and commodities.

They are as follows:

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

Stock Index: Australia 200, CHINA A50, Euro 50, France 40, German 30, Hong Kong 50, Japan 225, UK 100, US 100, US 30, and US 500.

Commodities: US Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Cocoa, Coffee, Gold, Silver, and Copper.

SPREADS

We have not found information about the spreads that this broker offers for the different underlying assets.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The initial minimum deposit is relatively low. GWG broker requires a minimum of $100 USD as a first deposit, it really isn’t much. There are many offshore brokers who ask for a higher minimum deposit.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

After research, it seems that the only deposit method available is bank transfer. We have not found information that says other deposit methods such as credit or debit cards, e-wallets, or ePayments are accepted. The deposit costs associated with a bank transfer are always paid by the customer and depend on each bank, whether the transfer is international or not, and whether the destination currency is different from the original currency.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

Once we know that the only deposit method is bank transfer, obviously the only withdrawal method is the same. Withdrawals will always go to the original bank account from where the previous deposit was made. The costs associated with withdrawals are not reported by GWG broker on its website. They only report that in withdrawals, bank charges are deducted from the amount withdrawn, but no indication is given as to the amount of such charges.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

The withdrawal process starts with the withdrawal request via the GWG broker website, in the Withdrawals section. The broker does not report the time needed to process the withdrawal, nor in how many days the customer will have his money in his bank account.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Currently, GWG Broker has no current bonuses or promotions.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

GWG Broker has an educational area where basic concepts of trading are exposed such as: what is a currency pair, what are the CFDs, Order and Execution, How orders are executed, What is the slip, What is the locking position, Order Types, What is Leverage, What is the Rollover…etc.

It also has trading tools such as a daily exchange rate, an economic calendar, and an economic news section. The economic news section has not been updated since 2018, which is not very positive.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

There are several ways to contact customer service. They have a contact form, a telephone, email, and offices in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Phone：(357)22008100
Email：[email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

This broker offers us from his website a link to download a Demo account from the MT4 platform. We always consider it positive that brokers offer their users a demo account to practice with the platform and not risk their money, and being GWG a regulated broker it is almost mandatory to offer it, free and unlimited. It is not specified on the website how much time the customer has to use it, we understand that unlimited.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

GWG Broker does not offer its services to US citizens/residents. USA, Islamic Republic of Iran, Sudan, Syria, British Columbia, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Japan, North Korea, and other jurisdictions are barred from using their platform.

CONCLUSION

The best thing about this broker is that its parent company, GTG (Cyprus) Ltd., is regulated by the Cyprus Securities Commission (Cysec). This means that the broker complies with a set of rules and is monitored by the previous commission.

The other positive aspect is that the broker offers the MT4 platform, leading among traders for its powerful functionality, and also has a demo account available so that novice traders can get used to the platform and try different strategies without risking their money.

We have not been able to know what spreads are, information that we consider very important for any trader before opening an account with a broker. We investigated and the company’s previous name was Gametech (Cyprus) Ltd. This company traded under the commercial name “Nenx” which is a binary options broker available only for smartphones and tablets, with a bad reputation and currently appears to be out of business.

Tags forex broker reviews, GWG Broker, GWG Review

Forex Brokers

FxBrew Review

FxBrew is a foreign exchange and CFD trader based in Ireland. They sell themselves as having advanced technology, institutional-grade trading, user-friendly solutions, great customer support, and more. The purpose of this review is to look at the services being offered so you can see if they are the right broker for you to trade with. […]

Account Types

When signing up with FxBrew there is a choice of three different account types, each one has its own requirements to open as well as its own trading conditions, so let’s briefly look at what they are.

Micro Account: The amount required to open this entry-level account is just $5. The account can use both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as a trading platform, it uses market execution and has forex pairs, commodities indices, and cryptos available to trade. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and the maximum is 100 lots, leverage on the account can be up to 1:500. The account can have a base currency of USD, EUR, GBP, or BTC. There is an added commission on the account which is $2 per round lot traded and the spreads start as low as 0.02 pips. Scalping and hedging are both allowed as is the use of expert advisors. The margin call is set at 70% and stop out at 50%, there is also a bonus of up to 100% available with this account.

ECN Account: The ECN account requires a minimum deposit of $100 to open, it has spread starting from 0 pips and there is a commission of $2 per lot traded on the account. It has access to MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as trading platforms and the account can be in USD, EUR, GBP, or BTC. OIt uses market execution and has access to forex pairs, commodities, indices, and cryptos to trade. Leverage can be up to 1:500 and lot sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up to 100 lots. Scalping, hedging, and expert advisors are all allowed and the margin call level is set at 70% and stop out at 50%, there is also a 100% bonus available with this account.

VIP Account: The VIP account is the top-level account on offer from FxBrew, it requires a minimum deposit of $5,000. It comes with spreads starting at 0 pips and has a commission of $2 per lot traded. It uses market execution and has access to forex pairs, commodities, indices, and crypto, its minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and the maximum is 200 lots. Leverage is up to 1:500 and the base currency can be in USD, EUR, GBP, or BTC. Scalping, hedging, and expert advisors are ok to use and the margin call and stop out levels are 70% and 50% respectively. The account comes with a 100% deposit bonus as well as a free VPS service.

Platforms

FxBrew is offering two different trading platforms, both from the MetaQuotes family. These include MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). Obviously, these are two of the best, if not the best, Forex trading platforms in the world. As such, there are no problems to report in this area.

Leverage

Leverage on all accounts has a maximum setting of 1:500, leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it on an already open account you will need to contact the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all accounts start from 0.01 lots (micro lot), they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size for the Micro account and ECN account is 100 lots, the VIP account has a maximum trade size of 200 lots. 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. The number of open trades at any one time is currently unknown to us.

Trading Costs

All three accounts use a commission-based system, the current commission is $2 per round lot traded for all three account types. 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

There seems to be a large number of tradable assets and instruments, FxBrew has broken them down into four different categories, let’s take a look at some of what is included in them.

Forex Pairs: A wide range of products available at least 60 different pairs including the likes of AUDUSD, EURJPY, GBPUSd, USDCZK, EURHUF, USDMXN, GBPNZD, EURSEK, GBPTRY, NZDUSD, CADCHF and, NOKSEK.

Commodities: Five different commodities are available including Gold, Silver, Natural Gas, WTI Crude Oil, and Brent Crude Oil.

Indices: A few different indices are also available including GBP 100, Dow Jones, SPX, Nasdaq, German 30, France 40, JPY 225, AUD 200 and, HKD 33.

Crypto: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash are the cryptos available to trade with FxBrew.

Spreads

Spreads on the Micro account start as low as 0.02 pips, the spreads on the ECN and VIP account start from as low as 0 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 0.1 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open a micro account is just $5, in order to open an ECN account you will need $100 and for the VIP account $5,000. Once an account is open, additional deposits to the same account do not have a minimum value.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Just two methods on offer for depositing, these are Bank Wire Transfer and Bitcoin. There are no additional fees added by FxBrew but be sure to check with your own bank or bitcoin wallet to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Both Bank Wire Transfer and Bitcoin are also available to withdraw with, just like with deposits there are no additional fees added by FxBrew but be sure to check with your own bank or bitcoin wallet to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests are normally processed within 24 to 48 hours, once a request has been processed Bitcoin withdrawals will take as long as confirmations on the network take, bank withdrawals will take between 1 to 5 business days depending on your bank’s processing time.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a 100% deposit bonus available from FxBrew. Simply deposit and they will double your account balance with the bonus funds. It states that you can withdraw the funds once a volume requirement is met but it does not actually say what the requirement is on the site. Only one bonus per person or IP address and should you withdraw prior to meeting the volume requirement then some of the bonus may be removed.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a basic economic calendar available which tells you of any upcoming news events and the markets 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 FxBrew do something similar for their clients.

Customer Service

Should you need to get in contact with FxBrew there are some limited ways of doing it. You can use the online submission to fill in your query and then you should get a reply via email. Other than that, there is just a simple email address to use. It would have been nice if there were more ways available, especially a phone number as sometimes it is good to speak to someone directly.

Demo Account

Demo trading and accounts are available but there is no information about them on the site, just a simple button to sign up. Demo accounts are there to give you a fee for the markets and to test out the trading conditions of the broker. It would have been nice for there to be information regarding which account type they are mimicking and also if there is a time limit on them.

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

FxBrew offer some very competitive market conditions, they provide you with plenty of information around their trading conditions and deposit/withdrawal methods which is great, they also show that there are no additional fees for depositing or withdrawing which is another big plus, the only downside seems to be the lack of ways to contact the customer service team is restricted to email is a little disappointing. If you are able to get over the support issue then FxBrew could be a good broker to trade at.

Tags forex broker reviews, FxBrew, FxBrew Forex, FxBrew Review

Forex Brokers

S2Trade Review

S2 Trade is a forex broker that was founded and managed by industry professionals. Their main values are to impress their traders through their dedication, to show integrity and fairness, to be dependable and communicate effectively, and to take complete responsibility for their actions. They pride themselves on the customer service department and also their education center. We will be using this review to look into the services offered to see how they compare to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker to use.

Account Types

S2 Trade offers three different accounts to their clients. They each have slightly different features and requirements, so let’s look at what they are.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500 and must be in either USD or EUR, it has a minimum spread of 2.5 pips on a non-commission account or 0.2 pips on a commission-based account. The commission account has an added commission of $8 per lot traded. You are able to trade forex, commodities, indices, and stocks. The account can be leveraged up to 1:200, minimum trade sizes start from 0.1 lots, the account also has access to a personal account manager and access to technical support.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $5,000 and must be in either USD or EUR, it has a minimum spread of 2.1 pips on a non-commission account or 0.1 pips on a commission-based account. The commission account has an added commission of $3.5 per lot traded. You are able to trade forex, commodities, indices, and stocks. The account can be leveraged up to 1:200, minimum trade sizes start from 0.1 lots, the account also has access to a personal account manager and access to technical support. The account also has access to one on one training, trading signals, and a rebate program.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 and must be in either USD or EUR, it has a minimum spread of 1.5 pips on a non-commission account or 0.1 pips on a commission-based account. The commission account has an added commission of $2 per lot traded. You are able to trade forex, commodities, indices, and stocks. The account can be leveraged up to 1:200, minimum trade sizes start from 0.1 lots, the account also has access to a personal account manager and access to technical support. The account also has access to one on one training, trading signals, and a rebate program. You also get express withdrawals when using this account.

Platforms

There are two platforms available to use, including the well-known MT4 and MobileTrade. There isn’t much left to say about MetaTrader 4, as it is an extremely popular trading platform used by millions of Forex traders all over the world. As for MobileTrade, it is a mobile-only trading platform that offers advanced Trading Options, trade Forex pairs including EURUSD, trade top stocks with 10 to 20 times leverage.

Leverage

All accounts at S2 Trade can be leveraged up to 1:200, this is an acceptable level and offers decent levels of risk and reward, many brokers are now looking to offer 1:500 leverage. Clients can select the leverage that they want when opening up a new account. Should you need to change it on an account that you are already open, you can send a request to change it to the customer service team.

Different instruments also have different available leverages, we have listed them for you below.

1:200 – Forex Majors, Forex Crosses, Metals.
1:100 – Commodities, Energy Futures.
1:50 – Indices.
1:20 – USA Shares, Europe Shares.
1:5 – Cryptos

Trade Sizes

The Trade sizes on all three accounts start from 0.1 lots which are also known as mini-lots and equate to 10,000 base currency units. Sadly, we do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

Each account type has an option of different payment structures, they can either use a spread-based system (we will look at this later in the review) or a commission-based system. When using commissions, the Standard account has an added commission of $8 per lot traded, the Premium account has a commission of $3.5 per lot traded and the VIP account has an added commission of $2 per lot traded, considering the industry average is around $6 per lot traded, the Premium and VIP account c can be considered quite cheap.

There are also swap charges, these are fees that are either charged or received for holding trades overnight or the weekend, they can be viewed within the trading platform that you are using.

Assets

There are plenty of assets available and they have been broken down into a number of different categories, we have outlined them below along with the instruments found within them.

Forex Majors: EURUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD, USDCHF, GBPUSD.

Forex Crosses: CADJPY, AUDJPY, EURGBP, EURAUD, EURJPY, EURCHF, CHFJPY, NZDJPY, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, EURCAD, GBPCAD, EURCAD, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, GBPAUD, CADCHF, NZDCHF, AUDNZD, GBPNZD, USDHKD, USDPLN, EURNZD, USDSGD, USDTRY, EURTRY, EURPLN, EURDKK, USDDKK, EURNOK, USDNOK, EURSEK, USDSEK, USDZAR, USDMXN.

Indices: Nasdaq, Dow Jones, S&P 500, CAC 40, IBEX 35, Nikkei, SMI, Dax 30, FTSE 100.

Metals: XAGUSD, XAUUSD (Silver and Gold)

Shares: There are plenty of shares available from the USA and Europe, some of them include Cisco, Google, Coca-Cola, BMW, and FIAT.

Commodities: Cocoa, Corn, Soybean, Wheat, Coffee, and Sugar

Energy Futures: Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Brent Crude Oil

Cryptos: ETHUSD (Ethereum), BTCUSD (Bitcoin), XRPUSD (Ripple), and LTCUSD (Litecoin)

Spreads

The accounts can use either a spread-based system or a commission-based one when using the commission-based system that we looked at earlier, the Standard account has spreads starting from 0.2 pips while the Premium and VIP accounts have spreads starting from around 0.1 pips. When using the spread-based system the Standard account has spreads starting from 2.5 pips, the PRemium account from 2.1 pips, and the VIP account has spreads starting from 1.5 pips.

The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets, the more volatility, the higher the spreads will be. Different instruments will also have different average spreads when looking at the Standard account, the average spread for USDJPY is 1.6 pips while the spread for GBPUSD is 4 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $500 which gets you to access the Standard account, if you want the Premium account you will need to deposit at least $5,00 and $50,m000 for the VIP account. Once an account has been opened the minimum deposit amount reduces down to $250 for future top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are five different methods available to deposit with, these are Visa/MasterCard, Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, and WebMoney. There are no added fees from S2 Trade, however, if using a Credit/Debit card you should ensure that you deposit using the same currency or you will need to pay an exchange fee, you should also check with your bank or processor for any outgoing transfer fees charged by them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We believe that the same five methods are available to withdraw with, once again these are Visa/MasterCard, Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, and WebMoney. There is no mention of any fees on the withdrawals information page, however, you should always check with your bank or card issuer to see if they will add any incoming processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The website states that any withdrawal requests from S2 Trade will be processed between 3 to 5 business days; this is the total time for the withdrawal to be fully processed. The time can vary based on your own bank’s processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are three different cashback programs available, they are based on the deposit value that you make and offer different amounts of rebate. If you deposit between $1,000 and $5,000 then there will be a rebate of $1 per lot traded for 2 months. Deposit between $5,000 and $25,000 and you will relieve a $5 rebate per lot traded for 3 months and if you deposit over $35,000 you will receive $10 per lot traded for 6 months. There doesn’t appear to be any actual bonuses in bonus funds available, but you could always check with the customer service team to see if there is anything extra available.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side of the site contains three different aspects. The first is an economic calendar, this details upcoming news events and also shows which markets and currencies the news event could have an effect on. There are also video tutorials however they are currently not working so we can’t see what topics they cover or what sort of quality they offer. Finally, there is some daily market analysis but this has not taken place since July 2019 so it does not look like it is happening anymore.

Customer Service

While the main support team is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, their main phone line is available between 08:00 and 22:00 GMT+2 from Sunday to Friday. You can get in touch by sending a message through the online submission form and you should get a reply by email. You can also use the available postal address, email address, and phone number.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +3726347396

Demo Account

The demo account isn’t clearly advertised on the site but we believe that once you have signed up you will be able to open one up. The demo account allows you to test the markets and strategies without risk, however, we do not know the conditions of the account or if there is an expiration time on them.

Countries Accepted

This is not stated on the site so if you are thinking of joining S2 Trade, then get in contact with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

You get a lot of choices with S2 Trade, while it may only look like there are three account types there are actually six on offer. Each account can be used as a spread-based account or as a commission-based account. The trading costs seem reasonable however on the lower tier Standard account it can be a little expensive, it becomes a lot cheaper the higher your account tier. There are plenty of assets to trade that can be leveraged up to 1:200 which is a reasonable amount. Plenty of ways to contact the customer service team is also good and you should easily find a deposit or withdrawal method that suits you. The only real downside is that some of the educational material is not being updated, so either they got bored of doing it or the quality was bringing in enough clients.

Tags forex broker reviews, S2Trade, S2Trade Forex, S2Trade Review

Forex Brokers

IKOFX Review

IKOFX is a foreign exchange broker based in Vanuatu. IKOFX aims to never stop improving in order to meet the growing expectations of its global client base and to continue to build on relationships with its clients and partners. Providing services like news, tools, trading platforms and competitive trading conditions are their aims. We will […]

Account Types

There are three different accounts available from IKOFX and when signing up you will need to select one of them, so let’s look at their features.

Mini Account: This account requires a deposit of $1, it must be in USD and can have leveraged up to 1:1000. Trade sizes on this account start from 0.01 lots which equate to 1 cent per pip due to the contract size on this account being 10,000. There are swap-free aversions of this account and it has access to 26 currency pairs as well as Gold and Silver.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of $2,000, it must be in USD and can have leveraged up to 1:500. Trade sizes on this account start from 1 lot which equates to $1 cent per pip due to the contract size on this account being 10,000. There are swap-free aversions of this account and it has access to 26 currency pairs as well as Gold and Silver.

ECN Account: This account requires a deposit of $1,000, it must be in USD and can have leveraged up to 1:200. Trade sizes on this account start from 0.01 lot and the contract size on this account is 100,000. Swap-free versions of this account are not available and it has access to 26 currency pairs as well as Gold and Silver.

Platforms

IKOFX offers MetaTrader 5 as its sole trading platform, MT5 is the younger brother of MetaTrader 4 (MT4)m developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MT5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to aid in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless.

Leverage

The leverage that you get depends on the account type that you are using, we have outlined them for you below.

Mini Account: Up to 1:1000
Standard Account: Up to 1:500
ECN Account: Up to 1:200

Leverage can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by sending a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

The Mini and Standard accounts have contract sizes of 10,000 units, the Mini account has trades starting from 0.01 lots and the Standard account starts at 1 lot. The ENC account has a contract size of 100,000 units and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We did not see any information surrounding commissions, however as there is an ECN account there could be on that account, but again we do not know either way. There are however swap fees for holding trades overnight and these can be viewed either on the site or in the trading platform you are using. Swap-free accounts are available for the Mini and Standard account types.

Assets

There are only two categories of instruments, forex, and metals, we have outlined them below.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZF, GBPUSD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY

Metals: Gold and Silver

Spreads

Unfortunately, only one set of spreads is available so we cannot see a difference between the three account types. The information that we do have has the spreads starting from around 2 pips for the EURUSD pair, while other pairs are starting higher, for example, AUDJPY is starting at 5 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets and any added volatility on the markets will make them move slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up the Mini account is $1, in order to open up a standard account you will need to deposit at least $2,000 and $1,000 for the ECN account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different ways to deposit into IKOFX, we have outlined them below along with any fees that are applicable.

Bank Wire Transfer – $12 to $50 USD fee
Local Deposit – Approximated a 3% fee
Credit Card – 5.2% fee
Perfect Money – No fee
Liberty Reserve – No fee

You should also check with your own bank or processor to see if there are any added fees from them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, we have outlined them again with any added fees that are applicable to them.

Bank Wire Transfer – $25 fee
Local Deposit – Approximated a 3% fee
Credit Card – $10 free
Perfect Money – No fee
Liberty Reserve – 80% fee via bank wire

As usual, you should also check with your bank or processor to see if they will charge for incoming transactions or processing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The amount of time it takes for the withdrawals to fully process once again depends on the method used, we have outlined the times below.

Bank Wire Transfer – 3 to 5 working days
Local Deposit – Within 48 hours
Credit Card – 3 to 5 working days
Perfect Money – Within 24 hours
Liberty Reserve – 3 to 5 working days

Bonuses & Promotions

There is currently one promotion active on the site, this is a deposit bonus where you are able to receive a deposit bonus of up to 40%. The maximum credit per account is $3,000 and there is a maximum of $15,000 per client. Looking through the terms, it does not seem like these funds can be converted into real funds and so they will always remain as credit for trading only.

There have been plenty of other promotions in the past so it looks like they are constantly changing, so the bonuses available to you may be different from the one we have mentioned above. IKOFX for some reason also has their leverage being at 1:1000 as a promotion, but we don’t really think it is.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different sections when it comes to education and tools, the first is an economic calendar which details upcoming news events and also what markets they may have and affect on there is also a news section but the page was constantly loading for us so we could not view the content. The interest rate page has not been updated since 2012. There are also forex calculators for pip value, profit, swap charges, and margins. Finally, there is a live TV section but this hasn’t been updated since 2017.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available to contact 24 hours a day 5 days a week as they close over the weekends. You can use a few methods to get in touch, you can use email to contact the support team, clients account team, or the partnership team. There is also a phone number, postal address, and Skype username. There is also a live chat feature in English, Indonesian, Malay, and Chinese.

Address: Vantu House, 133 Santina Parade, Elluk, Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +4420 8133 4588
Skype: IKO_GLOBAL

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out new strategies or the servers without any real risk and so it is good to see that they are available with IKOFX. You can choose to use the demo account as a Mini or Standard account and can select leverage between 1:1 and 1:500 and capital between 1,000 and 500,000. We do not know what the expiration time on the accounts is.

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 find out your eligibility prior to opening an account.

Conclusion

There are three different accounts each with its own features and trading conditions giving you a choice to use the one that suits you. Unfortunately, when it comes to trading costs we do not know the difference between them as we only have one set of spreads and no information on any commissions. When it comes to assets there is a limited number of them meaning there could be a lot of downtime with nothing to trade. The deposit and withdrawal methods are also lacking with fees for both deposit and withdrawing and one fee as high as 80% is a little crazy. IKOFX could be an expensive place to trade with very few assets so our recommendation at this point in time is to look for a more suitable broker elsewhere.

Tags forex broker reviews, IKOFX, IKOFX Review

Forex Brokers

Ashford Investments Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 6 May, 2021
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This is one of the unknown, unregulated brokers that come as a different brand every once a while from Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a well-known nesting place for Israeli outcast Binary Options companies of unethical practices. Ashford Investments used to be a former Binary Options brand that now offers CFD trading on a specialized web-accessible platform. Typically for brokers that behave more like a portal for deposits than as brokerage, Ashford Investment content is full of promotional, promising, manipulative words used when nothing substantial and tangible can be presented.

Ashford investments’ website is also small, having just a dozen sloppily-made pages that contain a lot of text and little information about the company, trading conditions, or arguments. It is confusing how the homepage contains some feedback from Binary Options but the broker is not offering these instruments. According to the broker, they have the world’s most secure platform, a few dreams-come-true testimonials, and easy profits. This Ashford Investments review will reveal if this is true, all the positive and negative sides based on which investors will know if there is a considerable risk dealing with this broker.

Account Types

The broker does not have a clear presentation of what their account types deliver and what is the difference. What we know is there are 4 account types, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The starting account allegedly made for beginners has a very steep minimum deposit requirement few will accept considering the reputation of Ashford Investments. Whatsmore, the account comparison boxes are not finished for the website. The text that is aimed to assist in choosing the right account is targeting the client’s perceived minimum deposit and needs, finalizing with the manager’s assistance. Accounts stated in the registration form are differently named, Standard, Premium, and VIP, with the option to select GBP, EUR, or USD as a base account currency. There is no information about what trading conditions are the visitors signing up for but we will try to obtain some info from the platform in the next section.

Platforms

Ashford Investments does not feature any other platform except the web-accessible one with integrated profile and financial modules. This is easy access, low feature platform with several limitations. Starting with the chart window which is positioned in the center of the screen and reminds of TradingView charting, it is limited to only 5 timeframes, M1, M5, M30, Daily, and Weekly. Windows are not resizable but Chart types are settable to Bars, Candles, Hollow Candles, Heikin Ashi, Line, Area, and as a Baseline. The indicators range is solid with over 90 at the disposal and available for customization.

Similarly to the TradingView you can add or compare other instruments on the same chart. On the left side, there are multiple drawing and measurement tools but much less than the usual TradingView charting. On the left side of the screen is the instrument watchlist categorized into 5 switchable groups with bid and ask price levels but without the spread indication or anything else. Search Box is positioned above and works as you type. On the right of the chart window is the order panel with evident trading size calculated in account currency, not lots or units. The minimum you must invest is 25 USD, EUR, or GBP depending on your account currency.

Stop Loss order cannot be set lower than 10% of your investment and not less than 25 currency units. Pending orders are supported but with similar limitations as with the Stop Loss. Pending order executions are based on the price level only with the trade expiration option. The leverage is displayed in the order panel, but there is no other information about the trading conditions. Finally, the lower part of the screen holds the orders overview with selectable tabs to view Open, Pending, and Closed orders. None of them display anything about the trading costs. Some bugs leave you unable to select other instruments.

Automated trading is not supported and the broker sets limitations to fast traders. According to the Terms and Conditions, the trading position is valid and counted on the volume only if the order remains open for at least 1 minute. Having a simplified charting widget from TradingView with a good amount of indicators but Risk Management defined by the broker with minimums degrades the value offered by this simple platform. This practice is indicative of unethical broker behavior.

Leverage

Interestingly, Ashford Investments has 1:20 leverage for all assets in the platform. The leverage is presented as a multiplier of the invested amount, not reducing the amount of investment needed. This further complicates how traders manage risk, especially with the minimum deposit amounts.

Trade Sizes

Trade size is set to 25 account currency minimum investment for all assets in the platform. Additional trade steps have the same investment amount limitations.

Trading Costs

Ashford Investments does not charge commissions and the swap information is not displayed in the platform or any kind of instrument specification. According to the legal documents we have found that the swaps are calculated in percentages charged on working days. Like with other trading elements, this is another unusual practice. Commodities have 0.0041% overnight charge on the open trade amount, Currencies 0.00495%, Indices – 0.007%, Stocks – 0.021%, Cryptocurrency – 0.5%, and ETFs – 0.01%. Therefore, positive swaps do not exist.

There are other fees described in the legal documents. Ashford Investments has multiple fees applied to various types of trading inactivity. Every account without trading activity more than 3 months will be charged a maintenance fee defined at the broker’s discretion every month. Whatsmore, if a client does not log in for more than 45 days all profits or bonuses will be removed. If a trader receives a bonus, trading activity is measured by volume and the client will have to reach it to avoid cancellation. The minimum trading volume that must be reached needs to be equal to or higher than 10 times the bonus received from the broker.

As we go further, we see another very ambiguous statement about trading activity. To cite the clause, “If the client does not perform any trading activity or the volume of the trading activity is very low for any period defined by the Company, the Company reserves the right to charge the trading account with a dormant trading commission, at a rate determined by the Company as follows”: Inactivity for 60 days – 100 Units, 90 days – 200 Units, 120 days – 500 Units, 150 days – 1000 Units, 180 days – 2000 Units, 210 days – 4000 Units, and 240 days – 8000 Units. Finally, the broker states that they will remove any funds in the account after 12 months of inactivity and set it to the dormant status.

Assets

Ashford Investments has an average instrument range overall. We have experienced a changing number of assets offered, some were erased from the list at one moment and others appeared, while other parts of the sessions showed another set. It is unclear what is happening with the positions left open on these occasions. According to the platform, Forex has a total of 36 currency pairs. Traders that seek more exotics or crosses will find better offers with other brokers. Notable exotics in the list are USD/RUB, USD/MXN, USD/PLN, EUR/ZAR, and EUR/RUB.

Precious metals offer is not minimal, it consists of Gold, Silver, and Platinum. They are placed in the commodity set.

Indexes range is below average compared to other brokers. There are a total of 7 Indexes and some of the majors are missing, such as the S&P 500, but there are also rare Indexes. Notable are AEX, IBEX, and VIX.

Stocks range holds a total of 60 companies. They are diversified across different countries and industry sectors. Most of the traders will like and recognize these major world companies on the list.

Commodities range is not limited to just two Oil types, WTI and Brent, but there are a total of 7 assets excluding precious metals. Traders will also find What, Sugar, Soybeans, Corn, and Coffee.

Cryptocurrencies offer the best category in terms of the number of instruments offered. Certainly, the most interesting assets to beginner traders are crypto and stocks as that is what is the closest to them. Ashford Investments has a total of 63 instruments in the crypto set. This is way more than what other brokers can offer. Bitcoin and other major coins are used in most pairs as a quote but also USD, GBP, EUR, and even CAD from fiat currencies. This way the range becomes unique and extended. Notable rarities are Ardor, BTC/CAD, Civic/BTC, Florincoin, Lisk, Gamecredits, Golem, Navcoin, NXT, Tether, OmiseGO, AUGUR, Steem, Stratis, Monero, Cardano, Zcash, 0x, and more. This is probably the best part of Ashford Investments.

Spreads

The spreads are floating and have to be manually calculated as the platform or the website does not present them. Shortly, the most liquid currency pair, EUR/USD has 4 points spread, GBP/USD – 1 pip, USD/JPY – 1 pip, USD/CHF – 6 points, AUD/USD – 5 points, and NZD/USD – 6 points. The majors’ spreads are average compared to the industry offer. Non-major pairs have some surprisingly tight spreads, such as for the GBP/NZD with only 1 point, NZD/CAD – 1 point, USD/SGD – 1 pip, CAD/CHF – 1 point, and so on.

Spreads from 1 point for minors are usually offered by DMA STP brokers connected to the interbank market, and charging the commission, which is not the case with the Ashford Investments. Exotics have unusually low spreads, for USD/MXN the platform shows only 1 pip spread, USD/PLN also 1 pip, Scandinavian pairs have around 1 pip spread. We have never seen spreads distribution like those with this broker. The spreads are very unusual and very competitive on the exotics.

Precious metals spreads are very competitive. Gold has only 2 pips floating spread, while 1Silver and Platinum have 1 pip. These precious metals spread values are the best in the industry.

As we go to other categories, we encounter no spreads for the Indexes. We do not know a single broker who has 0 spreads constantly on all Index instruments. Cryptocurrencies spread starting from 1 point and do not behave as a floating type. We find these spreads too tight to be real, especially for coins with multiple digit prices and just 1 point spread. It is unlikely for the Ashford Investments to have sustainable business out of their inactivity fees since there are no commissions and unrealistically tight spreads for the majority of assets.

Minimum Deposit

As stated by the broker, Silver Account requires a $2000 minimum deposit. Other accounts do not have minimums specified. Note that the accounts selection during the registration is not consistent with the ones stated on the web page.

Deposit Methods & Costs

According to the Client Login page, only credit/debit cards are accepted. Costs related to deposits are not disclosed if any.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

There are no mentions of the costs for any method. Any profits gained above the initial deposit will need to be withdrawn by wire transfer. The withdrawal form will ask for the withdrawal reason and an agreement you will only request one withdrawal at a time. It looks like the only withdrawal methods are by card and wire transfer. The minimum withdrawal amount is $50 for card and 100 for wire transfer.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

According to the Terms and Conditions, the withdrawal procedure takes 24 working hours. It may take 5 to 7 additional business days for the funds to come to the target account.

Bonuses & Promotions

Bonuses offered are the classic additional funds allowed and withdrawable after certain trading conditions and volume is met by the trader. The trading volume required is the bonus amount times 20,000. We are not sure how the volume is calculated since the trades are not calculated in lots. Any profits made before the conditions are met will be nullified and the bonus will be canceled. Note that the broker also has a minimum activity required in the bonus is accepted by the client, as mentioned in the Trading Costs section of this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

The Academy section of the Ashford Investments webpage has a lot of unprofessional marketing phrases and mentioned e-books, videos, and courses offered for live accounts. Judging by the broker’s use of words, we can assume that the educational content is similar.

Customer Service

Customer service is available only by phone and email. The phone is an IP protocol phone number and not tied to a location. We have not received any reply in 24 hrs by email.

Demo Account

The demo account is not promoted or available meaning the only way to try the service is by applying for a live account and depositing at least $2000.

Countries Accepted

The United States and Japan are the mentioned countries not able to receive the services of this broker. Note that the Ashford Investments website filters and blocks many countries and we had to use other methods to access the site. It is our impression that the broker is open only to countries with higher GDP per capita.

Conclusion

This section of the Ashford Investment review will address the critical issues that play a dominant risk factor to investors. We have investigated Teres Media Limited, the company that owns the website, to easily find relations to many scams conducted and a name on many regulatory authority bodies fraud warning lists, such as FCA, ASIC, etc. The benchmark sites are full of negative reviews but the broker is responding to them, mostly in denial. The website is full of red flags starting with unethical promotion, terms, unprofessional content, restrictive platform, no transparency on any key elements, information inconsistencies, and so on.

Interestingly, the Teamviewer app seems also to be used with clients. This practice is very risky to the client’s privacy and sensitive information stored on their computers. As for the customer reviews, the most common problem with this broker is the withdrawal denial, manipulation by the agents, delay of withdrawals, hidden fees, false promises, trading manipulation, phone calling abuse, etc. These brokers, or better to say deposit web pages, act as a net for naïve internet roamers, victims of email phishing, or commercials that type in their phone numbers. At that moment they became a lead for several calling centers located in cheap labor countries such as Serbia, and other Eastern European countries close to Bulgaria. IP phone callers will use stage names and push the client to deposit. The appearance of these kinds of brokers ruined the image of the brokerage industry.

Tags Ashford Investments, Ashford Investments Review, forex broker reviews

Forex Brokers

Philip Capital Review

Philip Capital is a UK-based foreign exchange broker. Philip Capital claims to stand out from the crowd for a number of reasons, their quality of service, their multilingual and client focus team, the wide range of trading options and platforms, the safety of funds, and their global reach. Throughout this review, we will be looking […]

Account Types

Unfortunately, the account page doesn’t appear to be loading properly so there is no comparison for us to go on, throughout this review, we will be looking at different trading conditions on offer if there are any differences between accounts we will make it clear in each section.

Platforms

There are two different trading platforms available, the first being a traditional trading platform, MetaTrader 4 (MT4). The second is ZuluTrade, which is one of the world’s biggest social trading platforms. Both offer a variety of tools and features that will appeal to a broad range of Forex traders.

***UPDATE***

Philip Capital has now teamed up with Poems to offer Forex trading services. It appears that the aforementioned platforms may no longer be available, being instead replaced by a variety of Poems platforms.

Leverage

Unfortunately, we could not locate any information about leverage, so we do not know what the maximum leverage is.

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 but recommend not making trades larger than 50 lots each due to difficulties in executing the trades quickly without any slippage.

Trading Costs

There is mention of a flat rate of $6 on US market trading. For cost information related to additional market locations, visit the broker’s website.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into Forex, Metals, Commodities, and Indices, so let’s look at what instruments there are.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, AUDSGD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CADSGD, CHFJPY, CHFSGD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSGD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, SGDJPY, TRYJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDJPY, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY and, USDZAR

Metals: Gold (USD, EUR, and JPY), Silver (USD)

Indices: AEX25, AUS200, CN50, ESP35, EURO STOXX 50, FRA40, GER30, HKG50, NAS100l, SG100, SPX500, SUI30 and UK100.

Commodities: UK Brent Oil and US WTI Oil.

Spreads

Spreads are another aspect that we do not know much about, there is a mention of them being low, but no actual figures for us to go by.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is £500 or the equivalent in EUR or USD. For a premium account, you will need to deposit at least £10,000 or equivalent in EUR or USD.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Just Bank Wire Transfer and Credit/Debit cards seem to be available for depositing, if there are any more we are not aware of them. There are no added fees from Philip Capital, but any fees charged by the banks will be made payable to the client.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same two methods seem to be available for withdrawals, and it is the same with the fees, none are added by Philip Capital but be sure to check with your own bank to see if they charge any transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Philip Capital does not specify how long it takes for them to process withdrawals, just that your money should be with you within 5 working days.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not seem to be any bonuses or promotions active when we are writing this review, if you are interested in bonuses then we recommend contacting the support team to see if there are any available.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is some basic analysis and news available but nothing much else. There is an economic calendar to detail any upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. The market news is exactly that, just some simple news articles. There is also a learning portal that has some videos around trading platforms, forex terms, and basic trading.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer service team over at Philip Capital using the following methods.

General Support Mon-Fri (8 AM – 6 PM LONDON TIME)
12-14 Mason’s Avenue, London. EC2V 5BT
Helpdesk: +44(0)207 398 3100
E-Mail: [email protected]

Execution Desk Mon-Fri (8 AM – 6 PM LONDON TIME)
12-14 Mason’s Avenue, London. EC2V 5BT
Helpdesk: +44(0)207 398 3100
E-Mail: [email protected]

—————————————————————

Payment Enquiries Mon-Fri (8 AM – 5 PM LONDON TIME)
Phone: +44(0)207 398 3120
E-Mail: [email protected]

Demo Account

There is mention of demo accounts, however, as the account page is not working we cannot be 100% sure that they are not available. Demo accounts can allow potential clients to test out trading conditions and for existing clients to test new strategies without risking any of their capital.

Demo account page.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is on the website:

“The information on this site is not directed at residents of the United States of America and is not intended for distribution to or for use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.”

If you are unsure of your eligibility, then we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

There is far too much information not available, we had to search deep into the site and FAQs to find most of what we have written. Potential customers will be put off by the lack of info and ease of access. There needs to be a lot of work put into the site and due to that, we are not able to recommend them as a broker to use at this point in time.

We hope you like this review if you do, be sure to check out some of the other reviews to help find the broker that is right for you.

Tags forex broker reviews, Philip Capital, Philip Capital Forex, Philip Capital Review

Forex Brokers

NBH Markets Review

This is a new brand that has been operating since 2018 under the SVGFSA regulation, but in 2020 traders will recognize a legit CySEC regulated broker with a full grant to cover EU clients. NBH Markets EU is owned by Fidelis Capital Markets (Cyprus) Ltd or SN Financials Ltd and another brand domain is nbhm.com. This domain is regulated by SVGFSA and offers different conditions not allowed in the EU. The broker is defined as having an NDD STP execution model, with orientation for an optimal environment also for MAM.

There are statements about having the execution time of 100ms for all accounts, a sign that the broker does not discriminate but also provides transparent, verifiable info. The website follows a mild style, without gimmicks, and very good information on trading conditions. Although some promotional phrases are present, such as being the leader in the industry, innovative and superior technology, etc, transparency is very good, as expected from a regulated broker. Spreads are presented for each instrument and for each account type, insurance coverage confirmation, clear examples, comparisons, a good FAQ page, and generally more info than we usually expect to be published on the website.

Highlights of NBH Markets EU is solid regulation, having a partnership with Trading Central (free signals), Lloyd’s of London Insurance protection of up to $5,000,000, and both platforms support from MetaQuotes. As far as the ratings go from reputable broker benchmark sites, NBH Markets EU does not enjoy a lot of attention, especially since the new regulation license. Considering it is still a young brand, it could be that the marketing is not in full effect. We will review NBH Markets EU to present you with the best decision-making facts and uncover if this new brand could be a rising star in the industry.

Account Types

All the information about the account types is easy to find as NBH Markets EU has a clean and informative comparison page. Demo Account is the first thing mentioned on this page, a good signal the broker is looking for long-term clients. There are 3 account packages, Standard, Pro, and Elite. At a glance, they are not much different from the trading conditions but mostly on the trading costs. What is also eye-catching are the huge gaps in the minimum deposit amount. The Standard Account has a reasonable minimum deposit but a bit higher than most other brokers ask for an entry tier account.

Trading costs differences are just with the commission, spreads are the same except for the Elite Account for which they are a bit tighter. Interestingly, the accounts comparison table also states Stop levels, something most brokers are not considering as important, but for fast trading strategies, it is. The leverage is the same for all accounts as the broker is under the ESMA directives.

The Pro Account requires a very high minimum deposit requirement without a major benefit except for a bit lower commission. Even the spreads comparison table does not show any differences from the Standard Account. Elite Account has the biggest deposit requirement and somewhat lower commission and spread. All other conditions are the same for all accounts. News trading, hedging, and scalping are all allowed on all platforms. USD and EUR base currency accounts are available only.

Swap-free accounts are available but with a limitation. As per the NBH Markets EU statement, swap-free trading positions may be held for a maximum of 5 days, beyond that period the normal Overnight Fee will apply.

Platforms

NBH Markets EU has both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platform pages. MT4 platform licenses are discontinued and new brokers will have to rely on MT5. The MT4 platform does not have all the features MT5 has but most will appreciate the support MT4 has with indicators and Expert Advisors. MT5 is better overall, but traders do not think the offer is substantial and good enough to forgo the vast indicator and EA availability MT4 has built over the years. These platforms are available for Windows, Mac, and also on mobile devices running on Android and iOS. Web-accessible should also be available for those wanting a quick view without any installation but the NBH Markets EU offers only one option – MT4/5 for Windows and mobile devices. For mobile devices only via the link on the login page.

To our surprise, the page dedicated to the MetaTrader 4 platform is providing a download link with an MT5 installation, named as MT4. While the MT5 page link is downloading a different EXE file by name and size, we are not sure if this is an error or if the MT4 is not supported. Probably the new EU branch does not have the MT4 license as it is a new company under CySEC from 2018.

At this point a major problem is evident. On the NBH Markets EU Login page, there is a request to open an account but only for the MT4 platform. Since the above problem with a link only for the MT5, even when on the right web page, it does not look possible to open an account. For this reason, we will not publish the direct market conditions within the platform but what is stated on the website alone.

VertexFX platform is also mentioned on the NBH Markets EU website, but there are no dedicated pages or any links to the VertexFX platform.

Leverage

Per ESMA 2018/796 regulations no instrument can have a leverage of more than 1:30. Since NBH Markets EU is under the CySEC regulation that adheres to EU directives, the only option to have leverage higher than 1:30 is by becoming a Professional category trader. This is done via the request and a trader will have to pass the requirements. These are posted on the Elective Professional Client Procedure page of the broker’s website. Note that by becoming a Professional category trader, you will cancel some benefits Retail traders have. For example, you will not be eligible for the Investor Compensation Fund that ensures clients up to €20,000 or the CySEC, no negative balance protection, and other published benefits Retail traders have.

We were unable to check directly what is the instrument’s specific leverage from the platforms but based on the strict presentation regulation, any invalid data should be quickly corrected. Based on tables on the website, the majority of Forex currency pairs do not have the full 1:30 leverage. Only majors like the EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and the rest have 1:30, while all others are set to 1:20. This includes the exotics like the USD/MXN, USD/TRY, and others. Spot Gold against the USD and EUR has leverage up to 1:20 and Spot Silver has 1:10. Indices and Energies have a fixed margin per lot, therefore special leverage conditions, all lower than 1:30.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all accounts types are in micro-lots, or 0.01 lots. Since all the instruments hold the standard contract sizes, there are no surprises as to how much a trader can minimally trade. The maximum trade volume size is set to 100 lots and for the Elite Account, this can be set to other levels. Stops level is set to be 10 points or 1 pip. This Stops level is low enough even for scalping techniques. To those not aware, the Stops level defines the range around the Bid/Ask price in points where a trader cannot place Stop Loss or Take Profit orders, therefore forcing the trader to move these orders further away. A Margin call is set to 100% level and Stop Out is at 70% for all account types.

Trading Costs

NBH Markets EU is a commission-based broker used on a low spread NDD STP execution model. This means the broker should offer very competitive spreads from the direct interbank market access and earn their profits from the commissions. For the Standard Account, the commission is the highest at $8 per lot traded. Pro Account commission is lowered to $ 5 per lot traded and the Elite Account has a different calculation, $20 per million units traded. Since 1 lot is 100,000 units in Forex currency pairs, this means Elite Account has a $2 commission per lot traded. As for other costs not related to spreads, negative swaps are the only left if you are not applying for the Islamic, Swap-free account.

Swaps are tripled on Wednesdays and there are positive ones. They are calculated in points. For a quick insight of the swap levels, the EUR/USD the long position swap is -9.9 points and a positive 3.96 points on the short, GBP/USD has -7.37 on the long and 0.09 on short, AUD/USD is all negative with -3.74 on the long and -0.11 points on the short, USD/JPY has 2.52 long and -8.47 short and the USD/CHF is with 3.96 on the long side and -9.9 points on the short.

Some all negative swaps pairs among the minors are for the EUR/CHF with -1.87 points on the long and -3.74 on the short, AUD/NZD with -4.29 on the long and -1.98 short, GBP/AUD with -6.93 long swap and -4.95 points short, or -8.47 long side and -4.84 short for the GBP/NZD. The biggest swap is for the Scandinavian pairs and exotics like for the EUR/TRY with -317.13 long and 157.68 points short, EUR/ZAR with -448.03 long and 247.32 points short, and USD/MXN with -444.95 long side swap and 175.95 points short side.

Spot Gold against the USD has a -13.75 points long side swap and a positive on the short with 2.97 points. Against the EUR, spot Gold has 3.15 points on the long and -15.4 points on the short. For some traders interested in holding a position longer, this could be a good option to select a side with a positive swap on the same asset but a different quote currency. There are no other fees stated by the broker.

Assets

As a young brand, NBH Markets EU offers just 4 categories of assets, Forex, Precious metals, Energy assets, and Indexes. The best offer is the Forex with a total of 44 currency pairs. The most interesting are the exotics, USD/MXN, USD/ZAR, USD/TRY, EUR/ZAR, EUR/TRY, and the Scandinavian pairs.

Precious metals are limited to spot Silver and Gold. A nice addition is spot Gold against the EUR so traders can have some other options between the two most liquid currencies. Commodities range is limited only to the energy assets. Both Oil types are present, WTI and Brent with the addition of Natural Gas. Indexes range is comprised of cash contracts CFDs adjusted for benefits and costs. There are a total of 10 indices and all are well known. Notable indexes are IBEX, CAC 40, EUSTX 50, and ASX 200.

Spreads

Interestingly, the website seems still incomplete so we have found some inconsistencies with the spread values on different pages. One page will promote from 0 pips spread and the other will state from 0.6 pips. We will mention the ones published in the instrument table. All spreads are a floating type. Standard and Pro Account features spread from 0.6 pips but there are differences in the average values. The disclosed average values do not have period calculation mentioned. EUR/USD has an average spread of 0.6 pips meaning it rarely goes above or there are some times when it is lower. USD/JPY has 0.7 pips, GBP/USD 0.9 pips, AUD/USD 0.7 pips, USD/CHF 0.8 pips and NZD/USD 0.9 pips.

From the minors the biggest spread is with the GBP/NZD and GBP/CAD with 2.4 and 2.3 pips average spread. Exotics have competitive spreads. For example, USD/TRY has 6.7 pips, USD/MZX 10.1 pips, EUR/TRY 18.6 pips and the wide spread is for the EUR/ZAR with 41.8 pips on average. XAU/EUR has 34 pips spread, which is competitive, and XAU/USD is even better with just 16 pips on average. Elite Account spreads are about 20 to 50% tighter than what Standard and Pro Accounts have.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum for the most affordable Standard Account is $500. Considering the leverage for Retail Traders of 1:30, this is an optimal entry amount. For the Pro traders will need to have at least $25,000. A huge step up but without any substantial benefit. The final, Elite Account requires $50,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

According to the Client Login panel, there is only one option for a deposit, Bank Wire transfer. This means the broker still has not established connections with the e-wallets and other payment processors. In the Deposit and Withdrawal page and the FAQ, Credit/Debit cards are also mentioned but these are not available from the Members Area. All deposits of $5,000 and more do not have any costs associated.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Same as deposits, only the Bank Wire channel is available for withdrawals currently. Note that the FAQ and other pages on the NBH Markets EU website mention Skrill, Neteller, and bank cards but in practice, they are still not implemented at the moment of this review. There are no fees charged by the broker.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Bank wire transfers will take 3 to 5 business days according to the broker.

Bonuses & Promotions

Bonuses and promotions are available only on the other NBH Markets domain, nbhm.com. This EU domain is not allowed to have such practices.

Educational & Trading Tools

Unfortunately, NBH Markets EU does not offer any educational content on their website. There are no Economic Calendars or other tools except what is integrated into the MT5 platform. Trading Central service connection is also mentioned but we have not detected any kind of this signal service content. This is probably still in construction.

Customer Service

NBH Markets EU does not have a chat service. The broker can be contacted only by phone and email. We have not received an answer from this broker in 24 hours. There is also a Callback request form. Note that Facebook and other social media pages are related to the other NBH Markets domain under the SVGFSA regulation.

Demo Account

This broker does now offer demo accounts. These are free of charge and feature some of the benefits shown below.

Countries Accepted

According to the CySEC license and the NBH Markets EU website, clients from Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Switzerland, U.A.E., Ukraine, Vanuatu, and the EU are eligible for services.

Conclusion

We will conclude the NBH Markets EU review with additional information we have found critical for making an investment decision. We have noticed this broker has an 85.19% losing clients rate, a higher figure than the average in the industry. Still, we are not sure for what period is this calculated as at the current state NBH Markets EU cannot receive any new clients. It is not known when the broker will fix all the issues with the platform and the Members Area but for now, we can expect a solid regulated broker in the future. Some additional values certainly need to be incorporated, be it in a form of Signal service, VPS, spreads, assets range, special tools, indicators, or EAs if NBH Markets EU wants to stay competitive. The CySEC license has some requirements to be attained so we can expect something new from this broker soon.

Tags forex broker reviews, NBH Markets, NBH Markets EU, NBH Markets Review

Forex Brokers

KapitalFX Review

KapitalFX is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines-based forex broker. We will be using this review to look into the services offered by this foreign exchange broker and see if they live up to their priorities of putting their clients first or seeing if they fall short. The following is a statement that the brokerage […]

“In the past years the Kapitalfx has come a long way, becoming an industry leader: by the middle of 2018 Kapitalfx clients’ monthly trading volume was more than 180 billion USD and the number of trading accounts opened each month by traders around the world exceeded 15,000. Currently, Kapitalfx offers the ability to trade more than 120 financial instruments, with some of the best-on-the-market order execution and record-tight spreads for the main currency pairs.”

Account Types

There are four different account types available, We have outlined them for you below including their entry requirements and trading conditions.

Micro Account: This account requires a deposit of $100 in order to open, it comes with access to MetaTrader 4 and has spreads starting from 1 pip. The account can trade forex pairs, indices, commodities, and shares and can be leveraged up to 1:500. It uses market execution and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots, going up in 0.01 lots until it reaches the maximum trade size of 40 lots. The account can also have a maximum of 150 open trades and orders. The margin call level is set at 40% with the stop-out level being set at 10%. The account must be in EUR or USD and there is no added commission on the account, the account also does not have access to find management.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of $500 in order to open, it comes with access to MetaTrader 4 and has spreads starting from 1 pip. The account can trade forex pairs, indices, commodities, and shares and can be leveraged up to 1:300. It uses market execution and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots, going up in 0.01 lots until it reaches the maximum trade size of 60 lots. The account can also have a maximum of 250 open trades and orders. The margin call level is set at 50% with the stop-out level being set at 20%. The account must be in EUR or USD and there is no added commission on the account, the account also has access to fund management.

Premium Account: This account requires a deposit of $25,000 in order to open, it comes with access to MetaTrader 4 and has spreads starting from 0.6 pips. The account can trade forex pairs, indices, commodities, and shares and can be leveraged up to 1:100. It uses market execution and the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots, going up in 0.01 lots until it reaches the maximum trade size of 80 lots. The account can also have a maximum of 300 open trades and orders. The margin call level is set at 50% with the stop-out level being set at 20%. The account must be in EUR or USD and there is an added commission of 5 USD or 5 EUR per lot traded on the account, the account also has access to fund management.

VIP Account: This account requires a deposit of $100,000 in order to open, it comes with access to MetaTrader 4 and has spreads starting from 0.2 pips. The account can trade forex pairs, indices, commodities, and shares and can be leveraged up to 1:100. It uses market execution and the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots, going up in 0.01 lots until it reaches the maximum trade size of 80 lots. The account can also have a maximum of 150 open trades and orders. The margin call level is set at 50% with the stop-out level being set at 20%. The account must be in EUR or USD and there is an added commission of 5 USD or 5 EUR per lot traded on the account, the account also has access to fund management.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4 is the only platform on offer and it is a good one to have, it is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms due to its massive selection of features. KapitalFX has detailed some of the benefits of using it with them as receiving one-hour response time on all customer inquiries, ECN trading on MT4, friendly user-friendly interface, a multiLingual Platform in 23 Languages, it’s secure, fast, and reliable. The platform is also highly accessible as you can use it as a mobile download, desktop download, or web trader.

Leverage

The leverage that you receive is based on the account that you use, the Micro account can be leveraged up to 1:500, the Standard account up to 1:300, and the Premium and VIP accounts can both be leveraged up to a maximum of 1:100. You can select the desired leverage when opening up an account and can request for it to be changed by getting in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

The Micro and Standard accounts have starting trade sizes of 0.01 lots (1,000 units) while the Premium and VIP accounts have trades starting from 0.10 lots (10,000 units). All accounts go up in increments of 0.01 lots, up to their maximum of 40 lots for the Micro account,t 60 lots for the Standard account, and 80 lots for the Premium and VIP accounts.

The Micro and VIP accounts can have up to 150 trades or orders open at any one time while the Standard account can have 250 and the Premium account can have up to 300 open trades at any one time.

Trading Costs

The Premium and VIP accounts have an added commission of 6 USD or 5 EUR (depending on your base currency) added to their trades. This is in line with the industry average of $6 per lot traded. The Micro and Standard accounts do not have any added charges as they use a spread-based system that we will look at later in this review. There are also swap charges, these are fees that are either charged or received for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Sadly there isn’t a full breakdown of the available trading assets or instruments, this is a shame as a lot of potential clients may be looking out to see if a broker offers their preferred assets, not knowing if it is available could make them look elsewhere. It is also helpful to see how many assets are available. The website simply states that there are forex pairs, indices, commodities, and shares available, but no outline of which ones exactly.

Spreads

The starting spread again depends on the account type that you have opened. The Micro and Standard accounts both have spread starting from 1 pip, while the Premium account has spread starting from 0.6 pips and the VIP account has spreads starting from 0.2 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, during times of higher volatility they will be seen higher than these startling figures. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while one may start at 1 pip, another may start higher at 2 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100 which will allow you to open up a Micro account. The Standard account requires a deposit of $500, the Premium account $25,000 and if you want a VIP account you will need to deposit a massive $100,000 which will price out the majority of retail traders. Usually, the minimum will reduce once an account has been opened but there was no mention of a reduction on the site.

Deposit Methods & Costs

When looking through the deposit and withdrawal page they really do not make it clear exactly what is available to use or even how to deposit. We have learned that both Bank Wire Transfer and Visa/MasterCard are available to use but there isn’t a mention of any other methods, so it is most likely that just those two methods are available.

Another bit of information missing for the deposits is regarding any potential fees, there is nothing mentioned on the deposit/withdrawal page, we would recommend contacting your own bank or card issuer to see if they will add any potential transfer fees of their own to the deposits.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can only use Bank Wire to withdraw with, the FAQ of the site very clearly states that you are not able to withdraw using a Credit/Debit card, either as a withdrawal or as a refund, so you are stuck with Bank Wire Transfers for now.

There is a statement on withdrawal fees which states:

“If the receiving bank uses an intermediary bank to send/receive funds, you may incur additional fees charged by the intermediary bank. These charges are usually placed for transmitting the wire to your bank. Kapitalfx is not involved with and nor has any control over these additional fees.”

So it seems like KapitalFX does not add any fees of their own but you should check with your own bank or processor for their fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

KapitalFX will generally process a withdrawal request within 2 to 5 business days, the amount of time it will then take will depend on the method used and your own bank’s processing times, it will normally take an additional 1 to 5 days to be fully processed by your bank, so the withdrawal times are a little on the long side when comparing to the competition.

Bonuses & Promotions

We had a good look through the site but it did not appear that there were any promotions or bonuses taking place, at least not at the time that we were looking. This does not mean that there won’t be any so be sure to check back regularly or you could contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few small tools available to you, the first is an economic calendar, this details any upcoming news events that could affect the markets and it also states which currencies and markets the news event may have an effect on. There is then a profit calculator as well as a pip calculator to help you work out some of the details of your next trade. There is also a news and events section, but it isn’t very detailed and simply lists 5 different news articles taken from another site.

There is also an opportunity to get access to a free VPS, in order to do this you will need to close at least 7 lots and keep your balance above $500. If you fall below these numbers then your monthly VPS will not be renewed.

Customer Service

The contact page offers the broker’s online submission form. You can fill it in with your name, email, and query and you should then get a reply via email. They have also provided you with a postal address. In order to find an email address, we have to scroll to the footer of the page where one is present. It does not look like there is a phone number or a way to speak to someone directly.

Demo Account

Once you have signed up you are able to select a demo account to pen. The demo account allows you to test out the trading conditions and strategies without any real risk to your capital. The demo account expires after 30 days and you will need to open a new one to continue practicing. The pricing and execution on demo accounts, while indicative of live pricing and execution, is not a mirror image of what you will see if you sign-up for a live account. The pricing and execution are indicative and should give you a hint about how a live account would function.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site:

“Kapitalfx.de brand does not provide services to residents of the USA, Japan, British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan, and some other regions.”

If you are still not sure of your eligibility we would recommend contacting the customer service department to find out prior to opening up an account.

Conclusion

There are plenty of options available when we look at the accounts, the trading conditions vary in relation to the different account tiers. We, unfortunately, do not have an accurate list of available spreads due to an asset breakdown or specification being missing, however, on paper, the trading conditions seem quite competitive. There is a distinct lack of deposit and withdrawal methods, being stuck with just Bank wire transfer as a withdrawal method can be quite limiting, the good news is that there are no added fees from KapitalFX.

Tags forex broker reviews, KapitalFX, KapitalFX Broker, KapitalFX Review

Forex Brokers

Pure Market Review

Pure Market is a foreign exchange broker that operates under the jurisdiction of Vanuatu and is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Commission. The management of Pure Markets has trading experience going back as far as 1999. They aim to bring their experience and knowledge to the brokerage world to help bring you the best broker available. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the services on offer to see exactly what is on offer and to see how they compare next to the competition.

Account Types

There are two different accounts available, they both have their own conditions and features. Let’s briefly look at what they are.

STP – Forex Only: This account requires a deposit of 100 EUR or USD, it can be leveraged up to 1:100 and there is a spread starting from 0.9 pips with no added commissions. It uses a market execution style with the margin calls set at 150% and the stop-out level set at 100%. There are 58 currency pairs available to trade along with 2 metals. The standard lot size is 100,000 units and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots for both forex and metals. The maximum trade size is 50 lots with a maximum of 300 orders at any one time.

STP – Forex + CFDs: This account requires a deposit of 100 EUR or USD, it can be leveraged up to 1:200 and there is a spread starting from 0 pips with an added commission of $30 per million traded on forex and $0 for CFDs. It uses a market execution style with the margin calls set at 150% and the stop-out level set at 100%. There are 58 currency pairs available to trade along with 2 metals, 3 energies, and 13 indices. The standard lot size is 100,000 units and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots for both forex and metals. The maximum trade size is 30 lots with a maximum of 300 orders at any one time.

Platforms

The only platform on offer from Pure MArkets is MetaTrader 4. MetaTrader 4 is a highly accessible platform available to be used as a web trader, mobile application, or desktop download. It offers a whole host of features that helped it become one of the world’s most used trading platforms. Some of the features include its user-friendly interface, advanced order types such as market, limit, stop loss, and trailing stops. It has over 50 financial instruments available with the power of analysis with 4 types of charts, 9 timeframes, 33 built-in indicators, and 30 elements for graphical analysis. It’s also compatible with hundreds and thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help with your trading, this also allows for automated trading.

Leverage

The Forex only STP account can be leveraged up to 1:100 while the Forex and CFD STP account can be leveraged up to 1:200. You can select the leverage when you first open up an account and this can be changed by sending a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots for all instruments except one. Trade then goes up in increments of 0.01 lots until they reach the maximum trade size. The max trade size of the Forex only account is 50 lots, while it is slightly reduced for the other account and sits at 30 lots. Both accounts can have a maximum of 300 trades open at any one time. The only instrument not starting at 0.01 lots is Bitcoin which starts at 1 lot as its minimum size.

Trading Costs

The Forex and CFD account has an added commission of $30 per million traded on forex, this equates to $3 per lot traded, there is no commission on trading CFDs on the account. The Forex-only account does not have any added commissions as it uses a spread-based payment structure that we will look at later in the review. There are also swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed within MetaTrader 4 and can be both positive or negative.

Assets

The assets have been split into categories. Let’s look at what instruments are available within them.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, EURNZD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNO, TRYJPY, EURSEK, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, TRYJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDTRY, USDZAR, ZARJPY.

Metals: Both Gold and Silver are available to trade.

Energies: UK Oil, US Oil, and Natural Gas are available for trading.

Indices: UK FTSE 100, Euro Stoxx 50, France CAC 40, Germany DAX 30, Spain IBEX 35, Switzerland SMI, Hang Deng, AUS 200, HK 50, JPN 225, NAS 100, US 30, US 500, US 2000.

Spreads

The minimum spreads are based on the account you are using. The Forex only account has spreads starting from 0.9 pips which the forex and CFD account has spreads starting from as low as 0 pips. The spreads are variable which means that they are influenced by the markets, the more volatility in the markets the higher they will be, different instruments will also have different spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100, this will enable you to use either of the two available account types. Once an account has been opened the minimum deposit requirement is reduced, but we are not sure exactly what figure it reduces to.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available, we have outlined them below along with any applicable fees for each method.

Bank Wire Transfer – SEPA FREE, SWIFT 20€ + 1.5%
Etana Custody – $20 fee
GTBank – No fee
Neteller – 3.9% fee
Skrill – 3.9% fee
Bitcoin – No fee
Bitcoin Cash – No fee
Ethereum – No fee
Ripple – No fee
VLoad – 4% fee
FasaPay – 0.5% fee

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, we have once again listed them along with any applicable fees.

Bank Wire Transfer – SEPA €5, SWIFT €30 + 2%
Etana Custody – $25 fee
GTBank – 1% in USD, 1$ in NGN
Neteller – 2% fee
Skrill – 1% fee
Bitcoin – 0.005 BTC (we find this hard to believe)
Bitcoin Cash – 0.005 BCH fee (we find this hard to believe)
Ethereum – 0.02 ETH fee (we find this hard to believe)
Ripple – 5 XRP fee (we find this hard to believe)
VLoad – Not available to withdraw with
FasaPay – 0.5% fee

Some of the fees mentioned are extremely high and hard for us to believe so they may just be mistyped.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We could not locate information surrounding the processing times of Pure Market, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 5 working days depending on the method used.

Bonuses & Promotions

We did not notice any bonuses or promotions as we went through the site, that does not mean that there won’t be any in the future. If you are looking for bonuses you could always send a message to the customer service team to enquire about any potential upcoming promotions that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The two bits of education on the site is a market news section which details different news articles, however, they are taken from another site. There is also a tutorial section which is video tutorials going over subjects like how to withdraw or how to place a trade, very basic things.

There is a trading tools section, however, we are not fully clear on what it actually is, it states that there is something called a Super Trader Package that has 30 tools in, but no indication of what they are. You require a deposit of at least 1,000 EUR or USD to get this mystery package.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer service team using the online submission form, fill it in and wait for a reply via email, you can also use the provided postal address. There are email addresses for the trading desk, customer support, general inquiries, partnership office, back office, and the compliance team as well as a phone number for the trading desk and customer support.

Address: Pot 805/103 Rue D’Auvergne, Po BOX 535, Port Vila, Vanuatu
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 20 36 088 986

The team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and close over the weekend and on bank holidays.

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to trade without any risk, a perfect way to test out new strategies or trading techniques, so it is good that they are available from Pure Market. There isn’t much info about them though, you can use it on MT4 and can select a practice balance between 100 and 100,000 but that is about it, we do not know which account it mimics or if there is an expiration on the account.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is available on the website:

“The information on this site is not directed at residents of the United States and Vanuatu 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.”

This doesn’t make things too clear so if you are thinking of joining, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account first.

Conclusion

The two accounts available from Pure Market are pretty similar, the main difference being that the second account has some additional instruments to trade and also has a lower spread (with an added commission). Talking of instruments, there is a fair selection of them, so there should always be something there for you to trade. There are also plenty of deposit and withdrawal methods including a variety of cryptocurrencies. There are some fees for both depositing and withdrawing which is a shame and some of them seem extremely high so that may be a type that hasn’t been changed. The overall conditions from Pure Market seem ok if you are ok with the funding fees then they could be a worthy broker to use.

Tags forex broker reviews, Pure Market, Pure Market Broker, Pure Market Review

Forex Brokers

FxOnUS Review

The FxOnUs Forex Broker is an offshore broker that was created in 2016. FxOnUs is owned by the company Marketonus Ltd, this company is registered in the Marshall Islands. The broker also reports on his website about another company called Yorkshire HG Ltd., which is registered in the United Kingdom. However, Yorkshire HG Ltd is not listed in the UK business register.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that Fxonus is an unregulated broker from an offshore country, this carries a high risk of loss. We are alarmed that the information provided in the document called “The Safety of Funds” is very scarce and it is not clear whether the broker has clients’ funds in segregated accounts.

In this industry, even regulated brokers break the rules and cheat their customers with their money. But if they are regulated brokers, there is the possibility that customers will eventually recover the money from their accounts. In theory, regulated brokers are obliged to belong to a clearing system. Also, in theory, most regulators are usually diligent and monitor brokers to meet their legal obligations. The reality is that some regulators are more diligent than others, but what we need to be very clear about is that there is no one to watch over unregulated brokers. For all of the above, we always advise you to use the services of a well-regulated broker. FCA of the United Kingdom or ASIC are trusted regulators.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Fxonus offers us 2 different types of accounts so that the trader can operate in the financial markets. The accounts are called, Standard Account and STP/ECN Account, both with different characteristics. For the first one, the broker requires 500 USD as minimum deposit, and can be operated from 0.01 lot, the maximum leverage is 1:500 and the spread is 1.4 pips for EUR/USD. The STP/ECN account has the same features as the standard account in terms of minimum deposit, trade size, and leverage. In this case, the Spread is 0.4 pips + a commission of 10 USD for each lot operated.

PLATFORMS

FxOnUs uses MT4 as a trading platform. MT4 is the most popular platform among traders, with more than 10 years of experience. The reason why the MT4 platform is the most used is, versatility, functionality, and ease to use. FxOnuUs broker provides its customers with all possible connectivity for the MT4 platform. In this way, customers can use the desktop version, as well as the mobile version for tablets and smartphones.

LEVERAGE

Fxonus offers maximum leverage of 1:500

TRADE SIZES

FxOnUs allow operations from 0.01 lots, this is called micro-lot or 1000 units of the base currency. Operating with micro-lots provides flexibility and is ideal for traders who want to trade with a small volume and accepting smaller risks.

TRADING COSTS

Trading Costs vary, dependent upon the type of account the trader chooses. The trader can choose between the standard account that offers a cost of 1.4 pips or the STP/ECN account that offers a lower spread but applies a fee of 10 USD for each lot operated. In our view, in terms of cost, we do not see much difference in costs between the two accounts. It is the choice of the trader which way he wants to pay the costs of trading with this broker.

ASSETS

This broker only operates Forex. We missed that it could offer to trade the most important stock indices and gold and oil.

SPREADS

The spreads offered by this broker depend on the type of account the trader opens. As mentioned above, there is one account with a spread in EUR/USD of 1.4 pips without commissions and another one with a lower spread, 0.4 pips in EUR/USD but with a commission of 10 USD for each lot traded.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit to open an account with this broker is 500 USD. We consider this requirement to be high in comparison with the average for the industry.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

The deposit options offered by the broker are bank transfer, credit and debit cards, and the online payment systems Neteller, Skrill, and China Unionpay. We have not been able to determine the cost of deposits in the accounts of the different payment options that exist. Usually, the first deposit is free in most brokers and the customer will only pay the commission that the bank, in case of bank transfer, or electronic methods decide.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

The withdrawal methods that the broker offers are bank transfers, credit and debit cards, and online payment systems Neteller, Skrill, and China Unionpay. The withdrawal/transfer of funds from the trading account is performed using the same method as was used for making a deposit, and to the same bank account or electronic payment system from which the deposit was made. When the deposit was made by the method that cannot be used for withdrawal/transfer then funds may be withdrawn/transferred through the bank transfer to the bank account opened in the Client’s name. FxOnUs does not specify costs for cash withdrawals.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

The Company executes the withdrawal/transfer of the Client’s funds after receiving a relevant request from the Client. The withdrawal/transfer request should be submitted through the trading platform.

The Company does not obligate to process with withdrawal/transfer requested by any other means.

The Company may reject the withdrawal/transfer request received from the Client, without giving a reason and without notice, in particular, when:

the request does not include all required information;
the funds after the withdrawal are not sufficient to secure open position on the trading account;
the funds are transferred by a third party;
the Company suspects that the profits obtained by the Client are the result of fraud, forgery, abuse, and/or breach of law and this Agreement.

At the time when the Client’s Trading Account is frozen, the Client’s funds are also frozen and the Company does not execute from this account transfer/withdrawal. In the cases specified in this point, the Company bears no responsibility for any Client’s loss, including but not limited to the financial loss and the Client has no right to claim compensation, demand performance of the Agreement in a particular way, and anything else from the Company.

The Broker does not specify the wait time for cash withdrawals. Normally if the entire withdrawal process is correct the estimated time is 1 to 5 days depending on the method used.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Fxonus offers its customers 2 bonuses, one of 100% of the deposit, and another of 50%. It also offers free deposits. These types of promotions seem very attractive, but a number of conditions must be met. Unfortunately, the broker does not make these conditions clear on his website.

The broker offers an IB system (Introducing Broker), in fact, on the website, there is access for them where they can access their private area using a username and password. IB’s are partners who attract clients for the broker in exchange for a commission for their operations. Obviously, the particular conditions have to be dealt with by the broker directly.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

The broker, on its website, has an education center. This education center offers an ebook, a glossary of terms, a service called live traders, and a video section. Our experience with this content has been very negative as no content can be accessed the landing pages are empty. Another important fact is that this broker has a news section but they are not updated since February 2017. This issue makes us raise all alarms about this broker.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

FxOnUs customer service has two methods of contact, telephone, and email. We have tried to contact the phone that appears on the web and is not operational. Please note that there is also no online chat to facilitate smooth communication between the trader and the broker.

The data are as follows:

Telephone:+ 44-2031501511

Email. [email protected]

MarketOnUs Ltd.

Registration number 81547

Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island

MH96960 Majuro

Marshall Islands

DEMO ACCOUNT

Propertarde 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

After analyzing the broker’s terms and conditions documents, we have not found any restrictions on any country. So apparently this broker is willing to open accounts to any citizen of any nationality

CONCLUSION

There are many unregulated brokers abroad, one of them is FxOnUs. The purpose of some of these brokers is often to deceive their clients. Therefore, an issue that we do not like at all is that Fxonus does not provide any information on its website about its commercial conditions. We consider that requiring 500 USD as a minimum deposit is a rather high requirement as FxOnUs is a small and unregulated broker.

FxOnUs is a trademark, the real company is called Marketonus and is also an offshore company that has its headquarters and its registration in the Marshall Islands. However, an additional postal address in London (UK) appears on the Fxonus website. We assume that setting up a European address is to generate more confidence among potential customers. Despite the inclusion of a UK mailing address, the broker is not listed in the UK or in its respected FCA authority.

Indeed, we are talking about an unregulated broker, located in an offshore country, that offers its clients many investment and trading solutions, offering, CFD, Forex, and Precious Metals, as well as managing a PAMM account. All this without the supervision of a regulatory body that ensures good treatment of clients and proper management of funds.

Of course, the fact that a broker has a regulation does not guarantee that it is 100% transparent and there is no risk of deception for its customers. However, when a customer has problems with a broker, the broker will be investigated and may have legal consequences if he has committed fraudulent activities.

Tags forex broker reviews, FxOnUS Broker, FxOnUS Review

Forex Brokers

Royal Trade FX Review

Royal Trade is a forex broker aiming to provide a unique and high-quality service to their clients, some of their main advantages according to them include expert multi-language support; friendly, professional assistance, 24/5, a secure, reliable, robust platform for enhanced account privacy & security, advanced trading tools: interactive charts, indicators, and trading signals, hundreds of available assets: currencies, commodities, and indices, valuable online resources: AlgoTrading, economic calendar and market reviews and, attractive terms, narrow spreads, flexible leverage, and zero commissions. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the services on offer to see if they really do provide what they claim.

Account Types

There are 4 accounts available at Royal Trade, you can select which one you want when signing up and each one has its own requirements and features, so let’s see what they offer. The minimum deposits required are not stated here, but we will look into them later in this review.

Bronze Account: Features include daily market briefings, web, tablet, and mobile platforms, video tutorials, exclusive eBooks, 24-hour trading assistance, expert run webinars and seminars, a personal account manager, value-added risk management tools, rapid, reliable withdrawals & payments, trading courses with your account executive, real-time remote assistance and leverage up to 1:500.

Silver Account: Features include daily market briefings, web, tablet, and mobile platforms, video tutorials, exclusive eBooks, 24-hour trading assistance, expert run webinars and seminars, a personal account manager, value-added risk management tools, rapid, reliable withdrawals & payments, trading courses with your account executive, real-time remote assistance, leverage up to 1:500, SMS news and signals, premium daily research and analysis, fixed spreads, live coverage of the market, direct access to trading rooms and access to a panel of experts.

Gold Account: Features include daily market briefings, web, tablet, and mobile platforms, video tutorials, exclusive eBooks, 24-hour trading assistance, expert run webinars and seminars, a personal account manager, value-added risk management tools, rapid, reliable withdrawals & payments, trading courses with your account executive, real-time remote assistance, leverage up to 1:500, SMS news and signals, premium daily research and analysis, fixed spreads, live coverage of the market, direct access to trading rooms, access to a panel of experts, premium personal customer care and, 1 on 1 market strategy sessions.

King Account: The King account is a VIP account, it comes with all the same as the gold account above plus some extra tools. You need to get in touch with the customer service team if you are interested in this account.

Platforms

Royal Trade has divided its trading platform up into three different sections, they are technically the same platform, but provide different features depending on the version you use.

Multi-Interface Platform: This platform focuses on functionality for desktop users. A few of the main benefits include an easy-to-navigate user interface, a comprehensive choice of order types, interactive in-window charting tools, state-of-the-art technical indicators, customized, automated EA’s and, instant trade execution.

Web Trader: Another way of using the platform is by using the web trader, some benefits of using this platform include no download required- instant setup, a broad selection of order types, live streaming price quotes, advanced risk management tools, interactive charting tools and, support for multiple languages & currencies.

Tablet Trader: The final way of using the platform is on your tablet or mobile device, this method features compatibility with both Apple & Android, complete account management capability, an array of risk management tools, live streaming price quotes, interactive charting tools and, multi-currency and language support.

Leverage

Leverage on all accounts can go as high as 1:500, this can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by contacting the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trading 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, whatever it is, do not trade over 50 lots in a single trade, we are also not sure what the maximum number of open trades at any one time is.

Trading Costs

There are no commissions or fees added to any of the accounts as they all use a spread-based system (we will look at this later in the review). There are however swap charges which are charged for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into 4 different categories that we will now look into.

Forex: AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CHFJPY, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, NZDUSD, USDBRL, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNY, USDINR, USDJPY, USDRUB, USDTRY.

Commodities: There isn’t a full breakdown of commodities, but some examples given include Crude Oil, Gold, Silver, and Natural Gas.

Indices: Again there isn’t a full breakdown but we have some examples of Nikkei, Hong Kong Hang Seng, the German DAX, and FTSE.

Not the biggest selection of currencies or assets we’ve ever seen.

Spreads

We do not have examples of the spreads, they are not present on the site so we cannot know what they are starting at. What we do know is that the Bronze account has variable spreads which means they move with the markets, when there is added volatility they will be seen higher. The Silver and Gold accounts have fixed spreads which means they remain the same no matter what happens in the market, different pairs will have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount needed to open up an account is 200 USD, EUR, or GBP.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a dedicated funding page so there isn’t much information, in fact, the only information that we have around methods is at the bottom of the page, there is an image of VLoad, Visa, and MasterCard, so we can assume that they are available. In terms of fees, it does not appear that there are any according to the FAQ, however, we may be mistaken as they may be referring to trading fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As there is no information on the deposit methods, you can guess that there aren’t any details regarding withdrawals either, you would be right. This information is vital, so important to know how you can get your money and what it will cost you, this information needs to be added to the site.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know exactly what methods are available we cannot say how long the processing will take, we would assume that overall the processing time should take between 1 to 7 business days depending on the methods available.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not appear that there are any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, this does not mean that there won’t ever be any. If you are looking for bonuses you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up.

Educational & Trading Tools

The education and tools sections of the site have some pretty basic things, the education comprises a few videos detailing what things are such as what commodities are or what cryptocurrencies are, nothing that is going to make you an expert.

The tools section isn’t much better, there is a pip calculator to help you calculate the size of a pip, there is also an economic calendar that details upcoming news events as well as the markets or currencies that the news may affect.

Customer Service

Contacting Royal Trade is simple, yet there is not a huge amount of options. The customer service team is open 24 hours a day, but we are not sure if they are closed or open over the weekends. You can get in touch using the online submission form to fill in your query and then get a reply back via email You can also use the direct email address or phone number if you prefer to speak to someone directly.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +441134013520

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and they are a great way for potential new clients to test out the trading conditions as well as giving existing clients a way to test new strategies without risking any capital You can choose between a USD or EUR account, however, there isn’t too much more information provided about the demo accounts such as any potential expiration time.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the Royal Trade website:

“This information is intended for investors outside the United States who are not the US/Japanese citizens and residents.”

If you are not sure about your eligibility, then please contact the customer service team to find out prior to signing up for an account.

Conclusion

There is a lot on offer from Royal Trade when it comes to account features, however, this positivity is quickly diminished when we see how few tradable assets there are, it is pointless having great trading features if there is nothing there to trade. What is also disappointing is the lack of information on deposits and withdrawals, when are giving out money to someone we want to know how we can give it, how we can get it back and how much it will cost us, without that information alone it is hard for us to recommend Royal Trade as a broker to use.

Tags forex broker reviews, Royal Trade FX, Royal Trade FX Review, Royal Trade Review

Forex Brokers

Olympus Markets Review

Olympus Markets is a Vanuatu-based foreign exchange broker. Claiming to have over 372,500 clients Olympus Markets aims to offer low spreads, high leverage, fast execution, a personal mentor, custom-made offers, and winning trading strategies. We will be using this review as an opportunity to look into the services being offered to see how they compare […]

Account Types

There are a massive 7 different accounts on offer when signing up. We have outlined some of the basic features below.

Jade: The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with standard spreads as well as 24/6 customer support, daily market overviews, access to the education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, and price alerts.

Ruby: The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with standard spreads as well as 24/6 customer support, daily market overviews, access to the education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, and price alerts. This account also comes with a junior account manager.

Emerald: The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with silver (reduced) spreads as well as 24/6 customer support, daily market overviews, access to the education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, and price alerts. This account also comes with a senior account manager.

Sapphire: The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with gold (further reduced) spreads as well as 24/6 customer support, daily market overviews, access to the education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, and price alerts. This account also comes with a VIP account manager and a personalised trading strategy.

Diamond: The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with platinum (even further reduced) spreads as well as 24/6 customer support, daily market overviews, access to the education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, and price alerts. This account also comes with a VIP account manager, a personalised trading strategy, and one on one training.

Islamic Sapphire: The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with gold (reduced) spreads as well as 24/6 customer support, daily market overviews, access to the education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, and price alerts. This account also comes with a senior account manager, the account does not have swap charges.

Islamic Diamond: The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with platinum (reduced) spreads as well as 24/6 customer support, daily market overviews, access to the education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, and price alerts. This account also comes with a VIP account manager, the account does not have swap charges.

Platforms

Olympus Markets use their own platform for trading rather than using one of the more well-known platforms. The platform is called the Olympus Markets Trader, it offers a few features including one-click trading, forex simplified tab, stop loss and take profit limits, can be connected to robots, has interactive charts and 9 timeframes, free technical indicators, downloading on windows, ios, and android and there are 3 execution methods, 2 market orders and, 4 pending order. The main concern we have seen is the performance, many traders compare platforms to Metatrader 4 or 5, and sadly it seems that the Olympus Markets Trader does not live up to the competition.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:500, this is correct for all account types.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are unknown but we believe that they start at 0.01 lots. The maximum trade size is unknown but we would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade, it is also not known how many open trades you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no additional commissions when trading on any of the accounts as they use a spread-based system instead. There are however swap charges, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight, they can often be viewed within the trading platform you are using, the Islamic accounts on offer do not have these fees.

Assets

Unfortunately, there is not a breakdown of available assets, this is always a shame to see as a lot of potential clients will look for specific instruments that they like trading, so not knowing what is available can really put them off.

Spreads

The spreads are also not stated, they simply have different names, silver spreads, gold spreads and platinum spreads indicate a difference, most likely lower spread, however, they are not present on the site with examples so it is impossible to know what the true costs of trading care. The other thing we do know about spreads is that they are all variable, which means they move with the market and will be constantly changing.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is 250 SUD, GBP, or EUR, this will allow you to use the lower tier accounts, you will need to deposit more for the higher-tier accounts.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available for depositing funds into Olympus Markets, they are Credit/Debit card, Bank Wire Transfer, Entropay, Neteller, BPay, and Bitsend (for Bitcoin). It is unknown if there are any additional fees, however, be sure to check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they have any added fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

According to the FAQ, the only methods for withdrawal are Credit/Debit card if you deposited via that method, otherwise, you are required to use Bank Wire Transfer. We do not know if there are any added fees from Olympus Markets, your bank or card issuer may add transfer fees of their own so be sure to check with them prior to making deposits or withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Once your withdrawal request has been submitted it could take up to 3 business days for it to be approved, once it has been approved depending on your bank or card issuer it will take a further 1 to 5 business days to fully process.

Bonuses & Promotions

We did not see any mentions of bonuses or promotions, however, this does not mean there won’t ever be any if you are interested in bonuses, the customer service team will know if there are any upcoming so you could get in contact with them to find out.

Educational & Trading Tools

The accounts page mentions a number of tools and education however there isn’t any information about them on the site, the things mentioned include a daily market overview, access to an education centre, live trading webinars, daily analysis videos, price alerts, personalised trading strategies and one on one training. This all sounds great but with no information about them, we cannot see how effective or worthwhile they really are.

Customer Service

The support team is available to help 24 hours a day 6 days a week. That is great but there are very limited ways to actually contact them, the headquarters part of the page is blank which doesn’t really help. You can use the online form to fill in your query and then get a reply via email, or there are two separate phone numbers, one for Malaysia and one for Russia.

Malaysia: +60392121729
Russia: +74992131726

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available for testing and practice, you can get an account with a balance of $10,000. The trading conditions are unknown as it does not state which account they will mimic, there is also no indication of an expiration time so it seems like they will last indefinitely.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is on the website:

“Olympus Markets doesn’t offer all available services to residents of certain jurisdictions including but not limited to the United States of America.”

If you are not sure of your eligibility we would recommend contacting the customer service team.

Conclusion

There are a lot of accounts to choose from when joining Olympus Markets, unfortunately, we don’t really know the difference between them when it comes to trading conditions, they do not have commissions which means they all use a spread based system, unfortunately, the spreads are not shown on the site so we have no idea what the cost of trading really is. There is also a lot of information missing such as tradable assets or a lot of information related to deposits and withdrawals. All of this is vital for new traders to know what they are getting themselves into and without it, it is hard for us to recommend them as a broker to use.

Tags forex broker reviews, Olympus Markets, Olympus Markets Broker, Olympus Markets Review

Forex Brokers

Just2Trade Review

Just2trade is a Russian Forex broker, founded in 2016. Just2trade Online Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission in accordance with license No.281/15 issued on 25/09/2015. This broker also offers the following trading assets, shares, cryptocurrencies, futures, options, CFD, and Eurobonds. The broker has a trading portfolio of 26 major […]

This broker also offers the following trading assets, shares, cryptocurrencies, futures, options, CFD, and Eurobonds. The broker has a trading portfolio of 26 major and minor currency pairs. We consider this a rather limited variety when compared to other brokers.

Just2trade is the trademark of Finam Forex, which in turn is part of Finam Holding of Russia. Finam Holding is a company that offers various services, among others, banking and brokerage services, aircraft and helicopter rental, flight training, and finally, travel and tourism services.

Finam Forex was the first forex broker to obtain a license from the Bank of Russia and was for a time the only one to have one. The broker’s website is available in the following languages: English, Chinese, Russian, Polish, Malay, and Spanish.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Just2trade offers us 3 different account types, called Forex and CFD Standard, Forex ECN, and MT5 Global. The characteristics of these accounts are:

Forex and CFD Standard: Trading account ideal for beginning traders. A minimum deposit amount of 100 USD. Leverage up to 1:500. Spread from 0.5. Minimum lot 0.01. Brokerage commission 0. Negative balance protection: Yes

Forex ECN: Unique technology provides a direct connection to ECN. Suitable for experienced traders. A minimum deposit amount of 200 USD. Leverage up to 1:500. Spread from 0. Minimum lot 0,01. Brokerage commission ≤ $3 per lot. Negative balance protection: No

MT5 Global: Individual approach and improved trading conditions for professional traders. A minimum deposit amount of 100 USD. Leverage up to 1:500. Spread from 0. Minimum lot 0,01. Brokerage commission ≤ $2 per lot. Trading Platform MT5.

PLATFORMS

This broker offers the most popular trading platform: Metatrader 4 (MT4) developed by the Russian software company Metaquotes Software. It also offers the MT5 platform for your MT5 Global account.

In the last 10 years, MT4 has maintained its position as the main platform for traders, due to its stability, versatility, and ease of use. It has numerous options and functionalities and offers multiple technical analyses, graphics tools, as well as the possibility of algorithmic trading and automation of the operation.

Both platforms, MT4 and MT5, are available for desktop as well as mobile versions, Android and iOS, for use on smartphones and Tablets.

LEVERAGE

Just2trade offers its customers maximum leverage of up to 1:500 on all their accounts.

TRADE SIZES

Just2trade applies a minimum trade size for all its accounts of 0.01 lots (micro lot).

TRADING COSTS

The standard account has no brokerage costs. The Forex ECN and MT5 Global accounts have brokerage fees of USD 3 per lot operated and USD 2 per lot operated respectively, apart from the spread.

To these costs must be added the Swaps: 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

Just2trade has the following types of assets to trade: Forex, stocks, futures, options, CFD, and Eurobonds. It is also possible to trade with the following cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum if you have the MT5 Global account.

SPREADS

Some examples of spread that we have been able to see on the Just2trade website are:

EUR/USD: 0.3 XAU / USD: 0.1

USD/JPY: 0.5 OIL: 0.06

GBP/USD: 0.6 BTC / USD: 11

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

Just2trade requires a minimum initial deposit of USD 100USD on your standard account. For your ECN Forex account, the minimum deposit is USD 200. These are relatively low amounts compared to other brokers.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

Just2trade has a wide variety of methods for making deposits, including Bank Transfer, Debit or Credit Card (Mastercard), and electronic means of payment, Paysafecard, Union Pay, Neteller, Skrill, and Cashu. The broker reports that all deposits are free of commission.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

The broker does not provide information about withdrawal methods. We understand that they are the same methods as for making deposits and that the costs will be the usual ones.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

Nor does the broker provide us with information about the processing of withdrawals or the withdrawal waiting times.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Just2trade currently has a deposit bonus with the following features:

deposits up to 200 USD you receive 50 USD
deposits up to 1000 USD you receive 100 USD
deposits up to 2000 USD you receive 400 USD
deposits up to 5000 USD you receive 750 USD
deposits up to 10,000 USD you receive 1000 USD
deposits over 10,000 USD you receive 2000 USD

Terms and conditions apply in this campaign.

The broker offers an IB system (Introducing Broker). In fact, on the website, there is access for them where they can access their private area using a username and password. The IB is a partner that attracts clients for the broker in exchange for a commission for their operations. Obviously, the particular conditions have to be dealt with by the broker directly.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

In this section, the broker provides a news area that is updated and an economic calendar with all the important events of the day and that every trader should know. It also has an area, available under subscription (customers only), with a Forex Daily, Forex Weekly, World Markets Weekly, and Trading Ideas (Market Research). It also has the last section called the “The Archive of Research Notes from just2trade analytics” (where we have not been able to access it since it asks for a username and password), so we understand that it is a service exclusively for customers.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To contact the customer service we have several ways. We have a phone, an email and, a very interesting, online chat and a service that with a single button you access a live call via the web. We found this last service interesting and novel since almost no broker has it.

Tel: +357 25 030 442

E-mail: [email protected]

Address: Just2Trade Online Ltd. 10 Chrysanthou Mylona, MAGNUM HOUSE. 3030 Limassol, Cyprus

DEMO ACCOUNT

Just2trade offers a free demo account with 50,000 virtual USD for risk-free trial trading, which is excellent. 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

Just2Trade does not report any restrictions on some citizens or jurisdictions who cannot open an account.

CONCLUSION

Just2trade is the first Forex broker to obtain a license from the Bank of Russia at the end of 2015. It is one of the few local currency brokers, along with VTB24 Forex and Gerchik & Co, and Alpari, although the latter is a much larger company.

In comparison with its Russian competitors, Just2trade offers slightly better trading conditions, especially in terms of minimum deposit. Its minimum commercial size is also more favorable and so spread.

Advantages: MT4. High leverage. Adjusted spreads without commission. Multiple payment and withdrawal options. Initial deposit relatively low. Multiple ways of contact with customer service.

Disadvantages: There is no information about withdrawals, their processing, or possible associated costs.

Tags forex broker reviews, Just2Trade Forex Broker, Just2Trade Review

Forex Brokers

Samtrade FX Review

Samtrade is a Forex broker, stocks index, and commodities. Created in 2016, it is a broker whose commercial presence focuses on countries such as Australia, China, and Southeast Asian countries. The website is available in English and Chinese. Samtrade FX is registered and regulated on the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, like many […]

Samtrade FX is registered and regulated on the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, like many other Forex brokers, but is essentially a Forex broker directed to the Chinese market.

This broker promises tight spreads and running STP on ECN. We cannot know whether this is true or not. Samtrade FX also claims to have client funds in segregated accounts. They also offer a copy trade service, so a customer can replicate the operations of other traders in real-time. Certainly, the website is very well built and has a pretty professional appearance.

Samtrade FX claims to have been awarded 3 times as the best broker in China, receiving the “Best STP Broker/ECN” awards in China (Shenzhen) Forex Expo 2016, the “Best Forex Broker of the Year 2017 (APAC)” at China International Investments & Financial Expo and the “Most Influential Broker in Asia 2019” at the Kuala Lumpur Wikifx Expo 2019.

ACCOUNT TYPES

Samtrade FX has a standard account type for live trading. It also offers Islamic accounts, corporate accounts, and joint accounts. It is very positive that Samtrade FX offers its customers a free demo account.

PLATFORMS

Samtrade FX offers the popular trading platform Metatrader 4 (MT4). More than 10 years after its launch, it is still the platform most used by traders. Among its main features are, it is easy to use, has multiple indicators, various analysis tools, and third-party add-ons. It is also possible to use one of their expert advisors and do automatic trading.

LEVERAGE

The leverage that this broker applies to all his accounts is 1:100, which we consider suitable leverage.

TRADE SIZES

We have not found information about the trade sizes available. But knowing that the minimum deposit to start trading is 100 USD we are convinced that you can start trading from 0.01 lot, this is our assumption for lack of information.

TRADING COSTS

Samtrade FX does not charge commissions in your trades. The commission is implicit in the spread (the difference between the purchase price and sales price). We have seen that spreads are not cheap, so the profit for the broker is considerable.

ASSETS

Samtrade FX has 60 currency pairs in FOREX, CFD’s in 10 stock indices, and 5 Commodities. This is more than enough to allow for effective and profitable Forex trading.

SPREADS

Certainly, you can easily find other brokers with better spreads. Below are a few examples:

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The required minimum deposit is 100 USD or equivalent currency.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

Deposits can be made through bank transfer, credit or debit card, and also with the ePayment Unionpay (very popular in China). Deposits are free of charge from the broker.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

Withdrawal methods are the same as for depositing. Bank transfer, credit or debit card, and also with the ePayment Unionpay. All withdrawals must be made to the same method of payment by which the deposits were made. Withdrawal fees are paid by the customer but Samtrade FX does not report the exact amounts.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

Waiting times are the same for all retirement systems, from 1 to 4 working days. The required minimum withdrawal amount is the same for bank transfers as for cards and Unionpay, 50 USD.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

Samtrade FX has a monthly competition among its customers, with prizes of up to 2000 USD for the most successful trader of the month. This competition is called the “Traders Challenge.” 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

We are positively surprised by Samtrade FX in this section. It has an academy where the basic concepts are explained widely that every trader should know, and talks about the following topics: What is FOREX? What are CFDs? What are commodities? What is leverage? What is the margin? What is Night Financing? What is the Margin Call Policy?

Samtrade FX also has a full 60-hour course called Samtrade FX Trader’s Club. This course costs 10,000 USD, and although it seems expensive, it is true that it is a classroom course with quality content. The Course consists of the following topics:

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 – Introduction. Chapter 2 – Knowing the Markets. Chapter 3 – Systematic and Unsystematic Risks-.

READING AND INTERPRETING THE MARKET

Chapter 4 – The Art and Science of Price Actions. Chapter 5 – The Art and Science of Understanding Algorithms.

UNDERSTANDING MACROECONOMICS

Chapter 6 – Understanding and Reading Trends. Chapter 7 – Effectiveness of Economic Indicators. Chapter 8 – Major News Release

SECTOR ROTATION

Chapter 9 – The Art and Science of Sector Rotation. Chapter 10 – Understanding Economic Cycles.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Chapter 11 – Understanding Advanced Support and Resistance Lines. Chapter 12 – Mastering Breakout Patterns. Chapter 13 – The Art and Science of Candlestick Analysis. Chapter 14 – Big Players’ Entry – Volume.

TRADING STRATEGIES

Chapter 15 – Establishing a Proper Financial and Risk Management Framework. Chapter 16 – Understanding Fundamental Analysis. Chapter 17 – Mastering Position and Swing Trading. Chapter 18 – The Art and Science of Speculative Trading. Chapter 19 – The Art and Science of Scalping.

PSYCHOLOGY OF TRADING

Chapter 20 – How to Manage the Psychology of Trading

Samtrade FX also has an economic calendar, where the most important events of the day are reported and can affect our trading. And also a section of trading signals, where they are reported through Telegram channels.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

We do not know about the quality of customer service but we are always disappointed that there is no contact phone or live chat that are the most direct channels to deal with any issue.

The ways of contact, in this case, are: Contact form and an email ([email protected])

DEMO ACCOUNT

The broker offers a Demo account on his website, which we consider good news, as a Demo account helps the novice trader learn how to use the platform without risking his own capital. The broker does not report whether this demo account is free, nor how much time the customer has available for its use.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

We have not found any of their legal documents that list restrictions on any country.

CONCLUSION

We should know that Samtrade FX is an offshore broker with virtually no regulation, so trading with them is riskier than dealing with reputable brokers and tighter regulation. As a general rule, we always recommend opening an account with brokers licensed and regulated by entities such as the UK FCA or ASIC that have strong requirements and supervise the operations of regulated brokers.

We have no information on the regulatory requirements of China, but there are global brokers that offer their services in Chinese and have much more serious regulation than Samtrade FX. Nor are we very impressed with the spreads offered, however, we are satisfied with their educational platform.

Advantages: MT4

Disadvantages: Offshore Regulation, no contact phone available.

Tags forex broker reviews, Samtrade FX, Samtrade FX Review

Forex Brokers

JMI Brokers Review

JMI Brokers AG is a Swiss legal corporation that has a registered office in ZUG (Registration no. 334-229-499) however they are licensed as a Financial Services Provider by Vanuatu Financial Service Commission (license no. 15010). JMI Brokers is incorporated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as an international business company (registration no. 2375 IBC 2019).

According to their About Us page, this broker has managed to become a prominent financial services company with a vast client base in the Middle East, Europe, Gulf, North Africa, and the Far East. JMI Brokers offer retail, institutional, IB, and also White label clients the opportunity of trading a variety of assets on automated trading platforms. Clients can choose from three account types, as well as a swap-free option for clients of the Islamic faith. They offer tight spreads, low margin, 24hour support, competitive 2-way pricing, transparency, instantaneous auto trade executions, hedge capability, and flexible lot sizes.

Join us as we delve into their website, which is brimming with information, as we discover what this broker has to offer to those interested in opening up an account with them.

Account Types

Clients wanting to open up an account with JMI Brokers have 3 account types to choose from namely; the Micro Account, the Standard account, and the Professional account.

The Micro account is the cheapest account to open as it has a minimum deposit requirement of $100. This account is ideal for those traders wanting to trade smaller transactions (1k or 0.01 Lots). Like the other accounts, clients using the Micro can make use of leverage of up to 1:400 and they can trade Forex, Precious Metals, Equity Indexes, and Energies. This account can also be opened as a swap-free account that is catered towards clients of the Islamic faith.

The Standard account is slightly more expensive to open as its minimum requirement is $500. This account comes with low trading rates with spreads being around the 2Pip mark on the major currency pairs offered by this broker. This account is fee-free however the leverage offered is lower than that of the mini at 200:1. This account also comes with fully automated margin liquidation and no capital gains on tax profits.

As the name implies, the Professional Account is ideal for experienced traders that have been in the trading industry for quite some time. The minimum deposit requirement for this account is quite steep at $50,000 and the leverage offered is the lowest from the three accounts at 100:1. Spreads on this account are quite low as they start at 2Pips on EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and AUD/USD.

Here is a breakdown of each account’s main characteristics.

Micro Account

Minimum deposit requirement: $100
Spreads starting from NA
Commission: No
Leverage: 1:400

Standard Account

Minimum deposit requirement: $500 to $5000
Spreads starting from 2Pips
Commission: No
Leverage: 1:200

Professional Account

Minimum deposit requirement : $50,000
Spreads starting from 2Pips
Commission: No
Leverage: 1:100

To open up any of these accounts customers are asked to download the Customer Account Agreement, which you can find on the site, read the full document, and sign once you are happy with all the terms and conditions which are placed by JMI Brokers and send over the documents required (Proof of Identity and Proof of Address). Unlike most brokers, this one actually opens up the account for the customers themselves after all documents are verified. Once the account is created the broker sends a confirmation letter containing the username and password for the customer’s account. After the customer signs this off and sends it via fax or via email, the customer would be able to fund the account and start trading. This does seem like quite a long process; however, it shows a level of seriousness from the broker’s side.

Customers can also opt to have several sub-accounts belonging to their main account. This can be done by simply filling in the sub-account form and sending it via email to the broker.

You can find more information about the above-mentioned accounts on the broker’s website.

Platforms

JMI Brokers offer the popular MT4 platform to their clients. This platform is popular worldwide for a number of reasons such as, it is multilingual so that helps in eliminating communication problems, market watch, a multitude of charts that can be very beneficial to traders, especially those just starting out, trailing stops, and a trading terminal and so much more advantages that we can never list them all. This broker also has a number of Key features explained in detail on their Platforms page, which can be beneficial for those who are new to trading or those who have never used the MT4 platform before. This platform can be used on desktop, Iphone, and Ipad devices, Android, and also windows mobile.

Leverage

This broker offers different leverages according to the account type the customer has chosen to open. The highest leverage can be found on the Micro Account which has a high quite a leverage of 400:1. The Standard account has a leverage of 1:200 and the lowest leverage is available on the Professional account at 1:100.

Trade Sizes

It appears that the Micro Account is the only one that allows clients to trade small sizes starting from 0.01 Lots. The other 2 accounts seem to have a minimum trade size that is equivalent to $100,000 for Major Forex Currencies. There is no information regarding the maximum trade size available on the three available accounts offered by JMI Brokers.

Trading Costs

We confirmed via live chat that none of the accounts have commissions or fees associated with them. This is also stated on their site, but we wanted to be certain that this is the case. It seems like this broker makes all its profit via spreads and not by imposing commission on each trade, however, on their Trading products page we did see mention of a commission rate, however, no clear explanation of how much this commission would be was mentioned.

Assets

JMI Brokers has quite a variety of assets available for trading including over 25 Forex currency pairs as well as Future (OTC) Currencies, Silver and Gold as precious metals, Natural Gas and Light Sweet Crude Oil for Future (OTC) Energies, E-Mini Nasdaq 100, E-Mini S&P 500 and Dow Jones as Future (OTC) Indices and quite a long list of CFDs including CitiGroup Inc., Ebay Inc, General Electric and American Int. Group Inc just to mention a few. You can find the full list of available assets including their contract sizes, exchange, cost of point, and trading hours on the broker’s Trading Products page.

Spreads

Spreads available on the Micro account are not explained however both the Standard and the Professional accounts have a list of the average spreads customers might encounter when trading on these two account types and their spreads seem to be quite similar.

The popular EUR/USD currency pair has a spread of 2 Pips on both the Standard and the Professional account, which is slightly higher than the industry standard. You can find a full list of the spreads one should expect when trading with this broker, however, the information on the list might not be 100% accurate to the market conditions encountered when placing your trades.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit requirement is different for each available account. The cheapest one to open up is the Micro account that requires only $100 to start up. This requirement is quite affordable to those just starting out in the industry as well as those traders that are not intending to trade very big lots. The Standard account has a minimum requirement of $500 whilst the Professional account has a very high minimum deposit requirement of $50,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

This broker accepts deposits via multiple payment methods including, Visa, American Express, MasterCard, Neteller, Bank Wire, Coin Base, Epay, and advcash just to mention a few. There is no available information regarding any fees or commissions that might be applied to deposits. However, when speaking to their customer support we were informed that there are no added fees for funding your account. Customers can only deposit funds via deposit payments in their own name.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Customers can withdraw their funds using any of the above-mentioned payment methods. Their customer support informed us that there are no commission fees applied to any withdrawal method apart from fees that may be incurred by the customer’s respective banks.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, there is no information regarding the processing and wait time customers may encounter when withdrawing their funds so we cannot comment on this for the time being.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the moment, this broker does not have any promotions or bonuses on offer, however, check their website every now and again to see if any have been added.

Educational & Trading Tools

JMI Brokers offer a very extensive Education Centre that is made up of a number of articles that are short, to the point, and easy to understand. These articles cover a number of topics such as; Forex pricing, understanding currency pairs, basic concepts of technical analysis, moving averages, diversification, ideas on trading news, and pattern recognition just to mention a few. This educational center can provide a good basic understanding of trading for beginner traders that are still discovering this diverse and ever-evolving industry.

Apart from the education contact available, this broker also offers daily fundamental analysis as well as a daily technical analysis to help their customers make the right choices when trading on their JMI accounts.

Customer Service

Customers wanting to get in touch with this broker can do so via telephone, email, FAX, live chat, or by requesting a callback. We had a very pleasant experience on their live chat as we were assisted by a friendly and well-informed customer service agent. Their live chat response is quick, and we were given answers within seconds.

Telephone- + 971 44096705

Fax – +971 44096740
Email – [email protected]

On the JMI Brokers website, you can also find the contact information of their Egypt office.

Demo Account

JMI Brokers does offer a demo account for clients to test out their trading conditions. We could not find any specific details about this demo account apart from a simple online form that customers must fill in to create their demo account.

Countries Accepted

JMI Brokers do not have any restrictions and accept customers from all over the globe.

Conclusion

JMI Brokers is a regulated broker with offices in Dubai and Egypt. Their website, which is quite user-friendly, has a lot of information including an extensive education center. The broker offers 3 types of accounts that should cater to traders of different levels and on these accounts customers can trade a very large number of assets. They also offer swap-free accounts catered for Islamic clients, as well as a demo account for customers to test out. Their minimum deposit requirements vary according to the accounts and they do not charge any commission for depositing or withdrawing funds. They offer the most popular trading platform available, the MT4, and their customer support is very quick and efficient.

Tags forex broker reviews, JMI Brokers, JMI Brokers Review

Forex Brokers

FXTRADING.com Review

As required by Australian law, FXTRADING.com (formerly Rubix FX) is the registered name of Gleneagle Securities Pty Ltd. Gleneagle Securities Pty Ltd holds ASIC license No. 337985. All client funds are stored in the segregated account of AA-rated Westpac Bank, in accordance with strict additional requirements and standards, to ensure that customer funds are protected […]

Founded in 2014, FXTRADING.com is a broker with more than 70 currency pairs, several CFDs, and precious metals for trading on the popular MT4 platform. FXTRADING.com is the registered trade name of Gleneagle Markets Pty Ltd and Gleneagle Markets Pty Ltd, which are authorized corporate representatives of Gleneagle Securities Pty Limited, a company that is regulated by ASIC. Gleneagle Securities is an institutional broker that offers its liquidity to Global Prime and FXTRADING.com.

ASIC requires licensed companies to meet specific requirements and meet several standards. Client funds should be kept in segregated accounts separate from the broker’s operating account. According to the FXTRADING.com website, customer funds are held in a segregated account at Westpac Banking Corporation.

As for minimum capital requirements, Australian foreign exchange brokers must have at least $ 1 million to trade legitimately. By comparison, the FCA in the UK and Cysec in Cyprus require brokers to hold at least EUR 730.000 and EUR 1.000.000, respectively. However, unlike European regulators (based in Cyprus and the UK), Australian brokers are not guaranteed by any compensation scheme.

ACCOUNT TYPES

FXTRADING.com has 4 different account types to offer to its customers. These accounts have a maximum leverage of up to 1: 400, variable spreads, and the option to trade in micro-lots. The standard account has no commissions, while the rest of the accounts offer tighter spreads and a commission for an ECN business environment.

Standard Account: Spread from 1.0 pip. Aggregated liquidities from over 20 commercial Banks. Fast Market Execution Trading. Minimum deposit $ 200. Minimum trading volume 0.01 lots. Maximum Leverage 1: 400. Direct Trading Execution Model. Supporting all major currency pairs. Allow EA/hedge strategies. Accessible with auto trade tools. Order directly processed by the inter-banks.

Professional Account: No Commission. Ultra-fast Trading Execution Technologies. Multi-bank Liquidity. Level II Pricing – Market Depth. No Restrictions on Trading. Minimum deposit $ 500.

PLATFORMS

This broker supports the industry’s most popular trading platform, Metatrader 4. MT4 provides all the tools and features that a trader needs: a wide variety of technical indicators, an advanced graphics package, a tasty variety of Expert Advisors, and a comprehensive testing environment with historical data.

If you are running an EA, it is very important that your platform is connected to a server 24 hours a day. The best option, in this case, is hosting on a VPS (Virtual Private Server) and FXTRADING.com offers this solution for its customers through an agreement with Beeks FX. The expenses of a VPS vary from USD 29 to USD 98 per month, depending on the volume of operations.

Also, FXTRADING.com customers who wish to trade copies can use the Myfxbook Autotrade. Autotrade is a third-party technology made available to FXTRADING.com customers through the Metatrader 4 application. Myfxbook manages duplication service or commercial copy technology.

LEVERAGE

FXTRADING.com customers are eligible for a leverage of up to 1: 400, which is considered high, as standard leverage is set at 1: 100. Higher leverage implies a higher risk of loss, although it can also lead to succulent profits. Leverage is an element that you have to know how to control.

TRADE SIZES

The trade size offered by FXTRADING.com for all your accounts is 0.01 lot (micro lot).

TRADING COSTS

FXTRADING.com spreads on standard accounts are within the average of 1.0 – 1.5 pips in EUR/USD, starting from 1.0 pips. However, spreads on ECN accounts are really good, averaging 0.3 pips in EUR/USD and involving a $2.5 commission per lot traded. In summary, the trade costs for these account holders amount to about 0.8 pips per lot for this pair, including commission, which is an excellent price. Although you have to keep in mind that you must invest at least $ 1000 to qualify for these spreads.

Another cost to consider is the Swap, a cost that you will have with all the brokers unless you have an Islamic account that lacks them. 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

With FXTRADING.com we can trade with Forex, Indices, and Commodities. Here is the listing of all the assets we can trade with this broker:

Forex: AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, EURCAD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURCHF, EURAUD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, EURGBP, GBPNZD, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURSEK, SGDJPY, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDHKD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDNOK, AUDSGD, CHFSGD, EURDKK, EURHKD, EURPLN, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURZAR, GBPNOK, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, NOKJPY, NOKSEK, USDHUF, USDMXN, USDPLN, and AUDSGD.

Indices: AUS200, DE30, ES35, France 40, JP225, STOXX 50, SWI20, UK100, US30, US500, and USTEC.

Commodities: XAGUSD, XAUUSD, BRENT, and WTI.

SPREADS

FXTRADING.com provides us with information about its spreads in Forex, Indices, and Commodities. The lowest spread we were able to find was 0.3 pips. Spreads were quite a bit higher than this on the rarer assets.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

FXTRADING.com requires its customers an initial minimum deposit of $200 to open a Standard Account, which is an average initial amount in the industry.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

FXTRADING.com puts different methods at the disposal of its clients to make deposits in the accounts. The methods available are:

Bank Transfer, Credit or Debit Card (Visa or Mastercard), Poli-Pay, and Neteller.

Bankcard, Poli-Pay, or Neteller deposits are instantaneous. Bank transfers take between 1 and 3 days to reach your account.

The broker does not report any fees for deposits.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

Withdrawals may only be made by bank transfer to an account in the name of the holder of the trading account. The broker does not charge a commission for withdrawals.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

The process and waiting time for bank transfer withdrawals, which is the only possible withdrawal method, range from 3 to 5 business days.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

They currently have a promotion in which they apply a 10% bonus on the next deposit made by a customer. The promotion is not valid for Chinese citizens. It is necessary to meet the conditions of lots marketed that are not reported on the web.

The broker has an Introducing Broker program. What is it?

This program is made to reward individuals or companies who refer new clients, and they open trading accounts with DV Markets. 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

FXTRADING.com has an analysis and education section. In it, we can find a Trading Training, which contains An introductory course, Trade analysis, Trading strategies, and MT4 tutorial. Another section with Advanced Techniques, The advanced strategy, Economic principles, and MT4 advanced.

It also has a gallery of e-books, in which we can find the following topics: What is the foreign exchange market, quickstart, Beginner’s strategy, Conceptual glossary, Global Exchange, Transaction psychology, Capital management, Market analysis, Basic technical analysis, advanced technical analysis, and advanced strategy.

It also has an updated economic news section and an economic calendar that we always consider of interest to the trader, because it appears the most relevant daily events and that can affect the trade of certain assets.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To get in touch with FXTRADING.com customer service, we have 4 main routes, telephone, email, a contact form that you will find on the web, and a live chat. The data collected are as follows:

Phone: + 61 2 9099 4288 Fax + 61 2 9098 5067

Email: [email protected]

Level 27, 25 Bligh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia

DEMO ACCOUNT

Fortunately, FXTRADING.com offers a Demo account to its customers on the MT4 platform. Just fill in your personal data in a form, and the broker will respond in an email with the instructions for installation and use.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

FXTRADING.com is unable to open accounts for the following states and jurisdictions at this time, America (USA), Ontario Province inside Canada, North Korea, Vanuatu, and Iran.

CONCLUSION

FXTRADING.com is an Australian forex broker, well regulated by ASIC but without its own license. We have found the trading conditions to be quite useful. It has a tasty variety of 4 accounts in which you can start with a minimum deposit of 200 USD, which is a reasonable requirement. The leverage is up to 1:400, which seems to us very high, but the trader can lower it to 1:100 if he wants. It has an excellent educational area and tools for the trader. It currently has a promotion valid until the end of March 2020, in which they pay you 10% of your next deposit meeting specific requirements of the volume of trade. It is primarily a Forex broker, and the variety of currency pairs it offers is sufficient. It has the MT4 platform, which is always good news.

To summarize, here are the advantages and disadvantages concerning FXTRADING.com:

Advantages:

MT4 platform available
ECN environment
Low commercial costs
Trading copy platform (Autotrade) available
Good educational tools and of interest to the trader
Leverage up to 1: 400
It offers a Demo account

Disadvantages:

Does not have a license of its own (is an authorized representative)

Tags forex broker reviews, FXTRADING.com, FXTRADING.com Review, Rubix FX

Forex Brokers

TTS Markets Review

TTS Markets is a broker that offers trading with more than 60 financial instruments, including Forex, commodities, and indices, on two trading platforms: Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5. According to the information on the broker’s website, the company behind the trademark TTS Markets is Tamil Trading Services Ltd. This company is based in Belize and […]

However, when we tested your MT4 demo platform, which is provided by another forex broker (Richly Active Limited), we found only twenty pairs of forex and precious metals available for trading. What we like least is that TTS Markets is not regulated.

As we have said in other reviews, trading with an off-shore broker has some risks. Regulation in Belize is better than having nothing. Unlike the UK FCA and other financial institutions, IFSC has rather light control over foreign exchange brokers. But regulation in Belize is undoubtedly better than most offshore destinations. IFSC sets a minimum capital requirement for derivatives brokers, and commodities brokers of USD 500,000, which is to demonstrate the financial solvency of the company. Also, it charges an annual leave fee of $25,000. Also, IFSC requires licensed companies to have client funds in segregated accounts.

Let’s see all we can find out about this broker:

ACCOUNT TYPES

Like most foreign exchange brokers, TTS Markets offers its customers the option of up to 7 different account types, depending on the initial investment. All accounts are free of quotations, except one, and offer variable spreads, as well as the option to trade in micro lots, in order to have a good risk management strategy.

TTS Markets offers 7 different account types, called, Cent account, Mini account, Classic account, Pro account, Vip account, Fixed spread account, and Islamic account, here are the features of each of them:

Cent Account:

Spread floating, from 1.8 points
Commission None
Execution type Instant Execution
Execution speed 1.63 seconds
Platform MT5
Leverage 1:1000 – 1:1
Account base currency USD
Minimum deposit $1
Maximum deposit $1,000
Minimum lot 0.01
Maximum lot 500
Minimum step 0.01
Max. number of orders Unlimited
Margin Call Level 100%
Stop Out Level 20%
Forex contract size 1 lot = 100000
Limit & stop levels From one spread

Mini Account:

Spread floating, from 1.8 points
Commission None
Execution type Instant Execution
Execution speed 1.13 seconds
Platform MT5
Leverage 1:1000 – 1:1
Account base currency USD
Minimum deposit $10
Maximum deposit No limit
Minimum lot 0.01
Maximum lot 500
Minimum step 0.01
Max. number of orders Unlimited
Margin Call Level 100%
Stop Out Level 20%
Forex contract size 1 lot = 100000
Limit & stop levels From one spread

Classic Account:

Spread floating, from 1.8 points
Commission None
Execution type Market Execution
Execution speed 1.13 seconds
Platform MT5
Leverage 1:1000 – 1:1
Account base currency USD
Minimum deposit $10
Maximum deposit No limit
Minimum lot 0.01
Maximum lot 500
Minimum step 0.01
Max. number of orders Unlimited
Margin Call Level 100%
Stop Out Level 20%
Forex contract size 1 lot = 100000
Limit & stop levels From one spread

Pro Account:

Spread floating, from 0.6 points
Commission From 5$ per lot
Execution type Market Execution
Execution speed 0.95 seconds
Platform MT5
Leverage 1:500 – 1:1
Account base currency USD
Minimum deposit $1,000
Maximum deposit No limit
Minimum lot 0.01
Maximum lot 500
Minimum step 0.01
Max. number of orders Unlimited
Margin Call Level 100%
Stop Out Level 20%
Forex contract size 1 lot = 100000
Limit & stop levels From one spread

VIP Account:

Spread floating, from 0.1 points
Commission From 2.5$ per lot
Execution type Market Execution
Execution speed 0.37 seconds
Platform MT5
Leverage 1:300 – 1:1
Account base currency USD
Minimum deposit $50,000
Maximum deposit No limit
Minimum lot 0.01
Maximum lot 500
Minimum step 0.01
Max. number of orders Unlimited
Margin Call Level 100%
Stop Out Level 20%
Forex contract size 1 lot = 100000
Limit & stop levels No limit

Fixed Spread Account:

Spread floating, from 2 points
Commission None
Execution type Instant Execution
Execution speed 1.13 seconds
Platform MT5
Leverage 1:1000 – 1:1
Account base currency USD
Minimum deposit $10
Maximum deposit No limit
Minimum lot 0.01
Maximum lot 500
Minimum step 0.01
Max. number of orders Unlimited
Margin Call Level 100%
Stop Out Level 20%
Forex contract size 1 lot = 100000
Limit & stop levels From one spread

Islamic Account:

Spread floating, from 1.8 points
Commission None
Execution type Market Execution
Execution speed 1.13 seconds
Platform MT5
Leverage 1:1000 – 1:1
Account base currency USD
Minimum deposit $10
Maximum deposit No limit
Minimum lot 0.01
Maximum lot 500
Minimum step 0.01
Max. number of orders Unlimited
Margin Call Level 100%
Stop Out Level 20%
Forex contract size 1 lot = 100000
Limit & stop levels From one spread

Looking at all the accounts, we see that there are differences in spreads, leverages, and minimum deposits. It calls our attention that there are differences in execution speed and that the account called Fixed Spread, has a variable spread (unless it is a typographical error of the website)

PLATFORMS

TTS Markets offers its customers two of the most popular currency trading platforms, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and Metatrader 5 (MT5). Both platforms, MT4 and MT5, are available in a mobile version for use on smartphones and tablets, whether iOS or Android. Besides, TTS Markets offers its clients the VPS hosting service. It is a remote server that guarantees stability, reliability, and high-quality technical conditions, beneficial for those who work with Expert Advisors and automated strategies.

LEVERAGE

The biggest leverage with this broker (1:1000), is available on all your accounts except the Pro account and the Vip account, where you have a leverage of 1:500 and 1:300, respectively. Traders can start with a minimum no deposit account and leverage of 1:1000. While this may seem like a reasonable offer, we do not recommend using the leverage of 1:1000 with this or any other broker. Because if the market moves against you, even a minimal move, chances are you’ll lose the whole account.

TRADE SIZES

In all accounts offered by TTS Markets, the minimum trade size is 0.01 lot (micro lot), and the maximum trade size is 500 lots.

TRADING COSTS

Regardless of the Spreads, TTS Markets accounts generally do not have commissions for traded lots. Only the Pro account costs 5 USD per lot, and the Vip Account costs 2.5 USD per lot. Another cost to add will be the Swap, 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

The assets available to trade are 40 currency pairs (Forex), and CFDs on metals, indices, and commodities.

SPREADS

As for TTS Markets spreads, they are not very competitive: more than 2 pips in EUR / USD. We tested the broker’s MT4 demo platform, and the spreads for this pair of currencies were fluctuating around 1.6 pips (probably the Classic account price feed), a cost that is also above the market average.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

The minimum deposit required by TTS Markets varies according to the account chosen. For example, for the Cent account, they only ask for 1 USD, for the Mini or Classic accounts, they are 10 USD. Pro and VIP accounts already require higher initial capital, USD 1,000, and USD 50,000, respectively.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

Customers of TTS Markets, have available the following payment methods: credit or debit cards (Visa or Mastercard), bank transfers, and the following e-wallet, Skrill and Neteller. Additionally, it is also possible to deposit in Bitcoins. The Broker announces no deposit fees.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS & COSTS

The methods of withdrawal must be the same as those by which the deposit was made. The broker announces that he does not charge commissions for withdrawals, and if there is any expense, he assumes it. This is good news and a plus.

WITHDRAWAL PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

TTS Markets announces that it processes withdrawals within 24 hours. Also, the time taken for the various withdrawal methods should be added, which are usually instantaneous in the case of e-wallets and bank cards, and 2 to 5 working days in the case of bank transfers.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

There are currently several bonuses available with this broker:

-A bonus of 115% for your first deposit, the condition to be able to withdraw that 115% is to trade 500 lots. Condition quite difficult to get.

-Welcome bonus of 30 USD. The Bonus is not removable, but you can withdraw the winnings generated by it.

-There is negative balance protection; in this case, if your balance sheet turns negative as a reason for a losing trade, the broker will restore the balance to 0 USD. In short, you can never lose more than you’ve deposited.

-They also have in the promotion to rent VPS s from 15 USD, depending on the characteristics of the VPS that can cost up to 30 or 45 USD.

-Another of their promotions, called 0% commissions, is that the broker will reimburse you any expenses you may have when making your deposit so that it is free for the customer.

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 add, but do not collect from the clients. In the case of TTS Markets, it is offered, 10 USD per lot on customers with Classic account, and 2 USD per lot on the PRO account.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

As tools, we have an economic Calendar, which we like very much to appear on the website, as it is a tool of interest since it seems the most important events of the day, and that may affect different financial assets that the trader may be trading. We also found a blog, very educational, with many interesting articles, all of them related to trading, worth reading. And finally, we also have a Screener and a Forex Heat Map to see the current status of the assets and their real-time quotes.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To get in touch with TTS Market’s customer service, we have 4 main routes, Telephone, email, a contact form that appears on the web, and a live chat. The data we have collected are as follows:

Email: [email protected]
London Contact : +44 12239 69922, +27 11 083 5399
Dubai Contact : +971 5813 98086
Hong Kong Contact: +852-8192 9984
General Queries. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]
Sales Queries. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]
Technical Support. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]
Fund Deposit. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]
Website Related. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]
Introducing Broker Queries. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]
Partner Queries. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]
Over All Support. 24 hours ( Monday – Friday ). [email protected]

DEMO ACCOUNT

Fortunately, TTS Markets provides a demo account that you can install in a few seconds. There is a download section on the website where you can choose the version you want, MT4 or MT5. Notify that the platform is provided by a company that is not TTS Markets. (liquiditysoftsolutions).

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

The broker does not mention anywhere on his website about citizens or jurisdictions that may have restricted the fact of opening an account with TTS Markets. We advise all traders interested in opening an account with this broker to contact customer service to find out if you can open an account or not.

CONCLUSION

TTS Markets is a Belize-based foreign exchange broker with MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. The broker claims to be in the process of obtaining a license from the Belize IFSC. But it is currently operating without a currency broker license, and this is a disadvantage. Moreover, their spreads are above the market average. Another broker provides the MT4 platform, and its asset portfolio is quite limited.

To sum up, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

MT4 and MT5 platforms available
A low initial deposit is required
VPS available at a very reasonable cost
Very high levels of leverage are offered

Disadvantages:

Broker not regulated
Spreads are relatively high
MT4 provided by another company
No CFDs on indices and raw materials

Tags forex broker reviews, TTS Markets, TTS Markets Review

Forex Brokers

JCMFX Review

JCMFX was founded in 2014. This broker has more than 50 currency pairs, CFDs, stock indices, and precious metals. JCMFX uses the most modern platform of the company Metaquotes, the Metatrader 5 (MT5). Joint Capital Management LTD is the company behind the trademark JCMFX. This company is registered by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of […]

Vincent and the Grenadines is a Caribbean island, where the registration process for Forex brokers as International Business Companies (IBC) is straightforward and quite economical. Under this jurisdiction, brokers registered there face very limited regulatory oversight.

We always recommend brokers regulated by trusted authorities such as the UK FCA or the Australian ASIC. However, being an offshore broker is not synonymous with being a scam broker as many assume. In fact, JCMFX, despite having more flexible regulation, seems to be a reliable broker. We have reviewed several user reviews on some of the most popular forex websites, and opinions about this broker are quite positive.

ACCOUNT TYPES

JCMFX offers two types of trading accounts for trading in currencies. Accounts are called MINI and STANDARD. There is also a free demo account with unlimited duration for beginner traders. The two account types offer the same variable spreads, quite high leverage levels, up to 1:1000, and the option to trade with micro-lots.

Here are the main features of the 2 accounts offered by JCMFX:

MINI Account:

Base Currency Options USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD
Contract Size 1000
Leverage 1:1 to 1:1000
Spread on all majors As Low as 1.2 Pip
Commission No Commission
Maximum open/pending orders 200 Positions
Lot restriction per ticket 100 Lots
Hedging allowed 200 Positions
Islamic Account Optional Yes
Minimum Deposit 10 USD

Standard Account:

Base Currency Options USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD
Contract Size 1000
Leverage 1:1 to 1:1000
Spread on all majors As Low as 1.2 Pip
Commission No Commission
Maximum open/pending orders 200 Positions
Lot restriction per ticket 50 Lots
Hedging allowed 200 Positions
Islamic Account Optional Yes
Minimum Deposit 100 USD

Also, there are Islamic accounts with this broker. Swaps are not applied to these accounts; that is, no interest applies to positions that remain open overnight.

PLATFORMS

JCMFX is compatible with the most popular platform among traders: Metatrader, this time in its most modern version, MT5. The platform is available both in the desktop version, for use on a computer, and in a mobile version, so that you can use it on your mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. The JCMFX MT5 features more than 30 technical indicators, a back-testing environment for analyzing your strategies, an advanced graphics package, and an extensive range of Expert Advisors (EA), allowing you to automate your operations fully.

On the other hand, JCMFX also provides the use of a VPS (virtual private server) to traders who use Eas (expert advisors) to trade, thus allowing commercial robots to act most efficiently if you have a high-speed broadband Internet connection.

LEVERAGE

The maximum leverage rates offered by this broker are very high, reaching 1:1000. Most brokers provide leverage within a range of 1:200 – 1:500. We advise novice traders to be careful when using very high leverage levels, as not only can they multiply their earnings on a small deposit, but they can also have losses that exceed the initial investment.

TRADE SIZES

Nowhere on the broker’s website have we been able to find the minimum trade sizes to start trading. We are quite sure, analyzing the available bonuses and the minimum deposits required, that the minimum trade size will be 0.01 lot (micro lot).

TRADING COSTS

This broker is advertised as a broker without commissions in trading. Nor does he have commissions on deposits and withdrawals. The only expense we will have with this broker, as with any other, will be the Swaps, 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

This broker has more than 50 currency pairs, CFDs, stock indexes, and precious metals.

SPREADS

The spreads offered by JCMFX are variable and average more than 1.2 pips in EUR / USD. Therefore, we consider them, compared with other brokers, slightly higher than the average of the sector, which would be in 1 pip.

MINIMUM DEPOSIT

In order to open a trading account with JCMFX, a minimum deposit of 10 USD is required. We consider this to be a shallow initial requirement.

DEPOSIT METHODS & COSTS

JCMFX has the following payment methods for its clients:

Credit or debit card, bank transfer, and e-wallets like Skrill, Neteller, Fasapay, and Union Pay. All deposits are instantaneous, minus the bank transfer that may take 2 to 5 days to appear in your trading account. This broker does not charge any commission for deposits or withdrawals.

WITHDRAWAL METHODS – PROCESSING & WAIT TIME

The withdrawal methods are the same, as we have seen in the previous section. Always remember that the same system should be used for deposits and withdrawals. The broker announces that he will not charge any commission for withdrawals. Withdrawal waiting times are instantaneous for bank card and Union Pay withdrawals and takes 3-5 days for withdrawals made with Skrill, Neteller, and Fasa Pay. Withdrawals made by bank transfer will be delayed between 7 working days.

BONUSES & PROMOTIONS

JCMFX seems to be a generous broker, offering 4 types of bonuses:

– Welcome bonus: No deposit required, just by opening a trading account, the broker deposits you at your balance of 30 USD. This bonus is available for 60 days. This promotion is only valid for new customers. The bonus is not removable, but the winnings you make with it. Please note that the maximum leverage allowed in the accounts participating in this promotion is 1:100.

-100% deposit bonus up to 1,000 USD. It is a deposit promotion of at least 100 USD, up to a maximum of 1,000 USD. You can withdraw after meeting certain volume requirements. This bonus is also intended to open new accounts. The maximum leverage of the accounts that will participate in this promotion is 1:500.

– 20% bonus up to a maximum of 1000 USD. The trader has to deposit a minimum amount of 100 USD to be able to participate in this promotion. The previous 100% commented bonus is more attractive.

– 60% bonus, up to a maximum of 1000 USD. Another promotion is also applicable only to new customers. The amount of the bonus cannot be withdrawn, but the winnings generated with it can be withdrawn.

All bonuses are intended for commercial purposes, but gains from investing the bonuses earned can be withdrawn.

JCMFX 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 their operative.

EDUCATIONAL & TRADING TOOLS

In this area, we find little content of interest to the trader. There is hardly an economic calendar available, which we always consider very important so that traders can consult, daily, the most important events of the day, and that can affect their trading, and then we find a section, where the broker tries to explain the most basic concepts like, which is Forex and how it works, and something similar with CFDs.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

JCMFX has several ways to contact customer service. We have a telephone, email, a contact form on the web, and a live chat. The details are as follows:

Email: [email protected]

Teléfono: +85 28199 9515 ; +852 8191 5066

Suite 305, Centro Corporativo Griffith, Kingstown, San Vicente y las Granadinas.

DEMO ACCOUNT

It is quite 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. JCMFX demo accounts do not have an expiry date, and so you can use them as long as you want. Demo accounts that have been inactive for longer than 120 days from the last login will be closed.

COUNTRIES ACCEPTED

Joint Capital Management Ltd (JCMFX) does not provide services for citizens of certain regions, such as The United States, North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Iraq, Cuba, Sudan, and Syria.

CONCLUSION

JCMFX is an offshore broker that offers online Forex trading services and a variety of CFDs on indexes and commodities. This broker uses the most modern platform of the company Metaquotes, the MT5 platform. Aside from its “poor” regulation, the main disadvantage compared to other better-regulated brokers is that their spreads seem to be a little high. We liked the variety of systems for making deposits and withdrawals, and that both are free and commission-free. It also has various welcome bonuses for new users, which can be taken advantage of if you know how to trade well.

Here is a summary of the pros and cons of JCMFX:

Advantages:

MT5 available
Low initial deposit
No commission trading
High levels of leverage are offered
Good bonuses, one of them available without making an initial deposit

Disadvantages:

Loose regulation
Typical spread in EUR/USD above 1.2 pips

Tags forex broker reviews, JCMFX Broker, JCMFX Review

Forex Brokers

Direct Trading Technologies Review

Post author By Forex Academy
Post date 9 September, 2020
No Comments on Direct Trading Technologies Review

Direct Trading Technologies, or DTT, is a global forex and CFD broker that has added branches in Panama, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, and three separate locations in Saudi Arabia since their launch over 19 years ago. The company is currently under regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority, Vanuatu Financial Services Commission, and the SMV. Confirmed stability and security is definitely an upside to opening an account, although traders will need to know more about the three main account types and trading conditions if considering registration. Keep reading to find those details.

Account Types

Direct Trading Technologies provides four different live account types: Mini, Standard, VIP, and ECN. Designed for beginners, or those that want to trade smaller lot sizes, the Mini account requires the smallest deposit asked for by the broker, with a disadvantage in the form of higher spreads. The Standard account raises the deposit minimum significantly while rewarding traders with spreads that start at 0.5 pips less than the Mini account. Neither of the aforementioned accounts charges any commission fees. The VIP and ECN accounts seem to be on the other end of the spectrum, with deposit requirements of $10K and up, plus lower spreads. The main difference between these accounts would be the fact that the VIP account offers spreads from 1 pip on majors with no commission costs, while the ECN account charges commissions of $10 per lot + no markup ECN spreads. We’ve provided a quick overview of each account’s details below.

Mini Account

Minimum Deposit: $500 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: From 2 pips on majors
Commission: Zero

Standard Account

Minimum Deposit: $2,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: From 1.5 pips on majors
Commission: Zero

VIP Account

Minimum Deposit: $10,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: From 1 pip on majors
Commission: Zero

ECN Account

Minimum Deposit: $15,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:200
Spread: no markup
Commission: $10.00 per lot

Platform

DTT supports the award-winning MetaTrader 4 platform, the most commonly offered trading platform among forex brokers today. MT4 is preferred for its wide array of features, including one-click trading, Expert Advisors, technical analysis tools, several built-in indicators, and charting tools, etc. Accessibility is no issue, as the program is available for download on PC, Android/Tablet, and iPhone/iPad. Those operating from a Mac computer, or any user that doesn’t wish to download the program can also access MT4 through the browser-based WebTrader. Links to all download sources can be found directly on the broker’s website. Those that don’t have any prior experience with the platform should be able to learn quickly, thanks to the user-friendly interface and simple navigation. Traders can even practice and get more familiarized with MT4 by opening a demo account through the broker.

Leverage

Rather than offering different leverage options for different account types, DTT offers the same 1:200 leverage cap on all four of their live accounts. This option is very competitive for the VIP and ECN account types since the majority of brokers do lower the leverage cap on accounts that require larger deposits in order to limit risk. It would be nice if the broker would raise the leverage cap to 1:300 or 1:400 on the Mini account and perhaps the Standard account in order to keep up with some of their other competitors. Still, the leverage option is likely higher than what most traders would be looking for, especially considering that professionals have mentioned a 1:100 leverage is their ideal choice. Note that the company provides conflicting information on their Forex Products page, where a 1:400 leverage is listed. Meanwhile, the account pages list the 1:200 cap for each account. We took information from the accounts page to be more realistic while hoping that traders will be able to access the other advertised option.

Trade Sizes

When trading cryptocurrencies, the minimum trade size is one micro lot and the maximum is 10 lots. There is a total daily trade volume limit of 10 contracts. DTT further reserves the right to limit the open number of positions a customer may maintain in the account. The broker also reserves the right to change margin call levels at any time and does not specifically list the current levels. Important details, like minimum/maximum trade sizes on accounts and margin call or stop loss levels are missing from the website. Of course, we can assume that micro lots can be traded from the Mini account, while the other accounts would either allow the trading of micro lots, mini lots, or one lot as their lowest trade sizes.

Trading Costs

Trading costs would be charged through traditional spreads, rollover interest, and commission charges in the case of the ECN account. The ECN account’s commission charges are rather high, at $10 per lot, but the advantage would be access to much lower spreads, likely starting from around 0 or 0.2 pips. Spreads on the other accounts can vary more widely and climb to higher amounts in some cases. Rollover interest charges occur when a position is held past the market closing time. Most brokers triple these charges on Wednesdays to account for the upcoming weekend and applicable charges can be viewed from within the MT4 platform.

Under their terms & conditions, DTT mentions that future fees may include statement charges, account transfer charges, telephone order charges, fees imposed by any interbank agency, and/or regulatory fees. The customer may incur fees for the purchase of additional optional purchases. While these fees are not currently charged, the fact that the broker reserves the right to charge random fees with no prior notification -besides adding the condition somewhere on the website where it most likely won’t be seen, is a little bit scary. Traders should definitely keep an eye on any emails or changes to the broker’s terms frequently.

Assets

DTT features 75+ currency pairs, including majors, minors, and exotics, in addition to CFDs on the precious metals Gold, Silver, and energies like Crude Oil and Natural Gas. An extra perk to opening an account would be access to cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. Many brokers don’t offer any type of crypto trading; however, traders may be able to find more available instrument categories elsewhere, like stocks, bonds, cash indices, etc. Overall, DTT should have plenty of options for those looking for currency-based trades and crypto traders.

Spreads

DTT doesn’t actually list all of their available products with minimum and maximum spreads, but the website does tell us the minimum and maximum spreads on FX majors for each account. Although we can’t say how high spreads go on minors, the given numbers should provide an idea of what to expect. On the Mini account, spreads are listed as normal, meaning that they start at 2 pips and go as high as 3 pips on FX majors. We’re used to seeing higher spreads on Mini /Micro/Cent account types, but one would want to consider that spreads can be double the industry average and we’re only talking about the starting amount on majors. Standard account spreads are listed as professional, which is a fancy way of saying that they fluctuate from 1.5 to 2.5 pips on majors. One would need to deposit $10K and open a VIP account in order to access decent spreads from 1 to 2 pips on the same instruments. The ECN account advertises ECN spreads with no markup, without explaining in any further detail. Typical ECN spreads can start as low as 0 pips or so.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum threshold to open an account through this broker is $500. This a rather significant amount and the fact that it would only open a Mini account here is concerning. Traders would be able to open Standard level accounts or possibly better with the same initial deposit elsewhere, likely with access to better spreads. The broker’s Standard account raises the minimum deposit requirement to $2,000 and traders would see slightly better spreads as an incentive for opening the account. From there, requirements jump to $10,000 on the VIP account and $15,000 on the ECN account. Overall, DTT is rather expensive, although their VIP account is reasonably priced. The lack of affordability may force some traders to look for another broker, while those that can afford to make a larger initial deposit shouldn’t have an issue meeting account requirements.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Funding options are limited to the popular methods Visa/MasterCard, bank wire transfer, and Skrill. It would be nice to see a wider variety of e-wallets available, although the broker still manages to provide a few different payment options. There is a minimum deposit requirement of $50 when depositing through card or Skrill and a higher $250 requirement for bank wire. The charge for depositing through bank wire transfer is $25 USD, while the methods offer fee-free deposits. Note that third-party deposits are not accepted and the payment method must match the name on the account.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals can be made back to bank wire transfer, Visa/MasterCard, and Skrill. There is a $50 minimum withdrawal amount on all methods that may cause a headache in the future, as the requirement could leave some traders without the ability to withdraw remaining funds if they cannot meet the condition. The website does not provide us with any information about withdrawal fees, but we assume that the $25 fee charged on wire transfer deposits would also apply to withdrawals through that method. DTT may also charge for incidental banking-related fees such as wire transfers, returned checks, currency conversion, etc.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The website can be conflicting when it comes to processing times. At one point, the website states that all withdrawals are processed within 2 business days. Immediately underneath that statement, the broker lists a same-day processing time for withdrawals through Visa/MasterCard and Skrill. A 2-5 business day processing time is listed for bank wire withdrawals. It’s possible that the broker may uphold the same-day processing times, but traders should simply be prepared in case of the long wait. This would also include additional time for the bank or payment method to credit the funds once they have been sent.

Bonuses & Promotions

Currently, DTT is offering a deposit bonus, Refer A Friend program, and rewards for web affiliates that promote the broker on their website. Details for each promotion have been provided below.

Bonus on Deposit: This promotion applies a bonus of up to 50% to the trading account once a deposit is made. In order to claim the bonus, traders MUST enter the promotional code PBQK50 when funding. The 50% deposit amount is applied to deposits between $1 and $1,000, 25% is applied to deposits between $1,000 and $3,000, 10% is applied to deposits between $3K and $10K, and 5% is applied to deposits between $10K and $100K.
Refer A Friend: Through this promotion, traders will be rewarded when others mention their name during registration. That person will then be listed in the trader’s partner account and commissions can be earned from their trades.
Web Affiliates: Those that list the broker on their website will earn commission per lot on referred clients and percentage on IBs referred.

Deposit bonus percentages

Educational & Trading Tools

DTT has made an outstanding effort to provide a number of helpful educational resources and trading tools. Educational information is available through a variety of different mediums, including webinars, seminars, in-office courses, global economic indicators, video courses, FX glossary, and trading strategies. Access to different ways of learning should make it easier for beginners to gather all of the necessary knowledge that would be needed to begin trading effectively. The website also doesn’t disappoint when it comes to trading tools, which are divided into trading signals, tools, and research. We’ve detailed some of the options that can be found within those categories below.

Correlation/Deal Size/Fibonacci Calculators
Trend Catcher
Economic Calendar
Weekly Video Reviews
Fundamental & Technical Analysis
Live News
Smart Social Trading
Market Review

Demo Account

Demo accounts are an invaluable tool for forex traders, allowing them to test out strategies and platforms while trading under the broker’s conditions and gaining experience. Fortunately, DTT offers these risk-free accounts to anyone that would like to sign up for one. Registering for a demo account from the website is quick and only requires a few details. Once the form has been completed, traders can begin trading through a simulation account that is exactly the same to the real account environment, including real-time spreads and execution speed.

Customer Service

The broker’s multilingual support team is available 24 hours a day on weekdays. Traders can reach an agent instantly by selecting “LiveChat” at the top of the website and emailing or calling one of the various office locations. Note that a few separate email addresses and phone numbers are provided for separate offices, so be sure to find the one that is closest to your location. The broker also accepts callback requests in the event that one would prefer an agent reach out to them through the phone. While it may be less convenient if you need to speak to support on the weekend, it seems as though DTT has made it fairly simple to reach out to support and receive a quick response. Contact details have been listed below.

Primary Email Address: [email protected]

Panama Office

Phone: +507 308 6990
Email: [email protected]

Lebanon Office

Phone: +961 71 868912
Email: [email protected]

Kuwait Office

Phone: +962 22 273898

Saudi Arabia Office

Rlyadh Phone: +966 11 486 8630
Jeddah Phone: +966 12 6069219
Al Khobar Phone: +966 13 8454155

Qatar Office

Phone: +974 44316018

Countries Accepted

The fact that DTT is currently regulated by the FCA, VFSC, and SMV makes it likely that they would have stricter policies about which clients would be able to register for an account. To our surprise, we found the United States, Japan, Iran, and many other commonly restricted countries as choices on the registration list. The website allowed us to register from our US-based office with no issue at all, meaning that all traders will be able to open an account with no restrictions.

Conclusion

Direct Trading Technologies is an established and regulated FX and CFD broker that offers three live account types with initial deposit requirements from $500 to $15K. The broker’s investment portfolio includes an impressive 75+ currency pairs, plus CFDs and cryptocurrencies. DTT is rather expensive for the fact that $500 is required just to open a simple Mini account. The maximum leverage cap is limited to 1:200, even on accounts with fewer funds. Spreads can be high with this broker. A $2,000 deposit only grants access to spreads that start at the industry average and climb even higher. Deposits through card or Skrill are fee-free, but the withdrawal fees are not provided. A $50 withdrawal minimum is also required.

Customer support is available on weekdays and can be contacted instantly through LiveChat or via phone/email. The website is filled with educational resources like video lessons, seminars/webinars, in-person courses, demo accounts, and more, in addition to multiple trading tools and analysis. Currently, there are also a few ongoing promotions, including bonuses, a referral program, and commissions for web affiliates. Traders that can afford one of the better account types will have access to competitive conditions, while those that can’t will still be forced to deposit a significant amount of money without many advantages. Your experience with this broker will likely depend entirely on which account type you can afford to open.

Tags broker review, Forex Broker, forex broker reviews

Forex Brokers

Tradeo Review

Tradeo is a Cyprus based foreign exchange broker that is registered and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Tradeo’s effective and intuitive tools revolutionize the trading experience for beginners just starting out and experienced traders looking to grow. Tradeo’s platform streamlines this entire process with an all-inclusive trading environment powered by cutting edge, professional-grade technology. Tradeo aims for transparent pricing with no extra commissions or hidden costs, what you see is what you get. Those are the claims of Tradeo, we will now be looking into the services being offered to see how they compare to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you to use.

Account Types

There are two different accounts which are based on the trading platform they use (we will look at those next), we have outlined the key features of the accounts below, and will go over them further throughout the review.

MetaTrader 4 Account: The account requires a minimum deposit of at least $250, it comes with a variable spread and can be leveraged up to 1:30. It comes with access to the MT4 mobile app, a senior account manager, and spreads starting from as low as 0.9 pips.

Tradeo Z Web Account: You need to deposit a least $250 to open this account type, it comes with a maximum leverage of 1L:30 and gains access to an executive account manager. This account acts slightly more like a binary options account, we will outline some key features as we go through the review.

Platforms

As mentioned in the account section, there are two different platforms that the account is based around. We have outlined some of their features below.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): Tradeo doesn’t actually mention MT4 very much on the site even though it is one of the world’s most used and most liked trading platforms offering huge amounts of customizations and accessibility. It is usable as a desktop download, mobile application, and as a web trader. It has access to hundreds and thousands of indicators and expert advisors which help to enhance analysis and allows for automated trading. MetaTrader 4 is used by over 1,000,000 traders for good reasons.

Tradeo Z Web Trader: This is Tradeos’ very own proprietary trading platform, it is usable as a web treader or mobile application. Some of its features boated by Tradeo are that it offers quick execution of client trades, a friendly user interface, a wide range financial instruments user can trade with, access to a personal account manager including leading experts with extensive experience to guide clients when they start working on the platform, the ability to open, view, and edit positions, check account balances and P&L, and to set stop loss, take profit and limit orders.

Leverage

Both accounts can have a maximum leverage of 1:30, however, different instruments have different leverages, so while some Forex Major pairs may have 1:30, forex crosses will have 1:20 and some insides and commodities will be as low as 1:10 or 1:2, be sure to check the contract specifications for the instruments you wish to trade.

Trade Sizes

The different account types have slightly different sizes when using MT4, the trade sizes start at 0.01 lots when trading forex, they also go up in increments of 0.01 lots until they reach the maximum size of 50 lots. Indices start at 0.01 lots and go up in 0.01 lots until they reach the maximum of 15 lots, metals start at 0.01 lots and go up to 30 lots while Stocks start at 1 lot and can go as high as 500 lots.

When using the Tradeo Z Web Platform, the forex trades start from $25 and can go as high as $10,000,000. Cryptocurrencies, metals, and indices all have the same $25 minimum and $10,000,000 maximum trade sizes.

Trading Costs

There isn’t any added commission on any of the trading accounts as they all use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are swap charges, these are charges that are paid when holding trades overnight if you are using the MetaTrader 4 account they can be viewed within the platform if you are using the Tradeo Web Platform the swap fees can be viewed on the site. There are also swap-free Islamic accounts available should your beliefs mean that you cannot accept or pay interest.

Assets

The assets at Tradeo have been broken down into various categories, we have listed them below along with the instruments within each group.

Forex: Over 40 to choose from, including a variety of majors, minors, and exotics.

Indices: Spain 35, France 40, UK 100, Germany 30, S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nikkei 225, Nasdaq and more.

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

Commodities: WTI Crude Oil and Brent Crude Oil.

Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (EUR and USD), Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Ripple.

Stocks: There are plenty of stocks for the US to trade, some of them include Amazon, Alibaba, Chevron, Facebook, FedEx, Google, Netflix, VISA, Total, and Intel.

Spreads

The accounts page shows that the MT4 account has spreads starting from 0.9 pips, however, when we look at the average spreads available the lowest one available is EURUSD at 1.4 pips. The Tradeo platform has EURUSD starting at 0.4 pips which is a lot slower than the MT4 account, however other assets such as AUD/CAD have a spread of 3.76 pips on MT4 and a massive 16 pips on the Tradeo Web Platform.

The spreads on both accounts are variable which means they will be influenced by the markets, the more volatility that there are the markets or if there is a lack in liquidity, they will often be seen higher, as shown above, different instruments will also have different spreads.

Minimum Deposit

Both accounts require a minimum deposit of $250 to open up. We do not know if this amount reduces once an account has been opened for the future top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You are able to deposit using Bank Wire Transfer, Credit / Debit Card, Neteller, and Skrill. Tradeo does not charge processing fees on deposits. Please note however that charges may be applied by the issuing, intermediary, and/or beneficiary bank (in case of bank transfers) or by the relevant payment processor (in case of card deposits and e-payment deposits), resulting in a smaller amount than you deposited.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Information regarding withdrawals indicates that Bank Wire Transfers, Credit Cards, and alternative payment methods are available, but they do not say what they are. There are also fees for various methods that we have detailed below.

Fees for Wire Transfers:
Up To 10,000 $ /€ / £ – Fee 30.00 $ / €/ £
Above 10, 000 $ /€ / £ – 0.30% Fee of the withdrawal amount
Fees for Credit cards: 15.00 $ / €/ £
Fees for alternative payment methods are 1% with a minimum Fee of 15 $ / €/ £**

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Tradeo does not actually say how long it will take for them to execute your withdrawal request, they just simply state that after thy have executed it, it will take between 2 to 5 working days to fully process and to be available for use.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not look like there are any active promotions or bonuses so if you are interested in them, you may have to contact the customer service team to see if there is anything that you are able to take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side of the site contains a page called Tradeo Tube, this has videos that contain weekly analysis. This hasn’t been updated since January 05, 2020, though. There is also a glossary of trading-related terms, so you can take a look if you come across something you do not know the meaning of. The final section is a page containing Ebooks, they go over topics like how to start trading, or what cryptocurrencies are. Everything is very basic and not really what you need to become a trading expert.

Customer Service

You can get in touch with Tradeo by using the online submission form, simply fill it in along with your email and you should get a reply within a day. You can also use the email address provided directly or the phone number, there is also a postal address available should you wish to contact them that way.

Address: 140 Vasileos Constantinou, Tofias Building, 1st floor, 3080, Limassol, Cyprus.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +35725262292

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out strategies and trades without any risk, so it is good that Tradeo is offering them, you can get a demo account for either platform/account type and they last indefinitely. The trading conditions will mimic the trading conditions that each account type provides.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site if you are thinking of joining we would recommend contacting the customer service team prior to creating an account, just to be sure that you are eligible for one.

Conclusion

Tradeo is offering two very distinct account sand platforms, while on paper they may seem very similar, the platforms that they use make them stand apart. For a more traditional trading experience, you would need to use the MT4 account. The leverage is a bit of a let down having a 1:30 maximum can be quite limiting. The spreads are states as being low but some of them are as high as 16 which is far from low and so some currency pairs or instruments can be quite expensive to trade. A few methods available to deposit with no deposit fees, but there are withdrawal fees which is a shame to see.

Tags broker reviews, Forex Broker, forex broker reviews

Forex Brokers

TenkoFX Review

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

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

Account Types

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

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

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

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

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

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

Platform

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

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

Leverage

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

Trade Sizes

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

Trading Costs

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

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

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

Assets

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

Spreads

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

Minimum Deposit

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

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

Deposit Methods & Costs

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

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

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

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

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

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

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

Bonuses & Promotions

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

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

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

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

Educational & Trading Tools

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

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

Demo Account

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

Customer Service

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

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

Countries Accepted

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

Conclusion

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

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

Tags Forex, forex broker reviews, Forex Brokers

Forex Brokers

Hantec Markets Review

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

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

Account Types

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

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

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

Platform

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

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

Leverage

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

Trade Sizes

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

Trading Costs

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

Assets

The following assets are available for trading:

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

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

Spreads

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

EURUSD: 0.2 pips
USDJPY: 0.5 pips
AUDUSD: 0.6 pips
EURAUD: 1 pip
AUDCAD: 1.2 pips

Minimum Deposit

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

Deposit Methods & Costs

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

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

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

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

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

Bonuses & Promotions

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

Educational & Trading Tools

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

-Market Reports
-Analysis Videos
-Economic & Holiday Calendars

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

Demo Account

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

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

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

Customer Service

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

Countries Accepted

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

Conclusion

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

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, forex broker reviews