Tag: Forex

This is a Japan-based broker offering OTC Binary Options and OTC Forex leveraged derivatives. It is founded in 2006 as FXFOR JAPAN K.K. and rebranded into FXTF (FXTrade Financial) – Goldenway Japan Co., Ltd recently in 2019. The company is very transparent with the history and the way it is conducting business. Visitors to their website will notice the effort put into to disclose more key facts about the company than many other brokers in the industry. Financial statements are published for the latest quarter where potential investors can see Capitalization ($5.80M), sales performance, Net Income, Shares ratios, and key financial figures, ROE, all for the last four years.

FXTF risk disclosure is also one of the longest we have seen in the website footer. Here it is also explained in detail what traders are involved with without regard that it may be too confusing for them or that it could turn them away. For some, this is a good signal about the broker’s clear ethics and business practices. FXTF holds several licenses, Type I Financial Instruments Business Operators, Director-General of the Kanto Local Financial Bureaus (Financial Instruments) No. 258; Financial Futures Association of Japan Registration No.1570 and Japan Investment Advisers Association No.012-02639.

The website is devoid of any typical design works to make it pretty, the focus is put on functionality but also on transparency. The English version of the website is less developed, without the call to open the account or any kind of marketing. Whatsmore, the Contact page is intended only for B2B, with a clear no solicitation statement. This shows that FXTF is a domestic-only broker.

FXTF is formed based on a distinct culture, so traders will notice the difference in the broker philosophy, typical for Japan’s discipline, morals, and precision. Not much can be found about FXTF on the internet or any kind of user reviews on benchmark sites. This FXTF review will present to you what makes this broker different across the services provided.

Account Types

FXTF does not offer any packages, traders can select MT4 Account or MT4 Account with Binary Options. These are also available for Corporate Accounts. The broker promotes them as without any fees. Upon registration, new clients will have to consent to several legal documents, some of which are very interesting, like “Consent not to be anti-social”, “Confirmation” documents and the promise check beside it. None of these legal documents are in English so we assume the broker is focused on the local, Japan market. Additional information is required, such as trading experience, Tax-included annual income, Bank Account info for withdrawals, Occupation and a lot more. The application procedure is very extensive. The broker also offers Cent account where 1 lot is 10,000 currency units.

Platforms

According to the information we have from FXTF’s website, only the MetaTrader 4 platform is available for CFDs. MT4 is adapted to work on Windows, Mac and also on mobile devices running on Android or iOS. For those who want to access trading without any installation, it can be also done with the MT4 web-accessible client. Once installed, the MT4 will show two servers, FXTF Demo and Live, both with a 280 ms ping rate. Note that FXTF’s servers are located in Japan and they are proud to be domestic. The platform is not set to defaults, the first thing we have noticed is a slightly different chart layout.

There are four chart windows with major forex pairs but all are JPY quoted except for the EUR/USD. Also, the colors are changed from the default black/green setup with One-click trading buttons visible. Once you look into the custom indicators list, it will be clear that this is not the default installation package. There are 21 custom indicators from FXTF with a prefix. These indicators are very useful from what we could see, some of the indicators have advanced settings, although in Japanese characters, and some are intended to enhance the trading experience with positions info, Japan time, Price Action and similar.

Some of these work only on Live accounts. Especially interesting are the MACD versions and the one called Daijunkan MACD which provides multiple category signals. The same is with the templates pack, multiple FXTF custom templates are found named after some of the indicators included. They seem to be well designed and ready trading systems. Symbols list has only one group – “Forex-cd”. The group also contains some of the commodity assets that obviously do not belong to Forex.

All assets have a cd suffix. The instrument specification window will show enough information but we have expected more on the leverage or margin requirements. The Terminal window will show all trade costs including swaps and commissions. The execution times are inconsistent, on average are about 650 ms with ranges from 400ms to 1300ms. These execution times are probably not relevant as the servers are located in Japan.

The other platform is called the “Bite trading system”. This platform is designed for Binary options trading.

Leverage

FXTF stated the leverage of up to 1:25 for most tradeable assets. For TRY/JPY and ZAR/JPY, the leverage is 1:12.5. We have confirmed this leverage in the MT4 platform. This is lower than the industry average but the broker is transparent on the regulatory requirements for the leverage. The leverage is calculated by taking account only the largest position in a hedge scenario. Whatsmore, there is a very detailed explanation of how it is calculated, with visuals and methods. By the view of most broker houses, this information would be regarded as unwelcoming for complexity reasons.

Trade Sizes

FXTF is a micro lot broker, allowing minimum trade sizes of 0.01 lots. This is true for all tradeable assets. The maximum trade size is 10 lots. Stops level is set to 50 points for all forex pairs. This means all Stop Loss or Take Profit orders will have to be set outside 5 pip range from the bid/ask price. As for the Margin Call and Stop Out levels, they are set to 100% and 50% margin level. Note that the broker has a different practice on selecting the Stop Out level. Namely, FXTF has a certain period when the Margin requirement is observed. The so-called “Margin Judgement Time” is from 15:30 to 15:45 Tokyo time when the Stop Out level is 100%. Outside this period the Stop Out is 50%. The largest position will be closed first. Additional information is presented with visuals.

Trading Costs

FXTF is a commission-free broker. As for swaps they are under normal levels and calculated in currencies. The swaps are tripled on Wednesdays and positive values are common. For the most traded pair – EUR/USD the swap is -9.77 EUR for long and a positive 1.64 EUR for short. USD/JPY has -10.97 on short and 1.92 USD on long while other JPY quoted major pairs have single-digit negatives. It is rare to see a pair without a positive swap But this is true for example EUR/JPY with -2.38 EUR for long and -1.56 EUR for short position. NZD/CHF has a double-digit negative swap on the short side, -11.84 NZD and 0.98 NZD on the long. The other pairs that have double-digit swaps are the two exotic pairs, TRY/JPY with 27.01 TRY for long and -40.52 TRY for short, and MZX/JPY with 19.04 MXN for long and -22.51 MXN for short position swap. There are no other trading costs.

Assets

FXTF is a Forex only broker. We have counted a total of 40 currency pairs, but what makes this offer even better is the uncommon JPY quoted pairs. All the majors and crosses are listed, as expected, JPY pairs are more present. Interesting ones are TRY/JPY, MXN/JPY, and ZAR/JPY. These are the only exotics we have found in the MT4. Aside from Forex, the list contains Japan 225 and US 30 Index, US Oil, Spot Gold against the USD, and some cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies listed are also uncommon because they are all quoted in JPY, we have found BTC/JPY, XRP/JPY, Bitcoin Cash and Mona Coin. Unfortunately, these assets were disabled for trading and indicative only. The broker could open them for trading soon.

Spreads

Spreads are probably the main selling point of this broker. FXTF even promotes its effort to break the record in Japan and offer the tightest spreads in history. The spreads are both fixed and variable types depending on the period. The fixed spreads period is from 8:00 am Japan time to 5:00 am the next day. Outside this timeframe, the spreads can vary according to the volatility or liquidity. We have observed the spreads during the session ending and the spreads were very tight across all trading instruments. For example, the most liquid currency pair EUR/USD has only 2 points spread but the liquidity is even better with the USD/JPY having only 1 point spread. Since the broker has 5-digit pricing, this means it is 0.1 pips as advertised.

FXTF is even stating that the ad spread may not be reached outside the fixed spread timeframe. Other pairs had somewhat wider spreads but to a small degree. For example, GBP/USD – 0.7 pips, AUD/JPY – 0.4 pips, EUR/CAD – 2.1 pips, GBP/NZD – 3.9 pips, and the widest spread for the non-exotics belongs to the GBP/CAD at 4.2 pips. The three exotic currency pairs surprised us with the spreads.MXN/JPY has only 3 points spread and ZAR/JPY 9 points. TRY/JPY has 150 points spread although even this value is one of the best offers in the industry, especially during the session end time.

For other instruments not available for trading, XAU/USD had 50 pips spread, and BTC/JPY just 1 point

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is 1000 Yen (roughly $10) for quick deposits and 1 Yen for bank transfers as stated by FXTF. In other words, there is no required minimum but considering the leverage of just 1:25 traders should have at least $500 balance to maintain normal risk management trades.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The broker states two deposit methods, Quick and Transfer. These are all local Japan financial payment processors and banks as the broker deal locally only. Quick deposits do not have any fees and what you deposit is reflected on the account in 24 hours. For Individual Accounts, the banks that are partners with FXTF and support this kind of deposits are MUFG, SMBC, Mizuho Bank, JP-Bank, Rakuten-Bank, Japan Net Bank, Sumishin SBI Net Bank, Aeon bank, and Seven Bank. The page describes in detail how to deposit this way. Regular transfers include ATM, Teller and other bank procedures and each trader will have a different account number for this deposit. Charges may exist for this type of deposit but FXTF does not apply any fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

FXTF does not charge any commissions or fees for withdrawals. The minimum amount for a withdrawal is 1000 Yen if the account is not closing. The method used for withdrawal is the same as the one used for the deposit.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals processing depends on the time of day, holidays and the amount requested. Requests made after 9 am will be accepted the next business day. The withdrawal amount will not be immediately withdrawn from your account after the request. The amount will be subtracted once the broker finishes the process of the request. Therefore, if the withdrawal request amount is not available in your account at the time of withdrawal processing work, the withdrawal request will be canceled. It will take 24 hours or less for processing the amounts lower than 2 million yen, while 10 million or more will require 2 working days.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the moment of writing this FXTF review, the broker offers 3 campaigns. These are “FXTF MT4 start campaign”, “FXTF MT4 comeback campaign”, and “Uniform cashback according to FXTF MT4 trading volume rank”.

FXTF MT4 start campaign is for those who opened the MT4 account in December 2019 and January 2020 for the first time. This is a cashback program that offers 3000 yen cashback for 2 lots traded in two months. Other conditions may apply and this campaign can be mixed with the Uniform MT4 cashback.

FXTF MT4 comeback campaign is also a cashback program for those that resume trading after the period from 7th January 2019 to December 31st, 2019. The cashback amount is 1000 yen for 2 lots traded. This program can be mixed with the Uniform MT4 cashback for up to 51,000 yen cashback.

Uniform cashback according to FXTF MT4 trading volume rank is available for those who apply during the campaign period and trade more than 2 million round trips or 20 lots, a uniform cashback of up to 50,000 yen will be credited depending on the rank. The ranking is published on the FXTF website.

Educational & Trading Tools

FXTF offers some unique tools and is very professional in terms of education. Apart from the mentioned proprietary indicators that go with the MT4 installation package, The broker also has a “Mini Terminal” tool that complements the MT4 platform. This is convenient, ease of use tool that enhances decisions and risk management. Mini Terminal can be used for Profit, Risk and loss calculations, Stop Loss and Take Profit orders adjustment and info, batched ordering on set criteria, hedging, chart and order detachment from MT4, trade graphs, one-click trading, and so on.

FXTF Live is another tool available only for live accounts and is purely made by the broker using the web service. FXTF Live is used for trade analysis, charting, position overview, ratio and other calculations, and position type filtering. It is complementary to the Mini Terminal tool. There is a long, dedicated page on how to use this tool along with practical applications.

Alarm Manager is a custom-developed tool by the broker that is rich in features for alarming the trader to various types of activity. Conditions trigger on new market events or changes, account balance, etc., and notify the pop-up notification on the MT4 screen, e-mail notification, and twitter. Various conditions can be set and combined for each alarm making this tool invaluable and versatile for customization. The broker has a long page dedicated to usage instructions. This tool required a lot of professional work for all of its complexity.

FXTF Future Chart is a tool accessible from the My Page section and is used for predictions or as a signal service. It is stated that this is the first such tool to support the 1-minute chart period. The tool also features a signal panel, loss/profit display, and opportunity overview in a ranking style.

Other highlighted indicators included in the package is the Span Mode and Super Bollinger developed by Toshihiko Masaki. The broker has published his biography, blog and his webinars on the trading system. The content has high quality and is deep into the subject, made for professionals but also appropriate for enthusiastic beginners.

Koji Yamanaka is another financial professional featured by the broker. There are many videos on trading and how to use the tool provided. A complete biography is published along with the written material about the trading methodology used by this man.

As far as education goes, there are numerous courses, webinars, and written material that go deep into interesting trading subjects. For example, the GMMA chart provided with the MT4 as an indicator has multiple uses for various strategies. For example, these are “Sardine Eating Signal”, “Firefly 1 and Cashilot 1” and similar interesting strategies made by Chen Masato.

Additional material is provided for many more indicators that are even standard with the MT4. More seminars exist on other trading subjects. An economic Calendar is published on the FXTF website but it is a very basic design, without any filtering options.

Customer Service

To contact FXTF you can use email, phone line in the Japanese language only or use the chat service. The Chat is provided using the LINE Chat program only. Similarly, as with other tools, this program is specialized and rich in features. Even though it is more complicated to use, users can also use this program to chat with other users, create groups, upload images, screenshots and so on. The application is on par with other major social networks company products.

Demo Account

FXTF states that the MT4 demo transaction is different from the FXTF MT4 live service, the MT4 demo and MT4 live do not always match in terms of delivery price, execution time, etc. From our experience, the demo account usually uses the same servers and the actual difference is minor if not intentionally caused. The Demo does not have an expiration date and is easy to set up form the MT4 platform directly. You will have 1 million yen as practice money.

Countries Accepted

FXTF is a Japanese-only forex broker.

Conclusion

This section will provide additional information not described above for the better image and understanding of this FXTF review. FXTF does not have a great asset range but is great in so many other areas. The key selling points are the tight, semi-fixed spreads and an amazing unique tools offer. This is further complemented by strong business ethics towards providing supreme service and setting promotion and marketing as secondary.

Many of the tools mentioned are offered for free on the demo account MT4, the effort needed to make this surpasses what many big brokers will even try. Whatsmore, they are truly intended to develop profitable traders, without any kind of solicitation for investment or other types of promotion. This approach is felt throughout the website content, even the ads must contain precise spreads numbers without any deviation from the real trading conditions.

Many traders would be left disappointed knowing the broker offers their service only to Japan, but still the tools and other trading material are certain to attract attention and could be used for trading ideas. The broker received recognition in Japan and was awarded as the Best Binary options broker in 2015. FXTF is a great representative of Japanese philosophy about the brokerage as with many other businesses.

FX NextGen is a foreign exchange broker based in the Republic of Georgia, their values are to show integrity, be competitive and to be transparent, they focus on building strong and long-lasting partnerships with their clients and focus on what it means to be a trader. This review will look through the services being offered by FX NextGen so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There seem to be two different account types, a Standard account, and an ECN account, however, we can not find anything that differentiates between the two apart from the commission charged. Throughout this review, we will be looking into different parts of the trading conditions and so any differences between the two will be mentioned, for this section, we will outline the small info we know about the accounts.

The account has a minimum deposit requirement of 100 USD or EUR, minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lota and hedging is allowed. Swaps are charged for holding trades overnight and it can use either MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 as a trading platform. The margin call is set at 100% and stop out is set at 50%, leverage can be anywhere between 1:1 and 1:500. The account also comes with a commission of $4 on a standard account or $12 on an ECN account.

Platforms

FX NextGen offers two platforms from the MetaQuotes company, MT4, and MT5. While MetaTrader 4 continues to be the preferred trading platform for the vast majority of traders, the slow but steady shift over to MT5 continues. A comparison of these two widely popular FX platforms can be viewed in the photo below.

Leverage

Leverage can be between 1:1 and 1:500, this can be selected when opening up an account, should you wish to change it on an already open account you can do so by getting in touch with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sixes start from 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lots, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is, however, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage. We are also not sure what the maximum number of open rates is at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is a commission charged on both account types, the Standard account has a commission of $4 per lot traded and the ECN account has a commission of $12 per lot traded. Considering the industry standard is around $6 per lot traded, the EC account seems quite expensive at double this amount.

Swap charges are also relevant, 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

Unfortunately, there wasn’t any information about the assets or instruments that are available t trade so we can not give any breakdowns or examples of what they are, in fact, there is no mention of any anywhere on the website which is a little strange. A lot of potential new clients will look at what instruments are available before deciding where to trade, so not having it available could really put them off.

Spreads

Spreads are another aspect that there is no information on, on the trading conditions page there is a section that says “Click Here” for spreads however clicking it doesn’t seem to do anything. There are parts of the website that mention low spreads and spreads starting from 0 pips, which we would assume is in relation to the ECN account, but without any actual numbers, we cannot comment on what the spreads start at. What we do know though is that the spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at a certain pip, instruments like GBPJPY will be starting slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit value is 100 EUR or USD, this is what is required to open an account and is also the minimum for any further top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are three different methods for depositing into FX NextGen, these are Bank Wire Transfer, Bitcoin, and Sofort. There are no fees for depositing with Bank or Bitcoin, however, using Sofort there is a processing fee of 2.5%. When using Bank Wire Transfer, be sure to check with your bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use either Bank Wire Transfer or Bitcoin to withdraw your funds, when using Bitcoin there are no added fees, when using Bank Wire Transfer there is a fee of 10 USD or EUR for withdrawals under 250 USD or EUR, you should also check with your bank to see if they charge a fee for incoming transactions.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Processing for both Bitcoin and Bank Wire Transfer states that withdrawals will take between 3 to 5 business days, this will vary on a number of factors such as the speed of the blockchain (for Bitcoin) and the processing time of your banking institute.

Bonuses & Promotions

We could not locate any information on the website in regards to bonuses or promotions so it does not appear that there are any active ones at the time of writing this review. If you are interested in bonuses then be sure to check back regularly or get in contact with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming bonuses or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side to the website simply comprises of a type of FAQ on what different elements of trading are, it is extremely basic and won’t be making anyone an expert trader. 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 FX NextGen do something similar for their clients. They do, however, offer managed accounts for those who prefer to have their funds managed by someone other than themselves.

Customer Service

The contact us page has a couple of different ways to get in touch, you can use the online submission form to fill in your query and you should then get a reply via email. You can also use the mail address provided directly. Physical addresses are also available should you wish to send a physical letter.

Demo Account

There doesn’t seem to be a demo account on offer, or at least we could not find any information about one. This is a shame as demo accounts allow potential new clients to test out the trading conditions and servers while it allows current clients to test out new strategies without risking any of their capital. This is an area that should be invested in and demo accounts should be made available.

Countries Accepted

The information about which countries are accepted and which are not is not present on the website, so if you are interested in joining, be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to check if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the FX NextGen website, firstly there is no differentiation between the Standard account and the ECN account apart from a different commission amount, the links to swap charges and spreads doesn’t do anything so there is no clear indication of what the spreads are, along with this there is no list or breakdown of tradable assets, so any potential clients looking for certain assets will need to look elsewhere. Deposit methods are limited, as are withdrawals but there are no added fees for the majority, and those that do are quite low.

Triumph FX is an international forex and CFD broker, it is registered in a number of different places including the British Virgin Islands and Vanuatu. Their commitments are to maintain a long term relationship with their clients by offering efficient services. Throughout this review, we will be looking at the services being offered to see if they are able to do that and also so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are 5 different account types on offer along with 2 different Islamic account types, we will now outline the different requirements and features of each account type.

Standard Fixed: The account requires a minimum deposit of $100 to open, it has a fixed spread starting from 1.6 pips. There are no added commissions on this count and the maximum leverage is up to 1:500. The account is able to use the community trading features as well as referral rebates, trader rebates and something called Lot of Rewards.

Standard Variable: The account requires a minimum deposit of $100 to open, it has a variable spread starting from 1.6 pips. There are no added commissions on this count and the maximum leverage is up to 1:500. The account is able to use the community trading features as well as referral rebates, trader rebates and something called Lot of Rewards.

Premium: The premium account increases the minimum deposit up to $500, it has a floating spread starting from 0.6 pips and there is an added commission of $6 per round lot traded. The account can have leveraged up to 1:500 and it is able to use the community trading features as well as referral rebates, trader rebates and something called Lot of Rewards.

Platinum: The Platinum account increases the minimum deposit further up to $2,000. It has a floating spread starting from 0.6 pips and has a reduced commission of $3 per round lot traded. It can be leveraged up to 1:500 and has access to the referral rebate and a lot of rewards system.

VIP: This top tier account has a minimum deposit requirement of $5,000. It has a floating spread starting from 0.5 pips and there are no added commissions. The leverage remains t 1:500 and it only has access to the lot of rewards system.

Islamic Variable: The Islamic variable account has an entry requirement of $100, it has floating spreads of 1.6 pips with no commission. The account does not have any swap charges and can be leveraged up to 1:500. It has access to the referral rebate, trader rebate and lots of rewards programs.

Islamic Platinum: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,000. It has a floating spread starting at 0.6 pips and does not have a commission or swap charges on the account. Leverage is 1:500 and it only has access to the lot of rewards system.

Platforms

Just MetaTrader 4 is on offer as a trading platform, and that platform is offered in PC, iOS, and Android formats. The PC format is designed for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 systems. The iOS application is for both iPhones and iPads, while the Android application is for any type of Android device. For clients residing in China without access to Google Play Store, there is the option to download the APK file directly from the broker’s website.

Leverage

Leverage on all accounts can go as high as 1:500, however, you will need to perform an appropriation test and risk evaluation before it will be allowed to go so high, these are normally just a few questions and is very easy to pass. Leverage can be selected when opening up ana account and should you wish to change it on an already open account you can do so by contacting the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots which are known as a micro lot, trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots and so the next trade will be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is 50 lots which are fine as we never recommend trading over this amount anyway as the bigger the trade, the harder it is for the markets and liquidity providers to execute it quickly and without any slippage. You can have a maximum of 200 trades open at any one time which is more than enough for the majority of traders.

Trading Costs

The majority of the account use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. The Premium account has an added commission of $6 per round lot traded which is in line with the industry standard of $6 per lot while the Platinum account has a reduced commission of $3 per round lot traded which is half the industry standard and is of good value. Unless you are using the Islamic accounts then there will also be swap fees, 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

The range of markets on offer is a little low, we have displayed them for you below.

Forex Majors: AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCH, FUSDJPY,

Forex Minors: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD. NZDCAD, NZDCHF. NZDJPY

Forex Exotics: EURDKK, EURHKD, EURHUF, EURMXN, EURNOK, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURTRY, GBPHKD, GBPNOK, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, HKDJPY, MXNJPY, NOKJPY, NOKSEK, NZDSGD, SGDJPY, USDCNH, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDHUF, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN. USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Precious Metals: Just Gold and Silver are available to trade.

Spreads

There are a number of different spreads on offers and each account has a different starting spread value, here is what they are.

• Standard Fixed: 1.6 pips fixed
• Standard Variable: 1.6 pips variable
• Premium: 0.6 pips variable
• Platinum: 0.6 pips variable
• VIP: 0.5 pips variable
• Islamic Variable: 1.6 pips variable
• Islamic Platinum: 0.6 pips variable

Variable (also known as floating) spreads mean that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. Fixed spreads mean that no matter what is happening in the markets, the spreads will remain the same. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 0.6 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is $11, it is unknown if this amount changes once an account has been opened or if this remains the minimum for further top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

It appears that Bank Wire Transfer is the only deposit method available, at least it is the only one mentioned on the Deposit & Withdrawal pages. While Triumph FX may not add any fees of their own, they have made it clear that any fees incurred from errors or transfers will be the client’s responsibility to pay. You should also check with your own bank to see if there are any added transfer fees from them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Bank Wire Transfer is the only method available for withdrawal, the bad news is that there is an added bank charge of between 25 USD and 75 USD for every withdrawal transfer. You should also check with your own bank to see if they add any incoming transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals will take 2 – 5 business days to process, it could take longer depending on your bank’s own processing time.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are bonuses and promotions available, as mentioned in the account section, each account is eligible for any number of Referal Rebates, Trader Rebates or something called Lot of Rewards, however, going through the site we are not able to locate any information about them. So we know they exist, we just cannot comment on the terms or how worthwhile they may be.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different educational or analysis type sections of the site, there is a section called Forex Essentials which goes over some of the absolute basics of forex trading including different instruments and what trading actually means and how to do it. There is also a glossary section detailing different trading-related terms, an economic calendar detailing upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. Finally, there is a news and analysis section which looks at different charts and news events to give you ideas on what to trade, these seem to take place every few days.

Customer Service

The support page is a little alarming, it states that they have removed the form due to spam, now there is a message saying to log in to submit a ticket or they give just a single email address to contact them with. There is no phone number or any other information, so that single email is all that there is, while we understand spam is a pain, there need to be more ways to get in contact with them.

Demo Account

Demo account s can be created using a simple registration form, you can select a leverage and account size to suit your own. Other trading conditions re not specified so it is unknown which account they actually mimic or if there is an expiration on the accounts, so it would be nice for this information to be added.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is found on the website: “Please note TriumphFX does not service US and entities or residents of any kind. While we welcome clients from all over the globe, governmental restrictions along with our company policies prohibit TriumphFX from opening accounts originated from the following restricted and/or OFAC sanctioned countries: Afghanistan, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cuba, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Iraq, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya Mali, Niger, North Korea, Russia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, The Democratic Republic of Congo The former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylor, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.”

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

Conclusion

There are a lot of choices when it comes to the accounts with Triumph FX with a lot of variation in the trading costs, all of which seem quite reasonable. Commissions are kept low and are either the same or lower than the industry average, the spreads are stated as being low, however actual figures are not present on the site which is a shame. There also isn’t a huge selection of tradable assets, however, there are enough currencies available if that is all you are interested in. Just bank deposits available for deposit and withdrawals which could limit some potential clients, and the potentially large withdrawal fees are not the greatest. The biggest issue for us was the customer support page, it was non-existent and simply stated to log in or use an email address, not the kind of thing that builds confidence.

Alchemy Markets is a UK-based brokerage firm that specializes in providing account holders with desirable and competitive trading conditions. Their low spreads, combined with nonexistent commissions, make this broker ideal to almost any type of market participant. In fact, their various account types are designed to serve retail and institutional investors, alike. Just as importantly, Alchemy Markets offers hundreds of financial products that you can exchange, including exotic and major forex pairs. Above all else, this firm works with a highly reliable and technologically advanced platform, which further enhances the benefits that Alchemy Markets’ account holders enjoy.

Regardless of where you live, the broker works with traders from all around the world. In this article, we will outline the specifications of different account types, the elements that shape this firm’s trading conditions, the tools that they give users access to, and many other details. Read this article and find out how Alchemy Markets’ offerings may work to your advantage.

Account Types

The Classic, Premier, and VIP are more suitable for retail traders. The Professional Clients Account, on the other hand, enables financial consultants and firms take advantage of Alchemy Markets’s tools and offerings while trading or investing on their clients’ behalf. The spreads of the VIP Account, which has the largest minimum deposit, is lower than the Classic and Premier types. However, despite the wide differences between their minimum deposit requirements, each account type has an incredibly low and competitive spread.

Classic Account:
Minimum Deposit: $5,000
Spreads: From 0.7 pips
Commission: $0

Premier Account:
Minimum Deposit: $10,000
Spreads: From 0.5 pips
Commission: $0

VIP Account:
Minimum Deposit: $50,000
Spreads: From 0.2 pips
Commission: $4.50 or €4.00 or £3.50 per lot (100,000 of the base currency)

Professional Clients Account:
Minimum Deposit: €500,000 or $588,000
Spreads: NA
Commission: NA

Alongside the sizable minimum deposit, traders who want to open a Professional Clients Account must demonstrate that they have at least one year of work experience in the financial sector. Additionally, applicants must have executed at least 10 trades per quarter during the past year. This is because this account type is for financial consultants and firms that manage funds for their clients, rather than retail traders. Meeting two of the 3 requirements (deposit, experience, or trading frequency) would be enough. For example, someone who worked for more than 1 year for their financial management firm and made the required number of quarterly trades can open a Professional Clients account, without having to deposit half a million euros.

Regardless of which account type you choose, Alchemy Markets boasts the fact that it only takes 30 seconds to get registered. In addition, you can choose between one of six options as your account’s base or default currency. Namely, they are the Australian Dollar, British Pound, Euro, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, and US Dollar.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is a sophisticated, globally leading, and profoundly user-friendly platform. You can customize your trading experience by utilizing the platform’s charting tools, technical indicators, and news alerts. In addition, the MQL coding language enables traders to create their own automated algorithm, which is programmed to buy/sell forex pairs (and other financial instruments) when they meet certain conditions. Needless to say, MT4’s variety of technical indicators and chart timeframes can make this process even more efficient and customizable.

If you prefer the fundamentals, MT4 will provide you with a timely newsfeed for each instrument and forex pair. You can also get notifications on your phone or email alerts, two aspects that users may also customize. This platform, which Alchemy Markets’ account holders will trade through, can be installed on desktop devices and smartphones (both Android and iOS).

Leverage

The Classic has a leverage of 30:1, a relatively limited number when compared to the rest of the industry. Premier, on the other hand, has a buying power of 200:1. VIP account holders have more flexibility and they can pick or change their own leverage. In general, when a broker increases your buying power after you deposit a larger amount of funds, they will likely look at an account applicant’s trading experience before approving them.

Alchemy Markets might give beginners that have the $50,000 minimum to open a VIP Account a lower buying power in order to minimize the trader and the broker’s own risks. Keep in mind that using a lot of leverage is very risky during volatile and abrupt market conditions. In fact, many other brokerage firms will lower the buying power that an account holder has when they deposit more funds, regardless of their experience.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is a micro-lot (0.01 lots or 1,000 in the base currency) for both of the Classic and Premier account types. The smallest position size for the VIP Account, on the other hand, is a mini lot (0.1 lots or 10,000 in the base currency). The standard size of 1 lot is 100,000 in the base currency. For example, in the USD.GBP pair, the US Dollar is the base currency against the British Pound. One lot is $100,000. If you have a Classic or Premier Account, you can put as low as $1,000 (0.01 of $100,000) towards a USD.GBP trade. With a VIP Account, the minimum position must be $10,000 worth of British pounds. The maximum trade size is 100 lots (or 10,000,000 in the base currency), which applies to all 3 accounts.

Margin Call: 100%
Stop-Out: 50%

Trading Costs

The Classic and Premier don’t pay any commissions, but the VIP Account incurs $4.50/€4.00/£3.50 (based on the base currency) on each trade. While the spreads are low for each of the 3 account types (especially VIP), traders should account for currency conversions. If your account’s default currency is the EUR, as an example, and you open a GBP.USD trade, any fluctuations in the Euro’s value against one of those two currencies will impact your returns after the position is closed. There is also an interest or swap fee, which is charged when you keep a trade open overnight. It accounts for the interest rate of the currency that you’re trading.

At times, however, the swap could be positive and overnight positions would earn, instead of pay, the interest. This commonly happens with short-selling, but longing can also earn a positive swap. If you’re a client of a financial firm that manages your money through Alchemy Markets’s Professional Clients Account, you may incur extra commissions. In fact, it is a common practice in the brokerage industry to incentivize financial firms by offering commission revenues on each trade that they execute through their clients’ accounts.

Assets

There are more than 80 forex pairs that are available to this broker’s account holders. Alchemy Markets’ selection includes major, minor, and exotic currencies. Similarly, the firm offers cryptocurrencies. You can trade Bitcoin against each of the US Dollar (BTC.USD), British Pound (BTC.GBP), Chinese Renminbi (BTC.CNH), and Euro (BTC.EUR), Account holders may also exchange indices that track each of the American, Australian, German, French, and Spanish stock markets.

In a very distinctive manner, Alchemy Markets will let you trade commodities as either futures contracts or as a pair with a currency. Most of the time, forex brokers only offer these instruments as CFDs. Alchemy Markets’s precious metals selection includes gold (XAU.USD or XAU.EUR) and silver (XAG.USD or XAG.EUR). Palladium and Platinum are only paired against the USD. Energy futures, namely Crude and WTI Oil, are also available. Lastly, this broker offers shares of different global companies.

Spreads

If you look at Alchemy Markets’s competitors, most of them will have an average spread that ranges between 1 and 3 pips. The gap between the bid and ask prices, as far as this broker is concerned, is very minimal and competitive. The Classic Account’s spreads start at 0.7 pips, they go down to 0.5 pips and 0.1 pips for Premier and VIP, respectively. In many traders’ eyes, the incredibly tight bid/ask variation of the VIP Account will certainly make up for the commissions that it incurs. Having said that, Alchemy Market has variable spreads, which can get much larger during volatile situations, even when it comes to major and widely-traded currency pairs.

Minimum Deposit

As previously outlined, traders need to deposit $5,000, $10,000, and $50,000 for the Classic, Premier, and VIP Account, in that order. After that, there are no minimum deposit requirements on transactions through any of the payment methods that this broker accepts.

Deposit Methods & Costs

To fund your account, you may transfer money through a MasterCard or a Visa debit/credit card. Neteller and Skrill are also options. It doesn’t cost anything to deposit money, regardless of which methods you choose. MasterCard transactions are processed instantly. Skrill and Neteller transfers only take 10 minutes or less, but Visa debit or credit card users may have to wait for up to 5 days. Strangely enough, bank wire transfers aren’t listed as an option.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use the same method above for withdrawals, but Alchemy Markets doesn’t specify if they charge any transfer fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Outbound transaction times aren’t listed on the broker’s website, either. However, most debit/credit card transfers and electronic payments tend to be processed instantly.

Bonuses & Promotions

When you open a new account, Alchemy Markets will give you $30 as a welcome bonus. The money can be used for trading. There is also an Introducing Brokers (IB) promotion. When participants refer other traders to Alchemy Markets, they will start making commission revenues every time the referral makes a trade. Alchemy Prime is a partnership program that is only offered to large traders, including banks, hedge funds, money management firms, and even other brokers. In many ways, the Alchemy Prime program retains similar functionalities and features that the Professional Clients Account has.

Educational & Trading Tools

If you appreciate trading tools, then Alchemy Markets’ selection will certainly impress you. First, they offer your traditional economic calendar, which provides traders with a daily list of international events and data releases that tend to impact market prices. Alongside the country, day, and time of each economic event, it shows how important the announcement is (labeled as having an either ‘Low’, ‘Medium’, or ‘High’ impact) and what the previous month’s reading was.

Additionally, this broker has a forex calculator that enables users to measure their margin, the pip size of a trade’s movement, and other information after they identify the currency pair and the position’s size in lots. If you want to program your own automated trading algorithm, Alchemy Markets will provide a VPS (Virtual Private Server) that runs your programmed code. Through the MT4 platform, account holders can enjoy a one-click trading experience that allows them to place immediate orders directly from the chart screen. Lastly, but certainly not least, MyFXBook is a social streaming service that lets you see the trades of other market participants. People use these tools to emulate the positions and strategies of successful traders.

Customer Service

Alchemy Markets’s customer service team can be reached through phone calls and email messages. Their headquarters are in London, the United Kingdom.

Phone: +44 (0)2070978794
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

The demo has access to live market quotes, all of MT4’s trading tools, and the same currencies that the actual accounts can trade. There are many ways to take advantage of this. First, regardless of how many years of experience you have, anyone who is new to MT4 should get comfortable with its order execution tools before risking their money. The same applies if you want to learn how to trade new assets (such as cryptocurrencies and commodities) or financial instruments (like futures and CFDs). Needless to say, beginners should also try out different strategies and pick a profitable approach through a demo account. This is a much less risky way to learn about the markets and practice because you’re only exchanging paper funds and not your real money.

Countries Accepted

CFD contracts and cryptocurrencies are seen as risky instruments by many countries’ governments. In some jurisdictions, digital currencies are treated as commodities, while others regulate and classify them in their own ways. The same applies to other assets that Alchemy Markets offers. Because of this, just as with any other brokers, traders must make sure that the firm’s services are available in their country. Alchemy Markets doesn’t provide a lot of information about this, but customer service will most likely be able to assist in this area.

Conclusion

First, after opening an account, traders would manage their portfolio through the MT4 platform. Because of this, their trading experience will be shaped by MT4’s highly user-friendly features, the customizable technical indicators, and up-to-date news feeds. Equally as important, not only does MT4 allow you to code your own automated trading algorithm through the MQL code, but Alchemy Markets will supplement that by providing you a VPS network that further enhances the feature. This, of course, comes with one-click trading capabilities, forex calculators, economic calendars, and other tools. In fact, even beginners can use the MyFXBook platform to copy the positions of successful and profitable traders. Above all else, these features and offerings are available to users from all over the world.

Alchemy Markets also has a variety of bonuses and promotions. While the Alchemy Prime program is only offered to institutional investors (like banks and hedge funds), the fact that this broker works with such large market participants further demonstrates the reliability and expertise of its team members. Their professionals are there to support and advise retail traders, as well. Similarly, by browsing Alchemy Markets’s different account types, traders will almost certainly find one that suits their needs and objectives. All accounts come with the same desirable low spreads. With over 200 assets, you can trade many forex pairs, alongside the CFDs and futures contracts of other financial instruments. Lastly, you can pick between several transaction methods to deposit money without paying any fees. Inbound transfers are also instant, but the firm’s website doesn’t specify what the withdrawal costs or processing times are.

Nonetheless, we found Alchemy Markets to be one of the leading and most competitive brokers in the industry. While it has its own downsides, the pros will almost definitely outweigh the cons.

BormanCorp is a registered online broker that offers leveraged trading of up to 1:400 on FX and CFD options. According to its website, the company was established by veteran traders, with the goal to provide a groundbreaking trading platform, progressive analysis tools, industry-leading education, and one-on-one account management services. The broker also lists transparency as a major point in their agenda. Our research revealed some interesting facts about this choice, so stay with us to find out exactly what this broker has to offer.

Account Types

BormanCorp offers five different accounts: Basic, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. From the start, traders will notice that the broker doesn’t provide exact details related to each account type. Instead, the account types page focuses on some of the extra advantages associated with each option. From the Gold account and on, the broker advertises lower spreads, access to senior account managers, etc. Some advantages related to the platinum account would be VIP webinars and live trading with an expert.

This leaves out any of the real conditions for any of the account types, which is our first indication that the broker isn’t as transparent as they claim to be. Some of the only information we could find was that there are no commission charges and that leverages go as high as 1:400. The broker requires proof of identity and proof of residence document to be submitted within 5 days of account registration for account verification.

Platform

The broker supports the infamous MetaTrader 4 platform on mobile, PC, and MAC devices, in addition to their own trading platform that is offered for mobile devices. MT4 is the most commonly available platform offered by forex brokers, as it comes equipped with multiple features and tools that would satisfy even the most professional traders. The user-friendly interface is also easy to navigate, making for a seamless experience for beginners that have never used it before. As for the broker’s own platform, we get access to more than 1,000 assets, the ability to sort instruments by favorites, one-click trading, price alerts, etc. Both seem to offer enough to stand alone as worthy choices.

Leverage

One of the broker’s main advantages would be their higher than average leverage cap that goes up to 1:400. Compared with their competitors, this cap is significantly higher than many other offers. However, traders won’t want to choose the broker based on this alone, since it is possible to find others offering leverage caps that are as high as, or occasionally higher than this option. A word of warning to beginners – trading with high leverages can lead to substantial losses, as it is a risky experience better suited for those that have a lot of capital to risk. On another note, traders should be aware that this option isn’t available on every instrument. For example, XRPUSD, BTCUSD, and other similar options have a cap of 1:5.

Trade Sizes

Once again, the website doesn’t offer any information about minimum or maximum trade sizes, stop loss levels, etc. Although the website advertises 24/7 customer care, we were still waiting to hear back from an agent with more information related to this category after more than one business day.

Trading Costs

Traditional profits come from spreads and swap fees with this broker. Fortunately, commission fees are not charged. The broker also tacks on additional profit clearance fees, maintenance fees, verification fees, and dormant fees. Aside from inactivity fees, you’ll rarely have to worry about these charges with other brokers, so this may warrant choosing a cheaper option. The profit clearance fee is charged, at $1.50 for profits of $250 or less, $2.00 for profits less than $501, $3.00 for profits less than $1,001, $4 for profits less than $2,500, and $5.00 on profits of $2,501 or more. Maintenance fees of $20 are charged on the last day of each month, starting from the first trade that is made.

If one begins trading later in the month, then the fee will be prorated based on how many active trading days were in that month. As if that wasn’t enough, the broker will charge a $100 reoccurring monthly verification fee on accounts that aren’t completely verified. This means that the broker could basically refuse to verify the account in order to collect these steep fees, while traders that make an initial deposit and later realize that they don’t have the necessary documents to complete verification would be trapped. The dormant fee of $50 per month is charged on the 61st day that an account has remained active and occurs monthly from that date until the balance reaches 0, or trading resumes.

Assets

Available instruments are made up of FX, commodities, indices, and stocks. FX includes 55 total options, including majors, minors, and some exotics as well. Mingled in among those options one will also find some cryptocurrency pairs, like BTCUSD. The commodities category is made up of 15 instruments, including popular options like Silver & Gold, Oil, Corn, Sugar, Soybean, and more. An impressive 35 options are listed under the indices category. Finally, the available stocks are made up of 63 options, including many popular and easily recognizable US companies. Facebook, Apple, Disney, and Microsoft are just a few examples.

Spreads

On the “Asset Index” page, traders will find a list of all of the available instruments offered by the company, including live spreads. What isn’t clear is whether these spreads are exclusive to one account type, or if they are universal. According to another page on the website, the Gold, Platinum, and Diamond accounts offer better spreads, but the broker never backs up this statement by providing access to those options. On EUR/USD, the listed spread was 0.000300000 pips, while options varied significantly on other assets.

Minimum Deposit

Our frustration continued when it came time to check the minimum requirements for each account since the broker fails to offer us any information. Naturally, we’re going to assume that the Basic account would be the cheapest, while the Diamond account would be on the highest end of the spectrum. This is based on the fact that accounts supposedly offer better conditions once one upgrades and brokers typically require larger deposits in return for these advantages. Some information suggested that it costs $5,000 to open a Silver account through the broker, but support never verified whether this information was correct.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded through credit/debit cards, Neteller, Giropay, Sofort Banking, PaySafeCard, or Bank Wire Transfer. The website doesn’t mention any fees charged on incoming deposits, although banks may charge their own fees for sending funds. We would hope that the broker doesn’t charge deposit fees, considering that fees are charged on all withdrawals. Traders should definitely finish completing the verification process before making the first deposit since the broker charges those aforementioned $100 verification fees on accounts that remain unverified.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

For regulatory reasons, the broker can only process the amount of the original deposit back to cards and profits must be returned through Wire Transfer. A service fee of 3.5% will be charged on withdrawals, in addition to any beneficiary fees charged on the bank’s behalf. In the event that this equals $30 or less, the broker will charge a standard $30 fee. The maximum service fee is capped at a ridiculously high $3,500, an amount that we hope no trader would never have to pay.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It takes the broker 1 business day to begin the withdrawal process and funds should be credited back to the client’s account within 3-7 working days. Be sure to complete the verification process ahead of time, in order to avoid any delay having withdrawals processed.

Bonuses & Promotions

On the account types page, the broker mentions that a bonus is applicable on Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond accounts, but does not list the exact amount of the bonus. Under the broker’s terms, we do see a condition that mentions that in order to withdraw any bonus from a trading account, one must execute a minimum trading volume that is 25 times the size of the bonus.

Educational & Trading Tools

Immediately from the website, traders can access a glossary, daily/weekly/monthly market summary, economic calendar, and financial news. According to the account types page, additional advantages can be accessed once one has signed up for an account, but those advantages depend on the account type that has been opened. Educational webinars are advertised on Basic accounts, while one-on-one tutorials are offered from the Silver account type and up.

From the Gold account up, there is a one-on-one MT4 course (which would have been very useful for beginners), and we see daily market briefs and VIP webinars on the Platinum and Diamond accounts. Overall, the broker seems to be offering some very interactive resources, although we wish these options were available for everyone, regardless of which account type can be afforded.

Demo Account

Oddly enough, the broker doesn’t offer risk-free demo accounts. This is a strange choice, especially considering that most forex brokers do make these accounts available. We’d also expect to see BormanCorp offering demo accounts based on their statement that they are focused on education. Some may not miss the lack of demo accounts, but this is certainly a wasted opportunity for beginners that could benefit from the accounts.

Customer Service

BormanCorp’s customer service team is supposedly available 24 hours a day on weekdays; however, another section of the website claims that support is offered 24/7. Getting in touch with an agent should be relatively convenient, with contact options being LiveChat, phone, email, or filling out a contact form. However, support wasn’t always online on LiveChat when we tested the service, even during business hours. If you also try to chat when support isn’t online, the chat will ask for a name, phone number, and email address so support can reach out. More than 24 business hours later, support still hasn’t managed to respond to our inquiry, so we can’t give the broker much credit in this area.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +442036080432

Countries Accepted

If you load into the broker’s website from the United States, you’ll be met with a pop-up message claiming that residents from that jurisdiction are not accepted. It is possible to exit that window and access the website otherwise, the restriction can be avoided by selecting the “US Minor Outlying Islands” as one’s country of residence.

Conclusion

Some of the advantages of choosing BormanCorp would be the lack of commission fees and the leverage option that goes as high as 1:400. Another plus is the availability of MetaTrader 4, which is arguably the best trading platform on the market, in addition to the 150+ instruments offered by the company.

On the downside, the website is extremely vague and fails to mention their exact spreads, minimum deposit requirements for each account type, trade sizes, etc. The broker’s inescapable $30 withdrawal fee (with a ridiculous $3,500 withdrawal cap), profit clearance fees, $20 monthly maintenance fee, $100 monthly verification fee on non-verified accounts, and $50 dormant fee can quickly eat up any profits that traders are actually able to make. Another red flag would be the lack of information about where the company is based or regulated.

At first glance, customer support seems to be easy to contact; however, the website lists conflicting information about their business hours, agents are not usually on LiveChat, and it takes more than a business day for email responses to be returned. On the bright side, interactive educational resources are offered, but the broker reserves the best resources for those that open the better account types, presumably by making a larger deposit.

Oddly enough, demo accounts are not included with the other educational resources. Bonuses are supposedly offered on the Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond accounts, but the website does not give us an idea of how much those bonuses are. Our final verdict is that BormanCorp seems to be offering a couple of advantages while failing to uphold its goal of transparency.

Range Markets is a broker that is based out of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The firm’s mission revolves around addressing the flaws in the at-large brokerage industry by providing account holders with exceptional trading experience and unique offerings. Namely, they allow you to easily transfer funds, pick between a variety of transaction methods, and almost instantly deposit or withdraw money. Apart from that, Range Markets’s different account types are designed for different types of investors, including both retail and institutional traders.

What type of platform does this broker use? How can you deposit funds? Are there any commissions? What do the spreads look like? Does the firm offer promotions or educational material? We answer all of these questions and more in this article.

Account Types

This broker’s account selection suits traders with different preferences, market approaches, and risk tolerance levels. While the minimum deposits vary, their close proximity means that most users have the flexibility to choose an account type that fits what they need (as opposed to being restricted by minimum deposit requirements).

Silver:
Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 1.6 pips
Commission: $0

Gold:
Minimum Deposit: $500
Spreads: From 1.4 pips
Commission: $0

Platinum:
Minimum Deposit: $5,000
Spreads: From 0.5 pips
Commission: $0

Palladium:
Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: NA
Commission: $0

Islamic:
Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 1.6 pips
Commission: $0

The main differences between the 5 account types are the spreads, leverage (which decreases as capital goes up), margin call requirements, and lot sizes. It is important to note that the Islamic Account retains the same features and asset selections that the other account types have. However, Islamic doesn’t incur any swap fees on overnight trades, while each of the Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Palladium requires account holders to pay the interest on these positions. Yet, Islamic also has limited leverage because of this. In other words, through using a lot of buying power, traders who have this account type can accumulate a large interest fee when they hold on to a trade for 24 hours or more. The broker, when it comes to swap-free accounts, want to limit their losses.

Platforms

Range Markets utilizes the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform, a popular choice amongst technical analysts and fundamentals traders alike. Users have access to dozens of technical indicators, various charting timeframes, and a live newsfeed with the latest stories and reports. This technological efficiency is also prominent across MT4’s other characteristics. For example, they offer accurate prices and immediately execute orders, even when it comes to large positions and trade sizes. Above all else, MT4 is available on Windows, iPhones, and Android smartphones. MacBook users can also install the platform’s app, but they must first download a specific software (for free) to access their account.

Leverage

In short, the more money that you deposit, the lower that your leverage gets. The Silver Account, which has the smallest minimum deposit requirement ($100), starts with 500:1 in buying power. After that, Gold’s $500 deposit requisite comes with a 400:1 leverage. Platinum (for traders with $5,000+ in capital) limits the buying power to 300:1. As mentioned earlier, the Islamic Account’s leverage is 300:1 because the broker wants to control overnight interest expenses, even though the minimum deposit for this type is only $100.

Similarly, Palladium has the lowest buying power on Range Markets (100:1). Yet, the account has a much larger maximum trade size and is intended for traders who have a large amount of capital. Giving them too much power is risky for a broker during volatile and unpredictable market conditions.

Having said all that, this broker may let you use up to 1000:1 in leverage, which puts them amongst the very few firms in the industry that offer more than 500:1. Traders can adjust this level by going to their user dashboard.

However, Range Markets will still limit your leverage as you deposit more money in order to control their risks and protect your account from incurring significant losses (especially when an unprepared trader makes errors or engages in risky strategies). If an account’s balance reaches $50,000 (regardless of the account type), leverage goes down to 200:1. It is further lowered to 100:1 at $100,000 in capital.

Trade Sizes

Silver, Gold, and Islamic can buy/sell a maximum of 65 lots (6,500,000 in the base currency) in a single trade. Platinum and Palladium, on the other hand, are permitted up to 100 lots in one position.

Margin Call: 50%
Stop-Out: 30%

When your account reaches the margin call level, Range Markets will inform you via email and/or on your MT4 account dashboard. However, the broker doesn’t close any of your trades or positions at this time. Similarly, unlike many other firms in the industry, Range Markets will not ask account holders to deposit additional funds and bring their balance above the margin call level. At the stop-out point, on the other hand, they will start closing your positions, beginning with the biggest loser and up until the account has enough funds to go above the 30% stop-out level. Many other brokers tend to liquidate all trades at this point, regardless of whether they are winners or losers. Range Markets, meanwhile, is less restrictive.

Trading Costs

We find that the absence of commissions on Range Markets to be a positive aspect. In fact, none of the account types even incur these fees, regardless of how much money a trader deposits. Their spreads are also competitive, but only for the Platinum Account. Silver, Gold, and Islamic have bid/ask gap of 1.4 pips or more. Swap charges apply when a trade is held overnight, which depends on the currency’s interest rate and whether you bought or sold the forex pair. Islamic might incur a fixed fee instead of the swap, which is typically the case in the brokerage industry (as far as interest-free accounts are concerned).

Keep in and mind that the swap rate is tripled on Wednesday in order to account for the weekend, another common practice amongst brokers. The Islamic Account will likely pay triple the regular overnight cost. Lastly, Range Markets has a dormant fee that they charge inactive traders. More specifically, if someone doesn’t buy or sell any instruments for 90 days, they would pay $5. However, when the account has less than that, the broker will only charge you that amount to avoid a negative balance. For example, inactive traders who have $3 will only be charged that amount instead of $5 (so that they don’t have -$2 balance).

Assets

Range Markets’s financial instrument selection includes more than 60 forex pairs, alongside gold, silver, oil, and stock indexes. Commodities are traded against the USD. For example, gold’s ticker symbol is XAU.USD. You exchange indices, on the other hand, as CFD contracts. Keep in mind that each of those instruments has its own spread, leverage, and standard lot size. This is because they vary in terms of volatility, risk, and trade volume. To illustrate, gold and silver are both commodities, but 1 lot equals 100 ounces and 5,000 ounces, respectively. In addition, gold’s spread ranges between $0.15 and $0.45, while silver’s bid/ask gap is only $0.03 to $0.09. When compared to oil, which has a 200:1 leverage, the two precious metals’ buying power is constrained to 100:1.

Spreads

The price difference between the bid and ask quotes depends on your account type. This applies to currency pairs and other assets that Range Markets offers. Platinum enjoys the lowest spread, starting from 0.5 pips for the EUR.USD (Euro vs. US Dollar). The forex pair has a 1.6 and 1.4-pip spread when it comes to each of the Silver and Gold Account, respectively. Islamic also has a 1.6-pip bid/ask variation.

It is important to remember that Range Markets has a variable spread, which is subject to abrupt changes or larger than expected price differences when the markets behave in a volatile or erratic way. However, many traders prefer a variable spread because it is especially tight during regular conditions. Just as importantly, many market participants avoid trading after major news announcements or price-moving events.

Minimum Deposit

While the 5 account types have their own funding requirements, the Islamic one enjoys more flexibility. The broker’s website shows a $100 minimum deposit, but in reality, any of the accounts can have Islamic features, which can be easily requested online. For example, a trader deposits $6,000 and gets the Platinum Account – which requires a minimum of $5,000. After their application is approved, they can contact the broker’s team and they will switch it to a swap/interest-free Islamic Account.

When it comes to transfers, the minimum deposit depends on the method that you choose to find your account through. Bank wires and Neteller’s are $500 and $10 per transaction, respectively. The former has an unlimited maximum deposit, while transfers through Neteller are constrained to $50,000 or less in one transaction.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Alongside the two methods mentioned above, you can fund your Range Markets account through Visa and MasterCard. Strangely, and perhaps undesirably so, this broker will charge you fees for depositing money, which is uncommon. Bank wires, which take between 2 and 5 days to process, cost $25 per transaction. Range Markets will also charge you 1.8% of the deposit size for Neteller transfers.

Funding your account with $1,000, as an example, costs you an $18 transaction fee. However, on the plus side, Range Markets refunds you all of these charges in the future after you deposit money. In the instance above, when you withdraw your original $1,000, the full amount (including the $18 deposit fee) is returned. The broker’s website doesn’t specify any fees related to debit and credit card transfers.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use the same deposit methods when making a withdrawal. However, keep in mind that the funds have to be transferred to the same account. If you deposit money through a bank account, as an instance, it must also be used when you decide to make a withdrawal. Since Range Markets refunds account holders the initial transfer fee, they return the amount alongside the rest of your withdrawn funds.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It takes this broker up to 24 hours to process an outbound transfer request. To initiate a withdrawal, traders would do so through their user dashboard. In many cases, however, withdrawals are processed instantly.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are over 5,000 participants in Range Markets’s Introducing Broker (IB) promotional program. First, an IB refers a friend, family member, or associate to the broker. After that, the IB receives a commission every time their referral makes a trade. Payments are made once a month (on the first). IB participants enjoy access to a 24-hour support team that is available on the weekends. They can also get help in more than one language.

Educational & Trading Tools

Each of Range Markets and MT4 offers a strong selection of educational content and live trading resources. The broker’s website covers basic introductions into the forex markets, but it also delves into educating traders about utilizing order execution tools (such as ‘one-click’ buying/selling) and the types of fees that they might incur.

In addition, Range Markets has a list of beneficial aspects that forex market participants enjoy. If you are an experienced trader, then the broker’s economic calendar and market analysis are rich with resources and organized information. This is especially crucial at the beginning of the day or after the markets close. MT4 also offers these tools, alongside more educational content and a variety of competitive charting features.

Customer Service

Range Markets can be contacted via email or through an online form on their website. Most of their departments (customer support, IB program, finance, …etc.) are only available on weekdays, but Introducing Brokers can get help during the weekends. However, this firm is still reachable 24 hours a day to all of its account holders and other affiliates.

Phone: NA (not listed on the website)
Email: [email protected] (general support); [email protected] (current account holders); [email protected] (IB promotion)

Demo Account

You can open a paper/fake account and trade on MT4’s platform. Through a demo, Range Markets’s account holders will access live market prices and trading conditions. As a result, it helps beginners test their strategies and define a profitable trading method. Similarly, if you have plenty of market experience but are familiar with another platform (such as MetaTrader 5/MT5), the demo account gives you the time that you need to familiarize yourself with MT4. Above all else, whether you are a new or an experienced trader, demos allow you to learn what you need before putting your real money on the line.

Most noteworthy, Range Markets’s demos don’t come with an expiration date. Other brokers, meanwhile, may only give you up to 60 or 90 days. Some may even restrict the demo’s lifetime to a mere 30 days. Range Markets doesn’t just remove these deadlines, but they also allow traders to open up to 8 different paper accounts. Keep in mind, though, that the demo will be automatically closed when you don’t log in for a period of 90 days.

Countries Accepted

American traders and residents cannot open an account with this broker. This is mainly because of federal laws that limit or prohibit certain financial instruments and trading methods. Other than that, the broker is registered in Saint Vincent (an island country in the Caribbean) and serves traders from different parts of the world.

Conclusion

Range Markets’s account holders certainly appreciate the variety of account options that they have. In addition, this broker’s IB promotion can be utilized by marketers and those who have a strong referral network of traders. Just as importantly, there are many assets that Range Markets will give you access to, including about 60 forex pairs, alongside commodities and indices.

There are 5 different account types and we find that their affordable/reachable minimum deposit to be a huge plus. More specifically, traders have the freedom to choose an account that suits their personal strategy and preferences. You can also open an Islamic account either directly or by integrating swap-free features into one of the different portfolios that this broker offers. The demo account is also easy to use and doesn’t come with an expiration date, an aspect that differentiates Range Markets from the rest of the brokerage industry.

Traders may access educational content, economic calendars, and other practical resources on Range Markets’s website. If you don’t find what you need, MT4 also has its own tutorials, training programs, and valuable tools. While transfers are almost instant (with a few exceptions), this broker will charge you a fee for depositing money. The trading conditions may vary based on your account type. Some portfolios have a very low and competitive spread, but most of Range Markets’ accounts have a spread of 1 pip or more. This is about average in comparison to the rest of the industry.

Support is available 24 hours during weekdays. To summarize, this broker’s main positive aspects include the diverse account types, strong leverage, fewer restrictions at the margin call/stop out levels, the nonexistent commissions, and the almost instant transaction processing times. Meanwhile, the negatives are the deposit fees and, at times, an undesirably wide variable spread. However, at the end of the day, the cons are minimal when compared to Range Markets’s pros.

JAFX belongs to the new age broker types where the focus is put on cryptocurrencies, not just as a trading asset by also as the method of doing financial transactions. Located in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, JAFX started in 2016 as a team of traders that have recognized the cryptocurrency as the future form of money and utilize the advantages for deposits and withdrawals. As they want to deliver “by traders for traders” experience by knowing what are the main issues and deliverables, JAFX set the right conditions for fast trading strategies. These strategies require low spreads and fast executions the broker aims to deliver.

JAFX website is well designed, without any redundant content. The first thing traders will see are the key figures important for any trader, such as the leverage, assets range, minimum deposit, and trade sizing. The idea of Bitcoin and crypto is the absolute freedom for the capital flow globally, but to support this, trust has to be established. The broker foreseeing this has established automated deposit systems and numerous security protocols.

This JAFX review will give readers insight into what level of service and trading conditions can be expected when trading with this broker.

Account Types

There are no special packages offered. Opening an account any trader will have the best what the broker can offer for a very low minimum deposit. The account opening process will require your email, phone and additional KYC (Know Your Client) documents such as Photo/scan of Utility Bill, Bank Statement, etc for confirming your address, and Photo/scan of Passport, Driving License or National ID card. As for privacy concerns, none of this information is shared with third parties, also stated in the JAFX Privacy Policy document.

To register a Corporate Account, traders will need to go to a different portal, portal.jafx.com/account/live, where the account type can be selected as well as other specifics like the language, managed or simple trading account, etc. Therefore, JAFX supports MAMM and PAM accounts. It is probably possible to have custom conditions account as the broker states it is open for tailor-made solutions.

Islamic account is offered for 3 types of trading instruments. For forex, swaps are substituted with administration fees so it is according to the Sharia law. Metals trading is backed up with real bullion as stated, to make it in line with beliefs. Oil assets are without swaps. As many traders who open an account with JAFX, they are expecting favorable trading conditions for scalpers, as they make the most of the client pool. Therefore, scalping, hedging and news trading is allowed.

VPS is available but JAFX does not offer its solution. Although the broker suggests Equinix NY data center location VPS. They regard this service as the best for reducing the latency.

Platforms

JAFX offers MT4 platform only and it is available for Windows, Mac and mobile devices running on Android or iOS. For those that want to access trading without any installation through a browser, a web-accessible MT4 is available. Once installed the PC version of the MT4 platform will show 2 JAFX servers, one for Demo and one for live trading. The demo shows the latency of 129ms, and the live server is a bit slower with 136.2ms. JAFX MT4 platform is not by its default settings and shows 5 window charts with customized looks. The color scheme is set to a black background with a bright green and red candlestick type chart all set to the H1 timeframe.

BTC/USD is added in the fifth window with the One-click trading button visible, showing off that JAFX is a cryptocurrency broker. While the other 4 major forex charts do not have One-click trading buttons visible it can be easily done with the right-click context window. There are no added indicators or templated by JAFX in the installation, everything is by defaults here. The About window shows the platform is updated to the latest version and the address of JAFX in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The symbols lists are very neatly organized with several groups named after the asset categories. Forex is divided into subgroups for Minors, Exotics, Crosses, and Majors, while other assets have their corresponding groups. None of the trading instruments have any suffix or prefix, they have clear names and traders will know exactly what symbols represent.

The instrument specification window will show all relevant trading information except for the commission which is presented in the Trading Terminal once a position is open. Swaps are also presented there and in the specifications. The execution time we have tested on the BTC/USD is just a bit over 200ms on average with very small deviations of 15ms. This is a very competitive and stable trading environment suitable for more demanding scalping strategies or EAs.

Leverage

There is no official leverage list or webpage where visitors can know more about the leverage except that the maximum offered is 1:500. This is enough, especially for those who come from brokers that adhere to the ESMA directives. This leverage is true for all major Forex currency pairs but not for all. We have observed the leverage of 1:100 for exotics like USD/TRY but the leverage for USD/RUB, for example, is the maximum 1:500.

We have found that TRY related currency pairs were the only with the reduced leverage to 1:100. Indexes leverage is 1:200 for all, including less common ones, while precious metals all have a maximum of 1:500. Commodities are limited to 1:200 and stocks, from what we have seen in the MT4 have 1:20. Cryptocurrencies leverage is also limited, what we have calculated for the BTC/USD is 1:10. Generally, these leverage levels are more than enough to reduce commission costs using proper Money Management.

Trade Sizes

JAFX is a micro lot broker meaning the minimum trade size is 0.01 lot as well as the minimum step volume. This configuration allows the best precision for scaling in and out of position management. The maximum trade size is 1,000 lots and from what we could see, this trade size policy is true for all trading instruments offered. The difference lies in the Stops Levels. For those that are not familiar, this level defines the range around the asset price where putting Stop Loss or Take Profit orders is not possible. Stops Levels for all Forex pairs and Indexes is 0.

For stocks, this level can go up to 2 pips depending on the company. Out of commodities range, only Natural Gas has a Stops Level of 20 points, others have none. Precious metals do not have any limitations while cryptocurrencies have 1 pip Stops Levels. These levels are low enough not to interfere with fast trading methods. The broker has set out Margin Call at 100% and Stop Out at 70%.

Trading Costs

The commission of $4 per lot traded is charged for all assets offered. This commission rate is very competitive compared to other brokers that charge commissions. Other costs like swaps are under normal levels and calculated in points except for crypto. For the most traded pair, EUR/USD the swap is -9.85 points for long and a positive 4.06 for short position. For USD/JPY the long side swap is also positive at 2.97 points and -8.67 for short while GBP/USD has -6.66 points for long and a positive 0.95 points for short. Most of the currency pairs have one side in positive and those that are both negative are low on both sides, for example, EUR/CHF with -0.15 points for long and -2.35 points for short position swap.

For the exotics, the swaps are higher, especially for the EUR/MXN with -632.4 points for long and 262 points for short position, EUR/TRY with -323.3 points for long and 142 points for short, USD/CHN with -46.5 for long and 15.06 points for short. The biggest swap belongs to the USD/RUB, -1387.9 points for long and 523.6 for short position positive. XAU/USD, Spot Gold against the USD has acceptable -12.1 points for long position and 4.22 points for shorting Gold. For Spot Platinum, the swap is -11.28 points for long and 1.41 for short against the USD.

Cryptocurrencies have swaps calculated in percentages per annum. So, BTC/USD has -25% on both sides as well as other crypto listed in MT4. Swaps are tripled on Fridays for crypto, Commodities, and Indexes, while for Forex and precious metals it is tripled on Wednesdays.

Aside from these costs JAFX also has an inactivity fee of $10 for clients who have not traded in the past 30 days.

Assets

JAFX covers the most popular categories, Crypto, Forex, Indices, Commodities, and Stocks. From what we have seen so far in the MT4, none of the categories is listed with minimal assets. Forex category has a total of 50 currency pairs as wh have counted in the MT4, even more than stated on the JAFX website. The most interesting and uncommon pairs are USD/ILS, EUR/CZK, EUR/MXN, EUR/HKD, EUR/PLN, EUR/TRY, EUR/ZAR, USD/CNH, USD/HUF, USD/MXN, USD/RUB, USD/TRY and USD/ZAR. This offer is better than the average in the industry.

Precious metals are not limited to Gold and Silver. Metals traders will also find Gold quoted in EUR, Platinum, and Palladium against the USD. At the moment of this review, JAFX has disabled XPD/USD for trading. Having extended precious metals offer along with the great forex range makes JAFX one-stop broker that can cover the majority of trader types and typical hedging.

Commodities are JAFX weakest category offer, having only energies listed. Traders can find both Oil types, Brent and Crude US Oil with the addition of Natural Gas.

Indexes offer is very good with 13 listed total including the Dollar Index. All the majors are on the list lie SPX 500, NASDAQ 100 (listed as UT 100), etc. The uncommon ones are IBEX HK 35 Index, S&P ASX, Hang Sang Index, and Euro Stoxx 50 Index.

Stocks are listed but not as extensive as we can see at some larger broker with over 300 companies. JAFX covers all popular companies like Microsoft, Apple, eBay, and some non-US like BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Ferarri, Siemens and so on. The list still contains a total of 107 companies that is enough to cover most of the people’s interests.

JAFX is a cryptocurrency-focused broker and most should expect a wide range in this category. And this is correct, with over 31 tradeable instruments, one more than what is stated on the website. All major coins of today are listed, with BTC and other majors quoted only against the USD. Meaning the range is not extended with the same crypto denominated in EUR or GBP as is the case with some other brokers.

Although some crypto is quoted against the Bitcoin, we found rarities like Eidoo against BIT and the USD, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, ETP, IOTA, Litecoin, Neo, OmiseGO, Santiment, Tron, Monero, and Zcash. All of these have versus BTC version too, thus opening different trading opportunities regardless of the USD performance.

Spreads

JAFX spreads are a variable type and are competitive compared to other brokers. Even though not the best we have seen for this broker type, they are still tight enough to allow scalping on lower timeframes. To give some insight, the most traded currency pair – EUR/USD has 7 points spread, USD/JPY 5 points, GBP/USD 12 points and AUD/USD 9 points.

A bit higher spreads are for EUR/AUD with 2 pips, GBP/CHF 19 points, CAD/JPY 2 pips, and EUR/CAD with 21 points. Exotics spreads are a bit better than with other brokers that offer these pairs. For example, EUR/MXN has 1091 points, GBP/SEK 1022 points, USD/CHN 68 points, USD/HKD 73 points, USD/TRY 535 points, USD/HUF 301 points and similar. The biggest spread is for the USD/RUB with 13150 points and EUR/CZK at 1940 points.

Precious metals spread is better than the industry average with just 12 pips for the XAU/USD. Other metals follow similarly tight spreads, Platinum with 221 pips, Silver at 16 pips and Palladium at 436 pips.

Cryptocurrency spreads should be tight since JAFX uses BItfinex as a liquidity provider. For BTC/USD the spread is $17 or 1744 points precisely. XRP/USD has 63 points, Litecoin/USD 15 points and ETH/USD just 6 points. The widest spread was for the Santiment against the USD at 168900 points, although this is a 5 decimal price.

Minimum Deposit

JAFX requires a minimum of $10 for deposits. This amount is low, although to have the most optimal conditions, even with this leverage and micro-lot trade sizes, it is best to start with $100 and try their live service. To just try the withdrawals the minimum does not present a barrier.

Deposit Methods & Costs

JAFX used to receive wire transfers but at the moment of this review, this method is suspended. JAFX accepts cryptocurrency only at this moment. Traders can deposit via the Bitcoin network directly or using the credit/debit card to buy Bitcoin via Instacoins. In that case, an account with Instacoins will have to be created and verified. Note that a card transaction chargeback cannot be initiated with the broker directly using this way. Bitcoin transactions are also irreversible, the costs for a Bitcoin network transaction is 0.0005 BTC. Your deposit will be automatically credited to your account upon Blockchain approval, 6 confirmations may take up to 6 hours depending on the network load.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Same as with the deposits, the only method, for now, is the Bitcoin withdrawal. To withdraw your affiliate/IB commissions, it will first need to be transferred into your main trading account. JAFX cannot process withdrawals directly from affiliate/IB accounts. Of course, your account needs to be verified for withdrawals. Skrill or other e-wallets are not supported as stated by the JAFX staff.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals are made from the JAFX portal or client’s area within the Transfers tab. The withdrawal process will take up to 48 business hours for approval by the broker, and some additional time for the Bitcoin network. If you have positions open, it is still possible to initiate a withdrawal request, although you can only withdraw funds from your “Landing Account”. First, you have to transfer funds from your “Trading Account” to your “Landing Account”.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no bonuses or promotions. Introducing Broker (IB) and affiliate programs exist. For those interested will have to contact JAFX. If you have created a trading account, you will need to use a different email address to sign up for the affiliate account.

Educational & Trading Tools

Although the FAQ section mentions additional services by JAFX such as webinars, guides and similar, these are not offered as stated by JAFX staff. No tools are found on their website. There are, however, trading tools that can be accessed from within the platform. These include built-in technical indicators, as well as alerts that will inform you of a variety of changes in market conditions.

Customer Service

JAFX invested in customer support availability and quality. The broker has two phone lines, one with the UK calling code and one to Australia. JAFX uses a ticket system for dealing with the trader’s issues and also has established a 24/7 chat service. Waiting time for the chat is less than a minute, support agents have enough knowledge to answer more demanding questions with a small delay. Courtesy is noticeable, although to some it may be too much. Client Support seems to be one of the broker’s key methods for gaining trust and it is well organized.

Demo Account

The Demo account is made through the MT4 platform directly, be it from the MT4 web-accessible platform, through the MT4 on a computer or a smart device. You can select your leverage and the amount of practice money. The demo account will last indefinitely, if traders do not open any new positions for a month, the demo will expire.

Countries Accepted

JAFX had stopped accepting clients from the United States. Currently, applicants form this country will not be able to create an account. The rest of the countries that are not accepted are Ghana, Burma, Ivory Coast, Congo, Cuba, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.

Conclusion

JAFX received attention from The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on July 31st, 2018 and as a result, no longer accepts U.S. based clients. Why did they choose to target JAFX when so many other offshore brokers are open for business and accepting U.S. clients? Simply because JAFX was among the biggest, best, and most popular Forex broker in operation at that time. They boasted some of the best trading conditions and customer service in the industry, and the number of clients they had earned as a result was staggering. Presumably, the CFTC opts to start from the top and work its way down.

JAFX did reach an agreement with the commission and today has recovered quite nicely. While certainly not as large as they once were, they carried on with business as usual and just as before, they continue to provide excellent customer service and highly competitive trading conditions. Those looking to trade with a well-established and experienced broker would do will to consider JAFX as a viable brokerage option.

 

Founded in 2014, Salma Markets prides itself on its international presence and ability to provide account holders with access to highly accurate prices. In fact, this broker works with globally-leading liquidity providers, including Barclays, CitiBank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and UBS. Above all else, we found that Salma Markets’s powerful leverage, various bonuses, minimal fees, and diverse transfer methods make this broker amongst the best in the industry. Believe it or not, but Salma Markets awarded account holders with sports cars in the past and they currently have an ongoing Lamborghini sweepstake. Read our comprehensive review to learn more about the firm’s unique offerings and advantageous trading conditions.

Account Types

Salma Markets only offers its standard STP Account. However, after looking at the broker’s website, it seems that they used to offer several account types, but they aren’t listed online. Because of this, if the STP doesn’t suit your style, inquiring about other account types and options may be worth the effort, especially in light of the highly competitive features that Salma Markets provides traders with.

Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 0.2 pips
Commission: None

Alongside their nonexistent commissions, this broker offers a swap-free trading experience. Salma Markets is based out of Indonesia, which is a majority Muslim country. Therefore, their standard account type comes with no interest on overnight positions (swaps) and has Islamic features by default.

Platforms

The broker’s account holders trade and manage their portfolios on MetaTrader 4 (MT4). This platform will give you access to all of the forex pairs and assets that are available on Salma Markets. Moreover, whether you are new to trading or have years of experience, you will certainly appreciate MT4’s superior tools and customer support features.

Beginners can access tutorials and work one-on-one with a dedicated account manager. Similarly, professional traders may program their own algorithm, utilize a variety of technical indicators, and receive guidance from MT4’s customer support team (if needed). Above all else, MT4 is famous for its highly accurate prices and immediate execution of orders, which adds another layer of protection to traders during volatile markets (when quotes move quickly and unexpectedly).

Equally as important, this platform’s software can be installed on Windows devices, iPhones, and Android smartphones. Regardless of which one you choose, the apps will allow you to manage your portfolio, place orders, and open/close positions. MT4’s software is also available to MacBook users. However, they have to first download an external app (for free) before installing MT4 on their Apple laptop or desktop device.

If you have a Windows computer, an iPhone, or an Android, MT4 can be downloaded directly from Salma Markets’s website. As far as MacBooks are concerned, traders would have to download the supplemental software from the Mac Store. After that, they may install MT4 by visiting the platform’s website.

Leverage

This broker will give you up to 1000:1 in buying power, which is very large when compared to the rest of the industry. However, 1000:1 is the maximum leverage level, which is offered to traders that have less than $500 in their account. Meanwhile, your buying power goes down to 700:1 and 500:1 when your balance reaches $500 and $1,000, respectively. The leverage will further decline to 300:1 for accounts that have between $1,500 and $2,000. After that, buying power becomes 200:1 when your funds go over the $2,000 threshold.

There are two things to note about this: First, even at 500:1, Salma Markets’s leverage is still much higher than what most brokerage firms will offer. Second, brokers will lower your buying when you deposit additional funds in order to minimize their risk. For example, if a trader has $2,000 and 1000:1 in leverage (as an example), they can invest up to $2 million. When the markets go down, the account holder may lose all of their $2,000 deposit. Even the smallest price movement can turn their balance negative. As a result, Salma Markets lowers account holders’ leverage when their balance increases in order to protect the trader and themselves (the broker). Keep in mind that Salma Markets also has a negative balance protection policy.

Trade Sizes

The smallest trade you can execute is 0.01 lots (1,000 in the base currency). Keep in mind that the standard lot size, industry-wide, is 100,000 units of the base currency.

Margin Call: 50%
Stop-Out: 30%

Salma Markets’s policy is to close all open positions when an account reaches the margin call level. Moreover, traders cannot place any new orders until their balance goes above the 50% margin requirement. Yet, this broker’s website doesn’t specify the difference between the margin call and stop-out levels. In most cases, firms will close your biggest losers at the margin call level, up until your available cash satisfies the margin threshold. They only liquidate all trades at stop-out. Nonetheless, Salma Markets has a useful guide on what happens when you reach the margin call and ways to prevent your balance from getting to that level.

Trading Costs

As previously outlined, this broker doesn’t charge traders any commissions, swaps, or other fees. You may have to incur the spread cost (the difference between the bid and ask prices). Given how tight Salma Markets’s spreads are, these fees will be minimal.

Assets

You can trade stocks, commodities, and indices through Salma Markets. These instruments are exchanged as CFD contracts, but precious metals are traded against the US dollar: Gold (XAU.USD) and silver (XAG.USD). In addition, account holders have access to almost 30 major currencies and two BitCoin pairs (BTC.USD and BTC.EUR). There are no exotic forex pairs, but Salma Markets’s asset list does encompass all of the majors. Furthermore, the market indices include those of Australia, Britain, France, Germany, and others, alongside major US stock indexes.

Spreads

This broker’s spreads are floating and not fixed. In other words, they are subject to change based on market conditions and the bid/ask gap varies from one forex pair to another. Just as importantly, non-currency financial instruments have different spreads. More specifically, indices, commodities, and stocks have a larger spread than forex pairs. However, Salma Markets’s currency spreads start at 0.2 pips, which is very low and competitive. Most of their forex pairs have a bid/ask price gap that is less than 1.5 pips. Some, though, may exceed 3 pips.

Minimum Deposit

Salma Markets requires you to deposit $100 in order to open an account. To receive some of their awards, traders must deposit additional funds. This will be discussed in more detail under the ‘Bonuses and Promotions’ section. When it comes to the minimums for individual transactions, you would have to look at your deposit method. The broker will let you transfer an amount that is as small as $1 only in a single transaction. However, this is only the case for deposits from certain banks. A standard wire transfer has a minimum of $100. Transactions via Visa, MasterCard, and FasaPay must be greater than $10, while Skrill and Neteller deposits have a minimum of $50 per transfer.

Deposit Methods & Costs

One of the best features that Salma Markets offers is that traders can choose between many methods to fund their account. The broker works with banks from all over the world. You may also transfer money via Visa, MasterCard, FasaPay, Neteller, and Skrill. Above all else, this broker doesn’t charge any transaction fees when you deposit funds. The only exception is Skrill, which has a commission that equals 7.50% the transfer size. For example, if you deposit $100 through Skrill, Salma Markets will charge you a $7.50 fee. All transfers are processed instantly, but bank wires may take between 1 and 5 business days.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Most withdrawals are for free, too. However, the 7.5% Skrill commission still applies to outbound transfers. Similarly, Visa/MasterCard transactions cost $5 each, while withdrawing through Neteller has a 2% transfer size fee (with a $1 minimum and $30 maximum). Bank wires will cost you 0.2% of the withdrawn amount, with a minimum of $30 per transaction fee. All the available deposit methods can be used for withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unlike deposits, withdrawing money out of your Salma Markets account isn’t instant. Instead, regardless of which method you choose, the broker will processes withdrawals within 1 to 2 days, but outbound transfers take no longer than 48 hours. Bank wires, though, will still take between 1 and 5 business days to process.

Bonuses & Promotions

Salma Markets’s bonuses and promotions are two of this broker’s greatest assets. First, this firm has a 50% rebate bonus. Here is how it works: When you deposit money into your account, Salma Markets gives you half (50%) of the amount in trading capital. However, the bonus isn’t instantly available. Instead, the broker gives you $2 for every lot that you trade.

For example, if a trader deposits $5,000, they get a $2,500 credit (50% of the deposited amount). After they close a position that has 10 lots, they will receive $20 ($2 per lot), which keeps adding up for each lot until the full $2,500 is deposited in the account. The maximum bonus amount is $10,000, which is still relatively large and generous. Additionally, Salma Markets has several other ongoing promotions.

First, they will give away free t-shirts, iPhones, and Samsung Note devices to active traders. Getting the broker-branded shirt is easy. After traders open an account, deposit at least $500, and close positions that are worth 2 lots or more, Salma Markets will send them the shirt. As for the Samsung Note, account holders who deposit $20,000 or more and trade a minimum of 50 lots will receive the device for free. To get the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, you have to deposit $30,000 and $50,000, respectively.

After trading 70 lots (iPhone 11) or 150 lots (iPhone 11 Pro), the broker sends you the complementary Apple smartphone. Equally as important, Salma Markets had an ongoing promotion that expired on December 15th. Account-holders who deposited $100,000 and traded 200 lots or more got a free Umrah (Islamic pilgrimage) trip on Salma Markets’s expense. While this promotion ended, the broker may offer the same one next year during the annual pilgrimage season. Previously, Salma Markets had offered a free trip to South Korea. They may bring it back after the pilgrimage season is concluded.

Lastly, Salma Markets offers a variety of partnership and promotional programs. As an Introducing Broker (IB), you would be tasked with incentivizing family members, friends, and associates to open an account. Every time your referral makes a trade, Salma Markets awards you a $5 commission. Even though many brokerage firms have an IB promotion, Salma Markets’s commission revenues are amongst the highest in the industry.

Meanwhile, the ‘White Label’ partnership program is for traders who are more serious about working with the broker. More specifically, for an initial setup fee of $5,000, Salma Markets will allow you to act as an independent broker that can get their own clients and account holders, just as a business would. However, this broker will give you their brand, promotional materials, and valuable MT4 account management tools, alongside commissions and other profits when your clientele grows.

Fourth, as a Salma Markets Payment Agent, a trader may work with local account holders and facilitate deposits/withdrawals. After that, this broker will award them with revenues from the transfer fees. Last, but certainly not list, if you deposit over $1,000 when opening an account, you are entered into a draw where the winner gets a Lamborghini Huracan. As lucrative (and somewhat difficult to believe) as this sounds, Salma Markets has awarded traders 6 sports cars in the past.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are several trading tools that this broker’s account holders can utilize on a daily basis. First, Salma Markets has a daily news feed. Every morning, they post a new article that highlights the important developments and stories of the day. Second, the forex economic calendar, which lists major releases and announcements from all over the world, allows you to prepare for the day and identify potential market-moving events. The economic calendar can be customized based on the trader’s timezone and the date range that they want to look at (1 day, 5 days, 2 weeks, …etc.). Third, Salma Markets’s ‘Market Summary’ allows you to access live market prices. It covers stocks, indices, bonds, commodities, and, of course, forex pairs.

Lastly, this broker’s Market WebTV feature entails analytical YouTube videos that are embedded on the website. However, most of their featured footages were posted over 3 years ago, which makes this tool less reliable than the economic calendar, news feed, and live prices. When it comes to education, beginners may not find plenty of tutorials or guides on Salma Markets’s website. Yet, the MT4 platform has more than enough educational content. In fact, MT4 even offers live support and one-on-one mentorship to account holders for free.

Customer Service

Salma Markets has a customer service team that is available 24 hours during the weekdays. Moreover, they can be reached in many ways, namely, via phone, email, Skype, live online chat, WhatsApp, and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). The broker’s phone number isn’t listed on the website, but there is a call-back request form that you can fill out. Their team offers support in 5 different languages: English, Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian, and Vietnamese.

Demo Account

A demo (fake) account can benefit you in two ways: Learning about the markets (for beginners) and getting accustomed to MT4’s tools (for those who are new to the platform). To clarify, this gives traders plenty of time for trial and error, a process that they can undertake by exchanging paper/fake money. In turn, beginners would only risk their real funds after defining a proven strategy. The same applies to experienced traders that never used MT4 in the past.

Countries Accepted

As of 2016, Salma Markets served almost 2 million traders in 4 different countries in Asia. They have a strong international presence. However, traders in the United States and other countries that heavily regulate or restrict certain financial instruments (namely CFD contracts) should make sure that the firm is available in their location before opening an account. The US is listed as a residence/location option in the account signup form, but it doesn’t hurt to double-check if they serve American traders.

Conclusion

Salma Markets’s pros definitely outweigh the cons. Opening an account is fast and easy. Installing the globally-popular MT4 and getting started on the platform is also simple, especially because it is available on desktops and smartphones, alike. In addition, this broker’s 1000:1 leverage is incredibly competitive and unmatched in the industry, while their trading commissions are nonexistent and the spreads are minimal. Just as importantly, you can deposit money into your account through a debit/credit card, a wire transfer, or electronic payment system. Transactions are processed instantly and most of the methods will not charge you fees on deposits. One of the main advantages of going through this broker is the lucrative 50% rebate bonus, alongside smartphone giveaways, free trips, sports car sweepstakes, and highly rewarding partnership programs. Customer service is also easy to get in touch with.

Having said all that, Salma Markets offers useful trading tools but little-to-no training material. Similarly, withdrawing money may take longer than 24 hours and most outbound transfers come with fees. This broker’s forex pair selection is limited to major currencies, but they do have commodities and indices that you can trade. In short, every business and broker has its own downsides. When we look at Salma Markets, many traders will appreciate the positive aspects that are associated with utilizing this firm. Most are going to even overlook the negatives when weighing them against all of Salma Markets’s advantageous and competitive offerings.

This Malaysia-based broker allows you to trade different forex pairs and CFD contracts. They have a physical presence in Singapore and their website is available in multiple languages. With an established international client base, SG Global FX utilizes the most popular trading platforms and liquidity providers. This firm provides account holders with incredibly competitive trading conditions, ranging from the tight spreads to the firm’s acceptance of transfers from an array of financial institutions, regardless of your bank’s location or home country’s currency.

Does this broker offer fixed or floating spreads? What type of platform do they use? Are there any margin restrictions? What are the available trading tools? Above all else, how do their pros weigh against the cons? To find out, read this article and get the information that you need to properly evaluate SG Global FX’s offerings.

Account Types

SG Global FX’s account holders enjoy access to a variety of strong features, including pricing from liquidity providers and immediate order executions. This broker only has one account type.

Minimum Deposit: NA
Spreads: Floating
Commission: NA

The website doesn’t include any information about commissions. As far as spreads are concerned, their home page boasts that SG Global FX has both competitive and minimal bid/ask price gaps. Moreover, since they use liquidity providers for quotes, account holders may enjoy very advantageous spreads.

Platforms

If you open an account with this broker, your trading would be done through MetaTrader 4 (MT4), which is one of the most reliable and user-friendly platforms in the industry. You can download the MT4 app on your Windows desktop device directly from SG Global FX’s website. Mac users, on the other hand, must first install certain software before being able to download MT4 on their device. The software is free and you can also get it through the broker’s website. Equally as important, the MT4 app is available for iPhone and Android users, alike, allowing them to manage their accounts and enter/exit trades from their phones, just as they would on a desktop device.

There are several advantageous aspects that traders who use MT4 enjoy. First, their prices and spreads are incredibly accurate. Second, you can utilize many technical indicators and chart timeframes when trading forex pairs, CFDs, and other financial instruments. Third, MT4 has a live news feed that offers the latest stories and analytical reports related to each asset. Fourth, their demo accounts, which traders can easily register for, allow account holders to learn about the platform and test different strategies before trading their actual funds. Fifth, customer support is reliable and knowledgable. Most, if not all, of these features can be accessed directly through SG Global FX’s website.

Leverage

This broker doesn’t mention anything about leverage and buying power on their website or user agreement document.

Trade Sizes

SG Global FX has relatively strict margin call and stop-out requirements. In other words, this broker prefers cautious and conservative trading methods over strategies that rely on using a large amount of buying power, which can be very risky.

Margin Call: 150%
Stop-Out: 100%

The 150% margin call level requires you to back your investments/positions with capital. For example, if you want to trade a certain amount, your balance must have enough money to cover the losses in case the markets go down (or up if you’re short selling). When an SG Global FX account reaches the margin call, traders must deposit additional funds or close enough losing positions to bring their balance back to the required 150% level. Until that happens, you can’t engage in any additional trading (unless it is to close a position). Moreover, at the 100% stop-out level, SG Global FX will close all of your trades automatically to prevent the account from having a negative balance.

Trading Costs

Just as with the leverage, nothing is mentioned about commissions or trading fees. However, this broker has a partnership and referral program, which normally rewards participants when their friends/family members open an account and start trading with SG Global FX. In most cases, this is awarded per trade. Therefore, brokerage firms with this type of program will charge referrals who open an account, even though others who found the broker online or directly might not incur these same fees. However, interested traders that want to learn more about SG Global FX’s trading costs should contact customer support for questions and details.

Assets

Alongside forex pairs, this broker will allow you to trade CFD contracts. The available assets include commodities (more specifically, metals) and stock market indexes. Having said that, there is barely any other information about SG Global FX’s financial instruments on the website. For example, they don’t list the available currencies nor the forex pairs that you can trade.

Spreads

SG Global FX only highlights that their spreads are tight and incredibly competitive, without offering more details. They do, however, outline that their spreads are variable, which means that they change based on market conditions. Different forex pairs also have their own spreads. In general, the most liquid ones on the market, such as the EUR.USD, GBP.USD, and JPY.USD, tend to have the lower bid/ask price variations. Exotics, on the other hand, will have large spreads. However, this will almost always be the case when the markets are volatile and unstable, regardless of whether your traded currency is a major or exotic one.

Nevertheless, this broker relies on several liquidity providers for its bid/ask pricing. In addition, SG Global FX utilizes MT4, which offers very accurate and desirable quotes in its own respect. To clarify, all of this means that an account holder will likely enjoy advantageous and competitive spreads. The benefit of this is magnified when we consider how quickly the MT4 platform executes orders. Yet, if you are considering SG Global FX, the best way to find out about how much their spreads are is by contacting them directly. For example, some brokers will show a wider bid/ask gap in order to generate revenues from the price difference, especially firms that don’t charge traders any commissions. There are certain pros and cons to commission vs spread fees, but they mostly depend on how you manage the portfolio and your preferred trading style.

Minimum Deposit

SG Global FX doesn’t specify any minimum deposit requirements. In certain cases, brokerage firms may not even have one. Depositing enough money to buy the smallest permissible lot size, in itself, would suffice.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can use a credit/debit card or bank transfer to fund your SG Global FX account. There aren’t any fees on inbound transactions, but keep in mind that your bank or credit/debit card issuer may have their own policies. Just as importantly, if your deposited funds are in a different currency than the one on your trading account, the transaction is adjusted based on the exchange rate during that time. You might be able to use other methods (such as online payment apps or checks) if they follow certain restrictions or regulatory requirements. Contacting the broker about these details would be the best way to learn more.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

When you deposit money, keep in mind that SG Global FX will only send your withdrawals to the same source. Funds deposited through a bank wire, as an instance, can only be withdrawn and transferred to that specific account. While the website doesn’t tell us what the fees are (if any), withdrawals that are made to a bank or debit card that use a different currency than the one on your SG Global FX account will be adjusted based on that day’s exchange rate.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

This broker doesn’t outline how long withdrawals take, but they do note that credit/debit card transfers are processed much quicker than bank wires.

Bonuses & Promotions

While SG Global FX doesn’t have any currently ongoing bonuses or promotions, they do offer these incentives on a regular basis. More specifically, the broker will award account holders with cash credits that they can use to trade. However, in order to withdraw these funds, traders must open/close positions that meet a certain minimum volume requirement. When you lose money on your trades, the losses are deducted from your original deposit and not the bonus, unless your traded volume reaches the specified level needed to convert the credits into a cash balance.

Educational & Trading Tools

The PAMM services are designed to help new traders make decisions based on the input of experienced advisors. They can access the trading methodologies and recommendations of other market participants. After that, beginners make buy/sell choices accordingly and follow the methods of profitable traders. Other than that, no educational or trading tools are offered on SG Global FX’s website. Nonetheless, because this broker gives you access to the MT4 platform, there are plenty of valuable resources that SG Global FX’s account holders can enjoy. On MT4, you will find an endless array of technical indicators, charting timeframes, custom graphic tools, and research reports, along with live newsfeeds that cover the at-large global markets and specific currency pairs or assets. Moreover, MT4 offers one-on-one customer support and advisory sessions with experienced account managers.

Customer Service

Even though the broker’s main office is in Malaysia, they have a separate address for customer support and inquiries, which is located in Singapore (150 Kampong Ampat #06-01, Singapore 368324). Other than that, you may contact customer service via phone or email.

Phone: +65-62818039
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Opening a paper account is done through SG Global FX’s website, so is registering a live one. After that, you can immediately start trading fake money on MT4 while working with live market prices and real-time conditions. Many people believe that the demo is only for beginners who want to practice their trading methodology before exchanging actual funds. In reality, though, even seasoned professionals with years of experience can benefit from a demo.

If you are used to MetaTrader 5 (MT5), which is the newer version of MT4, the paper account helps you make that transition smoothly and without risking losing your real money because you used the wrong tool or order type. To give a couple of additional examples, a swing trader that wants to learn how to open and close positions during the same session can try out different intraday strategies and define a proven approach before they put real money on the line. The same would apply to a forex trader that wants to diversify their philosophy by encompassing other instruments, such as commodities.

Countries Accepted

SG Global FX is registered with Malaysia’s Labuan Financial Services Authority, the body that regulates and oversees the markets in the country. Their website is also available in Thai and Chinese, which indicates that this broker serves traders in the East Asian region. However, they also work with account holders from all over the world. SG Global FX’s website advises traders to check their local regulations and to contact customer service to see if the broker’s offerings are available in their country. In some places, like the United States, exchanging commodities, futures, and other types of assets must be done in a way that complies with certain legal requirements, which may restrict access to these markets.

Conclusion

To summarize, this broker’s main pros are as follows: Traders use a highly sophisticated and reliable platform; SG Global FX accepts deposits from banks in many countries; The firm has cashback bonuses and a PAMM trading tool for beginners; Demo accounts are easy to open and can benefit different types of traders and; Their services are available on a global level. The downsides, on the other hand, are: Only 1 account type is offered; Margin calls are somewhat restrictive; There are no current bonuses; Educational and trading tools are limited and; Regulatory requirements on traders from certain countries may apply. Meanwhile, SG Global FX’s website offers little or no information about the leverage, spreads, commissions, available forex pairs, and minimum deposit requirements.

Having said all that, because this broker utilizes MetaTrader 4, account holders who are looking for trading and educational tools can easily find valuable content through the platform. This includes news alerts, custom charts, and access to support or mentoring. However, SG Global FX’s customer service team is also easy to contact and traders can get help in multiple languages. Moreover, the firm lets you transfer money from and to your financial institution regardless of where it is located. Nonetheless, this broker doesn’t offer a lot of details about withdrawal fees or transaction processing times. The same applies to their assets. We know that, in addition to forex pairs, SG Global FX gives account holders access to stock market indices and commodities, but a list of the specific instruments that are offered isn’t available on the website.

In short, when examining SG Global FX’s pros and cons, traders must evaluate them based on their personal trading philosophy and approaches. An account holder that uses a lot of leverage or buying power may find the margin call level to be restrictive, but those who value fast order execution times will appreciate the broker’s offerings. Equally as important, since there are plenty of missing details about the spreads, commissions, and other features, contacting customer support will help you get a clearer and more comprehensive picture.

VIP Way Zone is a globally present forex broker that also offers cryptocurrencies, commodities, and indices. In business since 2012, the firm’s main mission is to assist and serve beginners who are new to the financial markets. Perhaps most noteworthy, each of VIP Way Zone’s account types comes with a dedicated account manager who offers ongoing support and mentorship sessions to traders. In fact, this broker has two analytical teams: One that specializes in technical analysis and another group that focuses on the fundamentals. While VIP Way Zone’s website has certain details that are missing, this article covers all the aspects that interested traders need to know about the firm.

Account Types

This broker has 5 different account types. Mini, Standard, and VIP are designed for retail traders, while Fully Managed and Premium Fully Managed to cater to large investors that want a financial specialist to oversee their portfolio. However, all 5 types still retain access to a personal account manager. Mini only gets one call per week with the specialist, but Standard and VIP will have an introductory one-on-one session and ongoing customized support.

Mini Account:
Minimum Deposit: $250
Spreads: NA
Commission: NA

Standard Account:
Minimum Deposit: $5,000
Spreads: NA
Commission: NA

VIP Account:
Minimum Deposit: $10,000
Spreads: NA
Commission: NA

Fully Managed Account:
Minimum Deposit: $25,000
Spreads: NA
Commission: NA

Premium Fully Managed Account:
Minimum Deposit: $100,000
Spreads: NA
Commission: NA

Unfortunately, VIP Way Zone doesn’t offer details about the spreads or commissions online. Apart from that, all accounts (except for Mini) are offered a financial plan, risk management strategy, support from a personal analyst, access to webinars, and expedited transaction times. Nonetheless, opening a Mini Account still enables you to trade through utilizing advanced and reliable software.

Platforms

Strangely enough, no information about the platform that VIP Way Zone utilizes is available on their website. In most cases, though, forex brokers will work with either MetaTrader 4 (MT4) or MetaTrader 5 (MT5). While the latter is a more modified version, both of the MetaTrader platforms come with valuable tools and resources, including technical indicators, several chart timeframes, live news feeds, and more.

Some brokers may use their own platform, but this is very rare. Having said all that, VIP Way Zone does mention that the platform that they use doesn’t require you to download any apps or software. Instead, account holders may trade directly from their browser. Yet, since this option is available on both MT4 and MT5, the information doesn’t give us any hints as to which of the two platforms this broker uses.

Leverage

VIP Way Zone doesn’t outline details about leverage or buying power.

Trade Sizes

No information about the minimum lot size, margin calls, or stop out levels is available on this broker’s website.

Margin Call: NA
Stop-Out: NA

Trading Costs

Nothing is mentioned about trading fees, either. However, across the brokerage industry, there are three types of trading costs: Commissions, spreads, and swaps. Not all firms will charge traders commissions, especially if the spreads are high. Some, however, still do, especially if they offer a low or 0-pip spread. Since VIP Way Zone’s website only includes limited information about both of these fees, it is difficult to tell which approach this broker follows (i.e whether they charge you spreads or commissions).

Nonetheless, traders should always remember that overnight positions will come with a swap fee, which accounts for the interest on holding a given currency or pair. This expense is out of any broker’s hands. The interest is set by the central bank of any currency’s home country. If VIP Way Zone offers an Islamic account, they most likely charge a fixed swap fee that is not related to the interest rate.

Assets

This firm gives you access to almost 180 financial instruments, but they are not listed online, either. However, we know that VIP Way Zone is a forex broker that also allows account holders to trade cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, and stocks.

Spreads

No information about the spreads is available on the broker’s website.

Minimum Deposit

The required deposits are $250, $5,000, and $10,000 for the Mini, Standard, and VIP Account, in that order. Traders that have a larger amount of capital, namely $25,000 and $100,000, may open a Fully Managed and Premium Fully Managed Account, respectively.

Deposit Methods & Costs

One of VIP Way Zone’s best offerings is its wide selection of payment methods. This broker will let you deposit funds through traditional means (VISA, MasterCard, and wire transfers), alongside electronic payment systems (CloudFlake, Neteller, Sofort Banking, Skrill, Qiwi Wallet, and Neteller). The fees, however, aren’t mentioned on the website. Most of the time, brokers don’t charge account holders for depositing funds.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Similarly, transaction fees are not outlined on the website. Some firms require you to pay a fee when you withdraw money while others don’t. If this is an important feature to you, contacting customer support will help you get more information.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Even though VIP Way Zone doesn’t mention how long it takes to withdraw money, they offer all account types (apart from Mini) a “rushed withdrawal” option. Many brokerage firms will process debit/credit cards and electronic payments (such as Neteller and Skrill) instantly. Since VIP Way Zone accepts these transaction methods, transfers will most likely be processed instantly (whether inbound or outbound). Meanwhile, the website doesn’t tell us how long it takes to deposit or withdraw money through the Mini Account, either.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no ongoing bonuses or promotions, at least as far as the information on the website is concerned.

Educational & Trading Tools

VIP Way Zone’s account holders will have access to analytical videos about the market (updated daily), economic calendars, chart signals, news updates, and articles that summarize important events. In addition, all account holders can work with a dedicated specialist. This broker’s team has over 5 years of experience in the financial markets. Their availability depends on the account type that you choose. As previously mentioned, Mini can only get one review or mentorship session per week, while the other accounts enjoy more access to customized support features.

Customer Service

You can get in touch with the broker 24 hours per day by either sending them an email, giving customer support a call or filling out a form on the website. You may also visit their office or send them a letter (VIP Way Zone’s address is: Company Complex, Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island, Majuro, Marshal islands MH 96960)

Phone: +44330058 2602
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

A demo account is a great way for beginners to test different techniques and define their trading strategy before they start risking real money. In fact, since this broker mostly caters to new traders, you can almost certainly open a demo though them. Even if this isn’t the case, both MT4 and MT5 will let you register a fake/paper account to practice with.

Countries Accepted

VIP Way Zone is headquartered in the island country of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is located in the Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. Given that the Marshall Islands have a relatively lax regulatory environment, this broker can serve traders from all over the world. However, equally as important, their services may not be available in all countries, especially those that heavily regulate commodities and cryptocurrencies. This is another feature that interested traders should contact customer support to inquire about.

Conclusion

The obvious downside to this broker is that their website doesn’t highlight important information about trading conditions and account features. More specifically, the leverage, spreads, commissions, margin calls, stop-out levels, and trade sizes are lacking in detail. If you are considering this broker, inquiring about this should be key, especially when it comes to areas that are important to your trading strategy. For example, frequent traders will care mostly about commissions.

However, those that have a large amount of capital may not be impacted by these fees as much as they would from the spreads. Otherwise, VIP Way Zone has a wide selection of accounts that cater to retail traders and passive investors. They also provide you with almost 200 different financial instruments, a variety of trading tools, and a large number of transfer methods. Just as importantly, account holders get dedicated one-on-one support and consultations while customer service is available 24 hours a day.

In short, even though this broker doesn’t clarify important details, they make up for that through an enhanced and individualized customer support experience.

Alongside access to different forex pairs and trading tools, this broker offers plenty of money management services, including overseeing clients’ portfolios and providing investment advice. As a straight-through processing (STP) broker, xPartners works with multiple liquidity providers to ensure that account holders can quickly execute orders and buy/sell at desired prices.

While the broker is registered in Cyprus, its offerings are available across Europe and the world. Whether or not xPartners suits your needs depends on the type of trader that you are. For example, if you are looking for access to all types of forex pairs (including exotics), then this brokerage firm has plenty to offer. The list of their other financial instruments is just as expansive as their currency selection.

Similarly, if you want to trade through utilizing a state-of-the-art platform, then xPartners excels in that area. Their partnership program and educational content can also be appreciated. Having said that, traders that rely on buying power and low spreads may think twice about xPartners, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the broker’s positive aspects don’t outweigh its cons. To help you make an evaluation, we put together all the important details and information that traders who are considering xPartners need to know.

Account Types

XPartners offers one account type. Meanwhile, there isn’t information about whether or not you have the option of opening a swap-free Islamic Account.

Minimum Deposit: $250
Spreads: From 3 pips
Commission: NA

When you first fund your account, the transaction must be sent as a wire transfer. However, after that, traders can choose between several payment options that we will discuss in this review.

Platforms

Through this broker, account holders trade on the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform. It is available on all devices, including desktops (MacBooks and Windows) and smartphones (iOS and Android). MT5’s main advantages include fast order execution times, user-friendly tools, a large selection of technical indicators, and live news updates. Additionally, every trader can work with a dedicated account manager on an individual level. This includes beginners who need guidance and experienced traders that are trying to learn how to best use MT5’s different tools and order placement methods.

Leverage

xPartners main downside is their very restrictive buying power of 30:1. In general, brokerage firms’ leverage can reach up to 500:1, some will even give traders 1000:1 in buying power. Even though xPartners leverage is very small, account holders can request to increase it. In turn, this broker will award experienced and risk-averse traders with 100:1, but no more than that in buying power.

Trade Sizes

The standard trade sizes, where 1 lot equals 1,000 of the base currency, are available on xPartners.

Margin Call: 100%
Stop-Out: 50%

This broker doesn’t automatically liquidate your positions at the margin call. In fact, they take no action apart from sending you a notification that your balance is below the margin call level. When it hits the 50% stop-out point, on the other hand, xPartners automatically closes all your trades. Just as importantly, when a margin call is issued, traders can only access it through their MT5 dashboard.

Trading Costs

On their website, xPartners doesn’t specify what their commissions are. They may even be nonexistent. Either way, this broker still charges you other trading fees. First, their relatively wide spreads can be hefty. Second, there are overnight interest fees on positions that aren’t closed at the end of the trading day. The swap amount depends on the currency that you trade, the economic conditions in its country, and what the central bank’s interest rate is. Keep in mind that xPartners will triple their swaps on Wednesday to account for weekends (where the fees aren’t incurred because the markets are closed). Tripling the rate on Wednesday is a standard practice that many brokers follow.

Assets

xPartners provides you with access to forex pairs, commodities, indexes, and stocks. They have over 60 currencies, including exotics like the Polish Zloty, Swedish Krona, and South African Rand. This broker also offers 25 commodities, putting them ahead of most of their competitors in this aspect. Undoubtedly, commodity traders will appreciate the fact that, alongside gold, silver, and oil, they can access aluminum, coffee, corn, nickel, and soybean CFDs (and more). xPartners’s indices are also very competitive, with about 15 available. The list includes the US indexes, alongside those of major European and Asian countries. Furthermore, this broker offers stocks from different markets across the world.

Spreads

While xPartners’s asset selection is one of their strongest features, the spreads aren’t. The average, industry-wide, is between 1 and 3 pips, but this broker’s spreads start from 3 pips. Some major pairs, such as the AUD.CAD and AUD.NZD, are at 20 pips. However, keep in mind that xPartners likely doesn’t charge any commissions, which may outweigh the large spread (depending on your trading style).

Minimum Deposit

To open an account, traders must fund their portfolio with $250 or more. After that, they can deposit a minimum of between $100 to $250 (based on their preferred method) per transaction.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The three options are bank transfer, credit or debit card, and Dotpay. Bank wires have a minimum of $250 in a single transfer, while each of the debit or credit card and Dotpay transactions must be $100 or more. There is no maximum, apart from a $10,000 cap on debit/credit cards. Perhaps most importantly, there are no fees on any transfers, both deposits, and withdrawals.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Traders can only withdraw money through a bank wire transfer. The same $250 minimum applies to outbound transfers.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, no information about transaction times is available on the website. This applies to both withdrawals and deposits. In most cases across the industry, debit and credit card transactions, as well as electronic payments, are transferred instantly or on the same day. Bank wires, on the other hand, may take between 1 to 3 days or more. However, interested traders should inquire about this by contacting the broker due to the lack of details online.

Bonuses & Promotions

xPartners has a ‘Tied Agent’ promotion that is available to traders in the EU. More specifically, the Tied Agent program is tailored towards investment advisors and firms that manage money on behalf of their clients. As a Tied Agent, your role is to refer potential account holders to xPartners and help them get registered. After that, Tied Agents would make trades and execute orders through this broker. The purpose of the promotion is to enable traders to offer the same competitive features and services that xPartners has.

In turn, a Tied Agent’s clients will access the fast order processing timeframes, different trading tools, and advanced charting features that both the broker and MT5 provide. Meanwhile, the Tied Agents, themselves, will receive support 24 hours a day and they may utilize the in-depth analytical content that xPartners’s experts prepare.

Educational & Trading Tools

Under each asset class page, xPartners’s website provides introductory guidelines about how these financial instruments are exchanged and the available tools that enable you to enjoy an efficient trading experience through this broker. Equally as important, xPartners offers tutorial webinars that cover essential aspects that traders need to master, regardless of their level of experience. The webinars go over psychological management, price analysis techniques, the best ways to read technical signals, and more. Traders who are interested in these webinars or would like to get additional information are encouraged by xPartners to contact customer service.

Customer Service

This broker’s team can be reached via phone calls, emails, and live chat.

Phone: +357 2505 5701 (general inquiries) and +357 25056498 (webinars and tutorials).
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

A demo account is essentially a portfolio with fake/paper money. It has access to the exact same forex pairs, financial instruments, trading conditions, and quotes that traders work within a live environment. The purpose of the demo is to allow you time to prepare yourself for trading actual funds. This can be done in one of two or three ways. First, any beginner who never participated in the markets should define their strategy and try different approaches to the demo. After that, they become well-prepared to exchange and risk their real money.

Second, many account holders, whether they are beginners or experienced ones, may have never traded certain instruments (such as CFDs) in the past. Again, the demo is there to help them learn about these markets and assets without the hassle of putting actual funds on the line. Third, some traders may not be familiar with MT5, especially if they are used to the platform’s older version, MetaTrader 4 (MT4). Because of this, you can open a demo directly through MT5 and familiarize yourself with its tools and order types before you actually start trading.

Countries Accepted

xPartners is registered with Cyprus’s regulatory authorities and they offer services to traders in other EU states. No geographical limitations are listed on the broker’s website. In fact, even the United States, which normally restricts trading CFDs and other financial assets, is listed as an option on the account registration form. However, if your country is not specifically mentioned on xPartners’s website, you should contact customer service and ensure that their services are available in your location.

Conclusion

First of all, the fact that xPartners utilizes the MT5 platform, in itself, makes this broker good enough to many traders. Even though the initial deposit must be made through a bank wire transfer, the $250 minimum is relatively small and allows many traders to easily access xPartners’ features. Apart from that, transfers (not including the first deposit), can be made through 1 of 3 methods. Perhaps more importantly, this broker doesn’t charge any fees, whether you transfer money in or out of your account. However, you can only withdraw funds through a wire transfer and no information is available about how long it takes to process transactions.

Account-holders may pick between over 60 forex pairs to trade, including both majors and exotics. Additionally, xPartners has a competitive selection of 25 commodities, 15 indices, and shares of companies that are exchanged in the American, Asian, and European markets. The trading conditions, though, are a two-sided sword. Firstly, this broker’s spreads start from 3 pips, which is undesirable and larger than the bid/ask gap that most of their competitors offer. Yet, some traders are willing to overlook that because, more likely than not, xPartners doesn’t charge any commissions.

The leverage is very small and the maximum buying power is only 30:1. Professional and experienced traders could request more leverage, up to 100:1, but this is a minimal number since many other brokerage firms will give you a maximum of 500:1. Nonetheless, trade sizes are relatively flexible on xPartners and account holders only get a notification at the margin call level. Most of the time, brokers may close some or all of your trades when it falls below the margin requirement.

xPartners offers diversely educated and trading tools, such as webinars that all types of traders can appreciate. The tutorials cove risk management, psychological discipline, and other in-depth aspects that will help you achieve a successful and profitable trading experience. Lastly, this broker’s Tied Agent promotion allows money managers to offer both MT5 and xPartners’s tools and features to their own clients. Additionally, Tied Agents make commission profits when they trade through their clients’ accounts.

Do the pros outweigh the cons? At the end of the day, that’s for you to decide.

If you are looking to trade without having to deal with solicitors or endless sales emails, AM Broker may be the right firm for you. While they have been in business for about 10 years, this brokerage company recently started to focus on catering to the modern trader’s needs. In other words, AM Broker prioritizes technology, innovation, and easy online tools that enable you to transfer money, place orders, and manage your account through only making a few clicks. In this article, we will cover all of the competitive and advantageous features that AM Broker has. This includes the different account types, various promotions, in-depth educational content, and more. Read this article to find out if AM Broker can suite your needs and whether or not it’s available in your country.

Account Types

AM Broker has 3 types of accounts. Traders also have the option of adding Islamic features to their account, regardless of which of the three types they choose. Users should keep in mind, though, that AM Broker will close their account if their account balance remains at $0 for a period of 30 days or longer. In other words, this broker is more suitable for active traders who consistently engage in buying or selling multiple contracts per day.

Retail:
Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 0.6 pips
Commission: None

Professional:
Minimum Deposit: $1,000
Spreads: From 0 pips
Commission: $7 per lot

Institutional:
Minimum Deposit: $100,000
Spreads: NA
Commission: NA

The spreads, commissions, and minimum deposits are outlined for the Retail and Professional Account. AM Broker’s Institutional Account, however, doesn’t have any rules or established trading conditions. Instead, they negotiate the leverage, margin call, assets, spreads, commissions, and other details on a one-on-one basis with traders. In many ways, brokerage firms do this so that they can customize their account holders’ portfolio features. For example, traders whose strategy revolves around utilizing buying power are mostly concerned about the spread (the difference between the bid/ask prices), especially because of the large amount of capital they exchange.

Those who rely on automated/high-frequency trading robots, on the other hand, prefer to avoid commissions. Just as importantly, the broker may want to assess the experience and risk-averseness of traders who apply for an Institutional Account. Giving a volatile or beginner a large amount of buying power can wipe out their entire balance if the market goes against them, especially when they already have the $100,000 or more needed to open an Institutional Account.

Platforms

MetaTrader 5 (MT5) is one of the most popular and sophisticated platforms in the world. It is utilized by day/swing traders and long-term investors, alike. Moreover, MT5 offers industry-leading fundamental and technical analysis tools. Users can access an economic calendar, aggregated live news feeds, and reports from global sources, alongside other fundamental instruments. As far as technical analysis is concerned, MT5 will let you monitor 100 different charts at once.

Traders can choose between 21 timeframes to view (such as 4H, 1H, 30M, …etc.) and 80 technical indicators to examine. Moreover, you can program your own trading algorithm that automatically buys/sells a forex pair if it meets your pre-established conditions. Perhaps most importantly, traders can access MT5 on their Windows desktops, Macbooks, iPhones, and/or Android smartphones. You manage your account (including opening or closing positions) on any device and from almost all parts of the world, regardless of your location.

Leverage

AM Broker’s leverage depends on the account type, the default currency, the size of the currently open positions, and the traded asset. For instance, an account holder whose current trades (including the leverage) is worth the equivalent $7.5 million or less can enjoy the maximum access to buying power (500:1). The 7 major forex pairs on AM Broker enjoy the largest amount of leverage. They are AUD.USD (Australian Dollar), EUR.USD, NZD.USD (New Zealand Dollar), and the USD against each of the British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Japanese Yen, and Swiss Franc.

If a trader’s currently open positions exceed $7.5 million (or the equivalent in euros), the leverage declines to 200:1. It goes down again at $10 million and $12.5 million to 1:50 and 1:10, respectively. Other instruments, namely the CFD contracts of stocks, indexes, and commodities have more restricted leverage because these assets’ prices tend to move much faster than forex pairs. Lastly, Retail and Professional account types both enjoy up to 500:1. Yet, the buying power of the Institutional may depend on the trader’s strategy and balance.

Trade Sizes

You can open positions that are as small as a micro lot (0.01 lots or 1,000 in the base currency). In fact, the volume on each of the three account types can be adjusted to include a minimum of either a micro lot or a mini lot (0.1 lots or 10,000 in the base currency). AM Broker’s standard lot is 100,000 of the base currency, which is in line with the larger industry’s trade sizes.

Moreover, even though AM Broker sets a maximum amount of lots per position, users of all three account types can buy/sell as many contracts as they like by breaking up each trade in smaller portions. For example, you want to trade 30 EUR.USD lots but the maximum is 10 per position. You can still open 3 different positions, with each of them being 10 lots in size, in order to exchange 30 lots.

Margin Call: NA
Stop-Out: 50% (Retail and Professional Account), undisclosed (Institutional Account)

AM Broker’s website doesn’t mention anything about margin calls. In certain cases, firms may only have a stop-out level and not include a margin call. Nevertheless, account holders’ margin requirements on AM Broker are directly related to the leverage (which varies across different currencies and other assets). You have the option of adjusting your leverage and buying power directly from the user dashboard.

If your account reaches 50% of the margin requirement, it hits the stop-out level. In those cases, AM Broker would close the largest losing trade(s) and bring back the balance to above 50% the margin requirement. Many traders prefer this approach to overseeing their entire positions closed out, which is what most brokers do at the stop-out level.

Trading Costs

There are three main fees that traders typically incur: Spreads, interest (on overnight positions), and commissions. Spreads (the difference between the bid and ask prices) are 0 pips if you open a Professional Account. Yet, this may only be the case when it comes to major forex pairs. The Retail Account, on the other hand, starts at a 0.6 pip spread. This varies from one currency to another, but the spreads are directly tied to the actual market quotes and are not fixed. A list of the live bid/ask rates can be observed on AM Broker’s website. As mentioned earlier, the spreads, commissions, and swap fees that the Institutional Account pays are negotiated with traders on an individual basis.

Those who open an Islamic Account don’t incur the swap fee when they keep a position open overnight. This is because certain religious beliefs prohibit engaging in interest-rate related activities. If you plan on utilizing the Islamic features, bear in mind that you may still incur a fixed, non-interest fee. Otherwise, the three account types require you to pay an interest overnight. The amount depends on the economic conditions and central banking policies of the currency that you are trading. Just as importantly, swaps are not charged over the weekend. Instead, these fees are tripled on Wednesdays to account for Saturday and Sunday’s swap costs.

The Retail Account doesn’t incur any commissions on trades. This applies to forex pairs, indices, and commodities. However, the Retail will charge you $0.01 per share when you trade a stock CFD contract. The Professional Account, on the other hand, has to pay $7 on every forex or commodity CFD lot that they trade (keep in mind that the standard lot size of different assets is not the same as forex pairs). Moreover, the Professional comes with a $3 fee per traded index contract. Only the Retail Account has access to stocks.

Assets

You can trade forex pairs, commodities, market indices, shares, and ETFs through AM Broker. For that matter, this firm provides you with almost 100 different currencies. In most cases, brokers will offer around 40 pairs or, if they’re more competitive, up to 80. To put it shortly, AM Broker’s 100-currency list is incredibly advantageous. Meanwhile, account holders can also buy/sell different types of commodities, including precious metals (gold and silver) and energies (Crude and Brent oil). The indices include each of the three major U.S indexes (the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq), as well as those of European markets (like the UK’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX 30).

Similarly, you can also trade ETFs that track market indices or commodities. Perhaps most noteworthy, AM Broker will give you access to the stocks of almost 300 different companies that are traded in markets from around the world. ETFs, shares, commodities, and indexes are exchanged as CFD contracts. All account types have access to these commodities and indices (alongside, of course, the available forex instruments). However, you may only trade shares or ETFs through a Retail Account. Professional, on the other hand, doesn’t entail these instruments. When it comes to Institutional, the accessible assets are not stated on AM Broker’s website. Just as with other features, the firm will negotiate this on a one-on-one basis with its clients.

Spreads

All traders must remember that different currencies and assets have their own spreads. Having said that, some brokerage firms may offer a fixed, non-changing spread while others have a variable one that is tied to the live market prices. AM Broker doesn’t charge the Professional Account any spreads, but Retail seems to have a floating rate that starts at 0.6 pips. However, the actual market prices may be higher and lower than that during volatile and stable conditions, respectively.

Minimum Deposit

Traders must fund their account with at least $100 for the Retail Account, $1,000 for Professional, and $100,000 for Institutional. Apart from that, AM Broker doesn’t specify a minimum or maximum size per deposit.

Deposit Methods & Costs

To access your deposit options, traders must go to their account dashboard after signing up. AM Broker’s website doesn’t include any information about transfer fees or methods, apart from the fact that they accept bank wires.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

No withdrawal methods or fees are mentioned, either. However, AM Broker seems to prefer that traders use the same method to withdraw money as they did to deposit it. While costs are unspecified, users who transfer funds in a different currency than their account’s default one will have their money converted at the current market prices. For example, a trader from Japan with a USD-based account will have their Japanese Yen converted to the US Dollar upon depositing and withdrawing their capital.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

AM Broker’s website doesn’t state how long it takes for withdrawals to go through. However, they do note that transfers may be held for up to 5 days when there are missing or unverified documents about the account holder.

Bonuses & Promotions

We found that AM Broker has some of the best bonuses and promotions on the market. First, if you’re not a frequent trader and regularly leave your funds inactive, AM Broker will re-invest that money on your behalf. In fact, they even guarantee that each trader gets a 12% annual return from these passive investments. Additionally, they will give you a 25% bonus when you first open an account.

When it comes to partnership opportunities, AM Broker has a variety of offerings that suit different types of traders. The notable ones include an introducing brokers promotion (where you earn money for referring other traders to the firm), employment as a local representative, and franchising opportunities. Last, but certainly not least, you can earn up to $2,200 (2,000 euros) per client through AM Broker’s affiliate marketing program.

Educational & Trading Tools

This broker will soon start offering online courses and video seminars. In the meantime, whether you have the Professional, Retail, or Institutional type, your portfolio comes with a Professional Account Manager that provides you with one-on-one training sessions. They also help traders understand how to use and take advantage of the different tools on the MT5 platform.

When it comes to their resources, AM Broker offers an economic calendar, technical analysis signals, research reports, and a blog. Moreover, they also have a competitive and advantageous robo-trading tool. To be specific, traders can create their own automated trading algorithms without learning how to code. Instead, the firm’s software will do that for you, while also providing account holders with room to test their formula and make adjustments.

Customer Service

AM Broker is headquartered in the UK, but they also have two physical locations in Kingstown, the capital of the Caribbean island country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Their email address and phone number are universal. Traders from all over the world can use them to contact customer support.

Phone: +44 2036704699
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Before putting their real money at risk, beginners and traders who are unfamiliar with MT5 can open a demo account. It gives them the time and space that they need for trial-and-error and testing out different techniques. While the demo’s initial capital is $10,000, traders can easily and instantaneously increase their account’s paper money online. Similarly, the demo is only valid for 30 days, but you can extend that period and use your paper account for a longer amount of time.

Countries Accepted

Strangely enough, even though AM Broker is headquartered in London, the firm’s services are not available to traders in the UK. In addition, those who live in Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Turkey, and the United States can’t open an account. Mainly, this is because of local restrictions on trading certain assets and registration requirements.

Conclusion

Certainly, the pros of AM Broker’s features far outweigh the cons. First, their three different account types all have competitive and lucrative tools. For a start, their spreads are incredibly low or nonexistent. While the brokerage industry’s spreads tend to range between 1 and 3 pips, AM Broker doesn’t charge these fees unless you have a Retail Account. Even if you do open one, its spreads start at a really low rate of 0.6 or, at times, even less than that.

Their bonuses and promotions aren’t only diverse, but they are highly lucrative and more generous than what the rest of the industry has to offer. After all, not many firms can compete with a 25% bonus upon opening an account.

Their assets and trading tools are also various, especially because AM Broker will let you trade up to 100 different forex pairs. However, their commissions and lack of clarity about deposits/withdrawals are the only downsides to going through this broker. If you plan on regularly transferring money in or out of the account, we recommend contacting customer service to inquire about transaction fees and processing times.

Apart from that, there are many other features that users from all over the world can appreciate. Yet, AM Broker is not available in several countries and areas, including the US, UK, and Europe. If you don’t live in these locations, though, this firm’s offering and features may be more than worth it.

Klimex offers plenty of advantageous features, including a wide variety of educational tools and lucrative bonuses. However, traders who follow certain styles might prefer to examine certain offerings in more detail. To find out if this broker is suitable for you, read this article and make a determination.

Account Types

This broker offers two account types. However, apart from the spreads, almost no other details are mentioned about the differences between the two types. In some cases, one of them may act as added-on features instead of a separate account altogether.

Standard:
Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 1.6 pips
Commission: Unspecified

Raw:
Minimum Deposit: NA
Spreads: From 0.4 pips
Commission: Unspecified

Platforms

You can trade through MetaTrader 4 (MT4) from any location and on any device (including MacBooks, Windows desktops, iPhones, and Android). The platform provides you with sophisticated graphing features, detailed charts, and tools to code your own automated trading algorithm. Users can download the phone app to enter/exit trades, manage the portfolio, and access the same features that are available on the desktop software. Lastly, Klimex’s account holders look at other people’s trades and copy the positions of their most profitable peers through the MyFXBook platform.

Leverage

The maximum leverage that Klimex gives account holders is 500:1. However, the more funds that you deposit, the lower your bower power becomes. Brokers do this to control risk. For example, a trader that has $100,000 in their account could access up to $50 million in capital with a 500:1. leverage. Losing just 3% of it would equal $1.5 million (or the account balance times 15). In many cases, people can’t afford to bring back a -$1.5 million portfolio to a positive balance and the broker incurs these costs. Therefore, many of them will limit your buying power when your account’s capital goes up.

Klimex will lower leverage to 400:1 after a trader’s balance reaches $10,000. Similarly, it goes down to 300:1 when the account size is $50,000. This is followed by another decrease to 200:1 in leverage if your balance is $100,000 or more. At times, it can even be as low as 1:1. In some cases, though, Klimex may increase your leverage. New users would fill out an application when they first open an account and existing clients can submit the same request. To access the initial leverage of 500:1, traders must fund their account with $500 or more in capital.

Trade Sizes

First, when the margin call level is reached, Klimex will send you a warning or notification through your account’s dashboard. After that, if the balance hits the 50% stop-out point, the broker will automatically start closing your positions, starting with the trade that incurred the biggest losses and up until your account has enough funds to satisfy the margin requirements.

Margin Call: 80%
Stop-Out: 50%

One unique thing about this approach is that, in general, brokerage firms may start liquidating losing positions at the margin call. At stop-out, meanwhile, all trades are closed, regardless of how much losses/profits were accumulated. What makes Klimex stand out is that they only liquidate what’s needed to bring your account back above the stop-out, as opposed to entirely closing every trade.

Trading Costs

Klimex’s website doesn’t mention anything about how much the commissions are and how swap/interest fees are charged on overnight fees. Their spreads, however, are minimal.

Assets

Alongside currencies, Klimex account holders can trade commodities and stock indexes. Altogether, the broker offers access to 36 forex pairs, 7 commodities, and 7 indices. The currencies include majors and exotics, with examples of the latter being the Chinese Yuan (CNH, offshore), Singapore Dollar (SGD), and Swedish Krona (SEK). Amongst the indices, only 2 of the major 3 (the Dow Jones and S&P 500) are included in Klimex’s list.

However, you can trade the USD Index (which tracks the value of the greenback), alongside the Australian (S&P/ASX 200), British (FTSE 100), German (DAX 30), and Japanese (Nikkei 225) market indices. The indexes are traded as CFD contracts, so is Crude Oil. Other commodities, however, are available on the forex exchanges. Gold and Silver contracts are traded against each of the US dollar (XAU.USD/XAG.USD) and the Australian Dollar (XAU.AUD/XAG.AUD). Platinum contracts are only tied to the USD, though.

Spreads

The most popular forex majors have a spread of between 0.4 to 0.6 pips. In certain cases, it can be as low as 0 pips, but some majors have a larger than 1-pip spread.

Minimum Deposit

To open an account, traders have to deposit $100 or more. However, to access leverage, their balance must be above $500.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Klimex accepts credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and digital payment methods. You can deposit funds via Visa, MasterCard, and wire/SWIFT transfers. Additionally, the broker serves China UnionPay users and works with banks all across China. The other two deposit methods are Neteller and Skrill. Most transfers take 1 to 2 days to process. Klimex’s website doesn’t mention anything about fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, nothing is said about withdrawals or related fees, either.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The broker’s website boasts its fast withdrawal of funds, but without going into any details. Clicking on the ‘Withdraw’ link only redirects one to the login page. As such, we assume that only existing clients are privy to withdrawal details.

Bonuses & Promotions

Klimex will give you a 10% bonus on your deposit, regardless of whether you are a new user or an existing account holder. To receive this bonus, traders must deposit a minimum of A$1,000 (Australian dollars) into their account (which qualifies them for a 10% trading credit of A$100). However, the maximum credit/bonus is A$20,000, which is applicable to A$200,000 balances. Initially, the bonus is added to your account as a trading credit only. After that, A$2 of that credit is converted to cash (which you can withdraw) for every traded lot as a rebate.

For example, a trader deposits A$10,000 and receives A$1,000 in credits, which they can put towards buying or selling forex pairs. The next day, the trader opened and closed a position with 10 lots. In turn, they receive A$20 (A$2 per lot) rebate in cash, which may be withdrawn from the account. The remaining A$980 credit can only be used for buying/selling activity, but each traded lot converts another A$2 into actual cash.

This promotion has plenty of positive sides to it. The most obvious one is that Klimex will pay the rebate immediately after the position or lot is closed. Traders don’t have to wait until it becomes available for withdrawal. Just as importantly, the A$2 per lot rebate offer doesn’t expire. You can take advantage of it right after you make the minimum deposit or, conversely, wait a few months or a year before doing so.

Similarly, the broker doesn’t set a required trade size that is tied to the bonus. In other words, whether they buy/sell 1 lot or 50, account holders still receive the same A$2 a lot rebate. Similarly, the cash may be withdrawn once it becomes available (when the trade is closed). You don’t have to wait for the position to settle and there is no holding period on the funds.

Apart from the bonus and rebates, Klimex has two other promotional programs for affiliates and partners. The Introducing Broker (IB) Rebate Program is for account holders who work for an investment firm or manage the FX portfolios of their clients. Through opening a company or client account on Klimex, an Introducing Broker receives a commission every time their referral or firm’s customers make a trade. The reward is paid in the form of a rebate.

Meanwhile, the Affiliates CPA Program is for any user that wants to market the broker’s services and incentivize friends or family to open an account. Affiliates are also paid a commission on each trade that their contact/referral makes. Klimex doesn’t specify the per trade commission or rebate that Introducing Brokers and Affiliates receive. Instead, the broker encourages those who are interested in their partnership programs to contact their consultants and discuss the offerings with them.

Educational & Trading Tools

Just as with most brokers, Klimex provides traders with an economic calendar, which highlights important events from around the world that have an impact on specific currencies’ prices and the larger forex market. However, this broker’s website only gives an overview of what the calendar entails and how traders can use it when they make decisions. This helps beginners understand the role and importance of economic calendars. Nonetheless, the tool itself is not displayed on Kilmex’s ‘Economic Calendar’ page. Most likely, existing account holders will be able to view it through their MT4 accounts.

In fact, alongside the calendar, the MetaTrader platform enables you to use several other tools, such as a variety of technical indicators, account history datasets, and automated trading robots. Meanwhile, the Multi-Account Manager Solution (MAM or PAMM) is especially beneficial for account holders that manage other people’s forex portfolio. In fact, when combined with the IB promotion, financial firms and advisors are well served by this broker. When it comes to retail and professional traders, most (if not all) of Klimex’s tools can be accessed on MT4.

Beginners, however, may not find them to be that resourceful, especially since Klimex doesn’t offer any educational material or content. Yet, the MT4 platform is still rich with tutorials, forex introductory programs, and other educational content. Novice traders who are interested in this broker should inquire about the type and scope of MT4 studying/learning courses that they can utilize after opening an account with Klimex.

Customer Service

The broker has an office in George Town, the capital city of Cayman Islands (located in the Caribbean Sea between Cuba and Nicaragua). They also have a physical presence in Sydney, Australia. However, Klimex’s website and social media accounts are unclear as to which of the two locations is their primary one or the headquarters. Either way, the broker has a universal email address that traders can contact them through, regardless of where they live. Their phone number, on the other hand, is Australian.

Phone: +61 2 8235 2788
Email: [email protected]

Another way to get in touch with Klimex is through completing the form on their ‘Contact Us’ website page. The customer service team is available 24 hours during weekdays, making it ideal for traders from across the world who live in different timezones. Additionally, support is available in English, Filipino, Mandarin, Spanish, and Thai.

Demo Account

You can test your strategy or learn how to use MT4’s different tools through the demo account. In turn, this allows you to familiarize yourself with the markets or MetaTrader (depending on your level of experience) before putting your real money at risk. Signing up for the demo is easy and the registration form is very simple and straightforward. After that, users can start trading with paper money under the same market conditions, quotes, and spreads as live account holders.

Countries Accepted

Despite that Klimex is only 400 miles south of Miami, Florida, traders in the United States cannot open an account with this broker. Similarly, the firm has an office in Australia and mainly uses the AUD as its main currency, but, strangely enough, traders in that country also can’t register an account with them. Residents of Afghanistan, Burma, Egypt, and North Korea can’t use this broker, either.

Conclusion

From its multiple promotional programs to the educational content and trading tools, Klimex truly encompasses different users’ needs. Having said that, we found the main downside about this broker is how unclear certain information is. if you make frequent transfers or prefer to retain large leverage alongside a sizable portfolio, you may want to contact customer support for inquiries about transfer fees, processing times, and buying power limitations.

Whether you are a new trader or have several years of experience, Prizm FX’s services and features are tailored to meet your needs. Based out of London, the United Kingdom, this broker gives you access to a verity of trading accounts, financial instruments, and lucrative promotions. These offerings are even more advantageous when combined with the sophisticated platform that Prizm FX’s account holders trade through. Just as importantly, while their leverage isn’t that high, you can enjoy a risk-free and technologically efficient trading experience. In this article, we go over all that you need to know about Prizm FX’s accounts, buying power, assets, transfer methods, and more.

Account Types

Prizm FX offers 4 different types of accounts. While the spreads are relatively large, account holders pay no commissions on trades (regardless of which type they choose).

Starter:
Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 2 pips
Commission: $0

Expert:
Minimum Deposit: $1,000
Spreads: From 2.2 pips
Commission: $0

Pro:
Minimum Deposit: $5,000
Spreads: From 2.1 pips
Commission: $0

Prime:
Minimum Deposit: $10,000
Spreads: From 2 pips
Commission: $0

Apart from the deposit requirements and spreads, the main difference between the account types is the leverage. Other than that, they all share the same trade sizes and each account can be managed through a single platform.

Platforms

MetaTrader 5 (MT5) is perhaps the most advanced and up-to-date platform in the forex industry. Prizm FX’s account holders can manage their portfolio through their Windows, MacBook, iPhone, or Android device. The Windows desktop and smartphone apps may be directly installed from the broker’s website. If you want to trade on a MacBook, you must first download certain software in order to install MT5. However, the software can be found in Apple’s online store and it doesn’t cost any money to download it.

On MT5, traders may integrate a wide range of technical indicators, view charts in different timeframes, and program their own automated trading algorithm. Equally as important, every currency pair and asset has its own live news feed, alongside an aggregated information stream that covers at-large economic and market-related topics. In short, MT5 is ideal whether you prefer the fundamentals or technicals.

Leverage

Starter and Expert have 200:1 and 150:1 in buying power, respectively. Pro and Prime, on the other hand, only have leverage of 100:1 each. To clarify, Prizm FX will lower your buying power when you have a larger account balance. This practice, however, is common and standard in the industry. Brokers prefer to limit the leverage that large accounts enjoy in order to minimize potentially hefty losses when the markets are volatile.

Trade Sizes

The smallest position that you can open on Prizm FX is a micro lot. To put that into perspective, the standard lot size is 100,000 units of the base currency. A micro lot is equal to 1,000 units or 0.01 the standard lot.

Margin Call: NA
Stop-Out: NA

This broker’s website doesn’t include information about their margin call and stop-out levels. Traders who plan on using a lot of leverage should inquire about this to ensure that the Prizm FX’s margin requirements are aligned with their strategy. To be specific, at the margin call level, brokers tend to have different rules. The most lenient ones will inform you that your balance reached the margin call, without taking any further action.

Others may close some of your losing trades to bring the account back above the margin-call level. The strictest firms will close all your trades at the margin-call to limit your losses. Each broker’s policy towards the stop-out depends on their margin-call approach. Some might close all of your trades and others only liquidate the biggest losers.

Trading Costs

We found that Prizm FX’s trading costs have their own positive and negative aspects. Needless to say, their $0 commissions (applicable to all account types) is a more than a desirable feature. However, their spreads, which start at 2 pips, are very large. The broker doesn’t mention anything about the availability of swap-free Islamic accounts. Either way, traders should keep in mind that almost any broker will charge them interest on positions that remain open overnight.

While Islamic account incurs no interest, they still have to pay a fixed fee on these trades. In most cases, swap costs are out of the broker’s control. Economic conditions and the interest rate of your traded currency are what determines the overnight fee. For Islamic accounts, interested traders should contact the broker to see if this option is available and learn what the fixed overnight fee is.

Assets

Prizm FX has a very competitive and encompassing selection of financial instruments. First, there are more than 60 forex pairs. Just as importantly, this broker will let you trade 15 market indexes and commodities (namely gold, silver, and oil). Most of the time, commodities and indices are exchanged as CFD contracts. However, gold and silver may be paired against the USD, just as currencies are. For example, gold’s symbol is XAU.USD. If you are a commodities trader, inquiring about these specifications would be a good idea. All of the assets and contract types are available on MT5.

Spreads

Even though Prizm FX has plenty of superior features, the spreads aren’t one of them. Amongst the brokerage industry, spreads range between 1 pip and 3 pips. Anything below 1 pip is considered competitive while spreads that are above 3 pips are well-above average. For all 5 account types, the difference between the bid and ask prices on Prizm FX is 2 pips or more. In turn, this gives the broker a disadvantage over its competitors.

Minimum Deposit

To open an account, you must deposit $100, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 for Starter, Expert, Pro, and Prime, respectively.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can fund your Prizm FX through a debit/credit card, bank wire transfer, Neteller, or Skrill. However, the broker’s website doesn’t list the costs associated with each deposit method. In most cases, firms don’t charge account holders for depositing money, but some of them still do.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Traders can also withdraw funds through a bank transfer, Neteller, Skrill, or Visa/MasterCard. Just as with deposits, transaction costs aren’t outlined on the broker’s website.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

No information about this can be found online. Since transfer fees and processing times are a delicate part of the trading experience, interested users should inquire about this and ensure that the transaction times and costs are convenient for them.

Bonuses & Promotions

You can become a Prizm FX partner by participating in one of their 3 promotional programs: Affiliate accounts, Introducing Brokers (IB), and White Label. Affiliate and IB promotions are similar because they allow traders to earn commissions when they refer someone to this broker. There are certain key differences, though. Affiliate programs target traders that have a large number of followers on social media or a strong professional network. Affiliates earn a commission revenue every time their referral opens/closes a position. IB is more for users who manage several accounts (usually for their clients).

By joining Prizm FX, an IB can open portfolios for each of their clients. Meanwhile, the broker will provide them with administrative support. In other words, an IB can act as an independent office/business partner that offers its clients the features, account types, tools, and financial instruments that are available through Prizm FX. After that, IBs earn commissions whenever trades are executed on their clients’ portfolios. Lastly, the White Label program is similar to IB. However, White Label mostly targets banks, medium-to-large institutions, and financial consultants.

Educational & Trading Tools

Prizm FX doesn’t have any tutorials, educational materials, economic calendars, or other trading tools on their website. Having said that, this broker prides itself on enabling traders, both beginners, and seasoned veterans, to work with market professionals for guidance and support. Additionally, account holders can still access the valuable variety of features on MT5. First, the platform has plenty of trading guides and manuals for beginners, alongside one-on-one mentorship from an experienced account manager or trader. Equally as important, you can utilize many technical indicators, access several accounts from one screen, and take advantage of other trading resources on MT5.

Customer Service

There are three ways to get in touch with Prizm FX’s customer support department: Via phone, by sending an email, or by filling out a contact form on the website. Traders who live in the United Kingdom may also visit the broker’s office location in London.

Phone: +1 (872) 981 765
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Before opening a real account and putting your money at risk, you may want to look into a demo. This is the case regardless of a trader’s experience or level of expertise. For example, many market participants are used to the still active and globally popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4). In fact, while MT4 is an older version of MT5, it still has its own unique and useful trading tools. Because of this, if you mostly relied on MT4 in the past, a demo account gives you an opportunity to familiarize yourself with MT5’s different order types, resources, and trading methods.

When it comes to beginners, a demo lets you try out different strategies and approaches by trading fake/paper money. After that, you will develop a proven methodology by the time that you start to trade your real funds. When opening a demo, there are a couple of things that traders should consider, especially because Prizm FX has limited information on the website.

First, choose a demo that doesn’t have a short timeframe. Many brokers will only keep paper accounts active for 30 to 60 days. Second, make sure that the quotes and conditions on the demo are the same as the ones on a live account. This is most likely the case when you open one through MT5.

Countries Accepted

Prizm FX doesn’t note any country restrictions. However, most brokers that offer CFD contracts don’t work with American traders because the US government heavily regulates these types of financial instruments. Similar restrictions may apply in Canada, Belgium, and France. Yet, this may not be the case when it comes to Prizm FX. As always, traders should consult with the customer support department to make sure that the services are available in their location or country, alongside any regulatory restrictions that may apply.

Conclusion

First and foremost, before opening an account, traders should ensure that the transfer methods and costs suit their needs, especially because these details are limited on Prizm FX’s website. For example, if you frequently transfer funds, then large transaction fees are far from ideal. Meanwhile, if you prefer liquidity, fast processing times should be your priority. Apart from that, this broker has different types of trading accounts and promotions. Above all else, each portfolio type and the promotional program is designed in a manner that allows traders to pick the choice that fits their goals and market methodologies.

Commissions are nonexistent, which is always a plus. However, Prizm FX’s spreads are far from ideal and certainly above the industry average. As far as education is concerned, you can work with experts in a one-on-one setting for help with managing your account or (if you are a beginner) navigating through the markets and defining a winning strategy. Moreover, MT5 has its own selection of trading tools and educational materials. Lastly, but certainly not least, customer support can be contacted through a variety of methods.

In short, Prizm FX’s pros are its expanded selection of assets, the utilization of MT5, zero commissions, and diverse account types. The negatives include wide spreads and relatively low leverage. Apart from that, not a lot of information about margin calls, the stop-out level, and transfer methods is included on the website. Because of this, interested traders should contact the broker and inquire about these features, especially to determine whether or not they are aligned with your strategy and preferences.

In business since 2006, Mubasher Financial Services (Mubasher or MFS in short) is a Middle East-based broker (headquartered in Bahrain) that offers thousands of financial instruments. The firm doesn’t just have a highly expanded list of forex pairs, but they also enable account holders to directly trade the stocks of companies that are listed in over 25 countries’ exchanges, alongside other assets.

Above all else, Mubasher’s standard account gives you access to all of these financial instruments. Equally as important, the firm offers its own trading platforms while allowing traders to also use more popular ones. Mubasher has investment portfolios and services, where their financial experts manage the funds of clients. The different types of portfolios cater to each investor’s preferences, ranging from aggressive and risky strategies to a more preserved approach to the market.

However, most of these offerings are tailored towards those who are looking for long-term growth. When it comes to intraday and swing trading, Mubasher’s diverse and various tools will certainly suit all types of retail market participants. How? Read this Mubasher review and find out.

Account Types

While investors can choose between different portfolios, each with its own features and projected returns, traders only have a standard account type. Nonetheless, it still gives you access to forex pairs and other assets that are exchanged all over the world, ranging from the US stock market to those in the Middle East. You can also choose one of six options as the account’s default currency, including the US Dollar, UAE Dirham, and Saudi Riyal.

Minimum Deposit: NA
Spreads: From 1.8 pips
Commission: NA

The minimum deposits, spreads, and commissions for forex pairs, specifically, aren’t outlined in much detail on Mubasher’s website. However, they do have this information when it comes to stocks and indices.

Platforms

This broker directly offers two platforms, as opposed to utilizing third parties like MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). They do, however, also offer MT4 to account holders. The MubasherTrade Pro platform allows you to trade all types of instruments from a single trading desk. Their portal is user-friendly and immediately gives you access to markets from all around the world. The platform also equips traders with in-depth analytical tools, including charting features, volume monitors, calculators, detailed datasets, and others.

The second platform that this broker offers is MTrade Plus, which is available on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari browsers. Its main features include live news alerts, research reports, and a wide array of technical indicators, starting with 11 different moving averages. Just like the broker’s website, MTrade Plus is available in both Arabic and English. MT4, meanwhile, is arguably the most popular trading platform in the world.

Mubasher offers access to it for free (although this is usually the case, regardless of which broker you choose). The MT4 platform has its own custom features and trading tools, which match the two that the broker provides. MT4 is known for its fast order execution timeframes, dedicated customer support teams, and reliable research reports.

Leverage

No information about the broker’s leverage or buying power is on the website.

Trade Sizes

Mubasher offers the standard lot sizes, which are 100,000 of the base currency per single lot.

Margin Call: No information
Stop-Out: No information

Trading Costs

Similarly, Mubasher lists the commissions related to trading different financial instruments, but forex fees aren’t mentioned. However, since this broker is a Sharia-compliant firm, their accounts retain Islamic features. More specifically, they charge no interest/swaps on overnight trades, but there may be a fixed fee (which is typically the case with Islamic accounts). Mubasher calculates the rollover swap fee daily at 3 pm EST. Trades that are kept open at that time will be considered overnight positions and incur the related fee.

Assets

Mubasher’s website notes that they offer almost 2,500 different asset symbols. Remarkably, over 130 forex pairs are amongst them. This, by far, is a much larger selection than what other firms will offer and only a few brokers in the industry can match it. All major currencies are paired against each other. Uniquely enough, you can trade pairs that include two exotic currencies, and not just those that are tied against a major one. For example, account holders have access to DKK.HUF (Danish Krone vs. Hungarian Forint), NOK.SEK (Norwegian Krone vs. Swedish Krona), PLN.CZK (Polish Zloty vs. Czech Koruna), and others.

There are also additional exotic currencies that Mubasher offers, amongst them, are the Thai Baht (THB), the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD), and the Romanian Leu (RON). In short, this broker’s forex selection is more inclusive and expanded that most of its competitors. However, traders should keep in mind that exotic currencies are more volatile than majors, especially in a pair that includes two of them. Most exotics also have a large spread that can be 50 pips or higher.

You can also trade stocks in markets from all over the world. These include Middle Eastern ones (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, Egypt, and others), European companies (such as those exchanged in Germany and the UK), and East Asian corporations (traded in the markets of Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and more). You may also trade US stocks that are listed in the NYSE and Nasdaq.

Mubasher will give account holders access to options, ETFs, and others. In comparison to other forex brokers, this firm, by far, has the most expansive asset selection. Even brokers that have commodities, futures, and indices will only offer them as CFD contracts, instead of enabling traders to directly participate in the exchanges of different financial instruments. Furthermore, stock brokerage firms are restricted to a few countries, while Mubasher lets you trade equities of global companies through their standard account.

Spreads

The bid/ask gap starts from 1.8 pips. Several currencies enjoy this spread, including the AUS.USD, EUR.USD, GBP.USD, NZD.USD, and others. This gap between the bid and ask prices is about average. In most cases, brokers will have a spread that is between 1 and 3 pips.

Minimum Deposit

Even though the exact amount isn’t specified, Mubasher requires you to firstly make a minimum deposit and, from there, maintain a balance that is above a certain level.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Whether an account holder uses MubasherTrade Pro or MTrade Plus, they can initiate deposits through their user dashboards. They would specify the transferred amount and the source. The only deposit method available on Mubasher is a bank transfer. However, traders that want to fund their account through sending a check should first contact the broker. The website makes no mention of what the deposit costs are. Typically, brokerage firms don’t charge traders when they fund their account.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals are also initiated online and must be sent to your bank account. No other methods are available. This broker also doesn’t specify if they have any fees on outbound transfers.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

No information about this is included on the website, either. Most of the time, though, bank transactions (both deposits and withdrawals) can take 1 to 3 days and, at times, 5. The latter is only the case when the bank or broker needs additional information or details. Keep in mind that Mubasher is based in the Middle East and they serve traders from all corners of the world. Because of this, certain regional or local restrictions on transfer times may apply, depending on where you’re sending money to or from. However, the firm’s international presence means that they are likely to be experienced in swiftly handling potential problems or delays and their team will be familiar with different countries’ transaction requirements.

Bonuses & Promotions

Mubasher partners with ADS Securities (ADSS) and gives their clients access to a cashback promotion. For each lot than an ADSS account holder trades, they receive a $3 reward. After the cash starts adding up, traders can redeem it for a smartphone, Bluetooth speaker, or a power bank. This promotion, according to the website, expired in September 2018. Interested traders should inquire if it is still ongoing.

Educational & Trading Tools

The broker’s platforms (MubasherTrade Pro and MTrade Plus) are rich with charting features, live newsfeeds, technical indicators, and many more offerings. Moreover, the same can easily be said about MT4, which is highly popular for a reason. When it comes to Mubasher’s website, they offer four categories of research services that traders can utilize during live market sessions. First, the Real-Time Advisory (RTA) feature sends account holders recommendations to buy specific assets or forex pairs, alongside the target price, stop-loss placement, and instant notifications when the trade reaches one of these levels.

Second, Mubasher has more than 15 technical signals that alert traders when it is time to open or close a position. Third, through the MubasherTrade Pro platform, you can filter and construct a custom set of tools, including news alerts, technical signals, relevant research reports, and RTAs that revolve around your current trades or forex pairs that are on your watch list. Fourth, this broker’s researchers and analysts provide account holders with fundamental reports that cover important and market-moving developments. These research reports are updated and published throughout the day, covering news stories and fundamental events from all across the globe.

Customer Service

Customer service operates based on the local time in Bahrain, which is 3 and 7 hours ahead of the GMT and EST timezones, respectively. Support is available from Sunday to Thursday, which are weekdays in Bahrain and the greater region.

Phone: +97 317 300 849 and +97 317 556 139
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Initially, the broker will give you $100,000 in paper (fake) money to practice with before putting actual funds on the line. It seems, however, that the demo is only available on the MT4 platform. This is important because, alongside beginners who want to test different strategies on a fake account, professional traders should also get comfortable with a new platform through the demo.

If you are used to MT5 instead of MT4, as an example, the demos allow you to learn about the latter platform’s tools and features. However, because MubasherTrade Pro and MTrade Plus are exclusively offered by this broker, new account holders are likely to have never used it before. Crucially, they should make sure that a demo is available to help them learn how to use the platform before risking their real money.

Countries Accepted

Since Mubasher gives you access to financial instruments that are traded in many markets across the world, there are barely any country limitations on utilizing their services. In fact, they are even available to US-based traders. Many brokerage firms that offer CFDs and similar contracts are restricted in the American markets. Mubasher, meanwhile, lets you directly participate in different assets’ exchanges, such as by trading commodity futures or options instead of CFDs. In turn, this minimizes regulatory restrictions and enables the firm to work with traders from around the globe. However, Mubasher still gives account holders access to CFD contracts, which is another plus in itself.

Conclusion

At first glance, this broker’s bonus (only offered to ADSS clients) might make Mubasher look like an exclusive firm, even more so when we compare the various investment portfolios to the firm’s single retail trading account. In reality, though, Mubasher is one of the most inclusive and resourceful firms in the brokerage industry. Through its only account type, you can trade over 130 forex pairs and hundreds of stocks that are exchanged in global markets. They only accept wire transfers for both deposits and withdrawals.

However, considering the firm’s international presence, they are more than capable of working with financial institutions from around the world and their team understands the transaction processes of banks in different countries. Having said that, Mubasher’s trading conditions are somewhat mixed. Because they offer thousands of financial instruments, the broker doesn’t give forex pairs as much attention as they should receive.

To clarify, no information about commissions and other forex-related aspects are made available on the website. Yet, because Mubasher is an Islamic broker, most of their overnight swap fees are fixed and not tied to interest rates. Meanwhile, the spreads on forex pairs start from 1.8 pips, which is about average when we compare this broker to other firms.

Other pros to opening an account with Mubasher include access to over 2,500 assets that you can trade. Futures and CFDs are amongst the options. Similarly, there are 4 incredibly valuable trading tools that are at account holders’ disposal. Alongside trade recommendations, you can customize different aspects that shape your trading experiences, such as technical indicators, news alerts, and notifications regarding the latest research reports. Perhaps most importantly, Mubasher will give you access to 3 different platforms, which is unheard of. In fact, this broker even has its own 2 platforms: MubasherTrade Pro and MTrade Plus. Each of them has advantageous, customizable, and unique offerings.

Moreover, you can also install and trade through the globally reputable MT4 platform, which is famous for its accurate pricing and fast execution of buy/sell orders. However, because the former 2 platforms are exclusive to this broker, you should make sure that the demo is available through them. After all, any trader should get comfortable with a new platform before putting their money on the line. Customer support is available in two different languages, including Arabic and English, making Mubasher an even more inclusive and widely reliable broker.

As a newly founded firm, JDC Markets has been offering unique services that focus on combining technology with individualized support to each trader and account holder. Since 2016, this broker has worked with retail traders, beginners, and long-term investors from around the world. Above all else, opening an account with JDC Markets is easy, especially because of their small minimum deposit that almost any trader can make.

From there, account holders can access a wide selection of forex pairs and other financial instruments. Moreover, JDC Markets’ spreads, trading fees, and platform will also impress most traders. The question is, do these positive aspects make up for the firm’s downsides, such as the limited leverage and narrow transfer methods? Read this article to find an answer to this question and more.

Account Types

JDC Markets only offers one account type. By making a relatively small initial deposit, traders can start exchanging forex pairs and other instruments that this broker makes available. It is important to note that JDC Markets doesn’t have a swap-free Islamic account.

Minimum Deposit: $100
Spreads: From 0.2 pips (2 points)
Commission: None

The obvious positive aspect of using this broker is that they have a very low and competitive spread. This is even more advantageous when we consider that JDC Markets doesn’t charge account holders any commissions on trades. Additionally, your default currency can either be the USD or the Euro.

Platforms

MetaTrader 5 (MT5) is a state-of-the-art and sophisticated platform that forex traders from all around the world utilize. There are several features that make MT5 especially desirable. First, the platform’s tools and displays are incredibly easy to use. Second, their prices and order executions are both accurate and instant. Third, you can integrate many technical indicators and analyze several chart timeframes on the platform. Lastly, but certainly not least, all types of financial instruments are available on MT5. Above all else, you can download the platform on any device (including smartphones) or directly trade through your browser.

Leverage

Unfortunately, JDC Markets has a relatively restricted buying power. Major currency pairs have up to 30:1 in leverage, while exotics only come with a 20:1 buying power, which is the same for major market indexes (such as the US’s Dow Jones) and precious metals (gold and silver). Similarly, because of their more volatile and risky nature, other assets have an even lower buying power. If you trade commodities (other than gold and silver) or the indices of non-major countries’ markets, your leverage is only 10:1. Stocks’ only have 5:1 in buying power.

Trade Sizes

JDC Markets’s lot size is 100,000 units of the base currency, which is the standard measurement across the brokerage industry. The smallest position size that this broker will allow you to open is 0.01 lots, which is a micro lot or 1,000 units of the base currency. While the minimum trade size is in line with what the rest of the industry has to offer, JDC Markets will let you have up to 30 lots (3,000,000 in the base currency). This maximum trade size is a bit larger than most competitors will allow.

Margin Call: 70%
Stop-Out: 50%

This broker’s margin call policy is to close some or all of your trades in order to bring your balance above the 70% requirement. In most cases, brokers will first close your biggest losing trades until your funds surpass the 70% margin level. However, at the stop-out point, the firm immediately closes all positions in order to prevent you from incurring more losses or potentially having a negative account balance. As always, using margin to trade is very risky and account holders must be cautious when they utilize their buying power.

Trading Costs

Account-holders only have to pay the spread (the difference between the bid and ask prices). Other than that, JDC Markets will not charge you any commissions when you open or close a position. Through any broker, however, traders must pay a swap charge when a trade is kept open overnight. Because this interest expense is based on the economic conditions and central bank policies of the currency’s home country, swaps are out of brokerage firms’ control. Some of them may offer a swap-free Islamic account, which would incur a fixed expense that doesn’t fluctuate based on interest rates.

However, this is not an option through JDC Markets. Keep mind, nonetheless, that the swaps could be positive, such as when you short-sell a currency pair. In those instances, account holders earn money, rather than pay a fee, on overnight positions. For example, as of the time of writing this review, short GBP.NZD trades will allow you to earn revenues while long GBP.CHF positions also come with a positive interest rate. These figures, however, are subject to rapid changes, especially if a central bank changes its interest rate policy or unexpected events disrupt the markets.

Assets

More than 60 forex pairs are available through JDC Markets. The list includes both major ones and exotics. The most prominent examples of the latter are the Chinese Yuan (CNH), Czech Koruna (CZK), Mexican Peso (MXN), Norwegian Krone (NOK), Swedish Krona (SEK), and South African Rand (ZAR). Precious metals are also exchanged against the USD, with gold and silver’s symbols being XAU.USD and XAG.USD, respectively. Additionally, you can also trade oil and natural gas as CFDs or futures contracts.

Spreads

Undoubtedly, JDC Markets’s tight spreads are amongst the firm’s leading features. When it comes to brokerage firms, in general, the average difference between the bid and ask prices will range from 1 pip (at its lowest) to 3 pips. Anything above the latter is considered too high in comparison to the rest of the industry. As far as JDC Markets is concerned, their spreads start from a fraction of a pip, or a point. EUR.USD has a 2 point spread, which is equal to two-tenths (0.2) of a pip. Similarly, the difference between the bid and ask quotes for EUR.GBP is only 0.4 pips or 4 points. Even some exotic forex pairs have a very tight spread, including the USD.SGD (Singapore Dollar), which is at 0.7 pips (7 points).

Yet, despite the incredibly advantageous and tight spread on forex pairs, there are two things that traders must always keep in mind. First, the bid/ask variation is almost always going to be larger when you trade commodities or indices. Second, and maybe even more importantly, this broker has a floating/variable spread. In other words, it is subject to change based on the market’s conditions. Under normal circumstances, the spread is small, but it can get significantly wider when prices are volatile and during economic downturns.

Minimum Deposit

With an initial deposit of only $100, this broker is almost accessible to any type of traders, even those that don’t have tens or hundreds or thousands in trading capital. When it comes to transfers, the JDC Markets doesn’t specify a minimum requirement per transaction.

Deposit Methods & Costs

It doesn’t cost any money to fund your account, whether its the initial deposit or any subsequent transfers. However, JDC Markets will only accept bank wires and electronic payments (namely Skrill). MasterCard, VISA, and other methods are not available through this broker. However, their website does note that they plan on introducing more ways to transfer money in and out of your account. They encourage traders to regularly check for updates and announcements regarding this.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use the same methods (Skrill and bank wire transfers) to withdraw money. The transfer fees, though, are not outlined on the broker’s website.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Outbound transfer processing times are not specified on the website, either. However, in most cases, transactions through ePayments, like Skrill, are instant. Bank wires, on the other hand, may take a few days to go through.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no bonuses or promotions that are currently offered by JDC Markets.

Educational & Trading Tools

This broker has a forex glossary and FAQ section that is designed for beginner traders. In fact, the FAQ page benefits any person who is interested in opening an account with JDC Markets. It includes information about the documents needed to get started, deposit methods, and more. However, the FAQs also go over basic trading concepts, such as what a pip is, how leverage can be used, the different types of contracts, and more.

Similarly, if you are new to the markets, this broker has an alphabetically categorized glossary of key forex and trading terminology. You can use it to educate yourself and as a reference while conducting research or reading news stories. As a matter of fact, JDC Markets’s website even includes a section where they post news stories and market updates. However, the page is somewhat inactive and their latest article was posted in March of 2019, which is almost a year ago.

Nonetheless, whether you are a beginner or an expert, MT5 has valuable and rich resources that are unmatched. You can certainly utilize them even if JDC Markets’s educational content and trading tools don’t satisfy what you’re looking for.

Customer Service

JDC Markets is headquartered in Cyprus, an EU member state that is located in the Mediterranean Sea. You can mail them or visit their office by finding their address on the broker’s website. Otherwise, customer support can be reached via phone, email, or an online contact form. If you prefer to communicate with them through email, keep in mind that each department (such as customer support, new accounts, payments, …etc.) has its own email address. The list can also be found online.

Phone: +357-25-260900
Email: [email protected] (customer support) and [email protected] (to open an account).

Demo Account

A demo can benefit you in two ways: You can either practice new trading techniques or learn about MT5’s different tools. In most cases, traders open a demo account so that they can trade fake/paper money before they put their real funds on the line. Anyone who is new to MT5 or the markets, in general, can test and develop their approach through a demo account with a peace of mind. Just as importantly, demos retain the same live prices and market conditions that you would be exposed to when you open a real account.

Countries Accepted

This broker doesn’t work with traders in certain countries, namely the United States, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and potentially others. As always, traders should always ensure that JDC Markets is available in their own country before opening an account. Moreover, check your local regulations or laws regarding trading CFDs and other financial instruments.

Conclusion

In short, the main pros of going through JDC Markets are as follows: A wide range of available forex pairs/financial instruments, an incredibly low spread (starting from fractions of a pip), nonexistent commissions, free deposits, an easy-to-open account, an easy-to-use platform, and a practical glossary/FAQ section that can be utilized during live market sessions.

Meanwhile, the main downsides are as follows: A very small leverage, limited transfer options, the lack of trading tools, and country restrictions. Having said all that, this broker is continuing to expand and improve its offerings. For a start, they plan on introducing new payment methods, making their inclusive forex and asset selection even more accessible and lucrative. Support is also reliable and can be contacted through a variety of methods. Even if the firm’s educational content doesn’t suffice, you can still get plenty of advice and consultations from both JDC Markets’s team and MT5’s experienced specialists. Moreover, opening an account and meeting the minimum deposit requirement is certainly doable.

Do the nonexistent commissions and incredibly tight spreads make this broker worthwhile, especially in light of their very constraining buying power? That depends on the type of trader that you are. Will having only two transfer options (bank wires and Skrill) cause liquidity problems? Your transaction frequency will determine that.
Is opening an account with JDC Markets worth it? That, too, should be based on your preferences and methodology. Nonetheless, this JDC Markets review certainly helps you answer these questions and many more.

CK Markets is a forex broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and boasts that they have over 1,500,000 clients in over 196 different countries. Some other statements that they make are that they are globally renowned, focused on the client, transparent and fair and easy and convenient. In this review, we will be looking at the service being offered to see if they really do live up to these claims.

Account Types

CK Markets have 2 different live account types to choose from. We will be taking a little look at what the requirements and features of these accounts are.

Standard Account: The standard account is the basic level account from CK Markets, it has an entry requirement of $100 and this gets you maximum leverage up to 1:500. The account must be in USD and use the MetaTrader 4 platform. There is no additional commission added to this account and spreads start from 1.3 pips. The margin call is at 40% and the stop out level is set at 20%. Plenty of assets available that we will look at later and there is a maximum lot size of 50 lots and a minimum of 0.01 lots. You may only have 200 trades open at once.

ECN Account: The ECN account has a higher entry fee with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000, the base currency remains as USD and MT4 is the only trading platform available. leverage remains at 1:500 but now there is an added commission of $6 per lot traded and due to the commission the spread has reduced down to 0.2 pips as a starting level. Margin call has moved up to 80% and the stop out level has now moved to 50%. Minimum trade size remains at 0.01 lots but the maximum trade size has now increased to 100 lots and the maximum number of open trades is now 500.

Swap-free accounts are available but only for the standard account type, these accounts do not have swap charges for holding trades overnight and are instead charged an administration fee.

Platforms

As mentioned, there is only one trading platform available with CK MArkets and that is MetaTrader 4. The platform is provided in a variety of formats, including applications for mobile devices. Experience no 3rd party bridges while utilizing all sorts of trading strategies including scalping. Gain access to free EAs (Expert Advisors), as well as free Virtual Private Server (VPS) access2 using your MT4 account.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available with CK Markets is 1:500, this is true for both account types. When opening up an account the client can select what leverage they would like, once an account is open the leverage can be changed by contacting the support team, there much be no trades open at the time of making such a request. Note the possibility of leverage reduction, as outlined below.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for both accounts start at 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lots, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. For the standard account, the maximum trade size is 50 lots and for the ECN account the maximum trade size is 100 lots, it should be noted that we usually do not recommend making trades larger than 50 lots as the bigger the trade the harder it is for liquidity providers and the market to execute the trades quickly without any slippage.

The standard account can have a maximum of 200 trades open at one time while the ECN account can have up to 500 trades open at one time.

Trading Costs

The standard account does not have any added costs apart from the spreads that we will look at later in this review. The ECN account has a commission of $6 per lot traded which seems to be about the industry-standard a the time of writing.

There are also swap charges which can be both positive or negative and are for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed directly within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. You can also have swap-free accounts should you not be able to accept interest, if you have this sort of account, then an administration fee is added to the account instead.

Assets

The assets and instruments are divided into 6 different categories, the first being forex currency pairs, there are 59 in total and range from the majors, minors and exotic pairs. Pairs such as EUR/USD, NOK/SEK and USD/JPY are available to trade. The second category ar ethe metals, there are 5 in total including the usual Gold and Silver but then there are also others such as Palladium and Platinum.

Next, are the energies, 3 instruments in total which are Natural Gas spot, Crude Oil (Brent) and Crude Oil (WTI). There are then 11 different indices available to trade including the AUS 200, GER 30 and UK 100. Stocks are also present and there are 64 in total with eh likes of Apple, Google Inc, and Netflix, inc making appearances. The final category is the cryptocurrencies, there are 18 in total which is great to see as crypto trading is quickly becoming a major trading asset for both new and experienced traders.

Spreads

The overall spread quality that you get is based on the account type that you have, the ECN account will have spreads starting at 0.02 pips due to the added commission.

The standard account which is where spreads are mainly seen states that spreads start from 1.3 pips, however, when looking at the actual spreads, they seem to start closer to 2 pips. The spreads are variable which means that they move with the markets and when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often become much larger. It is also important to note that not all spreads are equal and different instruments will naturally have higher spreads as the EUR/USD pair will always have a different spread to the AUD/NZD pair.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit needed to open ana account is $100, this will get you the standard account, for the ECN account, you will require a minimum deposit of $1,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a huge amount of choice when it comes to depositing methods with CK Markets, the usual suspects are present with bank transfers, Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro cards, both debit and credit are also available. In terms of e-wallets, there is only Neteller as an option. There are also a few local banking options for clients in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and China.

The good news is that whichever method you chose, there are no added fees by CK Markets, however, be sure to check with your own processor to see if they add their own transaction fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The exact same methods are available as withdrawal methods to the ones for depositing. The majority of methods state that they have no added commissions or fees, however, the Visa, MasterCard and Maestro sections simply state USD under the commissions/fees section so we are unsure of what that means as it could have just been a typo. As with deposits, be sure to check with your own processor just in case they add a fee of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The following statement is on the site “All Back office transfers are processed during standard business hours, i.e. 09:00-17:00 GMT +8, Mon-Fri.” however there is no additional information. Once a withdrawal has been processed, Neteller withdrawals should arrive within 30 minutes, bank transfers should take between 3 to 5 working days and car withdrawals should take between 1 and 5 working days to arrive in your account.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a promotion section of the site, however, there aren’t any promotions when it comes to things like deposit bonuses and things like that, instead of one states about having no fees for deposits and withdrawals and the other is regarding the opportunity to get a free VPS. Having mentioned the free VPS, there isn’t actually any information on the promotion page on how to actually get one.

Educational & Trading Tools

There isn’t anything on the website in regards to education or any tools to help you trade better which is a shame as a lot of brokers these days are looking to add value by helping their clients become better traders. This FX broker does, however, offer free VPS service to all of their clients.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get in contact with CK MArkets for whatever reason there are a few different ways of doing it, you can use the online web form to fill in your query and then you can expect to get a reply via email. There is also an email address to email them directly and finally, there is also a phone number should you wish to talk to someone directly. There is no mention as to the support team are online which is strange but we expect that they will be open during the days and most likely closed during the times that the markets are also closed over the weekend.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available with CK MArkets however there is little information regarding them in terms of how long they last or what the trading conditions with them. On the accounts page, it states that they are available but there is not a clear way of opening one.

Countries Accepted

The following message is displayed at the bottom of the CK Markets website: “Restricted Regions: CK Markets Ltd does not provide services to residents of the USA, Canada, Sudan, Syria, North Korea.”. If you are unsure if you are eligible for an account or not, be sure to get in contact with the customer support team.

Conclusion

There are plenty of trade possibilities to choose from when trading with CK Markets and the fact that they state that they have over 1,500,000 clients is impressive if true. The trading conditions are not anything special but they are also by no means the worst we have ever seen, the added benefit of the number of assets including cryptocurrencies along with the limited by free deposit and withdrawal methods can make CK MArkets an enticing choice. We will leave it up to you to decide if they are the right FX broker to trade with.

GTForex is an international foreign exchange broker based in Kingstown. Offering fast deposits and withdrawals, 24/5 support, excellent trading conditions, their company values are commitment, integrity, empowerment, innovation and trust & reliability, pretty much what every other broker also says. In this review, we will be looking at the services being offered by GTForex so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

GTForex offers 4 different trading accounts, however, the information surrounding them is a little limited, here is what we know.

Mini Account: The entry-level account needing just $10 to start, its trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and tick sizes are 0.0001, it has 24/5 customer support and uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Standard Account: Needing a minimum deposit of $1,000 the standard account comes with trade sizes starting from 0.01 lots and tick sizes are 0.00001, it has 24/5 customer support and uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Classic Account: Increasing the minimum deposit further, the account needs a deposit of at least $100,000, it comes with trade sizes starting from 0.1 lots and tick sizes are 0.00001, it has 24/5 customer support and uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Professional Account: The top-level account requires a deposit of $1,000,000, a little out of most of our ranges, this account gets you trade sizes starting from 1 lot and tick sizes are 0.00001, it has 24/5 customer support and uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Platforms

Just the one platform available from GTForex which is the ever-popular MetaTrader 4 platform, let’s see what it offers.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more.

Leverage

Information on leverage is strangely not available so we cannot comment on leverage at this time.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes depend on the account that you have, if you have a Mini or Standard account then the trade sizes start at 0.01 lots (known as a micro lot) and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. If you have a Classic account then the trades start at 0.1 lots (mini lot) and go up in increments of 0.1 lots. Finally, if you use the Professional account then the trade sizes start at 1 lot and go p in increments of 1 lot.

No information around biggest trade size, however, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The trading costs are not actually known, they are not listed on the website and so we can not comment on this section.

Assets

Tradable assets is another bit of information that is not present on the website, this is quite important info as potential clients will be looking to see which tradable assets there are before signing up.

Spreads

Just like the trading costs, this information is not available so we do not know what the spreads start at, we would assume that the higher the account the lower the spreads but we cannot confirm that at this point in time.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to have an account is $10, this gets you the mini account. If you wanted a different account then you will need a minimum deposit of at least $1,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

It seems that the only method of depositing is through Nigerian local banks, so the broker is mainly aimed towards that demographic, details on fees are not present but will most likely be the transfer fee of the bank.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like depositing it seems that the only way to withdraw is through Nigerian local transfers, details on fees are not present but will most likely be the transfer fee of the bank.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The website states that it can take up to 5 business days for withdrawals to be processed, once they are processed they will be available within a couple of hours.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not appear that there are any active promotions at the time of writing, if you are interested in promotions then we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a page detailing some events that you can go to in order to learn some of the basics, information on where they are is strangely not there. There is also a page about education, but very little information on how to actually get the education, a little confusing and disappointing.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get in contact with GTForex with your questions or concerns there are a number of different ways to do it. You can use their phone number to speak to someone directly, you can also use a number of different emails for info or support and there is also a skype username if you prefer using that platform. Finally, there is the usual online submissions form where you can fill in your query and expect a reply via email.

The support team is open 24/5 and is closed at the same time as the markets over the weekend and bank holidays.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available to use, you can fill in the form to get up and running, information on the demo accounts is scarce, there is no information surrounding what the trading conditions are like or how long they last for, in fact, when you select to open a demo account it takes you to a website called 4xcube, so GTForex may not have demo accounts of their own and instead use another brokers demo accounts.

Countries Accepted

The information about which countries are accepted and which are not is not present on the website, so if you are interested in joining, be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to check if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

There is far too much important information missing for us to be able to recommend GTForex as a broker to sue, vital information such as trading conditions and financial information is required to build confidence and trust, this is not there so, for now, we have to keep this short and say stay clear.

Exante is an international investment services company established in 2011 that offers global multi-asset financial services, including direct access to a wide range of financial markets in the US, European Union, and Asia-Pacific. Exante is licensed by two European authorities (MFSA and CySEC) to provide financial services to retail and corporate clients, including trading and investment. Their main values are to provide innovation, transparency, security, and quality. This review is intended to look at the services being offered to see if they live up to these values and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

Exante is keeping things easy with just one account type for everyone. The account comes with a number of features such as cross-margin (using previous assets to leverage new ones), flexible terms in regards to 50% off commissions when trading larger volumes, a dedicated manager, transparent conditions, customization as you can request new instrument to trade and 24/7 customer support. A lot of the trading conditions are not mentioned on this page but we will look into them as we go through this review.

Platforms

Exante uses its own made trading platform rather than using someone else’s, here is what it offers.

The Exante platform makes use of the latest trends in the world of technology. It is perfect for traders, brokers, asset managers, and analysts. The Exante trading platform provides instant access to all financial markets and instruments available from a single multi-currency account. This means that any of the 150,000+ assets are only a couple of clicks away from you. The platform works on every device: trade on the web, from a desktop application on Windows, MacOS or Linux, or right from your iOS or Android smartphone.

Leverage

We could not find any information regarding account leverage and so, unfortunately, can not comment on it at this point in time.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are based on volume and price rather than lot sizes, so in order to trade a micro lot (0.01 lots), you will instead need to trade the value of 1,000. There does not seem to be a limit to how much you can trade at once, there does not seem to be a minimum or maximum as we tested with 0.1 cents and also with 1,000,000 and all went through ok on the demo account.

Trading Costs

There is mention of commissions, however on the assets page they talk about commissions in relation to spreads, so it may be that there is a spread-based system rather than an added commission. We cannot say for sure though, there are added commissions on different commodities and funds such as Gold having a commission of 3 USD.

Swap charges are present, these are interest charges that are incurred for holding trades overnight, they can be both negative or positive and can usually be viewed from within the trading platform of choice.

Update: Having tested the demo account, there seems to be a commission added to all trades, when trading 100 EUR there is a fee of 0.25 EUR added to the trade.

Assets

Plenty of assets and instruments are available from Exante, they also state that if you want a new asset added, to contact them and they will add it within 24 hours.

Currencies: Over 50 different currencies currently on offer, these include things like AUDUSD, EURJPY, USDCHF, and EURGBP.

Metals: Metals are also available with the likes of Copper, Gold, Silver, Palladium, and Platinum all being available to trade with Exante.

Futures: There are over 30 different futures to trade including the Chicago Board of Trade, Osaka Exchange, Hong Kong Exchange and Eurex Exchange.

Options: Instruments like the Australian Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, and the New York Mercantile Exchange are available to trade.

Funds and Bonds: Funds and Bonds are also there to be traded, places like the European Government, US Corporates and Euronext Bonds are all available to trade.

Spreads

Spreads are kept pretty low, they are seen to be starting from 0.3 pips, the spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 0.3 pips, other assets like USDCHF may start slightly higher, in this case, 0.6 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is 10,000 EUR which can be done in a number of different currencies (see below). This is quite high for an initial deposit and could price out newer traders or lower volume traders.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Deposits an only be done via Bank Wire Transfer, they can be done in GBP, USD, JPY, EUR, CHF, RUB, SEK, CAD, HDK, MXN, PLN, CNY, NOK, SGD or AUD. There does not appear to be a deposit fee added by Exante, but be sure to check with your bank to see if they add a fee of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals can also only be done via Bank Wire Transfer, withdrawals can use the same currencies of GBP, USD, JPY, EUR, CHF, RUB, SEK, CAD, HDK, MXN, PLN, CNY, NOK, SGD or AUD. There is a fee of 30 EUR, GBP or USD added to each withdrawal, also be sure to check with your bank to understand if they add any fees of their own on top of the Exante fee.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Exante aims to process withdrawal requests within one day of receipt of the request., You should then receive your funds within 3 to 5 business days depending on your banks’ processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

We could not locate any information on the website in regards to bonuses or promotions so it does not appear that there are any active ones at the time of writing this review. If you are interested in bonuses then be sure to check back regularly or get in contact with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming bonuses or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t appear to be any education or additional trading tools available. Many brokers these days are looking into helping their clients become better traders through education and other tools so it would be nice to see Exante go a similar route.

Customer Service

The support team is available 24/7 which is great. There are quite a few ways to get in contact with the Exante customer service team, you can request a call back using the online form. There is also an email address if you wish to communicate that way, finally, there are a number of different phone numbers that you can use to get in touch, these are available from London, Amsterdam, Moscow, Saint Pietersburg, Kyiv, Almaty, Riga, Malta, Cyprus, Sofia, and Hong Kong, so wherever you are from you should be able to find someone to help.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, it can be accessed by clicking the demo account button and this will bring you to the WebTrader where you can test things out. The demo account has a value of 1,000,000 EUR, the other features of the demo account are unknown and we are not sure how long the demo accounts last, refreshing the page keeps all trades and history but we can not say how long it will last.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the Exante website: “XNT LTD. does not provide services for citizens of certain regions, such as The United States of America.” If you are interested in an account but are unsure of your eligibility we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

Exante is a little different from your usual trading platform, they offer their services in a slightly different way moving away from the conventional lot system. Due to this, it can be a little confusing understanding of how things work but they actually function in much the same way. We could not work out if there was any leverage and the initial deposit is quite high potentially pricing out newer traders. Bank Wire Transfer is the only transfer method and there is, unfortunately, a hefty withdrawal fee. Exante seems to be aiming towards the more experienced traders, so if you are new, it may be better to look elsewhere.

GCI Online Trading is a foreign exchange and CFD broker which was founded in 2002. They have won a number of awards including Best Forex Broker Europe 2015, Best Forex Customer Service Europe 2015 and many more. With awards being won the expectations are set high for the service being offered, so this review will be looking into the services to see if they live up to the expectations and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

The two account types on offer are based around the two trading platforms that are available, let’s take a look at what they are.

ActTrader Account: The account requires a minimum deposit of $500, its trade sizes are slightly reduced at 10,000 units per lot. It has currencies, equity indices, crude oil and metals available to trade, offers a robust multi-account management capability and uses ActTrader as its trading software.

MetaTrader Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500 to open, its lot sizes return to the normal 100,000 units per lot, the has currencies, equity indices, crude oil, metals and shares available to trade. It can have a choice of ECN or more traditional execution methods, uses the MetaTrader software and there is no dealing desk instant execution for currencies, there are also no requotes or delays.

Platforms

As mentioned there are two different trading platforms on offer so lets ee what then features of both are.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more.

ActTrader: Trading on the most sophisticated and secure Forex software with GCI, and benefit from:

• Currencies, Gold, Crude Oil, Indices, and more
• 1 to 2 pip spreads in major currencies
• Unlimited charts and technical indicators
• 4% interest paid on your account balance
• Instant fills. No requotes or delays

Leverage

There is flexible leverage on offer up to 1:400, flexible leverage means it can be changed at any time as long as there are no open trades a the time of the request. The initial leverage can be selected when opening up an account.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lote, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is unknown however whatever it is we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage. There is also no note of the maximum number of open trades allowed.

Trading Costs

There are no additional commissions on any of the accounts that GCI Online Trading offer, all costs are built into the spreads. There are, however, spread charges, and 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

GCI Online Trading has broken their assets down into 4 different categories which are forex, commodities, indices, and stocks, we will outline a few examples from each.

Forex: Plenty of forex pairs to chose from, these include the likes of EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF, NZDUSD, USDZAR, USDMXN, CADJPY, USDINR, EURNZD, EURTRY and, JPYINR.

Commodities: A number of different instruments are available including Crude Oil (WTI), Gold (Spot), Silver (Spot), Copper (Futures) and, Brent Crude Oil.

Indicies: A few to choose from when it comes to Indices including S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, FTSE 100, SPI 200 and, DAX 30.

Stocks: A whole host of stocks to choose from, there are North American shares, European shares and Asia-Pacific shares such as Amazon, Apply, Barclays, Tesco, Nintendo and, Sony.

Spreads

Spreads start from 1 pip, the spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 1 pip, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher, in this case, 4 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount needed to open up an account is $500, this will get you any of the accounts of your choice. Once an account is open the minimum deposit disappears for any subsequent top-up deposits and any amount is ok.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available for depositing along with their respective currencies and fees.

• Bank Wire Transfer – EUR, USD – Banks Own Fees
• Credit / Debit Card (Visa / MasterCard) – EUR, USD – No Fee
• Skrill – USD, EUR – No Fee
• Neteller – SUD, EUR – No Fee
• Perfect Money – EUR, USD, Gold – Perfect Money’s Own Commission

GCI is not adding any fees of their own, but be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they have any fees of their own, especially when using Bank Wire Transfer or Perfect Money.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification, these are Bank Wire Transfer, Visa Credit / Debit, Mastercard Credit ./ Debit, Skrill, Neteller, and Perfect Money. There is no notice about any fees or lack of, so it is unknown if there are any added by GCI, whether there are or not, be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The time it takes for processing is not clearly indicated on the website, would it would be within 48 hours though, at any rate, once the request is processed, depending on the method used it could take an additional 1 – 5 working days for your bank or processor to fully process the withdrawal and make the funds available.

Bonuses & Promotions

We could not locate any information on the website in regards to bonuses or promotions so it does not appear that there are any active ones at the time of writing this review. If you are interested in bonuses then be sure to check back regularly or get in contact with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming bonuses or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different educational pieces available on the website, these include a section called Forex Education which goes over a number of different topics, giving brief outlines on how things work and how different tasks can be performed. There is also a currency converter should you wish to change once currency into another, live forex quotes to see where the markets are at any point in time, daily forex news outlining news event sand any potential effects they may have, an economic calendar detailing upcoming news and the effect it will have and, finally, trading signals, however, these have not been updated since 2018 so they are not the most accurate anymore.

Customer Service

If you need to get in contact with GCI you can do so in a number of different ways, there is a phone number to call and speak to someone directly, there are also a number of different email addresses available for different departments including general, introducing brokers, technical support, trading/dealing, account funding administration, and payment administration. There are also different email addresses established for the language you want to use such as English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Finally, there is also a live chat to speak to someone that way.

The customer service team is open 24/5 and is closed over the weekends and bank holidays just like the markets are.

Demo Account

You can sign up to a demo account, the demo accounts come with a choice of MetaTrader 4 or ActTrader as its trading platform, leverage up to 1:500 and access to all available trading instruments. The main bit of information missing is in regard to how long the accountants, some brokers now put an expiration timer on the account to save server space but it is unknown if there is one here.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website: “GCI Financial LTD does not offer its services if you are a citizen or resident of any of the following countries: Afghanistan, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, North Korea, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria or the United States of America. This list is not exhaustive and we may in our sole discretion decide to discontinue or restrict our services in other countries at any time and without prior notice.”

If you are unsure then you should get in contact with the customer service team to find out if you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

GCI Online Trading offers some very competitive trading conditions, their spreads are very competitive for being non-commission based accounts, there are also plenty of assets to trade so you should always be kept busy. In regards to deposit and withdrawal methods, there are plenty of options available with no added fees for either depositing or withdrawing. All of these things make GCI seem like a tempting broker to pursue, but ultimately, the decision is up to you.