Categories
Forex Market

The Basics of Spread & Slippage

Spread

Did you know that each time you place a trade, you pay a fee to the broker for providing the opportunity & platform to trade? Spreads act as a fee on zero-commission accounts (STP accounts). A spread is simply the price difference between the purchase price and selling price of an asset. The broker always shows two quotes of currency – one at which they sell the underlying asset to you and another at which they buy the underlying asset from you. The spread between these two prices makes the broker’s revenue from the foreign exchange transactions they perform for their clients.

Bid-Ask spread

There are two types of forex rates, the Bid and the Ask.

The price you pay to buy the forex pair is called Ask. It is always slightly higher than the market price.

The price at which you sell the forex pair is called Bid. It is always slightly lower than the market price.

The price that you see on the chart is always a Bid price. The ‘Ask’ price is always higher than the ‘Bid’ price by a few pips. Spread is essentially the difference between these two rates.

Spread = Ask – Bid

For example, when you see EUR/USD rates quoted as 1.1290/1.1291, you buy the pair at the highest Ask price of 1.1291 and sell it lower Bid price of 1.1290. This particular quote shows a spread of 1 pip.

Types of spreads

The kinds of spread depend on the rules of the broker. Spreads can either be fixed or floating.

Fixed spreads remain fixed no matter what the market conditions are at any given point of time. The advantage of this type of spread is that the broker will not be able to widen the spreads during volatility.

Floating, also known as variable spreads, are continually changing. They widen or tighten depending on the supply and demand of currencies and market volatility.

Slippage

Slippage is a phenomenon in the forex market where currency prices change while an order is being placed, thus causing traders to enter or exit trades at prices higher or lower than they desire. Slippage happens because of the imbalance of buyers, sellers, and trade volumes. It also occurs when the market is less active with lower liquidity.

For instance, a trader wants to buy a currency pair at $1.0015 (Current Market Price) with a broker of his choice. Once he submits the buy order, the best-offered price suddenly changes to $1.0020. It is considered as a negative slippage of 5 pips. In the same example, if the best-offered buy price suddenly changes to $1.0005, it is regarded as a positive slippage of 10 pips.

How to avoid slippage?

Slippage cannot be entirely avoided if you trade using market orders, but it can be reduced. One way a trader can minimize slippage is to ensure that their broker has many liquidity providers. Another way is to avoid trading during periods of high volatility as prices move faster and at wider intervals. To check volatility, traders can make use of technical indicators such as Bollinger bands or Average True Range.

The only way to entirely avoid slippage is by using strategies that employ limit orders on entries and exits.

Categories
Forex Basic Strategies

Heard Of The Amazing ’20 Pips Per Day’ Strategy?

Introduction

Forex is the most liquid and volatile market in the world. The average pip movement in the major currency pairs is around 100 pips. However, as a retail trader, it is not impractical to grab 100 pips every single day. Though there are some strategies out there, it is very challenging to make 100 pips per day every day. But, there is 20 pips strategy, 30 pips strategy as well as 50 pips strategy, which is much reliable than the 100 pips strategy. So, in this lesson, we shall be discussing the 20 pips strategy.


The 20 Pips Strategy


The strategy is very simple and straightforward. According to this strategy, when the price breaks above a range in a logical area, you must go long, and when it breaks below a range in a logical area, you must go short. So, this strategy is basically a breakout strategy. However, it’s not as straightforward as it sounds. There are some criteria one must consider before trading this strategy.

❁ Considerations

Currency Pair

You can trade this strategy on any currency pair. However, it is recommended to focus mainly on major and minor currency pairs.

 Session

Though the market is open 24 hours, it does not mean you can apply this strategy any time during the day. To keep it safe, it is advised to trade only during the times when there is high liquidity. That is, the London – New York overlap would be the best time to apply this strategy. Else, the London session or the New York session will work perfectly fine as well. And it is great if you do not trade it during the Asian session, as markets don’t usually break out during this period.

 Timeframe

Timeframe plays an important role when it comes to trading a strategy of this type. To make 20 pips a day, it is ideal to stay between the 1hour timeframe and the 15-minute timeframe.

Indicators

This strategy does not require any technical indicators.

How to trade the 20 pips strategy

Below is a step by step process to trade this strategy.

  1. Open the candlestick chart of any currency pair, preferably, a major or minor currency pair.
  2. Firstly, go to the 1-hour timeframe in the chart and see if the market is in a logical area to buy or sell (Ex: Support and resistance).
  3. If yes, then wait for the price to break above or below the consolidation area.
  4. Check the strength of the breakout on the lower timeframe (15 minutes). Based on the strength, prepare to hit the buy or sell.

 Trading the 20 pips strategy on the live charts

• Buy example

Below is the chart of AUDUSD on the 1-hour timeframe. We can see that the market has been bouncing off from the purple line. So, this becomes a logical area to buy. At present, the market is holding at the purple support line. And it was in a tiny range for like ten candles. Now, to apply the strategy, we need the market to break above this range.

In the below image, we can see that the market breaks above the range with a big green candle. But, before hitting the buy, we must switch to the lower timeframe and see if the momentum of the candle that broke the range was strong or not.

In the below 15 min chart, we can clearly see that the broke above the range in just two green candles. This is an indication that the buyers have come up strong. Hence, now we can prepare to go long.

Coming to the take profit and stop loss, the take profit would, of course, be 20 pips, and the stop loss can be kept a few pips below the support area. Alternatively, you can even go for a 1:1 RR by keeping a stop loss of pips.

 

• Sell example

Note that this strategy can be applied when the market is in a trending state as well. Below is the chart of EUR/USD on the 1-hour timeframe, and we can see that the market is in a downtrend. The market keeps making lower lows and lower highs. At present, it can be seen that the market is pulling back, and a green candle has appeared. Now, all we need is the price to break below the pullback to give us a heads up that the downtrend is still active.

In the below chart, we can see that, in the very next candle, the market broke below the pullback area. Hence, we can prepare to go short after getting confirmation of the strength from the lower timeframe.

In the below 15-minute timeframe chart, we can see that the momentum of the candle was sufficiently robust during the breakout. Hence, we can consider shorting in now.

As far as the take profit and stop loss are concerned, it remains the same as the previous example. That is, 20 pips take profit with 20 pips stop loss.

Bottom line

A great feature to consider about this strategy is that it can be used in any state of the market. However, all the criteria mentioned above must be met for the strategy to work. If you’re a beginner in trading, then this could be an ideal strategy to get started with. And if you have experience in trading, you can try enhancing the strategy by applying some indicators and patterns.

Note that this strategy, just like other strategies, does not provide 100% accuracy. There are times when this strategy fails, as well. Hence, it is recommended to use this strategy in conjunction with other strategies to have a better winning probability. Happy Trading!

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

Daily FX Brief, October 30– Major Trade Setups – Monetary Policy Decisions Ahead! 

The U.S. Dollar Index kept trading within a tight range on Tuesday, closing down 0.1% to 97.69, as investors await the Fed’s interest rates decision.

The euro gained 0.1% to $1.1112, while the British pound was flat at $1.2866. The U.K. Parliament finally supported Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan for an early election, which would be held on December 12.

USD/JPY fell 0.1% to 108.88.

Meanwhile, USD/CAD advanced 0.3% to 1.3092 amid weakness in oil prices. On the other hand, the Bank of Canada is expected to keep its benchmark rate at 1.75% unchanged later today.

Economic Events to Watch Today

Let’s took at these fundamentals.


GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD currency pair consolidates in the narrow range near the 1.2865 despite the United Kingdom parliament approving the extension for the December snap elections. As of writing, the GBP/USD currency pair s currently trading at 1.2863 and has spent a large part of the last 12 hours chipping away at the resistance of the bull flag on the 4-hour chart.

As we all well aware that the market is cautious not only because of key events but the shortage of fresh hints, so in the consequences, the GBP/USD pair is stuck in the tight range during the Asian trading hours.

During the Tuesday, the United Kingdom parliament approved the law for the first December snap eclection since 1932. The bill will likely become law on the weekend.

On the other hand, the breakout could remain difficult or fail mainly if the Federal Reserve delivers the rate cut by the 25 basis-points and give a hint to pause rate cut series, pushing the U.S. Treasury yields and the greenback higher across the board. It should also b noted that the market has already priced in the 25-basis-points easing.

Apart from the Federal Reserve decision, the GBP/USD currency pair could take hints from the U.S. Q3 preliminary GDP and the monthly ADP jobs data.

On the technical side, while 1.3000 and the fresh high near 1.3015 could keep the pair’s near-term upside limited, a bearish break of 1.2800 could take rest on the 21-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) level of 1.2715 ahead of revisiting September high surrounding 1.2580.



Daily Support and Resistance

S3 1.2661

S2 1.276

S1 1.2813

Pivot Point 1.2859

R1 1.2911

R2 1.2958

R3 1.3056

GBP/USD– Trading Tips

The GBP/USD is still trading the same range, mostly trading bullish above 1.2830 range. On Wednesday, the GBP/USD proceeds to trade bullish above 1.2830 major trading levels. 

On the 4-hour chart, the pair has formed Doji patterns, which is weighing on the bullish trend, but the MACD and RSI are proposing bullish preference. Consider taking buying positions over 1.2859 and bearish under the same level ahead of FOMC and Fed rate decision.

 


USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY closed at 108.974 after placing a high of 109.037 and a low of 108.657. The overall movement for the pair remained Bullish that day. At 4:50 GMT, the Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) from the Bank of Japan was released and remained the same for the year at 0.5%. 

At 17:30 GMT, the International Goods Trade Balance of the United States for September came in as -70.4B against the expectations of -73.5B and supported the U.S. Dollar on Monday. The negative Prelim Wholesale Inventories from the United States for September also supported the U.S. Dollar. It showed a decline to -0.3% from the previous month’s 0.2%.

The robust macroeconomic data from the U.S. at the starting day of the week gave strength to the U.S. Dollar and increased the prices of USD/JPY in Financial Markets.

On Monday, USD/JPY was rallied to 109 after the Positive comments from Trump about the US-China trade deal and increased U.S. Yields. Trump told the reporters on Monday that he was expecting to sign a significant portion of the Phase-one deal ahead of schedule. Although he did not mention the time for signing the part of the deal, the hint of pre-schedule deal signing itself created a big fluctuation in the market.

The overall optimistic mentality from China & U.S. gave hopes to a possible end of the prevailing Trade-war between them. U.S. & China were expected to sign the phase-one deal at the upcoming APEC Summit in Chile, but Trump announced that a portion of that deal would be signed before the Summit.

This state of affairs raised the appetite for riskier assets in the market, and USD/JPY gained traction in this regard and created a Bullish trend for itself after moving in a consolidated range for almost 2-3 previous days. The incoming positive trade headlines increased the U.S. Yields and hence created more demand for USD/JPY.

  


Daily Support and Resistance

S3 108.13

S2 108.52

S1 108.75

Pivot Point 108.9

R1 109.13

R2 109.28

R3 109.66

 USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY surged to test the resistance area of 109.030, but the bullish momentum wasn’t strong enough to retain a bullish trend for a more extended period. The USD/JPY has dropped below the 109.036 area to retest the bullish trendline support at 108.800. Above this, we can expect USD/JPY to continue trading bullish today. 

So let’s keep an eye on 108.800 today to stay bullish above and bearish below the same level to capture quick 30 pips. The USD/JPY may gain support around 108.550 today. 


EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

The EUR/USD currency pair consolidates in the narrow range near the 1.1109. The pair were fell from the recent highs near the 1.1180 during the previous session; probably, the pair will hit the high level again if the German inflation crosses the forecast figures, and the Federal Reserve delivers a dovish rate cut at the coming meeting.

On the technical side, the currency pair had created a bullish hammer candlestick during yesterday, making a strong follow-through to Mondays bullish inside day candlestick.

The consecutive bullish candles indicate the recovery from 1.1180 has likely ended up creating a bullish higher low near 1.1073. 

Whereas, the preliminary German consumer price index for October is still unchanged at 0% and fell moderately to 1.1% from 1.2% in annualized terms. 

The EUR/USD currency pair will likely get hints from the German job data, which is scheduled to release at 08:55 GMT. On the other hand, the preliminary U.S. Q3 GDP and the monthly ADP employment figures could leave a slight impact on the EUR pairs before the Federal Reserve rate decision.

The Federal Reserve is expected to deliver the 3rd rate cut by the 25 basis-points during 2019 on Wednesday and gives the hint of pause easing further. Moreover, the hawkish rate cut could be capping the upside in EUR/USD currency pair.

According to the forecast, the market has already priced in the rate cut. So, the EUR/USD currency pair could increase mainly if the Federal Reserve keeps the doors open for delivering another rate cut before the year’s end.

    


Daily Support and Resistance

S3 1.1011

S2 1.1056

S1 1.1084

Pivot Point 1.1101

R1 1.1129

R2 1.1147

R3 1.1192

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

The EUR/USD jumped off the support point of 1.1065 yesterday. A bullish trendline extended the support level, which is still keeping the EUR/USD upbeat. The pair rose to the retest 1.1100 area. Today, consider staying bullish above 1.1101 until the FOMC and Fed rate decision comes out.

All the best!

 

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Orbex Review

Orbex webpage itself is easy to navigate, with a handy FAQ page with a search feature, enabling clients or prospective clients, to efficiently pinpoint information. Orbex is regulated under CySec, FCA, and other regulatory agencies as shown in the photo below.

Account Types

Orbex offers 3 types of trading accounts to choose from Universal Mini, Universal/ECN Standard, and Universal/ECN Advanced. Islamic accounts are also available. However, when you click on another link within the ‘account types’ link, you are then advised that there are in fact 4 account types: Fixed, Started, Premium and Ultimate. This is incredibly confusing. Perhaps there was a change in account types, but it is not clear which ones are actually currently available, especially when the FAQ page mentions all 7, and the live chat is not often responsive.

Platforms

Orbex offers MetaTrader 4 which is always a positive attribute, and most clients are satisfied with this. Desktop and mobile versions are all available.

Leverage

Due to regulation and ESMA policies, the leverage caps are as follows, excluding ‘professional trader clients’ who can make use of up to 1:500 leverage:

  • 30:1 for major currency pairs
  • 20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold and major indices
  • 10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices
  • 5:1 for individual equities and other reference values; (e.g.: Shares CFDs)

Trade Sizes

With Orbex, the minimum trade size allowed is 0.01 lots and the maximum being 50 lots.

Trading Costs

Commission fees are only applied to two accounts; Premium ($8) and Ultimate ($5), both amounts round turn. For swaps, you can calculate them with a tool found on their website.

Assets

Orbex offers Forex, Energies, Precious Metals, and Cash Indices. A full list of all assets available is found on the website, which is handy as this saves opening a demo first.

Spreads

The spreads vary between floating and fixed, and depend upon the account that you choose.

  • Fixed – fixed spreads
  • Starter – variable spreads
  • Premium – spreads start from 0 pip
  • Ultimate – spreads start from 0 pip

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit requirements with Orbex are as follows:

  • Fixed $500
  • Starter $200
  • Premium $5,000
  • Ultimate $25,000

Deposit Methods & Costs

The website sets out all deposit methods you may use to fund your account, and there is a fair variety: Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, Web Money, Wire transfer, Fasapay, K-net, and Sofortüberweisung. No fees are charged by Orbex.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawal methods with Orbex are the same as deposits, and you can only withdraw your funds via the same way you deposited (Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, Web Money, Wire transfer, Fasapay, K-net, and Sofortüberweisung). No fees are applied however for bank wire transfers, your bank may apply a fee, so be sure to check with your provider before requesting a withdrawal.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It is very useful to note that Orbex has a table on the website clearly setting out all deposit and withdrawal methods, fees and timescales. For withdrawals, the timescales to process are as follows:

  • Moneybookers: up to 24 hours
  • Credit/Debit Card: 3-5 business days
  • Neteller: up to 24 hours
  • Web Money: up to 24 hours
  • Wire transfer: 3-5 business days
  • Fasapay: up to 24 hours
  • K-net: ‘n/a’ so assumably instant
  • Sofortüberweisung: up to 24 hours

Bonuses & Promotions

Orbex does not currently offer any deposit bonus schemes or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

Orbex does offer a very wide variety of trading tips, tools, and analysis which can be found directly on the website, which could assist you in your everyday trading.

Customer Service

You may reach out to Orbex customer service via email, live chat, and telephone on a 24/5 basis (GMT + 3).

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available for those who wish to backtest Orbex services prior to trading with them live.

Countries Accepted

One must note that due to CySEC regulation, Orbex does not offer services to residents of certain jurisdictions such as the USA, Cuba, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea.

Conclusion

Although this broker was a little confusing to understand the account types at first, the customer support was overall friendly and helpful to explain and clarify any queries we had. The minimum deposit requirements may not be ideal for beginner traders, but for the more experienced, we think this broker offers a fair variety of instruments to trade, a good amount of deposit/withdrawal methods, and fair trading conditions.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

HYCM Review

HYCM is very well established and has been providing its services including trading services for around 40 years. This broker is fully regulated under more than one body including the FCA and CySEC. They have certainly made sure to stay ahead of the game by offering MT4 and MT5 as well as a strong variety of tradable instruments.

Account Types

HYCM offers 3 account types: Fixed (fixed spreads from 1.8 pips), Classic (variable spreads from 1.2 pips) and the Raw account (raw spreads from 0.2 pips). Only the Raw account is charged commission fees of $4 per lot, per trade, per side. Islamic account versions are also available for all 3 account types.

HYCM account questionnaire.

Platforms

HYCM offers both MT4 and MT5 so clients can choose to trade on whichever they prefer. YOu may choose the web bases version or the mobile (iOS/Android) as you please.

Leverage

As mentioned, this broker is heavily regulated, and a possible downside to this, is that leverage caps are not particularly generous, in comparison to brokers that do not have to succumb to such policies as a result of being regulated. The maximum leverage allowed is 1:30. This does not allow clients to stretch profits very far especially when depositing small, and trading small volume.

  • Forex 1:30
  • Stocks 1:5
  • Indices 1:20
  • Commodities 1:20

Trade Sizes

Minimum trade sizes are the same for all 3 account types, which is 0.01 lot. This allows some freedom for traders, and especially perhaps beginner traders who may be apprehensive about having to place large trade sizes.

Trading Costs

The only account that charges trade commission fees is the Raw account, which has the lowest spreads, but the costs overall for the client are then balanced out by the fact that although spreads are minimal compared to the other two accounts who do not pay commissions, the Raw account clients must pay $4 per lot, per trade, per side. Although having said that, we consider this fee to be average in comparison to alternative brokers.

Swap fees vary in percentages depending on the account type you choose and which individual pair you are trading, so do bear this in mind. A full list is available on the website.

Assets

With HYCM you may trade Forex, Stocks, Commodities, and Indices. This is a strong variety, but it is a shame cryptocurrencies are not available since the crypto space is becoming more and more popular. A full list of available assets is, of course, available on the website.

Spreads

As we mentioned earlier, spreads vary from which account type you choose:

  • Fixed (fixed spreads from 1.8 pips)
  • Classic (variable spreads from 1.2 pips)
  • Raw (raw spreads from 0.2 pips)

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit for the Fixed and Classic account is both $100 while the Raw account requires a minimum of $200. This is not extortionate, and most traders would consider this initial deposit requirement rather reasonable, especially given the fair spreads and 0 commission fees for the Fixes and Classic accounts.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You may deposit into your HYCM account without being charged any processing fees. You may choose to use: Card, Bank Wire, Neteller or Skrill.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawal methods are the same as the funding methods (Card, Bank Wire, Neteller or Skrill) and do not carry any charges by the broker, either.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

HYCM processes withdrawal requests within 1 business day. This can then take 1 to 5 days to reach your account depending on your bank or credit card company.

Bonuses & Promotions

HYCM does not offer any bonus or promotion schemes.

Educational & Trading Tools

HYCM does offer webinars, seminars, and forex education reading material. There is ample free educational material all of which are free and available on the website for clients to refer to.

Customer Service

Customer service operates on a 24/5 basis via live chat, telephone, and email. Quality of customer service is also high, which makes communication more efficient and adds peace of mind for the clients, especially in the case of a complicated trade query, for example.

Demo Account

Yes, you may open a demo account with HYCM to see if their service meets your expectations. Alongside this, you have a handy ‘Help Center’ as well as an FAQ page at your disposal to learn about the broker in more depth as you practice and develop your trading skills before moving on to a live account.

Countries Accepted

All countries other than residents outside the European Union and European Economic Area are allowed to trade with this broker.

Conclusion

This broker is very transparent with their offerings, and do offer a solid service with quality customer support, and a strong variety of instruments to trade on either MT4/5. Deposits and withdrawals are fast and are not to be complained about. Overall, this broker is competitive with other brokers in the industry at the moment.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Libertex Review

Libertex is a forex and CFD broker regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and located in Cyprus. The company has won 30 international rewards since its establishment in 1997 and employees more than 700 people, meaning that this broker is a large and worthy competitor in the forex world. Of course, there are many excellent brokers out there. Reading about Libertex made us wonder what exactly has kept them in business for more than twenty years, so we went to work to find out.

Account Types

Technically, this broker only offers one account type. However, conditions differ based on which trading platform has been chosen, so this would be the equivalent to different account types. Options would be the MT4-Instant, MT5-Instant, and the Libertex account. Conditions are almost identical when trading on MT4 and MT5, aside from the fact that each operates on a different platform, so we will group them together.

However, Libertex’s own platform-based account type differs more significantly from the others, because it offers different leverage caps, commission charges, stop out levels, spreads, and more. Note that account verification is required when signing up; therefore, one should submit their documents as soon as possible in order to get trading. Verification typically takes between 1-2 working days. Below, you can view the differences, based on the chosen platform.

MT4/MT5 Instant
-Minimum Deposit: $10
-Leverage: Up to 1:500
-Spreads: from 0.6 pips
-Commissions: Floating (Not Specified)

Libertex Account
-Minimum Deposit: $10
-Leverage: Up to 1:200
-Spreads: None
-Commissions: from 0.03%

Platform

Unlike the majority of their competitors, Libertex offers both the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms, in addition to their own trading platform. MT4 is the most popular trading program among forex brokers, and for good reason. The platform offers more than 100 effective trading tools, supports trading from several different accounts, multiple analytics tools, and more. MT5, on the other hand, was designed to be a competent and sturdy trading platform, although many still prefer the earlier version. There are more features available on MT5, however. Both platforms are available for download on PC, Apple, and Android, as well as on WebTrader, the browser-based version.

If you’d like to try something different, Libertex also offers its own trading platform. The company describes its platform as being aimed towards those that prefer simpler and convenient features with the ability to quickly manage capital. Traders can make deposits and withdrawals, access market news, and easily switch between their real and demo accounts on the platform. The platform can be accessed through the web browser or downloaded for Apple or Android. Note that the available account types depend on which platform has been chosen and that trading costs and other specifics differ based on which platform you choose to trade through.

Leverage

Leverage options are least flexible on the Libertex trading platform, although it does offer a leverage cap of 1:200, which is higher than the industry average. If this amount seems too low, traders will be happy to know the MT4 and MT5 platforms both offer leverage options up to 1:500. Since trading with higher leverage means greater risks, one should only choose an account based on this detail if they are a professional trader that is used to higher leverage options, otherwise, the leverage offered for the Libertex account should be more than enough.

Trade Sizes

The minimum allowed trade size is listed at 0.01 lots, or one micro lot. Sadly, the website does not mention the maximum allowed trade sizes. On the MT4 and MT5 accounts, stop out level is set for 100% on all financial instruments, except CFD’s on stocks, where the level is set at 80%. On the Libertex account, the stop out level is 20% for investments in classical tools and 0% on investments.

Trading Costs

Libertex profits from transaction fees or commissions, spreads, and rollover fees. Their transaction fee is floating, meaning it will vary in accordance with the market spreads. On the Libertex account, transaction fees replace commissions and start at 0.03%, but there are no spreads. When trading on MT4 or MT5, spreads start from 0.6 pips and commission fees are floating. Minimum fees and conditions are detailed in the Instrument Specifications. When opening a position, you will be shown the commission as a percentage; after you close it, you will be able to view the commission amount in Trade History. Rollover or SWAP is an interest rate credited on your account or debited from it every day at 9 pm GMT, depending on the position type.

Assets

Libertex offers more than 200 trading instruments, made up of forex, precious metals, indices, agriculture, oil and gas, stocks ETF’s, and cryptocurrencies. Forex options include majors, crosses, exotics, and even the Russian Ruble. Metal options include Pallidum, Platinum, and Copper, in addition to the more popular Gold and Silver. More than 18 indices are offered from North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America.

You’ll find corn, wheat, coffee, sugar, cocoa, and soybean listed under the agriculture section. Five options are available under oil and gas, including a few Crude Oil options, Natural Gas, and Heating Oil. The 40 crypto options go farther than the most commonly featured options like Bitcoin, LiteCoin, or Ethereum. Stocks include some of the world’s largest companies and are sorted into convenient categories, like consumer goods, finance, and materials, just to name a few.

Spreads

If you’re trading from the Libertex platform, there are no spread charges. This provides a significant advantage, considering that almost every other forex broker is intent on profiting through spreads. Instead, the broker has replaced the spread with transaction fees, which start from 0.03%. Although the spreads are replaced by another charge, it seems that traders will save money by trading through the Libertex platform. Trading through the MT4 and MT5 platforms would provide more of a classic experience, with spreads starting from 0.06 pips. One would need to decide which platform they prefer and whether they would like to pay through spreads, or transaction charges.

Minimum Deposit

In order to get started with an account through Libertex, one would only need to deposit as little as $10. This is certainly one of the lowest options we’ve seen and doesn’t come close to the $250 industry average. This provides the opportunity for many different clients, including beginners that may be afraid to get started, those that would like to test the available deposit and withdrawal methods or processing times before making a large deposit, traders that simply don’t have a lot of funds to get started with, and more. The low deposit requirement is enough to make this broker stand out from the crowd, although we do suggest making a larger deposit if you have the means. Also, keep in mind that you’ll need to deposit at least $100 to qualify for the 100% Welcome Bonus.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Visa/MasterCard, Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, and Neteller are the most well-known deposit methods offered by this broker. Sofort, Trustly, GiroPay, iDEAL, P24, Multibanco, and Rapid Transfer can be used to deposit as well, but these methods are not available for withdrawals. Libertex does not charge fees on deposits. Aside from Bank Wire, all of the deposit methods are processed instantly. On the longer side of things, Bank Wire Transfer can take 3-5 business days for processing.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Libertex allows withdrawals to made to Visa/MasterCard, Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, and Neteller. KYC documents must be approved before Libertex will begin processing your withdrawal, so be sure to provide those documents as soon as possible. Also, note that there are 0% withdrawal charges in Latin America within the Libertex platform. Below, you can compare the fees for each method.

  • Visa/MasterCard: €1 ($1.12 USD)
  • Bank Wire Transfer: 0.05% of the withdrawal amount (minimum €2/maximum €10)
  • Neteller & Skrill: Fee Free

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Skrill and Neteller are the quickest withdrawal methods, with processing times of up to 24 hours. Processing for Visa/MasterCard withdrawals takes 1-5 days, which could be considered a little excessive. The website doesn’t mention how long withdrawal by Bank Wire Transfer can take, but we would assume that there would be a waiting period of around 2 to 5 business days on this method, based on our experience.

Bonuses & Promotions

The broker matches your deposit, meaning they offer a 100% Welcome Bonus. This is one of the most generous offers we’ve seen. In order to receive the bonus, one would first need to open an account and make their first deposit. The more quickly you open deals and trade, the faster your bonus converts to real funds. The fully withdrawable converted bonus is then applied to your trading account.

The minimum amount to qualify for the bonus would be $100, while the bonus is applicable on deposits of up to $10,000. However, checking the terms reveals that the bonus money comes from 10% of the commissions you’ve paid while trading. The company pays the converted bonus to your trading account in 2% payment chunks and time runs out within 90 days. Therefore, it may be somewhat difficult to receive the full bonus if you do not open a lot of trades.

Educational & Trading Tools

On the website, you’ll find featured news that is updated daily and a beginner level educational course. The course is made up of about 15 videos and explains some of the most important basic concepts of forex trading. The videos are fairly brief and don’t go into deep detail, although they are clear and easy to understand. The website does not offer research tools like an economic calculator or other calculators.

While it is nice to see the broker providing some educational resources, the options would not be enough to complete one’s education. Also, note that only the first five educational videos can be accessed without signing up for an account. If you’re a beginner, you’ll need to find educational material elsewhere.

Demo Account

Libertex offers free demo accounts to any traders that would like to use them. Demo accounts can be downloaded or accessed on the web and are available on any of the platforms supported by the broker. All demo accounts are credited with a balance of $50,000. This amount definitely provides room for testing the market, but it would be nice to see some lower, more realistic options available for the demo account balance. Still, this is an excellent learning tool that should be utilized by any trader that could use more experience.

Customer Service

The fastest contact method offered by this broker would be a phone call, although email seems to be a close runner up since we received a response within an hour when testing this method. Sadly, the instant contact option LiveChat is not available. The website also offers a form titled ‘Ask a Question’, which is simply a more convenient alternative to sending an email directly. Libertex is also active on social media via Facebook and Twitter, however, the social media accounts do not seem to be updated regularly. Also, note that a FAQ is available on the website and may answer some questions without the need for support.

Email: [email protected] and [email protected].
Phone: +357 22 025 100

Countries Accepted

Libertex’s list of restricted countries includes the USA, Japan, Brazil, and the European Union; countries identified by FATF as high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions having AML/CFT deficiencies; and countries that are under international sanctions. Refusing service to the US, Japan, and other locations is likely based on the company’s regulatory body, CySEC. We did attempt to sign up from our US-based offices, just to see if there is a way around the block. Unfortunately, the website recognizes your location based on IP address, and will not even let those in restricted countries access the sign-up page.

Conclusion

Libertex is a trustworthy option that provides the ability to open an account with as little as $10. One of this broker’s highlights would be the amazing list of tradable instruments they offer, including 20 cryptocurrencies, stocks, and a variety of other options. Another plus to trading through Libertex would be their higher than average leverage caps. Conditions depend on which platform one is trading through, with the options being MT4, MT5, or Libertex’s own platform.

The broker is also offering a 100% Welcome Bonus on all initial deposits of $100 or more. When it comes to funding, there are a few fee-free deposit methods, a couple of fee-free withdrawal methods, and processing times can be from 24 hours to 5 days, depending on what method has been chosen.

The trader is charged either through spreads or transaction fees, depending on which platform has been chosen, although the conditions still seem to be advantageous. Sadly, the US, Japan, Brazil, and a few more countries are restricted from creating an account. Taking everything into account, it is easy to see how this broker has managed to stay in business for more than twenty years in such a competitive market.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Go Markets Review

This is a relatively large, well structured, ASIC regulated broker. Since 2006 GO Markets is known as the first broker to offer the MT4 platform in Australia. The broker has some server problems at first but quickly expanded the IT infrastructure and opened new offices in London, Taipei, and Honk Kong.

Go Markets recently offered the Metatrader 5 and the web trading platform. The addition of cryptocurrencies, more features, and account types points that this broker is in the right direction and is following the trader’s needs. The website is very well designed for ease of use and has a good bland of marketing and information value. As with many companies that want to break through the competition, GO Markets tries to differentiate with some features mix that adds on to the overall trading experience. By going through the sections we will review what this broker has to offer.

Account Types

Go Markets has two distinct and feature-packed account types. The Standard Account for those that want to stick to standard floating spreads range and the GO Plus Account that features 0 pip floating spreads and the $3 commission per side. GO Markets provides a good introduction to both account types without redundant phrases. Traders of the Standard Account will get relatively low spreads comparing to other brokers from more than 22 liquidity providers. Account currencies options are great, traders can open an account in AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, NZD, CAD, SGD, CHF, and HKD. This number of base account currencies is rarely seen.

The GO Plus Account type takes raw spreads from the market but also charges a commission. This account also has a bit higher minimum deposit of $500 although this amount should be low enough for anyone that wants to trade seriously. To make this account even more interesting, GO Market included the Dedicated Account Manager service. Although further investigation showed that this service is available to both account types.

Platforms

Metatrader 5 and 4 are available for all desktop and mobile versions. The web platform is also available using the Metatrader layout and button shortcuts to GO Markets client portal, deposit, and live chat. Both MT5 and MT4 platforms are by default settings and quickly establish the connection with the server. The average execution on the MT4 is a bit slower than MT5 and is around 500ms. The MT5 though is around 200ms which is good enough. The account types do not matter much towards execution times. Go Markets does not have any proprietary trading platforms and focuses on the Metatrader only.

Leverage

GO Markets offers a leverage level of up to 1:500. This is a higher than average when compared to other brokers and shows that this broker is biased to low deposit, high-risk trading. The leverage is changeable, by default it is set to 1:100. GO Markets client portal is well designed and the leverage change is done from there for any account created by the client. Note that the leverage is scaled to the maximum account balance, for example, traders with more than $500.000 cannot have leverage higher than 50:1.

Also, anyone above $10.000 cannot have higher than 1:400 leverage. Some exotic trading instruments may have lower leverage than the set standard. Just to be clear, GO Markets states this information as a margin percentage in the MT4/5 instrument specifications, so traders may be confused with the 500% margin percentage for some exotics. For Cryptocurrencies, the leverage is 1:5. As we are informed by the GO Markets support, the leverage level is about to be revised.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are in-line with the two account types offered. The minimal trading volume size is 0.01 lots. Additional volume steps are also at 0.01 lots. The maximal volume is capped at 40 lots. Of course, this value differs from asset to asset, so for BTC/USD it is five lots is the maximum. For Oil, the maximum is at 20 lots with 0.1 lots minimal trade volume and step. GO Markets has set a Margin Call at 80% and a Stop Out at 50%, this is not usual levels as with other brokers (50%, 20%Stop Out) so traders will have to pay attention to risk management.

Trading Costs

Clients that choose to go with the GO Plus Account will have a $3 commission per side ($6 round trip), while the Standard is commission-free. From the MT4 platform, we have noticed a $5 commission charge for 1 lot, but that is Australian Dollar, just to avoid confusion.

Swaps are under normal levels, even for crypto at -25. Positive swaps are common, for the EUR/USD pair, a short swap is 6.08 points and long -9.55. For some exotic like the USD/HUF is 11.88 long and – 23.42 short swap. As we went on to see the swaps for each currency pair, we were impressed to see so many positive.

Assets

GO Markets does not want to leave any type of traders out, and that counts towards the asset range too. This broker covers almost all categories, Forex, Indices, Shares, Commodities, Metals, and Crypto.

Starting with Forex, a total of 50 pairs plus the USDollar index are listed. All the majors are there and the exotics offer is not bad either. AUD/CNH is a rare sight yet GO Markets is from the eastern forex block. Other exotics like the PLN, TRY, SGD, HUF, MXN, and Snadinavian currencies are not left out. All that forex traders need.

Indices offer is average with 13 total, not counting the USDollar index. China50 and the ASX are of course listed, but all other global major indices are on the list, this way the range covers all trading sessions.

GO Markets recently introduced shares from ASX (Australian Securities Exchange). Over 200 top ASX companies are listed but this offer is only for Metatrader 5 platform. Catered for Australian clients, this is a great offer.

Commodities are very limited. Some commodity traders may be disappointed as only 2 Oil assets can be traded. The spot WTI and Brent Oil. Brent Oil trading session is a bit shorter than usual, available from 03:00-24:00 GMT+3 time.

Just as with the commodities, the metals range are limited to Silver and Gold. On the GO Markets web site, more in this category are mentioned although during the writing of this review these are not yet on introduced.

Finally, the cryptocurrency range is not catered for the most demanding traders but all the majors are offered. What is interesting that Cryptocurrencies are not listed on the GO Markets web site at all, and this is unclear as Crypto is one of the most attractive CFD categories. The MT4 platform shows Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, And Ripple all denominated in USD.

Spreads

The always amazing 0.0 pip spread statement is often not true for most of the trading time. However, the most liquid pairs like the EUR/USD and USD/JPY had 0 pips spread sometimes. What is certain is that 90% of the time is from 0.1 to 0.3 pips. Of course, this is valid for the GO Plus Account where commissions also apply. For Bitcoin, the spread is 22 pips, and this is one of the best spreads in the industry.

The Standard Account has a somewhat wider floating spreads. For EUR/USD Metatrader5 platform showed 1.1 pips, same as with USD/JPY, GBP/USD and even the NZD/USD pair. Generally, all majors had around 1.2 pips and this is a very good spread comparing to other brokers.BTC/USD spread is the same as with the GO Plus Account at 22 pips. The Standard Account could be an even better choice for longer-term traders.

Minimum Deposit

From 200 AUD traders can open the Standard Account and from 500 AUD GO Plus Account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Bank Wire transfers are available but imply transaction costs that vary and are subject to the client’s bank. BPAY deposits are possible although it may depend on the client’s country, currently only for Australian clients. We are informed by the GO Market support that the handling fees described in the Product Disclosure Statement are not charged anymore.

GO Markets does not charge any internal deposit fees using Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, and Bank Transfer. In addition to the mentioned methods, FasaPay and Poli are also available. All the deposit methods may not be available for all clients. Credit Card, Bank Transfer are accepted from all countries, Skrill and Neteller for countries outside the EU for now.

The client portal will list all the deposit/withdrawal possibilities once a client is approved.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As GO Markets states, profit funds can only be returned to a bank account in the client’s name. No fees will be charged by GO Markets for withdrawals. The withdrawal process can be started from the client portal and all the methods as with deposits are optional.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal process is submitted through the client portal and will take 24 hours during business days to complete. By Wire Transfer, the withdrawal processing will take 1 business day by the GO Markets, although it will take more time for the funds to reach the client’s account. This is usually 1-5 business days. Electronic payments like Poli and BPAY withdrawals are done in a few hours. E-wallets and Credit Cards are instant once the withdrawal is approved.

Bonuses & Promotions

Thre are several mentions about promotions in the Legal Documents section of the GO Markets website. What we have found is that currently, GO Markets has a 50% off on commission for GO Plus Accounts. To apply a client has to deposit $20.000 and have this promotion for some time (a few months). For deposits of $50.000, this period is extended to about 6 months.

For those that are interested in Introducing Brokers, Affiliates or White Labels, GO markets have offers for these partnerships too. Any marketing source like a blog, email, social media, websites, etc is possible to link with this broker marketing. To apply for these programs parties need to fill a form

Educational & Trading Tools

GO Markets has invested in education material and is on par with the top brokers. Introduction to the world of Forex trading is very good, complemented with videos and webinars. The Inner Circle is for any trader level that aims to learn even more. The education is not as deep as some traders enthusiast sites have to offer but it will cover the basics and more. The Videos are not long, easy to follow and have a good concept. As with other GO Market material, it is detailed and catered to be understood. E-books are available but only for live accounts, so in a way it is not accessible for free. Webinars are also available where attendees can pose questions. Of course, registration is required for these, weekly, Inner Circle webinars.

Tools offer is also great. Traders will have familiar Autochartist and Trading Central service for automated chart drawing and analysis. Full Autochartis and Trading Central abilities are well described. For this service traders will need to deposit at least 500 AUD. With the demo account, it is also possible to see Autochartist in action, you just need to contact the assigned Account Manager.

VPS is available although certain conditions have to be met. Traders will have to reach a $1million trading volume per month or a $10 fee will be applied monthly. VPS service will be terminated if your trading account balance falls below $30.

A-Quant Daily Trading Strategies offer is a third party service that encompasses trading signals from the AI learning machine. A-Quant is a new fin-tech company from Cyprus made up from experts in Finance, AI, that have decided to create this signal service. We do not have information on the quality or the success rate of these signals although it is always good to have an extra trading tool.

MT4 & 5 Genesis offered by GO Markets is an addon pack with apps and indicators for trading environment enhancement. Specifically, better info panels, Correlation Matrix, Alarm app, Economic News Calendar, Sentiment Indicator, and a Session Map. As with the VPS, this service is available for deposits of at least $500.

GO Markets is connected to Myfxbook social trading. As some may already know, Myfxbook features thousands of traders that share their signals. Copy trading is a popular method for anyone who does not have the expertise to trade successfully. Myfxbook features some good tools for various aspects of trading and is one of the most popular websites for traders. To be able to use this tool, clients need to deposit at least $1000 and have the Standard Account type. By adding this feature to the mix, GO Markets has covered all the interest areas of traders.

Go Markets Newsfeed and analysis is very similar to the headlines you can see with popular news companies. Some simple facts are stated with additional key fundamental figures are a very good way of approaching and covering global topics. All the sources are from trusty institutions. Traders that dive into fundamentals will enjoy the Daily and Weekly news section.

Economic Calendar is packed with features but not overwhelming. The design is good with plenty of useful filters. All the information about events is presented with impact meter, historic movements chart, source links, and the ability to save the setting for the next session. This type of Economic Calendar app is common with the top brokers.

Margin Call is GO Markets’s great podcast series with very good interviews. The series has a great concept and a nice overview of the interview structure so you can know what to expect. This high-quality feature will be very interesting to many listeners as it covers some deep and interesting industry topics.

Customer Service

Chat is the first choice for a quick answer and GO Markets has 24/5 multilingual support. What we have found out that chat is not always available so the 24/5 applies to emails. The queue is not long, the GO Market representatives are relatively quick to connect with you, in about 5 minutes. They will provide very good answers and explain some issues you have with examples. Any subsequent questions will be answered promptly.

The knowledge they have is enough for any level and they speak (type) English, Chinese, Thai, Portuguese, German, and Vietnamese. Email language does not matter as they have translators for all. The phone line is also available. Overall, the support is professional and close to the top level.

Quick support app (TeamViewer) is another feature that clients can use if they want to give GO Market staff access to their computer and resolve or explain any issues. Note that this method is not always easy to accept by some clients for privacy concerns although TeamViewer is a great and efficient problem solver.

Demo Account

The demo account will last for 30 days but this limit can be revoked by request to GO Market support. The process is protected from bad inputs (fake phone number) and the login password is sent by SMS, not to the email. For anyone not willing to provide their phone number, they can go and use free online phone numbers for SMS reading. The demo can reflect both account types, all the commission and swaps will be accounted when trading, no information will be hidden. Traders can select the account type during the registration process, the base currency and the leverage level. It is great to see that the demo can be used to compare all the pros and cons of both account types without any compromise in information transparency.

Countries Accepted

The very careful and meticulous registration process will filter all the countries that are not accepted from start. The list of prohibited countries is not short, many will find this broker off-limits. Clients from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Botswana, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Central African Rep, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea (DPRK), Pakistan, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, West Bank, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe are not accepted.

Conclusion

GO Markets has a mediocre score on the user satisfaction benchmark sites. The main issues were with international withdrawals and with people who are earning profits. As claimed they were locked out of the trading, had abnormal quotes before news events, etc. Of course, as an ECN and a Market Maker broker, they are hedging against the big and profitable traders. On the other side, GO Markets features a great Education, News, and tools that are not just for marketing sake.

The asset range is good enough, the account types are affordable and diversified enough, even if only two types are offered. The support staff is also giving an impression of quality. This broker is evolving and expanding quickly into new markets, the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region are their new focus and we can expect new trading instruments, offers, and features. We have noticed some changes and outdated clauses in the legal documents that prove this rapid change and it is for the better. A great example of this is the “handling fee” cancelation and setting all transactions to be free of charge. Moreover, changes in the account type offer allow having different trading environments for an affordable minimum deposit.

Being very clear, attentive and informative to visitors of their website shows a professional attitude that traders will notice and this is certainly their best marketing. What traders need to be aware of is that their style of trading may not be adequate for GO Markets, even if this is a relatively low latency, ECN, raw spread broker. Similar user reviews posted on the benchmarking website may point to a valid issue about the profitable traders blocking in various ways. Note that EAs, scalping, hedging and news trading are not prohibited.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Fortrade Review

Fortrade is regulated by ASIC, NBRB, and FCA. This broker is well established and relatively popular on social media, possibly due to their volume of affiliate marketing. They are known for offering their own customized trading platform as well as MT4.

Account Types

Fortrade seems to offer only one account, ‘Fortrader’ account. You may use MT4 or their own Fortrade platform (web/mobile for both). It is not easy on the website to find basic information about the properties of the live account, which is frustrating, as it meant that we needed to contact client support to ask such basic questions.

Platforms

Fortrade offer both their own tailored trading platforms in web and mobile versions, as well as MT4 web and mobile versions.

Leverage

If you refer to their FAQ page, you can find that they offer the following leverage caps, as a result of ESMA policy:

  • Major FX Pairs 30:1
  • Minor FX Pairs 20:1
  • Gold 20:1
  • Commodities 10:1
  • Major Indices 20:1
  • Minor Indices 10:1
  • Shares 5:1
  • Cryptocurrencies 2:1

Note if you apply for a professional client account, maximum leverage allowed is 1:200 however deposit requirements are higher. You will need to apply for this account in order to be given the full set of requirements.

Trade Sizes

Unfortunately, the FAQ page is not very useful to pinpoint certain information such as minimum/ maximum trade sizes so this is not something we can confirm currently.

Trading Costs

Although specifications on how a dormancy fee can be applied and when Fortrade is entitled to charge such fees of $10 so that is one thing to bear in mind if your account becomes somewhat inactive. In terms of trade commission fees, there is no clear mention anywhere on the FAQ page or the website itself. When we asked Support to clarify this, we found out that Fortrade does not charge their clients commissions (so they make a profit from the spreads instead). For swap fees, there is a calculator handy from the website. Swaps vary in accordance with your trade sizes, etc.

Assets

Fortrade advertises that they offer over 70 currency pairs. Conclusively, they offer Forex, Indices, Commodities Shares, and cryptocurrencies. There is a fair variety of instruments to choose from, meaning clients have the opportunity to diversify their portfolio if they wish.

Spreads

Fortrade offers only fixed spreads. Bear in mind they make their money from the spreads since they charge 0 trade commissions, thus, they are a little higher than the average floating spreads from the average broker. Their fixed spreads have an average of 2 pips, which is not overly competitive. You can see a full list of their fixed spreads on the website.

Minimum Deposit

Fortrade requires a minimum deposit amount of $100, which is not too high compared to other brokers.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Fortrade does not charge fees for deposits. The funding methods available are as follows: Skrill, Neteller, Paypal, Wire transfer and Card.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Fortrade does not charge fees for their withdrawals, which are: Skrill, Neteller, Paypal, Wire transfer and Card.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal timescales are not easily found on the website so we asked the live chat agent but it was incredibly frustrating that the response to this question was asking for client contact details to assist in opening a live account, rather than actually answering the basic questions asked. Even after much frustration and angst, we still never got to the bottom of the withdrawal processing times, but instead were demanded by the support agent to give a contact number to be assisted by an Account Manager to answer questions. Ridiculous customer service, and very pushy to get clients to open an account without knowing the full ins and outs of the account they are signing up to.

Bonuses & Promotions

Yes, Fortrade does offer deposit bonuses. When we asked the live chat agent about any deposit bonuses and where to find information on it (since it is not obviously displayed on the webpage), we were advised that yes, they offer a bonus, however, we were once again asked to give a contact number so an account manager could then give us the info. This is not efficient and also demonstrates that the agents are not fully trained or competent on the company products and services.

Educational & Trading Tools

Fortrade offers a multitude of educational services including training videos, seminars, and daily analysis articles.

Fortrade tools and educational resources.

Customer Service

Most of the time Customer support is efficiently responsive but at times we had to repeat ourselves and rephrase simple questions, which made it seem their support agents are not fully competent in the English Language. You may contact client support via telephone, email and live chat on a 24/5 basis (9 AM to 9 PM GMT).

Demo Account

Fortrade does offer a demo account, which is definitely handy if you are a beginner trader, however, the only issue we had with this is that you are encouraged to demo with $10,000 which for many is a highly unrealistic amount. In reality, you should only demo with what you could afford to trade with on a live account.

Countries Accepted

Due to the multiple regulations this broker is restrained by, Fortrade cannot accept clients from the USA or Belgium and is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where trading be contrary to local law or regulation, so be sure to check if your resident country is on the list before you apply for an account.

Conclusion

Firstly, the website is not easy at all to navigate, so beginner traders, find a broker that for a start, has a website that is easier to use. Secondly, customer support was painful in the sense that communication was not smooth and the quality overall is less than satisfactory. Thirdly, the trade conditions are not at all competitive; fixed spreads (and high ones at that), with low leverage… this makes profitable opportunities rather slim. This broker does not stand out for any element at all and therefore is not competitive to other brokers out there right now.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

FX Choice Review

FX Choice is a Forex broker that is based in Belize and is regulated by the IFSC. The firm has actually been in the FX business since 2010 and for that very reason is viewed as being a veteran brokerage. In the FX Choice review below, you’ll not only learn exactly what this broker offers, but also learn how they differ from other brokers. The goal? To provide you with more than enough information to decide whether or not FXC is worthy of an even closer look.

Account Types

There are two account types offered, with these being Classic and Pro. With both types, the minimum required deposit amount is $100. Both also have the same leverage ratios, same lot size requirements, and most of the same assets. There are, however, some important differences that you’ll want to take note of. One being that the Pro account provides access to ten additional FX pairs. There are no commission charges on the Classic account, but the spreads are higher. On the Pro account, there are commission charges, but the spreads are tighter.

Classic Account:

  • Minimum Deposit: $100
  • Spreads: starting from 0.5 pips
  • Commission: None

Pro Account:

  • Minimum Deposit: $100
  • Spreads: starting at 0 pips
  • Commission: $3.5 per $100,000

Platforms

FX Choice offers both the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms. MT4 has been the preferred platform of most Forex traders for quite some time now. Even so, some traders are now making the move to MT5 and will be happy to see it as a platform option. Do note, however, that the MT5 platform is only made available to those who open a Pro level account. So, if you opt for the Classic account level, you’ll only be able to use MT4.

Both platforms are available as a download for Windows and can be accessed within any major browser using WebTrader. Both are also available in app formats and are available for download within the Apple Store or Google Play.

Leverage

The maximum leverage setting on both account types is 1:200, a ratio which some who trade Forex will consider less than optimal. If you’re looking for higher ratios of 1:500 or even higher, you’ll need to look to one of the offshore firms to provide it. The lowest allowed leverage setting is 1:25, which may also be viewed as a problem by those who wish to trade with no leverage whatsoever. On the Classic account, margin call is set to 25% and stop out at 15%. On the Pro account, margin call will take place at 100%, while stop out is set to 80%.

Trade Sizes

The smallest trade size is 0.01 micro lot and this goes for both account types. The maximum on both is 1,000 lots on all assets other than cryptocurrencies. On digital assets, the maximum trade size is capped at 5 lots. The ability to trade in micro-lots is a nice one to have. However, some may feel restricted by the maximum position size on cryptocurrencies.

Trading Costs

As mentioned previously, one will need to pay commission with a Pro account, but not on the Classic account. Essentially, you’ll be paying the broker by way of higher spreads on the Classic account. Swap, or rollover, fees are charged on both account types. Since these costs vary by the asset, you may want to create a demo account or contact the FX Choice support team for more information. The broker does keep a detailed rollover policy posted on its website.

Assets

FX choice offers six different asset groups, including:

  • Currency Pairs
  • Indices
  • Metals
  • Commodities
  • Energies
  • Cryptocurrencies

In total, here are 28 currency pairs available to Classic account holders, while Pro account holders have access to 38. Aside from this one difference, it appears that all other assets are available on both account levels.

Spreads

On the Classic account, spreads start as low as 0.5 pips. This is actually quite impressive, considering the fact that there is no commission charged on this account type. With the Pro level, spreads start as low as 0.0 pips. Spreads, of course, vary by the asset, so you may want to spend some time comparing the spreads on your preferred assets on both accounts.

Minimum Deposit

There is a $100 minimum deposit requirement across the board. This is relatively standard within the industry and certainly no cause for concern. With that being said, there are FX brokers that do ask for less. Commonly, brokers will ask for larger amounts on higher-level account tiers, but here, the minimum is the same for both.

Deposit Methods & Costs

FX Choice has done an excellent job of setting itself up to accept a broad range of incoming payments. The following list includes all of the payment methods that can be selected for deposits and withdrawals.

  • Wire Transfer
  • Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash
  • Skrill
  • Neteller
  • Litecoin
  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Tether
  • FasaPay
  • Perfect Money
  • PaySafeCard
  • Trustly
  • Qiwi
  • AstroPay
  • POLi
  • UPayCard
  • ePayments
  • Vload

Did you notice what is missing from this list? That’s right, credit and debit cards. Even so, cards can be used to purchase e-funds which can then be used to make a deposit. FX Choice does charge deposit fees on most of these payment methods. The fees vary by method, ranging from 0.5% to as high as 10%.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

PaySafeCard, Trustly, QIWI, AstroPay, and POLi cannot be used for withdrawals, but all other payment methods can. With most methods there is a nominal withdrawal fee. However, Neteller and ePayments withdrawals are free. FX Choice provides complete details on all deposit and withdrawal fees on their website.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Same-day withdrawals are a possibility during the business week (Monday through Friday). The actual wait time for a payment to arrive will be determined by the payment method. Bank wires, for example, tend to take the longest time to post. Whereas payment methods such as Bitcoin can arrive in an hour or less.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no trading contests offered by FX Choice at the moment. They do, however, offer a referral program. To profit from the referral program, one will need to share their own personal referral link (found in your account back office) with friends, family, or acquaintances. When someone uses the referral link to create a new account and deposit with FXC, the referrer (you) would earn $25 for each $100 deposited. The earnings are capped at $250 per new trader referred. A one-time deposit bonus in the amount of 15% of the total deposit is also offered.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are no educational resources provided, aside from a Knowledge Base. The only trading tools are those which are already built into the MetaTrader platforms. There are extra services available though, including Forex signals, Autotrading service, EAs, VPS, and more. The firm has also rolled out a program titled, “Pips+” which is targeted at Pro account holders who wish to reduce their commission charges. Visit the FX Choice website to learn more.

Customer Service

The FXC customer support team is available 24/5 and can be reached via live chat, phone, and email. It is possible to request a callback, which should be completed within 24 hours or less. Multilingual support is offered, which is excellent. Whether your native language is English, Spanish, Italian, Farsi, Mandarin, or Thai, help is available. The primary contact number for client support is +52 558 526 80 32, whereas the contact number for general inquiries is + 501 227 27 32.

Demo Account

Not only does FX Choice offer demo accounts, but they also offer them in ‘real account’ format. This means that their demo accounts offer trading conditions and pricing which is the same as what is seen within real accounts. Their demo accounts allow you to choose a leverage setting ranging from 1:25 up to 1:200. A demo account can be created on the FXC website by providing just some basic personal information.

Countries Accepted

Residents of Afghanistan, Belize, Iraq, Italy, North Korea, Spain, Sudan, and the Syrian Arab Republic are not allowed to create an account with this broker. As of now, they are allowing residents of the United States and China to trade with them, which is interesting, since many brokers ban these two countries from their platform. Obviously, this could change, so check with the support team should you have any questions regarding acceptance for your country.

Conclusion

The positives of FX Choice are pretty clear. They offer two solid platforms, accept plenty of payment methods, have good spreads, and do not ask for a crazy-high minimum deposit. There is the option to trade commission-free and withdrawal requests are reviewed and paid out quickly. As for the negatives, there are fees on most payment methods, there is no weekend support, and some may find the 1:200 leverage maximum too low. Overall, the final determination of this FX Choice review is that this Forex broker is reliable and worthy of at least some consideration by those in search of a brokerage.

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Forex Course

13. General Myths In The Forex Market Every Trader Must Be Aware Of

Introduction

Forex is the market for trading currency pairs. It is a real business that happens over the internet. However, many new traders do not take it seriously and often associate it with gambling. And this misconception still exists in the minds of people. Hence, it is necessary to fade these thoughts away as it could lead to significant losses in the long term.

Having that said, in this lesson, we shall discuss some of the myths and facts about the forex market, which are vital for traders to know.

Myths about the Forex Market

Forex is a get-rich-quick scheme

Many traders enter into this market with the assumption that they can make quick profits consistently. They start off with a small capital do make quite a good amount of money. This entices them, and they begin to maximize their lot sizes. In the end, they lose all of their profits, including their capital in just one trade. So, do not ever enter the forex market, considering it to be a game of gambling as it can completely blow away your account within no time.

Professional traders have an accuracy of 100% profitability

Whosoever be the trader, when they trade in the forex market, it is almost impossible to have only profitable trades. This is because; sometimes, there are events that happen to occur without the knowledge of the trader. And during these times, there is a high probability for the trade to go against your direction. So, the consistency of a successful trader is around 80-90%.

Stop-losses are purposefully triggered by the broker

Many traders believe that their stop-losses are hunted by their broker. But, this is just a misconception in the minds of people. Note that brokers have absolutely nothing to do with your stop-loss. It is the market itself that hunts for your stop-loss.

There exists ‘THE best strategy’ in trading

Many novice traders, in fact, all novice traders, go in search of the best strategy to trade. But, the truth is that the best strategy is not an absolute term. There are a countless number of strategies out there, and it all depends on you on how you adapt to it. Hence, there the concept of  ‘best strategy’ is just a myth.

You need to have a financial degree to trade in forex

Well, a great fact to know about the forex market is that you do not need any degree to qualify to trade. However, as we always say, education is definitely required for you to succeed in the market even though it is not a formal one.

The price movements in the forex market are entirely random

Even though the forex market is extremely hard to predict, the price movements are not entirely random. There are different ways through which a trader can assess the conditions of these prices. With the help of Technical Analysis or statistical (quant) methods, a trader can moderately anticipate the price action of currency pairs and thereby they can have an edge in the market.

This brings us to the end of this lesson. We hope we’ve cleared out some of the misconceptions you had about the forex market. To have a recap to this lesson, we have a quiz set up for you below.

[wp_quiz id=”46291″]
Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

NSFX Review

NSFX is regulated by MFSA (Maltese Financial Services Authority) so bear in mind that residents of the US will not be granted trading access. NSF is well established and has a neat range to offer aside from a choice of 2 forex trading platforms. In addition, they offer trading tools to assist you, as well as educational courses for the very new traders.

Account Types

NSFX offers 3 account types to choose from, including MT4 FIxed, MT4 ECN, and JForex. All accounts have the same leverage allowance (1:50), minimum trade size (0.01 lot) however the MT4 fixed account only offers fixed spreads while the other two accounts offer floating spreads. Note that the MT4 fixed account does not charge trade commissions while the other two charge $8 per lot per trade (round turn).

Platforms

The MT4 Fixed and MT$ ECN accounts both allow traders to use MT4 platform via the web based, iOS and Android versions. The JForex account uses an alternative platform, which some may not have heard of. The web and mobile versions (iOS & Android) are all available.

Leverage

Due to regulation policies, the maximum leverage allowed with NSFX is 1:50. Some traders may find this rather restrictive when it comes to maximizing profits on winning positions.

Trade Sizes

All accounts with NSFX have a minimum trade size requirement of 0.01 lot which is very reasonable and allows flexibility for the client.

Trading Costs

As mentioned earlier, the MT$ FIxed account does not come with trade commissions charges, however, the MT4 ECN and JForex account both charge $8 R/T which can accumulate and make trading with this broker rather costly, in comparison to other brokers. Swap fees are not mentioned and their live chat was unresponsive when we asked. Do bear this in mind though and check beforehand if you consider signing up.

Assets

NSFX does offer a good variety of tradable assets, however, what they do not offer is crypto pairs. With this broker, you may, however, trade the following: Forex, CFD Energies, CFD Indices, and Metals. A full list of all available instruments is available on the website.

Spreads

NSFX advertises that their spreads start from 0.4 pips. Bear in mind the MT4 Fixed account has just fixed spreads, while the MT4 ECN and JForex account both have floating spreads, starting from 0.4 pips which is competitive.

Minimum Deposit

NSFX is not very cheap to get started; the MT4 Fixed account requires a minimum deposit of $300 to get started. The MT4 ECN account has a minimum deposit requirement of $3,000 while the JForex requires a minimum sum of $5,000. This is an element of this broker that suggests it is not perhaps ideal for a first broker account for newer traders.

Deposit Methods & Costs

NSFX offers an incredibly wide range of methods to fund your account: Wire transfer, Verified by Visa with card, debit/credit card, Neteller, Skrill, and Fast Bank Transfer (which, ironically, has the least fast processing time of up to 10 business days as stated on the website). None of the deposit methods carry any fees by the broker.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawal methods are the same as the deposit methods available (Wire transfer, Verified by Visa with card, debit/credit card, Neteller, Skrill, and Fast Bank Transfer). The only two withdrawal methods that incur a fee (2.9% of the withdrawal amount) are Skrill and Neteller.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal processing time scales are as follows:

  • Wire transfer up to 2 business days
  • Mastercard up to 1 business day
  • Maestro up to 1 business day
  • Visa up to 2 business days
  • Skrill up to 1 business day
  • Neteller up to 1 business day
  • Fast Bank Transfer up to 10 business days

Bear in mind the time your funds actually take to reach you/your account can depend on your provider, so always good practice to check with your provider of choice before you request a withdrawal.

Bonuses & Promotions

NSFX is not able, due to their regulation, to offer such deposit bonus schemes or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

NSFX does offer some useful tools to assist you in your everyday trading including Economic Calendar, fundamental analysis, Financial news. In addition, if you are looking for some trading courses prior to trading by yourself, NSFX offers e-books, forex guides, and some helpful videos. All educational material is free.

Customer Service

NSFX offers customer support via Live Chat, Email, and Telephone. Hours of operation are not stated anywhere on the website which may explain why they were unresponsive via live chat on a Wednesday mid-afternoon (GMT +2).

Demo Account

You may open a demo account to test NSFX trading conditions to see if they suit you and your trading style, and to see if you would like to then move on to a live account if you are satisfied with their service.

Countries Accepted

Due to this broker’s FCA and MFSA regulation, residents of the USA would not be able to become a client of NSFX. Of course, as standard goes, if you were to register for a live account, you would need to provide proof of address, and at this point, you will be told if your residency is accepted or not.

Conclusion

This broker does offer a solid trading service, however, for many, this is deemed quite an expensive broker to trade with, compared to other brokers in terms of minimum deposit requirements as well as commission fees. Indeed, their leverage caps are also not particularly favorable to many, but that is the sacrifice one has to take when dealing with a regulated broker.

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Forex Market Analysis

Gold’s Bullish Trendline Breaks Lower – What’s Next?

Gold prices were closed at $1492.540 after placing a high of $1508.2 and a low of $1489.96. The overall trend for Gold remained Bearish at the starting day of the week.

At 17:30 GMT, the International Goods Trade Balance of the United States for September came in as -70.4B against the expectations of -73.5B and supported the US Dollar on Monday. The negative Prelim Wholesale Inventories from the United States for September also helped the US Dollar. It showed a decline to -0.3% from the previous month’s 0.2%.

The robust macroeconomic data from the US at the starting day of the week gave strength to the US Dollar and weighed on Yellow Metal prices in Financial Markets.

The drop in Gold Prices was boosted on Monday after the positive comments from US President, Donald Trump on Trade Deal talks between US & China. Trump told the reporters on Monday that he was expecting to sign a significant portion of the Phase-one deal ahead of schedule. Although he did not mention the time for signing the part of the agreement, the hint of pre-schedule deal signing itself created a large fluctuation in the market.


XAU/USD – Daily Technical Levels

Support Resistance 

1,485.65    1,503.9

1,478.72    1,515.22

1,460.47    1,533.47

Pivot Point 1,496.97

Gold has recently violated the bullish trendline, which was extending Gold an excellent support around 1490. Below this, the market is likely to stay bearish below 1490. On the lower side, the additional support stays at 1,481 today. Whereas, the resistance remains at 1,495.

All the best

Categories
Forex Videos

Understanding Which Pairs Effect Each Other – Forex Hacks

Correlated Market’s – Understanding Which Pairs Affect Each Other

When we talk about correlation in the financial markets, we are looking for assets across all the financial classes, such as stocks, Forex, bonds futures, commodities precious metals and oil, etc., which trade positively or negatively against each other, either for brief or sustained periods. And so in Forex trading, we seek other currency pairs or other assets from these classes to assist us in our trading decision making, especially when we know that we can rely on correlation due to historical reliance.

As an example, in the stock market, we often find that if a major bank announcers a large loss due to underperformance you might find that there is a knock-on effect in the banking sector, causing bank stocks to fall due to the fact that the market perceives a correlated risk in this sector. This was particularly true in the 2008 market crash. Stock market traders might consider trying to counter this by buying stocks in utilities companies and firms that manufacture consumer staples, which are usually seen as more safe haven stock. In this example, traders look for positive correlation by buying utilities and consumer staples producers, and negative correlation in selling banking stocks in order to balance their portfolios.

There are many ways to measure correlation, and the larger the financial institution, the more complex measurements are used to define values in correlation, such as; Correlation Brownian motions, The Binomial correlation coefficient, Copula correlations, and others.
The basic measurement is called a Correlation Coefficient and is calculated within a range between -1 and +1. A perfect positive correlation has a correlation coefficient of +1, where currency pairs will move in the same direction 100% of the time. A perfect negative correlation is measured at -1 and means that the two currency pairs will move in the opposite direction 100% of the time. And if the correlation is 0, the two currency pairs are said to have no correlation and will act independently of each other.

We often find positive correlation within the precious metals sector, where silver will move either up or down in line with gold. An example of a negative correlation would be between gold and the US dollar. If we think about this logically, gold is valued in US dollars, and therefore for if the price of gold is rising, it stands to reason that the value of the dollar must be falling in value. Therefore some Traders will buy gold when the value of the dollar is falling and vice versa. See example ‘A.’

When looking for correlation on equities we find a positive correlation between the Dow Jones, the NASDAQ 100 and the S&P 500, and this is because these indices are priced in dollars and when the US economy is strong we would expect that these three indices are correlated positively to the upside, and vice versa when their economy is weak. Also, if the US has a strong economy and, therefore, we experience positive correlation between the indices, then we might expect this positive correlation to spill over into global equities. Again the opposite would

apply in a US downturn.
Another area we would expect to see positive correlation would be the bond market and especially when it comes to US and German 10 year treasury bonds, which typically move in sync with each other. Another positive correlation is seen in the oil markets where US, Canadian, and European oil stocks are heavily correlated, being supply-driven, and where the price is affected by the global economy outlook.

Great, so we know that correlation exists in the market and that traders use correlation to adjust their portfolios, but how can it help us in the retail Forex market? First and foremost, the fact that we know it exists already helps us because now we can use it as a tool or leading indicator in order to support our trading view of a particular currency, for example, USDCAD. This pair is heavily influenced by the fluctuations in the oil market. We can see this in action, in the example, ‘B.’

Here we have overlaid the USDCAD pair with US oil on a daily chart. The magenta trend line helps to define areas where USDCAD and especially when the price of oil is moving higher from the 10th to the 12th of June 2019, and the opposite is true between the 18th September to the 4th October 2019.
This is because a major contributor of the Canadian economy GDP is their production and subsequent sale of oil into the global oil market. Therefore when we find the price of oil tumbling, we might see the value of the Canadian dollar to fall in relation to the US dollar due to a negative correlation.

Also during the last few days, we have seen a rapid appreciation of the British pound to US dollar and whereby this rally was followed by the Euro against the US dollar which acted as positive correlation between the two pairs, and which largely came about because of positive sentiments regarding the eurozone and United Kingdom withdrawal agreement. See example ‘C.’

Where we see negative around the beginning of August 2019 and positive correlation during mid-October 2019. Correlation can be seen in the most unexpected places, such as, for example, ‘D,’ between the CHFJPY and EURUSD pairs, so it’s worth looking out for examples by studying your charts regularly.

 

The thing to bear in mind when it comes to correlation in the financial markets is that the markets have an ebb and flow to them, and things are constantly changing, and therefore correlation between assets should be seen as a fair-weather friend who comes and goes when they feel like it.

Categories
Forex Harmonic

The 5-0 Harmonic Pattern

Harmonic Pattern Example: Bearish 5-0 Harmonic Pattern

The 5-0 Harmonic Pattern

Like the Shark Pattern, the 5-0 pattern is a relatively new pattern discovered by the great Scott Carney. Carney revealed this pattern in his second book in his harmonic series, Harmonic Trading: Volume Two.

The 5-0 pattern is easily one of the wonkiest looking patterns. Depending on where you are at with your knowledge of harmonic patterns, the 5-0 will look foreign. And this is primarily because the 5-0 Pattern starts a 0. If you are used to seeing XABCD,  then 0XABCD will undoubtedly look odd.

5-0 Elements

  1. The pattern begins (begins with 0) at the beginning of an extended price move (direct quote from Carney’s work).
  2. After 0 has been established, an impulse reversal at X, A, and B must possess a 113 – 161.8% extension.
  3. The projection off of AB has a 161.8% extension requirement to C. C can move beyond the 161.8% extension but not beyond 224%.
  4. D is the 50% retracement of BC and is equal to AB (a Reciprocal AB=CD Pattern).
  5. The reciprocal AB=CD is required.

One of the best ways to interpret this pattern is to view it from an exasperated trader’s point of view. If we take the Bullish 5-0 Pattern as an example, then we can see why. The AB leg ends with B below X, creating a lower low. We then get an extended move in time where the BC leg is the most prolonged move with C ending above A. The movement from B to C may take on the appearance of a bear flag or bearish pennant. C to D shows intense shorting pressure and a belief among bears that new lows are going to be found. Instead, we get to D – the 50% retracement of BC. Instead of new lower lows, we get a confirmation swing creating a higher low. That move will more than likely generate a brand new trend reversal or significant corrective move.

 

Sources: Carney, S. M. (2010). Harmonic trading. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.  Gilmore, B. T. (2000). Geometry of markets. Greenville, SC: Traders Press.  Pesavento, L., & Jouflas, L. (2008). Trade what you see: how to profit from pattern recognition. Hoboken: Wiley.

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Forex Harmonic

The Deep Crab Pattern

Harmonic Pattern Example: Bearish Deep Crab

The Deep Crab Pattern    

The Deep Crab is a variant of the regular Crab pattern. It is still a 5-point extension, and it still has the endpoint (D) at the 161.8% extension of XA, but the AB=CD importance is a little different.

The most distinguishing component of this pattern is the importance of the specific 88.6% retracement point of B. Along with the Crab Pattern, the Deep Crab Pattern presents an especially extended and long move towards D.

Carney stressed that the Crab and Deep Crab represent significant overbought and oversold conditions, and reaction after completion is often sharp and quick. It is the opinion of many traders and analysts that the Crab Pattern and Deep Crab represent some of the fastest and profitable patterns out of all harmonic patterns.

Deep Crab differences from the Crab

  1. BC leg projection is not as extreme as the Crab.
  2. B must be at least an 88.6% retracement. Common to move more than 88.6% retracement level not above/below X (not above X in a Bearish Deep Crab and not below X in a Bullish Deep Crab).
  3. AB=CD pattern variations are more important in the Deep Crab Pattern.
  4. The BC leg is a minimum of 224% but can extend to 361.8%.

Sources: Carney, S. M. (2010). Harmonic trading. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.  Gilmore, B. T. (2000). Geometry of markets. Greenville, SC: Traders Press.  Pesavento, L., & Jouflas, L. (2008). Trade what you see: how to profit from pattern recognition. Hoboken: Wiley.

Categories
Forex Harmonic

The Shark Pattern

Harmonic Pattern Example: Bearish Shark

The Shark Pattern

The Shark Pattern is the newest harmonic pattern from Carney’s work (2016). He revealed this pattern in his third book in his Harmonic Trading series, Harmonic Trading: Volume Three.

To gain a further understanding of the terminology used in this article, I would strongly encourage everyone to pick up all three of Carney’s books.

The Shark Pattern shares some of the more peculiar conditions that exist on some of the most extreme patterns. For example, both the 5-0 and the Shark Pattern are not typical M-shaped or W-shaped patterns. The Shark Pattern shows up before the 5-0 Pattern. It also shares a specific and precise Fibonacci level that the Deep Crab shares: The 88.6% retracement.

One behavior that might sound abnormal to all other harmonic patterns is that the reaction to the completion of this pattern is very short-lived. I think this is one of the most potent harmonic setups in Carney’s entire work because I am an intraday trader, and this pattern is very much for active traders.

Shark Pattern Elements

  1. AB extension of 0X must be at least 113% but not exceed 161.8%.
  2. BC extends beyond 0 by 113% of X0.
  3. BC extension of AX must be at least 161.8% but not exceed 224%.
  4. Because the Shark precedes the 5-0 Pattern, the profit target should be limited to the critical 5-0 Fibonacci level of 50%.

 

Sources: Carney, S. M. (2010). Harmonic trading. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.  Gilmore, B. T. (2000). Geometry of markets. Greenville, SC: Traders Press.  Pesavento, L., & Jouflas, L. (2008). Trade what you see: how to profit from pattern recognition. Hoboken: Wiley.

Categories
Forex Basics

Even a Combination of Double Top and Engulfing Fails

Double Top/Double Bottom is one of the most robust patterns that price action traders wait to take entries. When the price is rejected twice at a resistance level, it forms a Double Top. As far as the candlestick pattern is concerned, an engulfing candle is the most reliable reversal candle that traders usually love to take an entry from a value area.

A combination of Double Top and a bearish engulfing candle attracts sellers to go short. Since it is an outstanding price action combination, it does not usually go wrong. However, in today’s lesson, we are going to demonstrate that even a great flourishing price action combination can go wrong, as well.

The price consolidates at the marked resistance and heads towards the downside. It then goes back towards the resistance. The sellers are to get ready to get a bearish reversal candle. The red-marked level is the resistance level, where we don’t consider the upper shadows. Since the price has several rejections at the marked level, and it is a valuable area for the sellers, the price most probably may respect the area and produce the bearish reversal candle.

The price does not respect the red-marked level, but it does not make an upside breakout either. Instead, it closes within the upper shadows. Traders are to adjust here. Let us see how it looks now.

The level where the last candle closes has some significance. One of the bullish candles closes within the marked level. This level may work as a resistance level and ends up producing a bearish reversal candle.

Here it comes. The Double Top’s resistance level produces a bearish engulfing candle. We have found the resistance level at last. So all the equations to go short from here seem to match as far as price action trading is concerned.

  1. The price produces a Double Top.
  2. The price produces a bearish engulfing candle right at the resistance of the Double Top.

The swing low is far enough, which offers good Risk-Reward as well. All seems to be okay to trigger a short entry.

After triggering the entry, the next candle comes out as a bearish Doji candle. Things still look good. The sellers are going to grab some green pips!

No! The next candle comes out as a bullish Marubozu candle, which breaches the resistance of the Double Top. It wipes off the Sellers Stop Loss. The buyers may take control once the breakout is confirmed.

The Lesson

It does not matter how good a trade setup looks: it may fail. Thus, there is no reason to be too optimistic about any entry. We must calculate our Risk-Reward and have immaculate risk management with every single entry that we take in the market.

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

Daily FX Brief, October 29 – Major Trade Setups – Trade War Fear Fades!

The risk sentiment remains on today amid faded safe-haven appeal over-optimism from the U.S. China trade deal. Regarding Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson would still need support from the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party.

Notably, the 2-parties shown willingness to support a coming election if the Prime Minter Boris Johnson satisfies three conditions, no-deal Brexit is ruled out, no attempt to pass the PM’s Brexit deal before the election, and the election date is stipulated.

At the Fed front, the Federal Reserve is expected to deliver the rate cut by the 25-basis-points. As we are all well aware that this rate cut is counted as a 3rd-consecutive rate cut since July, markets are expecting the rate cut by 21-basis-points at the upcoming meeting on October 30 and the terminal velocity of 1.27% against the 1.88% currently.

The FOMC is expected to communicate patience in deciding future policy movements after the next week’s rate cut as they estimate the impact of the cuts which are delivered already. 

 

Economic Events to Watch Today

Let’s took at these fundamentals.


GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

Today in the early Asian session, the GBP/USD currency pair found on the bullish track according to the technical indicators. However, the strong bullish trend could remain difficult if the United Kingdom parliament again rejects Prime Minster Boris Jonhson December election proposal.

On the technical side, the 50-day Moving Average has ticked above the 100-day Moving Average, confirming a bullish cross for the first time after February.

The crossover shows a sequence of the recent rally from lows near 1.22, and so does the buyer’s flag marked on the 4-hour chart. As we are well aware that the Europan Union gave a Brexit extension of 3-months and the United Kingdom parliament has rejected Boris Johnson’s offer of snap elections.

The report came from an unknown source that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will request for another vote during the December election Tuesday, there are many possibilities of success as compared to the past way because thereby they just need a simple majority to succeed.

Looking ahead, Prime Minister Boris johnson would still need support from the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party. Notably, the two parties shown willingness to support a coming election if the Prime Minter Boris Johnson satisfies three conditions: no-deal Brexit is ruled out, there are no attempts to pass the PM’s Brexit deal before the election, and the election date is stipulated.

On the other hand, the United Kingdom housing prices, Consumer Credit, Money Supply, and Mortgage Approvals are scheduled to release during the European trading hours. Across the pond, the eyes will be on the U.S. Consumer Confidence data and Pending Home Sales. 

The GBP may challenge recent highs above 1.30, as hinted by technical studies if the Europan Parliament allows an early election. Notably, If the vote fails, then GBP could drop below support at 1.2788.

Daily Support and Resistance

S3 1.2727

S2 1.2789

S1 1.2826

Pivot Point 1.2851

R1 1.2888

R2 1.2914

R3 1.2976

GBP/USD– Trading Tips

The GBP/USD pair is trading at 1.2855 area, after gaining support at 1.2830. On Tuesday, the cable continues to trade choppy from 1.2950 – 1.2785. On the 4-hour chart, the bearish engulfing pattern is anticipated to hold the GBP/USD prices towards 1.2785 area today. 

The technical indicators such as the MACD and RSI are proposing neutral bias for the GBP/USD. Consider staying bullish above 1.2785 and bearish blow the same area to capture 30 pips on either side. 

 


USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY currency pair consolidates in the narrow range of 108.70 and 108.75, which is the strongest part of overnight trade until New York traders stepped in. This initiated a squeeze to as high as 109.04 3-months high, mainly due to the rise in the U.S. Treasury yields and certainty surrounding the United States and China trade relations.

The USD/JPY currency pair is currently trading at 108.98, flashing green on the day, having examined the 200-day M.A. line of 108.05 in the early Asian trading hours

President Donald Trump has fueled the market expectations by announcing that the United States is ahead of schedule to sign the first round of the United States and China trade deal ahead of when Xi and Trump are ready to meet in Chile next month. Moreover, the Chinese official said that most main parts of the deal basically completed already.

At the data front, the United States’ two-year Treasury yields rose from 1.63% to 1.67% – a one-month high, before steadying at 1.64%. The 10-year yield rose from 1.80% to 1.85%. United States benchmarks were also supported by the risk-on sentiment, with a fresh all-time closing high for the S&P 500, weighing on the Yen. 

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to deliver the rate cut by the 25-basis-points, as we all well aware that this rate cut is counted as a 3rd-consecutive rate cut since July while markets are expecting the rate cut by 21-basis-points at the upcoming meeting on October 30 and the terminal velocity of 1.27% against the 1.88% currently.

The FOMC is expected to communicate patience in deciding future policy movements after the next week’s rate cut as they estimate the impact of the cuts which are delivered already.      


Daily Support and Resistance

S3 108.13

S2 108.52

S1 108.75

Pivot Point 108.9

R1 109.13

R2 109.28

R3 109.66

 USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY currency pair has already violated the sideways trading range to hit our suggested target of 108.950 area. For now, the 108.800 level is likely to extend solid support to the USD/JPY currency pair. 

With the bullish breakout of the 108.800 level, the USD/JPY is expected to trade until 109.355 while the MACD and RSI are also supporting the bullish bias in the USD/JPY currency pair today.   


EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

During the Asian session, the EUR/USD currency pair consolidates in the narrow range around 1.100. However, during the Monday trading session, the couple was found on the bullish track and created a bullish inside day candlestick pattern, but the bullish moves could be capped due to hawkish expectation regarding the Federal Reserve rate cut and increase in the U.S. Treasury yields.

The EUR/USD currency pair closed at 0.19% up yesterday. Moreover, the bullish and bearish levels fell in Fridays trading range. As we know, the shared currency created a bullish inside day candle, which was showing by the chart.

The candlestick pattern arrangement is biased bullish. Although, the bullish trend in the pair could be reduced or continue to difficult because the Federal Reserve is expected to deliver the rate cut by the 25-basis-points during the Wednesday and lessen the need for an additional rate cut.

Therefore, heading toward the Federal Reserve rate cut decision, the United States Treasury yields could increase, keeping the greenback better buying. Notably, the ten-year yield has already increased by 14-basis-points, since the last 3-days

As of writing, the Treasury yield is found at 1.85%, and the EUR/USD currency pair is trading mostly flat on the day near 1.11.

On the other hand, the EUR currency may take hints from the German Bundesbank President Weidmann’s speech, which is scheduled to deliver at 09:50 GMT and the U.S. housing data and consumer confidence number expected to release at 14:00 GMT.

Daily Support and Resistance    

S3 1.1045

S2 1.107

S1 1.1085

Pivot Point 1.1096

R1 1.1111

R2 1.1121

R3 1.1147

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

As discussed before, the EUR/USD is trading below 1.1100 support becomes resistance area. Overall, the trend in the EUR/USD remains bearish below 1.1100, as we can also notice the leading indicators such as MACD and RSI. 

On the lower side, the EUR/USD may find support at 1.1065, and the violation of this level could extend sell-off until the 1.1020 area. On the upperside, the resistance prevails at 1.1115. A bullish breakout of 1.1115 can lead to 1.1160. Let’s for selling trades below 1.1110 today. 

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GK Invest Review

This broker is based in Indonesia and locally regulated by BAPPEBTI since 2005. GK Invest is a part of Global Kapital Group that also includes brands such as GKFX, GKFX Prime, and GK Pro. This is a large global corporation that encompasses 18 countries and 1 million clients. GK Invest did not apply for better regulatory supervision but this does not assume a bad value proposition to traders. This broker has put some effort to get closer to clients through solid marketing, tools, education, as well as in other areas that back up their promotions. Lately, GK Invest has officially become a sponsor of the Arsenal football club as a part of the GK group. How this mix delivers to the overall quality of service will be evaluated in the following sections.

Account Types

Some important information about the accounts on the GK Invest web site is missing, like the minimum deposit for each. A total of five account types is offered. They are scaled by minimum deposit, although we have divided them into two groups, one offers fixed spreads, the second variable spreads. Standard, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Account types all offer fixed spreads, 1:100 leverage, the same number of tradeable assets, commission, and the same stop out levels (10%). The other group with variable spreads consists of two accounts, Standard and ECN Zero. The ECN Account starts with 0 variable spreads but to our surprise, also with a 5 times larger commission.

An interesting offer to some parties is the “Multilateral” account option. To expand their modes asset trading range, GK Invest packed this option as something extra. Multilateral adds on commodity Futures trading with a mix of Gold, Oil, and Crude Palm Oil that is a specific commodity to Indonesia. This account option has limits to a minimum of 1 trade lot size, 60 million IDR (around $4261) minimum deposit, etc. No limits for withdrawals or deposit amounts. We are unsure if this is just a gimmick or interesting to Indonesia clients. Only USD and IDR as account currencies are possible.

Platforms

GK Invest is focused only on the Metatrader5 platform available in Web, Desktop and Mobile versions. Metatrader 5 is superior to MT4 in some aspects although many EAs and indicators are not yet available for MT5. This can be also perceived through the Market tab within the MT5 and the MT4 platform. GK Invest allows any type of EAs and trading strategies and they even state that you should backtest them first before going live.
The MT5 platform quickly connected to the server, everything set up to MT5 defaults. The execution times on the desktop MT5 are just below 200ms, good enough for fast trading strategies. The platform is updated to the latest version.

Leverage

Leverage is always constant with GK Invest. Whatever account you select the leverage will be 1:100. This level is enough for normal risk management strategies. For traders that rely on small accounts and highly leveraged trading will be disappointed. Stop Out levels are fixed to 10% regardless of account type.

Trade Sizes

GK Invest decided to ditch micro-lots and go with 0.1 minimum trade size. The step-up volume is also 0.1 lot. The maximum one trade can carry is set to 50 lots. This kind of trading environment is too rigid for any risk-sensitive strategies. By our estimations, anything below $1000 deposit could be considered overexposed with a minimum of 0.1 lot trade size. The Multilateral Account has a minimum trade size of 1 lot although this is a different type of commodity trading.

Trading Costs

GK Invest has a $2 commission applicable to all account types. The only exception is the ECN Zero account with the $10 commission. The swaps are a bit different across account types but all are within normal ranges. EUR/USD swap is 0.5 positive and -3.5 negative. Market information documents are very detailed and clear. Each account type has an associated market information document although not in English.

Note that we have noticed a fee statement from $2 to $30 depending on the account type, during the real account registration process at step 2. We are not sure why this information is not in correlation with the commissions ($2-$10).

Assets

The asset range is modest by all means. None of the categories are wide enough to be considered a specialty of GK Invest. Forex has a total of 27 pairs. As per GK Invest’s statement, they try to differentiate by offering less liquid currency pairs, but we did not find any exotics, not even the local IDR, just the major cross pairs.

Indicies range is limited to majors and also tradeable like Futures CFD. A total of 6 major indices are listed on the MT5 platform, like the S&P 500, Dax, Dow Jones, and the rest.
Metals category is present but limited to just Silver and Gold. The trading session has a one-hour trade break every day. Although this is common with all brokers, GK Invest is also missing quotes feed during that time.

The commodity category offer is almost non-existent. Crude Oil is the only asset offered here, apart from the Palm Oil available only with the MULTILATERAL Account. GK Invest mentioned WTI and Brent oil, but these are not listed in the MT5 platform.

Company stocks category is, as with the rest of the GK Invest offer, very limited to major big, popular companies only. We fount a total of 16 companies like Microsoft, Alibaba, Amazon, Google, Netflix, although Apple is not on the list.

Note that GK Invest has an interesting category named “Inactive”. This list of assets that do not receive any signal from the servers has some instruments not found in the categories above. We can only assume that this may be a future expansion plan for the GK Invest assets offer.

Spreads

GK Invest has both variable and fixed type spreads, depending on the account type. ECN Zero states spread from 0 pips, in practice, the MT5 platform showed at least 1.3 pips for the EUR/USD. This value went up to 3.7 pips for the Standard fixed account type. In the metals category, the spread started from 37 to 60 pips for the XAU/USD. Interestingly, for WTI Oil futures, the spread was just 0.5 pips, significantly lower comparing to other brokers. S&P 500 always had 10 pips spread regardless of the account type.

Minimum Deposit

GK Invest stated that the minimum deposit is $200, although this does not apply to all account types. The Multilateral Account requires around $4200 or 60 million IDR.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only possible method is by bank wire. The transaction cost is the sole responsibility of the client. If you make a transfer from a bank other than BCA (Bank Central Asia) or transfer it in USD, there may be a transfer fee charged by the bank. GKInvest does not charge any fees for the deposit process. This bank also holds segregated GK Invest client accounts.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

GK Invest deals only with the bank wire fund transactions, so as with deposits. The costs are covered by the broker. Note that the minimum amount for withdrawal is $10 or 100.000 IDR. The absence of Credit cards also means that investors do not have a consumer protection policy that VISA and MasterCard companies offer. Withdrawal requests are limited to once per day.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal processing is done in 1 business day by GK Invest. For the local Indonesian clients, the amount should be reflected in their bank account within 24 hours. For international transfers, it depends on the bank but not longer than 7 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is no information about any kind of bonuses or promotions. For this reason, we assume there is none.

Educational & Trading Tools

GK Invest put some effort into education and some tools. The approach is genuine and careful to beginners and this leaves a nice impression on the visitors. The education section contains courses, videos, and webinars. Courses are just a few pages about general trading and provide some good and practical information on how to start everything up. Basic but important terms are nicely explained. The MT5 platform elementals are also very good for beginners.

There are no marketing biases to this material. The videos section does not contain high-quality material although there is one original webinar video that is 33 minutes long. Some educational sections are not complete like the webinar and weekly analysis. Still, a lot of updated content could be found on the GK Invest Facebook page, as well as other social media. Surprisingly, the GK Invest YouTube channel has a vast array of trading videos, some even longer than 1 hour. It remains unclear why the website webinar section is not complete.

The GK Invest tools offer is above average as it contains the Economic Calendar, simple profit Calculator based on pips and lots, Currency Converter, Trading Central, AutoChartist, News, the MT5 Booster, FIX API, and the free VPS service.

The Economic Calendar has great features and is completely custom made. The filter options are numerous and useful, although maybe a bit cluttered. Each event is described with a full-width history movement chart, source link, impact meter and filter with the saving ability.

Trading Central services are available and with the full ability to insert the signals and indicators to the desktop MT5 platform. Clients would need to contact GK Invest support for installation.

GK Invest’s MT5 Booster is a package of their proprietary set of indicators and applications for the MT5 platform. This package is for clients who deposit at least $2500 and features a more advanced Alarm Manager that can close positions, a custom Trade Terminal, Correlation Matrix, a kind of sentiment indicator, Session Map, better Market Watch, Excel RTD app, and a Mini Terminal.

The News service is updated with some basic technical analysis such as support levels, pivot, etc. This is maybe the least usable element of the GK Invests’ tools as it does not provide the information quality that more advanced traders may need.

Finally, the AutoChartist service is available and the page is oriented to present the possibilities and how to set it up. To wrap it up, GK Invest additionally offers VPS service as well as FIX API.

Customer Service

The GK Invest shows professionalism within their support staff. The chat service is available on the website but it seems just to send the message like an email. Still, the approach to the client is professional and ethical. All the support desks are neatly presented with a specific email, phone number and working hours. GK Invest would have above-average customer support if not for the missing chat feature.

Demo Account

GK Invest has a well-designed sign-up process for the Demo Account. The email you will receive will contain both the credentials for the MT5 platform and the client’s area on the web site. The demo account will show the swaps but not the commissions of a real account. Leverage, spreads, and the rest of the real environment should be reflected within the demo. After 30 days of inactivity, the account will be closed, although traders can always open a new one easily.

Countries Accepted

Since the complete GK Invest website and the material contained is not in English we assume that this broker accepts clients from Indonesia only.

Conclusion

During 2019, this broker claimed the number one spot in Indonesia in the transaction volume category within the Futures Exchange. Also, GK Invest holds the best broker award in 2018 for Indonesia. The local regulation does not have the prestige, insurance, and some other benefits that the largest have like the FCA, NFA, etc, but still, GK Invest shows a very detailed and secure way of accepting business. The drawback is the asset range, not open to international clients, one deposit/withdrawals method, and somewhat high trading costs compared to other brokers. Note that GK Invest offers ECN accounts but may also act as a market maker.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

eMarketsTrade Review

Visitors to the eMarketTrade’s web site will not understand what kind of broker this is. There is nothing that points out to a company except a single instance: “Kalessica Limited” in the footer. There is no location or anything mentioned about this company. After some research, we found out this is a company in Cyprus without any license to offer CFD or any kind of digital assets trading. The origin of the capital points to Bulgaria, one of gathering places for scam and prohibited broker companies from Israel. Still, we will cover each section for additional research and present what traders can expect.

Account Types

There are six account types, a table of packages scaled to the deposit level. Moreover, eMarketsTrade has two products CryptoFX and SimplexCrypto. They are the same thing except the Simplexcrypto is more tailored to beginners and is just a platform layout, not a product per se. The most affordable account type is the Bronze Chain starting from a $2.500 deposit. This account has the least of 18 features listed possible and is limited to Trading on the platform, Daily market review, webinars, and Financial market introduction.

The next tier account is Silver Chain, adding on top a Personal manager, Risk management Team and no maintenance fee. This Account type requires at least a $5000 deposit. As we go up to Gold, Platinum, and Diamond Chain type, the rest of the features are available as well as the higher deposit requirement. The Diamond Chain Account requires a $100.000 deposit with all the options like Welcome Bonus, Diamond Chain bonus, Executive crypto indicator, etc. Overall, the deposit requirements are among the highest we have seen in the industry, especially when looking at the VIP Account that requires a $250.000 deposit.

Most of the features overlap with the same function and few fees relief (like the maintenance and the withdrawal fee) that are not mentioned in the eMarketsTrade Terms and Conditions. Account types do not differ by offering a different trading environment or spreads, just by added features similar in nature.

Platforms

There is only one platform available through the web and its origin is not clear. Once a client registers, he will be able to see it after skipping the deposit process. There are two layouts CryptoFX and SimplexCrypto, also presented as products on the eMarketsTrade web site. SimplexCrypto layout hides the chart completely and lists cryptocurrencies and tokens only. To trade, clients just need to click the “invest” button. This is an attempt by eMarketsTrade to hide complex looking parts and make everything simple for beginners. CryptoFX layout includes the chart and all the available assets to trade.

The chart is based on TradingView although the same chart for BTC/USD showed a completely different price level from the TradingView.com web site chart. This was a very weird issue and seemed like a fake presentation. This was confirmed when refreshing the chart after some time. The price spike candle was always shiting to the right like it never happened before. After 15 minutes another spike is presented on eMarketsTrade chart except for this time it was a bullish candle, without a trace of the previous one.

To the right traders will see the market news feed from Investing.com that are updated but they cannot be filtered for any category, just randomly listed as they come out. Still, the news is very good and can be of use. The platform supports pending orders, take profit and stop loss that can be set by price or in pips distance. Besides, the orders can be set to expire. On the left side of the platform is the instruments list that can be set to view as a list or box, with some basic information about the daily change and current ask/bid. The spread is not presented anywhere on the platform, even manually it is hard to calculate unless using a screenshot as the price updates every second.

On top, the chart features different styles of price representation so traders can set to view as Heikin Ashi, Area, Hollow candles, Bars, etc. Indicators can be added and there is over 70 most popular. We have noticed an issue when adding any indicators that had a volume factor in their formula as none of them appeared on the chart. Even the simple Volume is not visible like it is blocked. Anyway, the rest worked as intended and could be set like with the TradingView. An additional feature is the comparison of different assets for any trader that wants to identify correlation patterns. Traders can also draw lines, shapes, channels, add text, etc.

Apart from the eMarketsTrade web platform, the mobile version is presented on the web site. When downloaded for Google Play, traders will also receive the $20 bonus, $50 free trade if you like the app and review it, and for deposits of $1000 – two Diamond Chan Account type signals. Unfortunately, we found out that the app does not exist on Google Play, all these pages and promotions are in vain.

Leverage

The leverage levels are not known. According to the eMarketsTrade support by default is 1:100. We have measured this form the platform to confirm this leverage level. For Crypto, the leverage was 1:20 and for Metals 1:10.

Trade Sizes

By looking at the web platform we did not find anything less than 1 for Bitcoin, which is very high. For Currencies, trade sizes are in units, from 1000 or 0.01 lots. The same trading size options are given for all Forex pairs. For Gold trade size was from 0.1 units and for Indices 1 unit.

Trading Costs

eMarketsTrade does not have commissions. No information on other fees is available except some are mentioned in the Account types comparison that we were unable to confirm. The trading cost falls to swaps only and they are under normal levels. None of the swap levels are positive for any trading instrument however for BTC swaps are low compared to other brokers at -1.5 points. EUR/USD, on the other hand, had -27 points on both, long and short sides. Higher than for example USD/CNY that had -25 on both sides. Generally, the swaps did not have any difference whether a trader goes long or short, all instruments had the same or similar negative swaps.

Assets

If traders select the CryptoFX layout in the platform, all the assets will be listed. eMarketsTrade has an average number of assets and focuses on cryptocurrencies.
Forex offer covers all the majors, minors and some exotic pairs like the USD/CNY, USD/RUB, and Scandinavian currencies (DKK, SEK, NOK) making a total of 32 pairs.
Stocks are limited to 24 companies and banks, like Apple, Ferrari, Nvidia, Facebook, all well known to a wider audience.

In the metals and the commodities range, eMarketsTrade does not have much to offer considering they are specialized in crypto. A total of 3 metals and just two commodities – Natural Gas and Oil. Gold, Silver, Platinum are available from the metals category.
Finally, where eMarketsTrade shines – Cryptocurrencies. On the list are Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, DASH, Ethereum, Ripple, Monero, NewEconomyMovement, Stellar Lumens, Zcash, IOTA, NEO, Cardano, and Golem token. All these cryptocurrencies are also available to trade in Bitcoin crosses like LTC/BTC, IOTA/BTC and the like. This range of crypto is certainly above average comparing to other brokers.

Spreads

The main issue is that the trading conditions and spreads are nowhere on the eMarketsTrade website. Whatsmore, their platform does not show the spread at all. There is no document to ask or download, so we had to calculate manually. Starting from the BTC/USD, the spread is around 200 pips which are way above any average industry benchmark. A similar spread percentage follows other cryptocurrencies. Forex spreads are also a bit weird, EUR/USD is at 7 pips, but GBP/USD is just 0.4 pips. Where USD/JPY is 4 pips where a more exotic USD/CNY is 3 pips. We are not sure if this is in purpose to keep the spreads high for more popular pairs or just the issue with eMarkeststrade liquidity providers.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is confirmed bu the support to be at $250. The information on the Account types seems to be just marketing, including the fees that do not apply in practice. Therefore, the first tier package called Bronze Chain requiring a $2500 minimum deposit is not the actual minimum you need to start trading with eMarketsTrade.

Deposit Methods & Costs

After registration and getting access to the trading room clients will be presented with deposit options. We can confirm that only Credit/Debit Cards are available through the Vogue Pay service processor or using the Vogue Pay wallet itself. This payment service processor is from Nigeria with solid ratings. There are no fees charged by the eMarketsTrade for deposits. The maximum deposit transaction amount is $10.000.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The initial deposit will be funded to the Credit/Debit Card used. Any profits will be funded using a bank transfer. The minimum withdrawal to a credit card is $25 and for bank transfer is $100. In other words, if your balance is lower than $25 you will not be able to withdraw. Also, if you have a profit below $100 mark, eMarketsTrade will not allow bank transfer withdrawal. There are no fees for withdrawals charged by the broker, despite the features stated in the Account Types section.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Once all the client documents are verified, eMarketsTrade will process the withdrawals as soon as possible, although the exact time frame is not stated within the Withdrawal of funds Policy document. Usually, it should not take more than 7 days for bank transfer but the support staff cannot confirm this.

Bonuses & Promotions

The bonus is featured everywhere on the eMarketTrade web site. Ther is also a Bonus document stating all the conditions. The bonus amount seems flexible and you can probably make a deal with the broker. As with many bonus types, a certain amount of trading volume is required for the bonus to be released. In the case of eMarketsTrade, it is 40 times the bonus and deposit amount. Bonuses are not reversible, so you cannot ask to cancel it. The conditions are too complex in case a trader does not reach the required turnover, what we have concluded that a trader should be able to withdraw their initial deposit in case of realized profits, but in case of a loss, it could mean many consequences that are not described. We are not able to confirm negative balance protection from this broker.

Educational & Trading Tools

The Academy section provides material that looks like is taken from other sources (MTE-Media) as the Metatrader platform which is not supported by eMarketsTrade is also described. The ebooks collection will be fully available once a trade has registered, no deposit is necessary. The quality is average but a lot of trading content is covered.
The analysis section is divided into Technical and market summaries. Videos could not start no matter how hard we tried. The technical is fresh but mostly basic without any deep and accurate analysis. Market summaries are almost useless as they come down to arrow showing up or down as a suggestion for each of the listed assets.

The Economic Calendar is available and it is basic without any filters or features. The description for each event is good though. The Market News section is fresh and updated daily. Most of the news id focused on cryptocurrencies and is very short and does not give any insight although good to make traders interested and find out more on the internet.

Customer Service

The representatives are not working full time, 9-5 pm and Fridays until 1 pm. The broker is available by phone, chat, and email. The quality of service you will get is not good, the support staff will answer your questions sporadically, and ignore if you are not a potential client. Comparing to the industry standard the support service is below average.

Demo Account

At first look, there is no demo available. eMarketsTrade does not want traders to practice on their platform as they may notice the inconsistencies with the price movement. Anyone interested to see the platform without investing can do it by skipping the deposit step and log in with the email and password. The support will not tell you this is possible but guide you to make a minimum deposit. We are unsure if they are willing to fund that demo account.

Countries Accepted

The United States of America and Israel residents are not accepted. Also, some other countries that eMarketsTrade deems unacceptable.

Conclusion

This unregulated broker has some user reviews on broker benchmarking sites and all are very negative. Many have reported manipulation of various kinds, money extortion, conditional withdrawals, hyping and trading on their own will, using TeamViewer and other similar remote control applications to access client’s sensitive data such as bank statements, and many more red flags. As for trading, the biggest strength of eMarketsTrade is in the cryptocurrencies, although the spreads alone will divert anyone who understands the basics of trading.

Categories
Forex Daily Topic

To Reinvest or Not Reinvest, That is the Question

That is one key issue when trading. Should I stick with the same trade size, or is it better to compute trade size based on the account balance?

In his book “The mathematics of money management, Ralf Vince answers that question simply and elegantly, so let’s follow Ralph’s steps to dissect this topic.

No Easy Answer

The question of reinvestment or not can’t be answered directly. Let’s see an example where a wining system becomes a loser by reinvest.

Table 1 – System A

In System A, we have two trades. In the first trade making 50% and -40% in the second one, for a total profit of 10%. If we take the same sequence and reinvest, the system loses 10%.

Table 2 – System B

Using System B, we see there is a gain of 15%, followed by a loss of 5% for a total of 10% gain. This system also nets 10% without reinvestment, but it continues being a winner with reinvestment.

Changing the order of the sequence does not alter the final result, provided none of the trades leads the account to a broke (because then the second trade would not be happening). You can make your own calculations, but multiplication is commutative, isn’t it?: 

 A*(1 +0.15)* (1 -0.05) = A*(1 -0.05)*(1 +0.15)

Geometrical Mean: Key to Qualify Systems under Reinvestment

Let’s add two one-point winners to system A, and two one-point losers to system B.

Table 3 – System A

Table 4 – System B

Now we will take as a reference a typical bank account paying one point per period. 

Table 5 – System C

We already know that system B is the optimal one for reinvesting, but, let’s see which parameter defines the optimal system to fulfill our objective to maximize profits under reinvestment. How could we determine which system is the best for reinvesting, given we had only the information of its non-reinvesting performance?

By percentage of winners, system C will be the winner, by average trade or by total dollars the winner is system A. Risk/reward or lowest drawdown is not the answer. If that was the answer, then we should move our money to a bank account.

 We know system B has the right mix of profitability and consistency, and systems A and C lack one of these properties. So how to measure this mix?

According to Vince, the right formula is the Geometric Mean, which is the Nth root of what he calls “Terminal Wealth Relative” (TWR), where N is the number of trades. TWR is the cumulative amount we would obtain if the initial amount of the trading account were 1 instead of 100. 

TWR = (1+%R1)*(1+%R2)*… (1+%RN)

Where %Ri is the percent returns on each trade.  

A simpler formula to express TWR is:

TWR = Final Capital / Starting Capital 

      And these are the  TWR of our systems :

Table 6 – TWR   

    By taking the square roof of the N trades we obtain

Geometric Mean (G) = TWR^(1/N)

G = (Final Cap/Starting Cap)^(1/Nr of trades)

     Let’s see the G of our sample systems  

  Table 7 – Geometric Mean   

From table 7 we can see that the best performer in terms of geometric Mean is System B.

Final words

The Geometric Mean is the growth factor per trade. A system with the highest G is the system that makes the most profit and grows the fastest on a reinvestment basis. 

G less than one means the system is not profitable and would lose money when using reinvestment.

If we obtain a G = 0, it means we went broke because anything multiplied by zero is still zero, and G is a multiplicative function. Any big losing trade will have a powerful effect in G. That is a mathematical way of saying, “cut your losses short.”

As Ralf Vince put it: “in trading, you are only as smart as your dumbest mistake.


Reference: The Mathematics of Money Management, Chapter 1.

The examples of this article were taken from Ralph Vince’s book, although the formulas were checked and computed using an Excel spreadsheet.

Categories
Forex Videos

Predicting Long Term Trends In Forex – Assessing Directional Bias

Assessing Directional Bias – Predicting Long Term Trends

Directional bias and personal bias, i.e., the feeling that the markets will either go up or down, should not be confused because they are two entirely different factors relating to trading.
When it comes to personal bias, a lot of traders are right, but not necessarily at the right time! In fact, one of the safest bets in trading is that traders who hang on to trades that are going against them, because they have a biased opinion of the market, are the types of traders who regularly lose money. Therefore, the longer you hang on to a losing trade because of your biased opinion about the market, the more likely you are negatively affect your win to loss ratio.
There is an old saying in the market is; buy the rumor and sell the fact! And rumors abound in the markets. In fact, more so now than ever before, and especially with the advent of Twitter and the myriad of news release platforms. Indeed, it will probably have been from one of these that you formed your biased opinion in the first place.

Another problem with personal bias, and especially when it comes to retail traders, is that at what level do you define the value in a given exchange rate? A level that might seem correct to you might not be the same level as a large hedge fund, or institution, or, more importantly, a sovereign wealth fund or government!
When it comes to directional bias, traders want to see that their technical tools are working hand in hand with fundamental analysis and sentiment. After all, when we are all singing from the same hymn sheet, so to speak, this is when primary trends tend to develop.

So, if you do have a personal bias towards the market direction, the best time to run with that (to open Spot trades) is when you have the technicals, fundamentals, and sentiment backing you up. In other words, wait for the market to come to you and don’t go chasing it!
Let’s take a look at example A. This is the British pound against the US dollar, also known as Cable. The best way to read a chart is from left to right because it tells a story. In this particular chart of the 1-hour time frame, we can see that price action levelled off at the 1.22 exchange rate. Prior to this, directional bias was to the downside for this pair. This was due to the fact that Britain is getting closer to the 31st of October deadline, where it could possibly leave the European Union without a withdrawal agreement in place, thus crashing out, which would have been detrimental for the British economy. But at the point on the chart where the upward arrow has commenced, the European Union agreed to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations and thereby potentially opening the door to a managed divorce between the UK and the eurozone. Market sentiment changed at this point. Fundamental analysis also changed at this point because when the United Kingdom voted in the 2016 referendum to leave the European Market, the danger was that we would leave without a deal, and this caused the depreciation of the pound. However, with a mutually beneficial Withdrawal Agreement in place and backed by a strong economy, the pound was heavily perceived by the markets to be undervalued and, therefore, ready for a bull run.

The subsequent strong push higher in Cable to the 1.24 level and the lack of a pullback from that exchange rate meant that technical traders could see that everything was in position for a continuation in directional bias to the upside. And so from the 1.22 level, it was a case of when to get in and buy into the potential bull run during pullbacks and corrections.

Let’s go back to our chart and take a look at example ‘B,’ where we have added a blue trendline and some areas of support and resistance. The first thing to point out is that a previously a ceiling, just below trendline ‘A’ has been breached to the upside. Price action continues to just above trendline ‘B,’ where we see a slight pullback and then a flattening of price action. Level ‘B’ then becomes a level of support. This came about shortly after an announcement by the European Union to reopen the UK Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and enter into fresh negotiations. Price action continues to surge before pulling back to the area of support marked ‘C.’ Price continues to move up to various points or resistance before pulling back to areas of support found at ‘D,’ ‘E,’ ‘F’ and ‘G,’ thus providing traders with a strong directional bias the upside. Each level of support is defined by the blue trendline, which is drawn at the base of the pullbacks and where this trendline acts as a simple moving average.

Here at Forex.Academy, we strongly recommend you incorporate your own trading style and methodology with technical and fundamental analysis and market sentiment and let the trend be your friend.

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

Daily FX Brief, October 28 – Major Trade Setups – Risk-off Sentiment Plays! 

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index climbed 0.2% on the day to 97.83 on Friday. Over the weekend, the trade negotiators of the U.S. and China “agreed to resolve their core concerns properly and confirmed that the technical consultations of some of the text agreement were completed,” as per the given report released by China’s Ministry of Commerce.

The pound lost 0.2% to $1.2823. It is reported that French President Emmanuel Macron blocked the European Union’s attempt to delay Brexit for three months. On Sunday, the media reported that the E.U. hopes to agree on Monday to delay Britain’s departure to January 31 with an option to exit earlier.

The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1080. The German IFO Business Climate Index was flat on the month at 94.6 in October (94.5 expected).

 

Economic Events to Watch Today

Let’s took at these fundamentals.

 


GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD currency pair got some benefits from the news that the European Union is ready to permit a 3-months Brexit delay to the United Kingdom. As of writing, the GBP/USD currency pair taking buying to 1.2825 in the Asian trading hours.

The Guadian news agency freshly covered a story through saying that the European Union (E.U.) is ready to sign a deal that will offer a three-month Brexit delay, to January 31, 2020, with an option for the United Kingdom (U.K.) to leave earlier if a deal is approved.

 

The news reports reduced the scope of any further negotiations to the agreed deal with an option for the United Kingdom (U.K.) to leave earlier if a deal is approved.

Moreover, it also said that the United Kingdom has the responsibility to choose a candidate for the European Commission. The Prime Minister has said earlier that he will not present the nominee.

With the European Union on its way to reduce the scope of no-deal Brexit, a formal announcement will be expected during Monday’s European Union and British session to trigger drama in the United Kingdom, where signs for snap elections will be sparkled.

 

Notably, the greenback mostly supported by the recent positive sentiment between the United States and China trade talks and has Chicago Fed National Activity Index for September, -0.37 expected against 0.10 previous, up for publishing on the economic calendar.


Daily Support and Resistance

S3 1.2714

S2 1.2773

S1 1.28

Pivot Point 1.2832

R1 1.2859

R2 1.289

R3 1.2949

GBP/USD– Trading Tips

Following a bullish channel breakout, the GBP/USD pair is bearish at 1.2835 area. Overall, the Cable is keeping a choppy series of 1.2950 – 1.2785. On the 4-hour chart, the bearish engulfing pattern is expected to keep the GBP/USD prices towards 1.2785 area today. 

The MACD and RSI indicators are suggesting in the selling zone, maintaining the bearish trend in the GBP/USD. Consider staying bullish above 1.2832 today. 

 


XAU/USD – Daily Analysis

The safe-haven metal prices hit the bullish track despite the tension eased between the United States and China and reduce trade concerns as well. The U.S. Gold Futures gained 0.2% to $1,506.6. 

The yellow-metal prices are high, almost 17% on the year due to the investors runs toward the safe-haven assets in the wake of currency devaluations, slowdown fears, and other tension, including China and Iran.

The bullish trend in the gold prices came today even after the tension easing between the United States and China. As well as U.S. President Donald Trump said that the discussions with China have reached on the progressed track and gave a hint that deal is come to an end, as China wants to get a contract very seriously.

On the other hand, the United States Federal Reserve policy decision is scheduled to deliver on Wednesday, whereas the central bank is broadly expected to deliver its 3rd-rate cut during this year.

 

Instead, traders will be excited to know if the rate cut this week would be the end of the easing cycle, or if more cuts are on the cards.

The Federal Reserve rate cut decision is scheduled to deliver just an hour after the report on the United States’ 3rd-quarter GDP, which is anticipated to show that the economy increased 1.7% during the -months to September, decreasing from 25 during the 2nd quarter.


Daily Support and Resistance

    

S3 1472.9

S2 1490.32

S1 1497.42

Pivot Point 1507.74

R1 1514.84

R2 1525.16

R3 1542.58

XAU/USD – Trading Tips

 

Gold is trading bearish below 1,514 trading level, which is the triple top level. The gold price soared sharply to place a high around 1,517, but the gains were in checked, and gold slid to close nearby 1,505 level. 

On the daily chart, gold’s ascending triangle pattern of gold is yet intact, and it may retain gold bearish under 1,514 and bullish over 1,496 till the breakout occurs.

 


EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

The EUR/USD currency pair found on the 3-week bullish rally since January 2018. Whereas, the pair has closed its trading session at 1.1079 on Friday, confirming a bearish break of the trendline connecting October 11 and October 15 highs. However, the EUR/USD currency pair may take a strong buying in the Europan trading hours due to trade optimism headlines. 

During the Friday, the United States officials said that the discussions with China have reached on the progressed track and gave a hint that the deal has come to an end. Moreover, President Donald Trump asked for congress to pass the USCMA trade pact and said that China wants a trade agreement.

On the other hand, the bullish trend in the EUR/USD currency pair could be limited due to Brexit uncertainty. Additionally, the strong bullish moves couldn’t be seen due to the data calendar has been dull in the European session, and investors may remain cautious ahead of Federal Reserves rate decision, which is scheduled to release on October 30. The market is expecting the 25-basis-points rate cut, but the market focus will be on the hint by the meetings due to there is a divided opinion. It should be noted that the European Central Bank’s outgoing President Draghi is scheduled to speak at 15:00 GMT. The central bank head is likely to reiterate the dovish stance.



Daily Support and Resistance

S3 1.0992

S2 1.1042

S1 1.1061

Pivot Point 1.1092

R1 1.1111

R2 1.1142

R3 1.1192

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

The EUR/USD has broken the 1.1100 support point, and presently it’s trading right over the bullish trendline, which is increasing support at 1.1065 regions. At the same time, the 50 periods EMA is also increasing support at 1.1065 zone, which also marks 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level. The next resistance visits at 1.1092/1.1100. 

All the best!  

Categories
Forex Assets

All you need before trading the EUR/USD Pair

The EUR/USD pair tracks the exchange rate of the Euro against the US Dollar. Since this pair represents a combination of the two stronger economies in the world, it is the most traded asset in Forex, and, therefore, the one with higher liquidity and less spread and slippage.

The value assigned represents how many US dollars are needed to buy a single EUR. That is, the quote is presented as 1 euro per x US dollars. For example, the current value is 1.1079, which means a trader needs to use 1.1079 dollars for every Euro he is willing to buy.

EUR/USD SPECIFICATIONS

LOT SIZE 100,000 EUR
MAGIN CURR. EUR
DIGITS 5
PIP VALUE $10
MIN TRADE SIZE 0.01 LOTS
MAX TRADE SIZE 1000 LOTS
AVERAGE 24H  VOLUME $575 BILLION

 

Spread

Spread is the difference between the bid and the ask prices. The EUR/USD spread varies depending on the account type. 

ECN: 0.3 pip

STP: 1 pip

Fees

The broker charges a fee per lot on ECN accounts, and usually, no fee on STP accounts The usual fee on an STP broker is from 6 to 10 pips per round trip and lot. Other

Slippage: Slippage is the difference between the trader’s intended price and the real price he received from the broker. It depends on the current volatility at the moment of the order. Slippage can be in favor of or against the trader.

Depending on the broker’s execution speed, slippage can be as low as 0.5pip or as high as 3 pips. 

Note:  Slippage happens twice: At the open and the close of a position.

Trading Ranges:

The following trading range tables measure the min, average, and max volatility of the asset at different timeframes.  Range figures usually multiply by the square root of two for every doubling of the timframe. That is, if the hourly timeframe volatility is 1, its 2h timeframe will show 1.41 on the same date. Trading ranges are useful tools to assess the risk. If the hourly volatility of the EURUSD is 20 pips, it means a potential $200 gain or loss in an hourly time span ( 20 pips + $10 value per pip).

The values shown depict ranges occurring at the moment of the creation of this document. The trader should assess the actual values at the moment of his trading activity.

        EUR/USD PIP RANGES  

MIN AVERAGE MAX
1H 5.9 10.4 26
2H 8.5 14.5 37
4H 13 22.1 49
D 45 64 114
W 119 160 210
M 290 537 918

  

Procedure to assess Pip Ranges

  1. Add the ATR indicator to your chart
  2. Set the period to 1
  3. Add a 200-period SMA to this indicator
  4. Shrink the chart so you can assess a large time period
  5. Select your desired timeframe
  6. Measure the floor level and set this value as the min
  7. Measure the level of the 200-period SMA and set this as the average
  8. Measure the peak levels and set this as Max.

EURUSD Cost as a percent of the Trading Range

To compute the costs, we add the trading fee, an average slippage value x 2 converted to pips, and we calculate what percent represents the min, average, and max of the ranges, assuming a range represents the amount of potential profit for one unit of time.

ECN MODEL ACCOUNT

ECN MIN AVERAGE MAX
Total 3.3 1H 55.93% 31.73% 12.69%
Slippage 2 2H 38.82% 22.76% 8.92%
Spread 0.3 4H 25.38% 14.93% 6.73%
Trading_Fee 1 D 7.33% 5.16% 2.89%
W 2.77% 2.06% 1.57%
M 1.14% 0.61% 0.36%

 

STP MODEL ACCOUNT

STP MIN AVERAGE MAX
Total 3.5 1H 59.32% 33.65% 13.46%
Slippage 2 2H 41.18% 24.14% 9.46%
Spread 1.5 4H 26.92% 15.84% 7.14%
Trading_Fee 0 D 7.78% 5.47% 3.07%
W 2.94% 2.19% 1.67%
M 1.21% 0.65% 0.38%

 

Best EUR/USD timeframe for trading

From the above charts, we see that hourly charts show a very high cost on entries with low volatility ( the Min column) therefore to trade these timeframes, traders need to spot the surges in volatility and be right most of the time to compensate for the 50%+ costs.

Intraday traders’ best timeframe is, definitively 4H, although the should optimize the costs using proper assessment of the volatility.

In both cases, strategies that take away slippage using limit orders would dramatically reduce costs and improve the results.

As an example, these are the results if we take away slippage using limit orders in entries and exits on an ECN account.

ECN MIN AVERAGE MAX
Total 1.3 1H 22.03% 12.50% 5.00%
Slippage 0 2H 15.29% 8.97% 3.51%
Spread 0.3 4H 10.00% 5.88% 2.65%
Trading_Fee 1 D 2.89% 2.03% 1.14%
W 1.09% 0.81% 0.62%
M 0.45% 0.24% 0.14%

 

We can see a percentual reduction of over 50% in costs, compared to market orders with slippage.

Categories
Forex Harmonic

The Cypher Pattern

The Cypher Pattern

The Cypher Pattern is another type of Harmonic Pattern – except it isn’t – but it is. This is one of the few patterns not identified by Scott Carney. Darren Oglesbee discovered this particular pattern.

This pattern is very similar to the Butterfly in both it’s construction and where it typically will occur (near the end of trends). However, the Cypher Pattern is a rare pattern and not one that shows up with a high amount of frequency. Don’t confuse rarity with being more powerful or profitable. I do not know enough about this pattern, nor have I had the opportunity to trade it enough to gauge it’s ‘power’ versus its peers. All I do know is that in the times I have traded it, its positive expectancy rate is high, no different than a Bat or Alternative Bat in my experience. The same goes for the Crab and Deep Crab, for that matter. Just like all of the other Harmonic Patterns that you will have learned about, the Cypher has specific rules and conditions that must be met for it to be a specified Cypher pattern.

Cypher Confirmation Conditions

  1. B must retrace to an expansive range between 38.2% and 61.8% of XA. At least 38.2% but not exceeding 61.8%
  2. C is an extension leg and moves beyond A – but must move to at least 127.2%, but it is normal for it to go as far as the 113% – 141.4%. It is considered invalid if it moves beyond the 141.4%
  3. CD leg should break the 78.6% level of XC.
  4. The PRZ (Potential Reversal Zone) of D is a wide range where the price must get to. Price can move anywhere between 38.2% to 61.8%.

I’ve created a simplified approach to how to ‘see’ this pattern.

Simplified Approach (Bullish Cypher)

  1. C must be higher than A.
  2. D must be less than B but greater than X.
  3. We should see a higher high (C > A) and a higher low (D > X).

Simplified Approach (Bearish Cypher)

  1. C must be less than A.
  2. D must be more than B but less than X.
  3. The same approach as above, reverse: lower high (D < X) and a lower low (C < A).

This pattern can be confusing (all harmonic patterns can be complicated), but in a nutshell, what we see happening with the Cypher pattern is the first pullback/throwback of a trend (B). After B, the small pullback/throwback of B occurs with the C leg. From a bullish perspective, when we see prices making lower highs and lower lows, but there is no follow-through shorting pressure, we should be on the lookout for some powerful and influential moves to occur in a very short period of time. It is not uncommon to see a bullish candle engulf several days of consolidation with this pattern.

 

Sources: Carney, S. M. (2010). Harmonic trading. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.  Gilmore, B. T. (2000). Geometry of markets. Greenville, SC: Traders Press.  Pesavento, L., & Jouflas, L. (2008). Trade what you see: how to profit from pattern recognition. Hoboken: Wiley.

Categories
Forex Videos

Forex Fundamental Analysis part 2 – Traders Who Ignore This Will Fail

Fundamental Analysis part 2 – How to Read the Markets

Risk-on & Risk-off

This section follows on from The Biggest Fundamental Events Analysis & Case Study. Shakespeare said that All the world is a stage. When it comes to the financial markets, everything is interwoven, from forex, commodities, including gold and oil, equities, treasury bills, corporate and government bonds, futures contracts, and, more recently bitcoin. In other words, in order to be able to read the Forex market, you must understand that all of the individual sectors play a role in your trading.
Trading can then be broken down into two categories: traders and investors. Subcategories include retail traders, who are typically day traders, where they open and close positions during the day with no overnight positions. But, there are also swing traders, who may hold a position from days to a couple of weeks, and then there are position traders (investors) who have a more long term view and may have open trades which run on for months, if not years. The latter will typically be large hedge funds, financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and governments.

Therefore, position traders and investors tend to have a long-term approach and usually the financial clout to be able to weather the ups and downs and storms which prevail in the financial markets. A typical institutional investor might involve a trader who takes long term positions in the equity markets while managing retirement funds.

Here in the retail Forex market, traders typically range from scalpers, who prefer to be in and out of a trade within minutes, if not hours, and also day traders and swing traders.
All of this is fine, but what does it mean for a retail Forex trader? Well, it means that in order to be able to read the Forex market, it is highly advisable to know what is going on in other trading environments within the financial markets.

One way is to try and gauge the current sentiment, and there is an old adage in the trading community, which you will hear a lot of risk on and risk-off. This is dependent on the perceived risk of an asset – or a group of assets – by traders and investors.
So, when risk is seen as low, or risk-off, investors and traders seek higher-risk investments, such as stocks AKA equity investments, which will typically provide better returns.
And when the risk is seen as high or risk-on, traders and investors seek more lower-risk assets to invest in, such as selling assets, for example, equity portfolios, and moving into cash on deposit, or by buying treasury bonds AKA T-bills. This essentially means that retail forex traders need to up their game in order to be aware of how all these types of traders can very quickly liquidate positions in one market and jump into another.

Here are a couple more examples of risk-on: if the equity market is falling sharply and perhaps bond yields are low, traders tend to start buying gold and precious metals, which usually have less fluctuations, and are seen as a less long term risky asset. This has especially been true over the last couple of years, where prices have been overall moving higher.

Another example would be with regard to all of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit during the last couple of years. And especially at the time of writing, where the pound has been extremely volatile – with huge swings and an overall gain of some 800 pips gain in Cable – as we can see in example A – which took place in the last few days alone. Therefore, some traders will have avoided trading the British pound and instead opted to buy the Yen or Swiss Franc via related currency pairs, and which tend to be seen as safe-haven investment assets in times of turbulence in the Forex market.
And a great example of risk-off would be when Donald Trump became President of the United States and where his policies regarding business were perceived by the US equity market as being conducive to growth in the US economy and where the equities market there and specifically the Dow Jones Industrial Average went on to one of the biggest rallies ever seen in a global stock market.

Here are a couple of examples where one asset class is heavily influenced by another asset class. For example, the Canadian dollar – which is also known as the Loonie – is heavily influenced by the price of oil. This is because Canada derives a large portion of its gross domestic policy from its production and subsequent sale of oil. And so with all of the current uncertainty in the global economy and signs of a slow down, the price of oil has declined over recent months, and the knock-on effect has resulted in the sluggish exchange rate of the Canadian dollar.
Another area is the continual spat between the United States and China regarding their trade deal negotiations, which have been running on and on. This has caused a slowdown in the commodities sector, and the knock-on effect here has caused problems for Australia who’s gross GDP is largely made up of their commodities exportation.

Another country which is suffering because of this ongoing trade war dispute is New Zealand, whose GDP is mostly derived from selling dairy products, meat, wood, and machinery into China.
Therefore, Forex traders have a responsibility to at least be mindful of what is going on in other markets, due to the fact that this risk-on and risk-off which goes on in the financial markets can cause sudden and extreme volatility in the Forex market, due to traders coming out of one asset and jumping into another.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

iTrader Review

This broker has a well-designed web site that shows the regulation and education as their prime attraction points. ITRADER boasts about the availability of multiple platforms, a great range of assets, and quick withdrawals. Reading what the company has to offer, it does not go far from the usual, overused phrases most traders just skip. Be warned, from the start, until you make a profile, you will be redirected. ITRADER has alternative domains such as global.itrader.com that is used to redirect once you type in your residence. If you are not in the European Union, you will stay at www.global.itrader.com and be open to fraud risk.

This is one type of manipulation method and a cover-up under offshore companies and regulations. Domain – global.itrader.com is completely different in terms of regulation, the company, location, name, etc. Taking this serious issue into consideration, we will review the regulated ITRADER.com platform under CySEC licensed company, Hoch Capital LTD (no 198/13, www.itrader.com). The mentioned domain is owned by a cover, Bayline Global World LTD company, in Belize. Note that once a client logs out, the main www.global.itrader.com domain will return. Additional information about this issue is in the Conclusion.

Account Types

ITRADER offers 3 account types. Silver Gold and Platinum. They differ by the spread, leverage, swap discounts, and some additional services. Silver account has the widest spreads and clients will not receive a dedicated Account manager, videos, webinars, news alerts, and a VPS service. The minimum deposit value is not mentioned for any of the account types, more info on this in the Minimum deposit section. Gold type account has the assigned Account Manager, videos/webinars available, and a 25% swap reduction.

The most prestigious Platinum type account has the best spreads, higher possible leverage, news alert, a VPS service, and 50% reduced swaps. The overall offer has some bundled services that could be useful like the VPS. The quality of the videos and webinars is ok and probably is not better with the assigned Account Manager. Islamic Account is available and traders that want to apply have to contact the iTRADER management through the client portal.

Platforms

ITRADER is focused on the Metatrader 4 platform only. It is available as a web, mobile, and desktop versions. Interestingly, Google Play has an iTRADER app that is not like the standard MT4. This app has a 3.4 rating but only good reviews can be seen as the bad ones were deleted. It is not offered for download anywhere on the site, the regular MT4 Mobile by MetaQuotes is.

To download the platform, traders need to log into the iTRADER’s client portal and find them under the platforms section. Once they have requested an account, they can log in with the credentials provided.

 

The desktop MT4 is regular, by default, updated, uncustomized with the one-click trading buttons visible. The server response is good and it does not take long to log in. On average the order executions took 500ms, which is below standard for an ECN broker in our opinion and leaves a lot of room for a time type slippage. Most ECN brokers should have at least 200ms execution time.

Leverage

The leverage levels presented on the web site are for professional clients. ITRADER is also under the MiFID II directive and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). As such the default leverage is set to 1:30 upon registration for all account types. To apply for greater leverage like 1:50, 1:200, etc, traders have to submit a request and pass certain requirements. We have noticed some contradictory information when comparing the web site information, Terms and Conditions, and the Contract Specifications document. Namely, the website just mentions the leverage for professional traders, not for retail. Probably because It was not attractive enough. Even that is not in-line with the downloadable legal documents.

To eliminate any confusion, we will give out the official levels from the Contracts document. For retail traders, Forex leverage is 1:30 for major pairs, 1:20 for others. Metals and Indicies have 1:20, Commodities 1:10, equities 1:5 and Crypto 1:2.

Trade Sizes

For retail clients, minimum trade sizes are set to 0.01 lots. For professional traders, this level is increased to 0.1 lots. From the platform, we have detected other levels. The minimal volume was 0.1 lots with the increment steps in 0.01. Only the cryptocurrencies had a minimum of 0.01 lots. A single decimal makes a lot of difference. This is a serious issue with anyone who is following strict money management where any 0.1 lot order would be too risky. We can openly claim that this practice is another way of forcing clients to trade and probably lose their funds, especially taking into consideration all the inconsistent information from the official iTRADER sources.

Trading Costs

ITRADER claims to be an ECN broker, and unlikely to other ECN brokers, does not charge commissions. Now, the commissions are mentioned in the legal documents but we have not encountered them for trading. The spreads are not that tight so iTRADER probably makes up for the lack of them.

Swaps are under normal levels and there are some positive values. For example, the EUR/USD has a -8.3 long position swap and 2.7 points positive on long positions. For Gold, it is -10.2 on both sides and for BTC/USD -78.75 points per coin! ITRADER has a lot of cryptos to offer, but traders need to pay attention not to leave positions overnight for too long as it is -1% daily interest.

The above values come from the MT4 platform feed, but the swap list on the iTRADER’s web site is completely different. Not that the swaps are all negative, but also extremely high. Any investor willing to trade with iTRADER should be well informed about current swaps directly from the iTRADER support.

Assets

ITRADER provides all usual asset categories except EFTs. Overall a wider range than average in the industry. Starting with Forex, a total of 53 pairs is offered. Noted exotics are USD/RUB, USD/INR (Indian Rupee), USD/PLN, EUR/HUF, and Scandinavian currencies. Israeli Shekel against the USD is listed but trading is only for 3 hours.
From metals, Gold and Silver are on the list on spot. Palladium, Platinum, and Copper are CFD Futures. A full range in this category.

Commodities offer is great. As CFD Futures there are Corn, Cocoa, Coffee and more. A rare find is also Orange Juice. Oil types are not excluded, with the addition of Natural Gas and Gasoline.

From shares, traders will find all they need, just not the most demanding ones. Shares from major companies all around the world, from different stock exchanges can be found.
A total of 25 indices are offered. Apart from the majors, rare ones like the Tel Aviv and Saudi indices can be found.

ITRADER Crypto list is interesting. All the majors and some minors can be found like the Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Ethereum, Litecoin Zcash, Dash, Zcash, and ETH classic. What is interesting is that mentioned coins can be found denominated also in EUR, USD, and GBP.

ITRADER’s asset range is good, not leaving out any trader category. Certainly, this is one of the iTRADER’s strong points.

Spreads

Depending on the Account type the variable spreads are scaled to the deposit levels. Silver Account has 2.2 pips for the EUR/USD, Gold 1.3 pips and the final Platinum Account has 0.7 pips spread. The information for the XAU/USD states it is 0.59, 0.48 and 0.37 pips which are incorrect. It can only be 59, 48, 37 pips, but we are unsure if this is just a mistake or in purpose for marketing. For BTC/USD the starting spread is 50 pips which is larger than average. Generally speaking, iTRADER does not shine in the spreads category but not bad either.

Minimum Deposit

ITRADER obscures this information and also states different amounts from different sources. Starting with the account types table, potential investors do not see this. To find this info using the iTRADER website, go to the FAQ section where the minimum deposit is stated at 250 EUR/USD/GBP. The same amount is mentioned in the Contract Specifications document located last in the footer. Yet, when we logged into the client portal, we found that the minimum deposit was $500 for any method, be it Credit Card, Bank Wire, or wallets. The maximum was $5.000 to $30.000 depending on the method.
Interestingly, there is also the “Alternative Deposit” method. Here the minimum deposit is $1000 whatever the method you select. In our book, providing traders inconclusive information about deposits is a serious issue.

Deposit Methods & Costs

ITRADER does not charge anything for deposits. The bank or e-wallet transaction fees are not covered by this broker. Investors can use Wire transfers, Credit Cards and e-wallets like Skrill, SEPA, Trustly, Klarna, Rapid transfer – all under Skrill. From the “Alternative Deposit” methods you will have Credit Card and other methods that go via another processor. This way of deposits is usually available if the broker has issues with credit card denials.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Apart from the fees not charged by the iTRADER, traders need to know that this broker will charge a withdrawal fee of EUR 50 if there is “insignificant (only one single position placed on the trading account)” volume, or in case the client wishes to withdraw less than $100. Apart from this fee, iTRADER will not cover the costs of transactions by third parties.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

ITRADER will process the request from the client’s area in one business day. The funds should be reflected in the trader’s account in 5-7 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

If you are registered with the regulated iTRADER in the EU, there are no special bonuses or promotions except the mentioned Swap discount that is for Gold and Platinum Account types.

Educational & Trading Tools

ITRADER is using the MTE media material and education scheme. This company provides good, easy to follow, basic education for beginners. In our opinion, the information is geared towards sales and not always deep enough. Most, if not all of the material is could be found on some popular learning web sites for free. The internet is overwhelmed with these practices that certainly are not the best traders can find. Still, iTRADER has covered the Educational section better than most brokers in the industry, with videos, articles, e-books, and more.

Customer Service

This broker has a phone, chat, and email communication channel. Also, social network pages are managed and updated with attractive trading hypes and content for amateur traders. The iTRADER Facebook message response rate is within a day. The chat service from the website is a bit time-constrained and is not 24/7, more like from 9 am until 9 pm, Monday-to Friday.

Demo Account

Speaking of the demo account, know that first-time visitors will be under the www.global.itrader.com domain where the demo is offered clearly. In essence, this is a live account registration process where visitors will be questioned and assessed to the document ID upload and, finally, deposit. Anyone inexperienced with the process (trick) will not know that the client portal account is created once the email is submitted.

The 6 step process can be closed midway and users will be automatically logged in to the iTRADER site. Of course, as mentioned, only if you are from the EU, you will be redirected to the CySEC regulated www.itrader.com after this. This unethical and manipulative practice is not sanctioned by CySEC. Although, Hoch Capital Ltd, owner of the iTRADER platform, was fined. More on this issue in the Conclusion.

Countries Accepted

ITRADER does not accept customers within the United States, Australia, and Belize. Although, the exact and correct information about this is obscured. We have found that Israel is also not on the list when applying for registration. This also suggests that iTRADER is found by Israeli capital.

Conclusion

This broker has a few major issues even though it gives traders good value at first glance. Firstly, the issues about www.global.itrader.com, shady off-shore “Bayline Global World” company and the manipulative registration process already described above. “Bayline Global World Ltd” is not typed as letters but put as a picture. This website is also designed with the user-select function that prohibits visitors to select the name of the company with the mouse. And many more practices that point to fraud. Finally, on the 27th of March 2019, Hoch Capital Ltd was fined 200.000€ by CySEC for compliance breaches about the information released to clients and investment practices. The official document about this can be found on the CySec website.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

IşıkFX Review

ISIK FX is an MT4 broker that does not appear to be all that well known, despite operating since 2013. They are regulated by the Capital Markets Board (Turkey).

Account Types

The website does not give specific advantages to their live accounts but instead link you right to the registration page to sign up. This is not particularly helpful, so we had to scout the website to find the benefits to the accounts, without the help of any FAQ page. ISIK FX offers only one 4 accounts Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Standard, all of which are compatible with MT4 with fixed spreads.

Platforms

As mentioned, ISIK FX offers the trusted MetaTrader 4 platform. You may use Web Trader, Desktop or the Mobile version.

Leverage

It is very odd that the website does not tell us the leverage available to use however quick online research on CMB Turkey (Capital Markets Board regulation body) tells us that the maximum leverage offered is 1:10. This is not very favorable and can make maximizing profits quite difficult for some traders, especially those that trade smaller capital.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes (minimum/maximum requirements) are not mentioned so this is not something we can comment on at this time.

Trading Costs

It is not mentioned what, or even whether commissions are charged via ISIK FX. The same case is with Swap fees. However, bear this in mind as at least one is likely to be applicable.

Assets

With ISIK FX you can trade over 50 Currency Pairs, Commodities, Indices, and Stocks. The link to the full list on the website is in fact broken so you would need to download the demo to see the full available list of instruments.

Spreads

It is frustrating that the link on the website to the spreads is not working, so we cannot comment on how competitive their spreads are at this time. The only information available is that their spreads are fixed, and not floating. This seems to be applicable to all 4 account types.

Minimum Deposit

Assumably, the minimum deposit would vary according to the 4 account types, however information regarding advantages to each account is not even displayed on the website, so, unfortunately, we cannot comment on this at this time.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The broker website is really not easy to navigate and pinpoint information, and also a lot of it is not translatable from Turkish. Even after some thorough perusing, we were unable to find specifically the deposit methods available.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We experienced the same issue with withdrawal methods as we did with trying to locate the deposit methods on the website. Unfortunately, this is not something we can comment on at this time.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We were unable to find the withdrawal methods thus it was impossible to find the withdrawal timescales. It would be prudent to check with client support on a preferable deposit/withdrawal method that you are familiar with, to see if it is available before you go ahead and register an account with them.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is no mention of deposit bonus schemes listed on ISIK FX website.

Educational & Trading Tools

ISIK FX does offer some educational tools to assist you in developing yourself as a trader. There is ample free reading material and some videos but unfortunately, the videos seem to have an error, and cannot be accessed. No matter, there is plenty of free trading education material online, if you know where to look.

Customer Service

ISIK FX can be contacted on a 24/6 basis, via telephone, email or live chat. There is also a facility whereby you can request a call back at a time that is convenient for you.

Demo Account

ISIK FX offers a demo account to trade via so you can see if their live trading conditions would be suitable for you and meet your expectations as a trader.

Countries Accepted

There is absolutely no wording in relation to which residents are allowed to trade with this broker, and which are not. The only way to tell really is to sign up and since you will need to declare your proof of residency, it is only then you will be accepted or declined.

Conclusion

This broker barely provides any of the most basic and standard information you should know before even considering a broker, let alone opening an account. Without knowledge of what you would be involving yourself into, we feel it is best to conduct thorough research and fully consider whether this sort of broker is worth your while and risk.

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

WTI Crude Oil Exhibits a Weekly Gain – Supply Concern Weights!

On Friday, the WTI crude oil prices continue to hold bullish bias maintaining substantial weekly gains as support from a surprise draws in U.S. inventories and possible action from OPEC and its allies to increase production cuts burdened broader economic interests.

The strong buying in crude oil was mostly underpinned by the surprise plunge in U.S. stockpile data. The U.S. crude oil inventories fell by about 10 million barrels during the previous week.

Whereas, the officials at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) remarked to extended supply cut is an option to balance the softer demand outlook in 2020, hence extending another reliable support to the WTI crude oil prices.

Technically, the WTI has violated an asymmetric triangle pattern, which keeps the crude oil prices on hold between 54.75 to 53.50. The violation of this range has pushed crude oil higher towards 56.50 area.

WTI Crude Oil – Daily Technical Levels

Support Resistance
55.5 56.59
54.91 57.1
53.82 58.19
Pivot Point 56.01

At the moment, crude oil is facing stiff resistance at 56.50 area. However, the WTI is looking to complete bearish retracement on the 240 mins chart. Crude oil has already completed 23.6% Fibonacci retracement at 55.85 area, and below this, further sell-off is expected until 55.50.

Despite the bearish correction, I would suggest looking for a bullish trades above 55.30 level today. All the best!

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

FXTM Review

FXTM is an award-winning online forex and CFD broker with a client base that has grown to more than one million since its establishment back in 2011. This broker is a well-known and trustworthy option, due to their regulation by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). The company is located in Cyprus. Since this broker offers six different account types, there is a lot of information one would need to review before deciding whether to open an account. We will say that this broker offers several competitive advantages, but you’ll want to keep reading to find out more.

Account Types

This broker offers six different account types, with the options being the Standard, Cent, Shares, ECN, ECN Zero, and FXTM Pro accounts. The Cent account is essentially a version of the Standard account with a lower deposit requirement, similar spreads, and smaller trade sizes. All of the accounts differ significantly when it comes to the deposit minimums, spreads, minimum and maximum trade sizes, number of products available for trading, platforms supported, and more. All accounts offer competitive trading costs, including spreads. There is so much to take into consideration, so we hope you’ll continue reading to ensure that you choose the best account type for your own personal trading style. Below, you can view a quick overview of each account type.

Standard Account:

-Minimum Deposit: $100
-Leverage: up to 1:1000
-Spreads: from 1.3 pips
-Commission: None

Cent Account:

-Minimum Deposit: $10
-Leverage: up to 1:1000 (FX), 1:500 (Spot Metals)
-Spreads: from 1.5 pips
-Commission: None

Shares Account:

-Minimum Deposit: $100
-Leverage: 1:10 fixed
-Spreads: from 0.01 pips
-Commission: None

ECN Account:

-Minimum Deposit: $200
-Leverage: up to 1:1000
-Spreads: from 0.1
-Commission: $2 per lot

ECN Zero Account:

-Minimum Deposit: $500
-Leverage: up to 1:1000
-Spreads: from 0.01 pips
-Commission: None

FXTM Pro Account:

-Minimum Deposit: $25,000
-Leverage: up to 1:200
-Spreads: from 0 pips
-Commission: None

Keep in mind that you’ll need to submit a few documents for personal verification with this broker. On their website, the company states that accounts are often approved within the same day. Make sure that you upload your personal ID and address document as early as possible to ensure that support has everything they need to review your account quickly.

Platform

Unlike many of their competitors, FXTM actually offers both the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms. Typically, we only see one option or the other, with MT4 being offered most commonly. Therefore, if you’re a clear fan of the MT5 platform, you should be happy to see this option. If you’re trying to decide which platform to use, you should know that both are available on desktop, web, or mobile, and links can be accessed from the broker’s website. MT5 is the newer version of the platform, but many still prefer to use the classic MT4 platform. However, MT5 does offer more timeframes, pending order types, technical indicators, and more. Note that only the Standard, ECN, ECN Pro, and FXTM Pro accounts may opt to choose between the two platforms, while the Cent and Shares accounts will be trading with MT4.

Leverage

FXTM offers floating leverage options from 1:1 up to 1000:1. Their outstanding leverage cap provides traders with the ability to trade with 1000 times their buying power and to trade a larger volume while only making smaller deposits. We must point out that trading with high leverages, especially with one as high as what this broker offers, can be risky. It is best left to more experienced traders that prefer a high-risk high-reward experience.

With that in mind, it is still a great advantage to have the option to select leverage this high and any beginner could start with a more realistic leverage and possibly work their way up in the future. Note that this option is available on the Standard, Cent, ECN, and ECN Zero accounts. The Cent account only allows for a leverage of up to 1:500 on spot metals. The Shares account offers a leverage that is fixed at 1:10, while the maximum leverage on the FXTM Pro account is set at 1:200. Still, options are higher than the industry average for all account types, aside from the Shares account.

Trade Sizes

The minimum allowed trade size is 0.01, or one micro lot, on all account types. Meanwhile, the maximum trade size differs much more significantly, based on which account you’ve chosen. The Cent account was designed to support a smaller trading volume, so the maximum trade size is set at just 1 lot on this account type. The maximum trade size is 10 lots on the Shares account and 30 lots on the Standard account type. From there, options climb much higher, with a 100-lot size on the ECN and ECN Zero account, and an impressive 250 lots being offered for the FXTM Pro account. Like the maximum trade sizes, the accounts also come with a varying margin call and stop-loss levels. Those levels can be viewed below.

Margin Call/Stop Out Levels:

-ECN, ECN Zero, FXTM Pro: 80%/50%
-Standard Account: 40%/20%
-Cent Account: 60%/40%
-Shares Account: 40%/20%

Trading Costs

Brokers typically make a profit through spreads, commission charges, and swap fees. Fortunately, FXTM does not charge commission fees on the majority of their account types, which can provide a financial advantage to choosing them as a broker. The only exception would be the ECN account, which charges a commission fee of $2 per lot, although this is made up for by the much lower than average spreads. Speaking of spreads, we will mention that the majority of the accounts with this broker offer lower than average options. More on that later.

There are also swap free versions of all of the account types available on the MT4 platform, although this isn’t offered on the MT5 platform. Overall, trading with a bigger broker like this one can really provide an advantage when it comes to trading fees, since the broker is able to almost completely wipe out commission fees, offer lower than average spreads, and provide swap-free options.

Assets

FX, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, oil, indices, and stocks make up this broker’s impressive asset portfolio. However, one should note that the number and variety of assets available actually depend on the chosen account type. Also, there are more options available within the MT4 platform. The Standard account is the only account that offers cryptocurrencies and seems to offer the largest variety, with 50 majors, minors, and exotics, 5 spot metals, 14 spot CFDs, and 4 cryptocurrencies being available within the MT4 platform.

The ECN and ECN Zero accounts come in second place when it comes to the number of offered products, with 48 majors, minors, and exotics, 3 spot metals, and 14 spot CFDs being available. Note that the only options for the Standard, ECN, and ECN Zero account on MT5 would be 33 majors, minors, and exotics and 2 spot metals. The Pro account offers 43 majors, minors, and exotics and 2 spot metals within MT4, but offers 33 majors, minors, and exotics, 2 spot metals, and 10 stock trading options within MT5. The Cent account has fewer options, with 25 majors and minors and 2 spot metals available. Finally, you’ll find more than 180 plus shares available on the specialized Shares account.

Spreads

FXTM mentions on their website that spreads on EUR/USD start as low as 0.01. Spreads on this asset are typically the lowest you’ll find, which is likely why the broker chose to use this particular pair in their example. Note that the FXTM Pro account actually offers spreads from 0 pips, so you won’t be able to find a lower option elsewhere. Spreads start from the 0.01 pip example on the Shares, ECN, and ECN Zero accounts, while spreads are from 1.3 pips on the Standard account and from 1.5 pips on the Cent account. This means that all of the account types, aside from the Cent account, are offering less than the average 1.5 pips offered by their competition.

Another plus is the fact that the spreads are competitive on all of their account types, so you won’t be missing out on the savings if you opt for one of the account types with a lower deposit minimum. Another thing to take into consideration would be the fact that these lower than average spreads are offered in addition to zero commission fees on the majority of account types. Usually, a lack of commission fees would mean that spreads would be higher than average.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit requirements with this broker range from just $10 to $500 for all of their account types, except for the FXTM Pro account. If you open a Cent account, you’ll only be required to deposit $10, while there is a $100 requirement for the Standard Account and Shares account. The ECN account requires a deposit of $200. None of the amounts so far are intimidating, so these could be great options for anyone that is apprehensive about making a deposit. Moving up, the ECN Zero account type requires a larger deposit of $500.

Overall, the largest deposit amount may be a little high for some traders, but it is nice to see more realistic deposit amounts for most of the account types with this broker. Elsewhere, you’ll often need to make deposits in the thousands and upwards to open an account that mimics this broker’s cheaper ECN Zero account. The most expensive account would be the FXTM Pro account, which requires a minimum deposit of $25,000. Obviously, this account type is meant for professional traders that have the means to make that type of deposit.

Deposit Methods & Costs

FXTM offers an amazing variety of deposit options, including Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Bank Wire Transfer, FasaPay, South East Asia Online Banking, Dusupay, TC Payment, Latin American Solutions via Skrill, Online Banking Malaysia, Online Banking Indonesia, Nganluong, GlobePay, Online Banking Vietnam, Online Banking Thailand, and China Online Banking(P). E-wallet options include Neteller, Skrill, VLoad, Crypto (BTC, ETH, LTC, Dash), TC Pay Wallet, Alfa-Click, WebMoney, DixiPay, Cash U, Yandex.Money, QIWI, PerfectMoney, Bitcoin, and Konnexone.

There are also a variety of local transfer options, including Malaysian Local Transfer, Nigerian Local Bank Wire Transfer, Indonesian Local Transfer, Algerian Local Transfers, Kenyan Local Transfers, Local Transfer for India and Pakistan, Ghanan Local Transfers, Local Exchange House, Afghani Local Transfer, Laos Local Transfers, Egypt Local Transfer, Bangladeshi Local Transfer, Iraqi Local Transfer, Palestinian Local Transfer, Tanzanian Local Transfers(BRK), and Syria Local Agent(KD). All of the e-wallets and card options, excluding Crypto and Konnexone, are available instantly.

Almost all of the other deposit methods are available within 24 hours, aside from Latin American Solutions via Skrill, which can take 1-2 business days, and bank wire, which can take 3-5 business days. FXTM does not charge any commission fees on deposit methods, but some banks may charge fees from their side.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All of the deposit methods are also available for withdrawal. These methods charge varying fees, although many of them are commission-free. Commission Free options include all of the local transfer options, TC Payment, Latin American Solutions via Skrill, Syrian Local Agent (KD), Local Exchange House, GlobePay, Online Banking Thailand, China Online Banking, China UnionPay, Neteller, Skrill, VLoad, and TC Pay Wallet. Below, you can view the fees for each withdrawal method.

  • Visa/MasterCard/Maestro: 2EUR/3USD/2GBP
  • Bank Wire Transfer: 30 EUR
  • FasaPay, PerfectMoney, DixiPay: 0.5% (DixiPay max is $5 USD)
  • Dusupay: $1 USD
  • Crypto: 1%
  • Nganluong: 1.1% + 0.05 USD
  • South East Asia Online Banking: 1.4%
  • 1.5% Fees: QIWI, Yandex.Money
  • 2% Fees: Online Banking Malaysia, Online Banking Indonesia, Online Banking Vietnam, WebMoney, and Konnexone

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The vast majority of withdrawals are available within 24 hours, including cards and Bank Wire Transfer. Exceptions would be Latin American Solutions via Skrill, which has a 3-4 business day withdrawal period, China Online Banking(P0), which can take up to 48 hours, and all of the Crypto options, which can take 24 to 48 hours.

Bonuses & Promotions

To start, FXTM is offering a 30% welcome bonus, which runs until November 30th, 2019. Time is running out, but hopefully, there’s just enough time left for you to claim the bonus. This broker also offers loyalty rewards that payout in cash, so long as one trades for six months. There are five different rebate levels and one’s level would depend on the amount that they have deposited. You can view the rebate levels and terms by clicking on ‘Forex Trading Promotions’ under the ‘FXTM Promotions and Contests’ section of the website.

It also seems as though this broker offers contests on demo and live accounts periodically, so be sure to check if there are any ongoing contests at the time of sign-up. Finally, FXTM is offering up to $10,000 to those that refer friends and family to the broker. You and the referred person will earn $50 each once conditions are met. Below, you can review the terms and conditions for the Welcome Bonus and Refer a Friend program.

30% Welcome Bonus (Standard or ECN Zero accounts only)
-Must deposit at least $100/ Maximum amount bonus can reach is $300
-Number of lots traded must equal the benefit amount times 2
-Cannot make a withdrawal of part of the deposit that granted the bonus or bonus will be removed
-Can be withdrawn within 30 days of meeting minimum lot requirement

Refer a Friend
-Both participants must make the minimum deposit amount for the account type
-Must trade at least 5 standard lots before the bonus will be credited

Educational & Trading Tools

FXTM offers several helpful educational tools, many of which are much more interactive than what you’ll typically find with other standard brokers. In fact, this broker offers enough to completely teach beginners everything they’ll need to know through their webinars, online courses, and other resources. Be sure to subscribe to the broker’s YouTube video to ensure that you don’t miss out on any of their educational videos. The website also has a section devoted to Market Analysis, so remember to visit it to find even more helpful tools. Below, we’ve listed all of the educational opportunities and tools offered by this broker.

-Seminars and webinars with experts
-Online trading courses
-Download eBooks and market outlooks
-Infographics that explain how to manage time and money effectively
Forex Glossary
-Periodic Table
-Economic Calendar
Forex News Timeline
-Quarterly Market Outlook
-Market Analysis Videos

Demo Account

Many forex brokers have been offering demo accounts lately, but this broker’s demo accounts stand out from most of the crowd. This is due to the fact that FXTM offers advanced demo accounts that mirror each of the real accounts they offer. This provides one with the ability to test out the features of each of these account types before making an actual commitment. For example, one could test out the demo version of the ECN Zero account before making the decision of whether they would want to make the $500 minimum deposit on its real account counterpart. It’s free to open a demo through this broker, so anyone that could use some practice, or who would like to test out the available account types should take advantage of the opportunity.

Customer Service

Support is offered in more than 30 languages and is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. The support team at FXTM won awards in both 2016 and 2017 for providing top customer service, so one should have high expectations when it comes to receiving quality customer service with this broker. Getting in touch with an agent is available through three convenient methods – phone, email, or LiveChat. This broker is also active on several social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and more. You can follow them by scrolling to the bottom of the website and clicking on the chosen social media platform. Below, you’ll find all of the contact information. Note that there are several different phone and email options, based on your location, so be sure to choose the right one.

-China: [email protected]
-Malaysia: +60-3-9212 5856/[email protected]
-South Korea: 003-0813-2643/[email protected]
-India: 000800-100-4352/ [email protected]
-Nigeria, Albuja: +234 803 153 4373/[email protected]
-Nigeria, Lagos: +234 1 460 1586, +234 908 735 2313, +234 803 457 3593/[email protected]
-Thailand: +66 60 003 5095/[email protected]
Indonesia: 007 803 321 8183/[email protected]
Address: 35, Lamprou Konstantara, FXTM Tower, Kato Polemidia, 4156, Limassol, Cyprus

Countries Accepted

FXTM does not offer service to clients located in the USA, Mauritius, Japan, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Haiti, Suriname, the Democratic Republic of Korea, Puerto Rico, and the Occupied Area of Cyprus. These strict regulations are likely due to the fact that the broker is regulated by more than one authority, which imposes stricter conditions on the locations that they are able to accept.

Conclusion

FXTM is an established and regulated broker that offers six specialized account types. The broker has won multiple awards for customer service, trading conditions, and most recently, in 2019, they were awarded Best Investment Broker. Choosing a more established broker such as this one grants one access to a much larger variety of deposit and withdrawal methods, lower than average trading costs, extremely flexible leverage options, and the ability to choose between the MT4 and MT5 platforms.

This broker also offers low deposit minimums on the majority of their accounts, although the impressive FXTM Pro account requires a deposit of $25,000. This broker’s customer service team is also available instantly on LiveChat and has won a variety of awards for providing top-notch service. Educational opportunities are seemingly endless. There is honestly nothing to dislike about this broker and we would highly recommend signing up for an account with them. Of course, if you’re on the list of restricted countries, which includes the United States, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

TFX Markets Review

TFX Markets is a broker situated in the United Arab Emirates. First impressions given by the website are concerning, as the site can be hard to read and the website runs with a little bit of lag. First impressions can be deceiving though, so we will look a little deeper into the services being offered and see how TFX Markets perform.

Account Types

There are three accounts on offer from TFX Markets, information regarding all features can be a bit scarce, but we will take a look into each account to see what the trading conditions are like for each one.

Standard Account:

This is the entry-level account for TFX Markets, there is not a whole lot of information regarding the trading conditions. There is maximum leverage of 1:500, it states quick withdrawals and payments but no information on what that means and it uses the Veta Trader as a trading platform, the account also comes with fixed spreads, but no information on what that spread is.

Gold Account:

The gold account has the same level of information available, and very little has changed, there is mention of some additional support however the only noticeable difference is that it states super low fixed spreads instead of fixed spreads. All other information remains the same.

VIP Account:

The VIP account is identical to the VIP account in terms of the information provided. There is a small additional section which states that traders will receive market updates, trading ideas, and special VIP promotion offers. There is no additional information given at all.

Islamic Account:

We have included the Islamic account on this list as it is given its own page and account specifications. Islamic accounts are accounts where the overnight swap fees are not charged or received.

Platforms

TFX Markets use a platform called Veta Trader, this is one of the first times we have seen this platform mentioned so we had to have a little look into what it offers. It is available as a desktop download, an app for iOS and Android devices and as a WebTrader within your internet browser. It seems to follow some of the same ideas as MetaTrader does, however it does not have the same database of indicators and expert advisors and does not seem to be as well supported. It has a large number of tradable instruments and has features such as one-click trading and multiple account management.

Leverage

The maximum leverage on all accounts is set at 1:500 which seems to be quickly becoming the industry standard and what a lot of more modern brokers are looking towards.

Trade Sizes

There wasn’t much information regarding this available on the website, we would be assuming that the minimum trade size would be 0.01 also known as a micro lot, however without concrete information we can not say this with certainty. There is also no information present regarding the maximum trade size.

Trading Costs

There is no mention of any commissions being charged, so it appears that all accounts use a spread based structure. There is also no information regarding spreads except for stating that they are fixed spreads or ultra-low fixed spreads.

Assets

When looking at the platform part of the website regarding the use of the Veta Trader, the only mention of assets is that it states that you can trade over 200 instruments, there is no indication of what these are or if all account have access to them.

Spreads

No information regarding this except for the statement of them being fixed spreads or ultra-low fixed spreads. There is no mention of an average or minimum spread and so we are getting a bit concerned about the overall lack of information on the trading environments.

Minimum Deposit

No mention of minimum deposits on the website, the accounts page does not mention them and neither does any of the other pages.

Deposit Methods & Costs

TFX Markets state that they allow the use of bank transfer, Visa / MasterCard, UnionPay, Neteller, Skrill, and PayPal. There is no information regarding the fees on any deposits.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

So, another section with little to no information, we would assume that the same methods for depositing would be available for withdrawing but we can not say this with any certainty.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Without knowing which withdrawal methods are available we, unfortunately, can not comment on the processing time for withdrawals. The only mention is on the accounts page where each account states “Quick withdrawals and payment”.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are mentions of bonus funds on the accounts page and in the terms and conditions, however there is no information in regards to what the bonuses are, only that you need to trade 10,000 times the volume of the net deposits in order to withdraw any of the bonus funds, it is safe to say that 99.9% of people will never achieve this.

Educational & Trading Tools

TFX Markets provide a couple of education or trading tools, there are signals being provided for a number of different currencies including AUDJPY, AUDUSD, and CHFJPY. These help to teach you the trends and get a better understanding of what is going on in the Forex markets. There is also a very brief overview of what different strategies are and what they mean, it is very basic and won’t teach you to trade, but it is there and could be helpful.

Customer Service

TFC Markets provide a few different ways to get in touch with them, there is the online form, which once filled in, the customer service team will reply via email or mobile. There is also a phone number available as well as a physical address and an email address.

We tried to use the phone service, however, the phone did not pick up and cut out, the next time we tried it just cut out and did not ring at all, we are unsure if this was a temporary or permanent fault.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available on the website, you can get one by simply filling in the application form on the site. Once it is open, you can trade indefinitely, however, if left dormant for too long it will close and another will need to be opened.

Countries Accepted

There is no information present on the TFX Markets website indicating which countries can and cannot trade with them, so we cannot provide much information for this part of the review.

TFX Awards

Conclusion

The lack of information available is quite alarming and not something you want to see when looking for which broker to use. Customer services were not able to help us either so there is a huge lack of understanding surrounding what is actually being offered. The terms of service are very bare and provide very little information which can be a major concern for any website, let alone one that you are putting your money into. For these reasons, it is hard for us to recommend using this service.

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

Categories
Forex Course

12. The First Step In Your Trading Journey

Introduction

Trading the forex market involves high risk. As per statistics, 95% of the traders fail in this domain. Hence, having expertise and experience in trading is very necessary for staying away from the 95%. And in this course, we’re here to guide you on how to be a successful trader. So let’s discuss what your first step should be in your trading journey.

Demo Trading

As mentioned, forex is a very risky business. One must never enter the live market during their initially early stages. So, brokers help the novice traders by providing a facility to demo trade. With a demo trading account, one can place live trades in the market just like a real trading account. In this account, you get virtual cash to place trades on the live charts. Moreover, in this platform, you get all the features and tools that are available on a real trading platform. And the best part is that this platform is provided by brokers for free of cost.

Advantage of Demo Trading

Helps test your strategies and techniques

There is no strategy that will work with 100% certainty. So, testing a new strategy on the real account can cause damage to your account balance. But, with a demo account, you can test your strategies without any risk.

Gives you a hands-on experience on placing orders

In forex, there are different types of orders. With a demo account, one can test the working of all these orders without the fear of losing money.

Helps concentrate on analysis rather than emotions

Emotions play a major role when it comes to trading. Emotions in trading can lead to huge losses as it takes over the actual analysis. One can reduce emotions entering into them while trading, only when they start gaining experience. Hence, trading in a demo account can help you focus on your analysis rather than emotions taking over.

How to create a trading plan

Well, having experience in demo trading is insufficient to start trading the live markets. A systematic plan for trading plays a vital role, as well. Below is an example of how you can create a perfect plan for yourself.

Choose your time zone: Though the forex market is a 24 hours market, it is not ideal to trade anytime in the day. Hence, you must choose those zones which bring in great liquidity and volatility in the market.

Fix your timeframe: You must be firm on one set of timeframes because switching over timeframes is a clumsy way of trading.

Choose the right currency pairs: There are about 28 majorly traded currencies. Keeping track of all these is a challenging task. So, you must select only a few currencies and analyze them deeply.

Have one fixed strategy: Novice traders look for new strategies every trading day. But, this is completely the wrong way to trade as it becomes more like gambling than real trading. So, you must have one standard strategy in which you can keep optimizing with experience.

Maintain a trading journal: This can be the most vital plan in your trading plan. However, many take this for granted. With a journal, one can keep track of their past transactions and get a statement on the number of loss & win trades. It will give you a clear picture of your consistency. This can help you improve your trading by learning from past mistakes.

By following these steps, you can be sure that you are up to a great start on your trading journey. Take the below quiz to check your learnings.

[wp_quiz id=”45923″]
Categories
Forex Harmonic

The Crab Pattern

The Crab Pattern

 

The crab pattern is another of Carney’s harmonic patterns and one of the first that he discovered. The essential condition of this pattern is the extremely tight and resistance endpoint of 161.8% of the XA leg.

Like almost all harmonic patterns, the potential reversal in price action after this pattern has been complete is generally fast, violent and powerful. However, Carney gives special attention to this pattern and reports that it is usually the most extreme of all harmonic patterns.

The pattern is not as frequent as others due to its five-point extension structure. It is desirable to utilize an oscillator to filter entries of this pattern according to any divergence between price and your selected oscillator.

Crab Pattern Elements

  1. B must be a 61.8% retracements or less of XA.
  2. The BC projection can be quite extensive, generally 261.8%, 314%, or 3618%.
  3. An AB=CD 161.8% or an Alternate AB=CD 127% is required for the formation of this pattern.
  4. The extension of 161.8% of XA is the end limit of the pattern.
  5. C has an expansive range between 38.2% and 88.6%.

Sources: Carney, S. M. (2010). Harmonic trading. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.  Gilmore, B. T. (2000). Geometry of markets. Greenville, SC: Traders Press.  Pesavento, L., & Jouflas, L. (2008). Trade what you see: how to profit from pattern recognition. Hoboken: Wiley.

Categories
Forex Daily Topic Forex Psychology

Taking Forex Trading as a Business

Forex trading is a hard business. A trader has to work hard to learn the algorithm of it as well as psychologically strong enough to apply them when it comes to making money out of it. Some individuals may have enormous knowledge as far as trading is concerned, but they do not do well in trading. It is because they are not capable of dealing with the real heat.

Having losses is another inevitable issue with trading, which every trader is to encounter. It does not matter how good a trader is; he or she must face losses. In trading when a trader loses a trade, he loses in two ways

  1. He loses his money
  2. He loses faith in his calculation or belief

Losing the Money

When a trader loses money in trading, I do not think it needs an explanation of how bad it feels. Losing money on any occasion hurts. Traders are bound to err because this is a game of chances, so they sometimes lose money. In the Forex markets, a trader can lose an unlimited amount of money. He can lose an amount of money he even cannot think of. Experienced traders do err as well.

In most cases, it is not about making mistakes. The market can be unpredictable from time to time. Even excellent trade setups don’t always work. This fact may make a trader believe something wrong with the strategy. He starts adding/changing more things with the strategy; runs after Holy Grail. We know what the last consequence is. He quits after losing valuable time and invested money. Statistics show that only around 5% of investors are successful in the Forex market.

How to Overcome It?

A trader must be ready to take losses. He should look at trading as a business, and count his losses as business expenditure. Let us consider. If we run a business, we have to pay utility, rent, wage, miscellaneous spending. A trader may count his losses as an expenditure of his trading business.

Losing on Own Belief

We often ignore this issue at the time of analyzing traders’ psychology. I find this to be a severe issue. When a trader takes an entry, he throws his skill, experience, belief in it. If it goes wrong, he loses a trade on his calculation. Psychologically, it hurts a lot. We can compare the feeling when our favorite team loses a match against an archrival. Losing on own belief is often more painful than losing the money only.

How to Overcome It?

It is a severe psychological trading issue. To overcome this issue, a trader must remember that there is no such strategy in the Forex market, which is 100% successful. Even the best of the best strategy is bound to encounter losses. Typically, if a strategy is successful even in 60% cases, the market analysts consider it as a good strategy.

The Bottom Line

A trader is to take trading as a business. The market is not an ATM. Making money consistently does not mean a trader makes money on every single trading day. A trader is to have some good days and some bad days. There is no point in jumping with joy on good days or being grumpy on bad days. Just take them professionally.

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

Daily FX Brief, October 25 – Major Trade Setups – Risk-off Sentiment Plays! 

The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.2% on the day to 97.68 on Thursday amid mixed U.S. economic data. The euro slid 0.3% to $1.1104. The European Central Bank held its benchmark rates unchanged as expected. ECB President Mario Draghi said risks to the outlook are “on the downside” compared with “tilted to the downside” previously. 

On the other hand, the Markit eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was flat on the month at 45.7 in October (46.0 expected) while the Services PMI rose to 51.8 (51.9 expected) from 51.6.

The pound dropped 0.6% to $1.2838. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would call for an early general election for December 12. Meanwhile, the European Union is expected to decide the length of Brexit delay later today.

Economic Events to Watch Today

Let’s took at these fundamentals.


GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD currency pair consolidating in the narrow range below the 200-hour Moving Average at 0.2852, due to the uncertainty intensified regarding the Brexit deal and the United Kingdom eclection. Notably, the pair may remain under pressure mainly due to increased risk.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted for the first time that he would not fulfill his (do or die) promise to get a departure between the U.K. and E.U. before October 31 and asked for a fresh election on December 12 to break Britain’s Brexit obstacle.

Although the opposition has rejected the election offer and LAbour leader Jermy Corbyn said that he would wait to observe what will the European Union decides regarding the Brexit delay before deciding that how to put the vote on Monday.

Moreover, the European Union is thinking of granting a 3-months delay. However, the decision may not come on Friday. The Brexit is moving in the uncertainty track, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks stuck in the middle. Therefore, traders are cautious about buying GBP.

On the technical side, the Technical charts are also indicating a move lower. It should be noted that Thursday’s bearish candlestick has opened the opportunities for a broader reversal, perhaps to the 200-day average at 1.2710.



Daily Support and Resistance

S3 1.2539

S2 1.2701

S1 1.2774

Pivot Point 1.2862

R1 1.2936

R2 1.3024

R3 1.3186

GBP/USD– Trading Tips

After violating the bullish channel, the GBP/USD pair is trading bearish at 1.2835 area. Overall, the Cable is maintaining a sideways range of 1.2950 – 1.2785. The bearish engulfing candle on the 4-hour timeframe is likely to lead the GBP/USD prices towards 1.2785 area today. 

The MACD and RSI indicators are holding in the selling zone, supporting the bearish trend in the GBP/USD. Consider staying bearish below 1.2845 today. 

 


XAU/USD – Daily Analysis

The safe-haven prices rose somewhat due to traders are awaited the next weeks, the United States Federal Reserve policy conference.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s policymakers will attend next week. Its Oct. 29-30 policy settlement is required to yield in a 3rd-straight quarter-point rate cut.

President Trump tweeted that, “The Federal Reserve is negligent in its duties if it doesn’t deliver the rate cut and even, ideally, stimulate.

Gold prices remain supported in the wake of Japan’s manufacturing activity, which declined at the fastest rate in 3-years. Meanwhile, The U.S. PMI opposed expectations for a drop and rose marginally, but with limited impact on the prices of the safe-haven gold.



Daily Support and Resistance

S3 1466.32

S2 1482.53

S1 1493.22

Pivot Point 1498.74

R1 1509.43

R2 1514.95

R3 1531.16

XAU/USD – Trading Tips

Gold’s bullish trend continues to dominate the market. Closing of 4-hour candles above 1,495 and 1,503 area is indicating chances of further buying in the gold. The precious metal has formed three white soldiers pattern, which typically drives the bullish trend in the market.

On the upper side, the next resistance is likely to be 1,511. Therefore, we should look for buying positions above 1,500 area to target 1508 today. 


USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY currency pair is sidelined below the 200-day moving average and consolidating in the narrow range of 108.50 and 108.7 overnight, even after the United Sateta data a geopolitical uncertainty. 

As of writing, the USD/JPY currency pair is currently trading at 108.60, having ranged between the level of 108.56and 108.64.

At the Hong Kong front, the condition is dull in Asia right now, but the markets keep their eyes on how the Chinese can react to comments regarding the Honk Kong and China, where he criticized the Chinese over security and human rights.

At the U.S. data front, the United States September Durable Goods Orders were depressed, and the volatile headline dropped -1.1%m/m against an estimate of -0.7%m/m. Though, September New Home Sales found on the positive side, with an increase of 701,000 against 702,000, against the previous revised to 706k from 713k, though average annual prices continued to ease. Markit PMIs also held steady in October, whereby Manufacturing PMI rose to 51.5 and bat the estimates of 50.9 and prior 51.1. Services came in line with expectations with an increase in the composite level to 51.2 from 51.0.

Moreover, the United States’ two-year Treasury yields waited in normal ranges between 1.55% and 1.58%, and the ten-year return moved between 1.74% and 1.77%. Markets are expecting 22-basis points of a rate cut at the October 30 meeting and a terminal rate of 1.21% against 1.88% currently. President Trump tweeted that, “The Federal Reserve is negligent in its duties if it doesn’t deliver the rate cut and even, ideally, stimulate.

At the Brexit front, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted for the first time that he would not fulfill his (do or die) promise to get departure between the U.K. and E.U. before October 31, and asked for fresh elections on December 12 to break Britain’s Brexit obstacle.

While the European Union was expected to give its answer to the United Kingdom governments request for a delay of European Union membership beyond October. However, due to the conflict between the United Kingdom parliament members, the European Union will decide to prefer to get some transparency first because it is continuously creating uncertainty in U.K. politics and Brexit.



Daily Support and Resistance

S3 108.11

S2 108.37

S1 108.5

Pivot Point 108.63

R1 108.76

R2 108.88

R3 109.14

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

On Friday, the safe have currency pair USD/JPY is facing support at 108.280. This level has become a triple bottom level and pushed the USD/JPY higher for the third time. At the moment, the USD/JPY trend is mixed as it holds right below an immediate resistance level of 108.650. Violation of this level can extend buying until the next resistance level of 108.900. 

Today, let’s keep an eye on 108.650 to stay bearish or bullish above this level to capture quick trade in the USD/JPY. 

All the best!  

 

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

The Traders Domain Review

The Trader’s Domain is a forex brokerage company located in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The company describes themselves as being built by traders, for traders, with a focus on providing a convenient experience and mentions that their objective is to become a leading brokerage company, but smart traders know that is much easier said than done. Does this broker have what it takes to meet their goal, or will they fall short? Stay with us to find out.

Account Types

This broker offers Standard and ECN account types, although everyone seems to be granted with a Standard account upon registration, so you may need to reach out to support if you’d prefer an ECN account. Also, note that Islamic accounts are available for the ECN account type only. Both account types come with the same minimum deposit requirement and leverage options. Below, you can view the differences in the account types.

Standard Account
-Minimum Deposit: $100
-Leverage: Up to 1:500
-Spreads: From 1 pips
-Commissions: None

ECN Account
-Minimum Deposit: $100
-Leverage: Up to 1:500
-Spreads: From 0.0 pips
-Commissions: $3.50 per 100k traded

Upon opening an account, one will need to provide ID and address verification documents. Accounts are approved once enough documents have been provided to achieve 100 points. Address documents count as 70 points per document, while proof of identity documents count as 70 points per document.

Platform

Those that decide to trade through this broker will have the advantage of choosing between the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms. Many other brokers feature either one platform or the other, with the award-winning MT4 being the most commonly offered option, due to is highly customizable, user-friendly interface, along with a number of pre-installed indicators and tools that are also included. Developers of MT5 kept most of its predecessor’s strong suits and added in more pending order types, analytical objects, and more.

Both platforms are excellent options, so it really comes down to one’s own personal preference when it comes to choosing which to trade through. Accessibility is also no issue on either platform since both can be downloaded on a desktop, Android, and iOS. You can also access the platforms on the WebTrader, which is the browser-based version. The WebTrader would be the best option for Mac users.

Leverage

The Trader’s Domain allows traders to trade with up a volume of up to 500 times their trading capital. This provides an opportunity to maximize profit, regardless of how limited one’s actual capital is. However, one should note that trading with high leverages goes hand in hand with taking higher risks, so one should not simply choose the highest leverage offered. It is advantageous for brokers to offer options that are so much higher than the industry average because it provides lower-level traders with room for growth if they make it big in the forex world.

Trade Sizes

The Trader’s Domain allows a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, otherwise known as one micro lot. Trading a micro lot allows for smaller positions that what would be allowed with a mini or standard lot. Support informed us that the maximum trade size usually depends on how much your margin can handle. Margin call and stop-loss levels are set at 50%.

Trading Costs

Many brokers charge fees through spreads, commissions, and rollover interest. With this broker, those charges differ based on account type. On the Standard account, spreads are from 1 pip and there are zero commission charges. Meanwhile, the ECN account offers spreads from 0 pips, with a commission fee of $3.50 per 100k traded.

Assets

The Trader’s Domain offers 100 plus tradable instruments, including CFDs, precious metals, and some cryptocurrencies. Sadly, the website does not offer a list of products, nor does it go into any further detail. A Product Disclosure Statement can be obtained on request from their offices and the website suggests that this should be considered before one decides to enter into a transaction with the broker. We would recommend reaching out to support to request the PDS.

Spreads

The ECN account type offers the most attractive spreads, advertised as starting from 0.0 pips. The Standard account advertises spreads as starting from 1 pip. Keep in mind that the industry average would fall somewhere around 1.5 pips, so both are presented as being well below average and are therefore competitive. However, The Trader’s Domain does not list their products on their website with actual spreads, so it is difficult to investigate whether these options are truly as low as advertised.

Minimum Deposit

This broker allows traders to open either of their account types with a deposit of $100. There are really two sides to the coin when it comes to comparing this amount to the minimum required by other brokers. On one side, this amount may be steep, considering that many brokers offer deposit minimums of around $10, or even eliminate the requirement altogether. Offering lower minimums would be more beneficial to beginners or those that are iffy about signing up with this broker. On the other side, this is a bit lower than average, and $100 provides one with the ability to make a number of trades before needing to make another deposit quickly.

Deposit Methods & Costs

This company accepts deposits through Bank Wire and a number of e-wallets. E-wallet options include more popular options like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, LiteCoin, and Dash, alongside some lesser-known options like Monero, Neo, Ripple, and Cardano. It’s odd to see so many e-wallet options available without the option to deposit via Visa/MasterCard. Also, note that a deposit fee of 2.5% is charged on all deposits. Aside from Bank Wire, all deposits are processed within 24 hours. Bank Wire can take 2-3 business days to be credited to the account. This broker does not accept third party deposits, so ensure that you are always funding from a method under your own name to avoid the hassle.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The website doesn’t offer any information on withdrawals, so we reached out to support to find out more. We learned that all of the available deposit methods are also available for withdrawal. The broker charges a 2.5% withdrawal fee, one that matches their deposit fee. This fee may seem steep at first glance, but this means that if you made a deposit and a withdrawal of $100, the broker would take a total of $5 by the time funds were deposited and withdrawn. Of course, if you made a larger deposit, the fees would add up to a larger amount. Upon requesting a withdrawal, you’ll find that the website does the math for you and displays what the commission cost will be once fees are applied. Withdrawals to accounts that have never had any open trades will be subject to a 15% processing fee.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All withdrawals are processed within 24-48 business hours. It would be nice to see some instant options; however, these options are still realistic. One would simply need to put in the request a day or two in advance of the time when funds would be needed. Of course, you may want to request a withdrawal earlier in the week in order to avoid the delay caused by the weekend. Remember that all compliance documents must be uploaded and approved before a withdrawal request can be processed.

Bonuses & Promotions

At this time, there are no bonus opportunities being offered by this company. While we love seeing bonus options available, this is just one of those extra things that aren’t necessary. If you do continue looking for a broker that offers a bonus, be sure to read the terms and conditions. If a bonus seems too good to be true, it probably is. Remember that you should never choose a broker based on this category, but it can be a nice addition to a list of positive qualities if you do find a qualified broker that offers an attainable bonus opportunity.

Educational & Trading Tools

Aside from the ability to trade with a demo account, The Trader’s Domain is barren when it comes to educational opportunities. However, the company does offer an economic calendar and multiple calculators. Overall, these trading tools are helpful, but we can’t help but feel that this broker could be doing more to educate their client base. If you’re a beginner, we would suggest researching elsewhere and then opening a demo account through the broker when you’re ready. Below, we’ve listed all of the available calculators.

-Pip Calculator
-Margin Calculator
-Fibonacci Calculator
-Pivot Calculator
-Profit Calculator
Lot Size Calculator

Demo Account

The Trader’s Domain does offer demo accounts to any traders that would like the advantage of opening one. If you haven’t heard of demo accounts before, you should know that many forex brokers offer these practice accounts in order to give their clients a chance to test out the market using virtual currency. Opening a demo account is free and one could maintain both a demo and a real account at the same time.

Customer Service

24/7 customer support is provided in multiple languages via LiveChat, email, or phone. We were able to get in touch with an agent via LiveChat instantly and our support agent was willing to answer all of our questions clearly. We didn’t get the usual run-around or refusal to answer certain questions that we’ve received in the past with other brokers. On another note, this broker admits to a 24 to 48 wait time in order to receive a response via email, so you may want to use one of the other contact methods if you have an important inquiry.

-Phone: 18334004242
-Email: [email protected]
-Address: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, P.O. Box 1510, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Countries Accepted

The Trader’s Domain does not accept applications from residents of the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the Republic of Iran. However, we were able to bypass the restriction by opening an account from one of our US-based offices by selecting the ‘US Minor Outlying Islands’ as our country of residence. When chatting with an agent, we were never asked about our location and we had no issue accessing our account through the back office.

Conclusion

The Traer’s Domain is a forex and CFD broker that offers the ability to trade with high leverages on two account types. Traders can choose between the Standard and ECN account types, both of which offer competitive spreads and commission charges with a minimum deposit of $100. This broker also offers both the MT4 and MT5 platforms and multilingual, 24/7 instant support. The downside to choosing this broker would be the lack of variety and unavoidable deposit and withdrawal fees when it comes to the funding of one’s account.

Educational options and bonuses are also absent, but these are simply extra options that don’t affect the main experience. In some places, the website can be vague, but support is always available to answer any questions one may have. In our opinion, this broker is offering competitive enough trading costs to potentially meet their goal of becoming a leading broker, but they’ll need to offer better funding conditions and add more opportunities on their website in order to make it all the way to the top.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GoldenFX Review

Golden FX is based in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines and offers not only offer their services via the MT5 trading platform but also offers FX tools and free educational material which can all be found on their website. The website itself has a very modern and simplistic theme, making navigation easy, and especially attractive to beginner traders.

Account Types

Golden FX offer 4 account types: Standard, Silver, Gold and Platinum. All accounts can be held in EUR or USD, but trading conditions of course vary. The Standard account must have a deposit of $$250 – $999, the Silver $1,000 – $24,999, the Gold $25,000 – $99,999 while the largest account, Platinum, must have over $100,000.

Some details are vague from the website information provided, such as spreads being ‘standard’ on the Standard and Silver accounts, while the Gold account has 1.9 pip spreads and the Platinum has 1.5 pip spreads. All accounts have access to the same markets, educational material, and Islamic account equivalent. Leverage is also favorable across the board, which we will expand on shortly.

Platforms

Golden FX offers the MT5 trading platform, which is not everyone’s cup of tea, but MetaTrader is, of course, the most trusted platform, so many clients will be happy to use MT5.

Leverage

Leverage allowances depend on the account type you opt for. The Standard account offers a maximum leverage of 1:100, the Silver account allows maximum 1:200, the Gold 1:400 and the Platinum is not stated but suggests it can be very high according to the client’s request.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is 0.1 lots for all accounts.

Trading Costs

The FAQ page states that all 4 accounts do not charge any trade commissions or additional fees.

Assets

Golden FX must be commended for its provision of variety when it comes to tradable instruments; clients are at luxury to trade the following: Forex, Stocks, Commodities, Indices, and Cryptocurrencies. This really is quite the banquet for the clients to choose from.

Spreads

Golden FX offer both fixed and variable spreads, which assumably are available specifically on particular trading instruments, and could vary from account type, but this is not specifically stated. It is not possible to find live spreads or the fixed spreads, or even a full list of instruments available without opening an account to do so, which is a clever way to quickly entice clients into signing up for a live account before having a full understanding of trade conditions offered.

Minimum Deposit

As mentioned earlier, minimum deposits start at $250, which is not low or average to competitors by any means. It seems that for each account type, you must maintain a balance in your account, as stated below:

  • Standard: $250 – $999
  • Silver: $1,000 – $24,999
  • Gold: $25,000 – $99,999
  • Platinum: $100,000 or more

Deposit Methods & Costs

Golden FX does not charge clients for deposits and the following methods of funding are available: Local bank transfer, debit/credit card, and cryptocurrency.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals must be completed via the same method you used to make the initial deposit of funds you wish to withdraw. No broker charges are mentioned in respect of withdrawals but of course, your banking provider, or e-wallet could carry fees, so be sure to check that before you process withdrawal requests.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals can take up to 7 business days but to reach you can depend on your banking provider. Compared to alternative brokers, 7 business days for a withdrawal to simply be processed is incredibly lengthy and not many traders will appreciate this wait time.

Bonuses & Promotions

Each account type is eligible to be granted a deposit bonus of up to 100% of the original amount. Bear in mind the deposit requirements are rather high compared to many brokers, and this amount can essentially be doubled. Although this gives the appearance of having double the capital in your account, bear in mind that withdrawing a bonus is near on impossible unless strict trading requirements are met, which are set out to be almost impossible for a reason.

Educational & Trading Tools

Golden FX offer free educational material on their website, for those who wish to read up about trading to enrich their knowledge. A Glossary is also available to refresh knowledge on trading terminology you will encounter as a trader.

Customer Service

There is only an option to contact Golden FX via email (ticket) or via telephone. The hours of customer support operation are not stated so it is unknown when you will receive a response.

Demo Account

Golden FX does not offer any demo account version of any of the 4 account types offered. This makes is very difficult for potential clients to really know if these accounts are suitable for them or not.

Countries Accepted

The website footer makes a clear statement that all traders are welcome other than If you are a citizen and/or resident of Japan, USA, Russia, Ukraine or Canada, then you will not be granted permission to trade with Golden FX.

Conclusion

On the surface, this broker has many positive attributes. In terms of deposit methods, leverage allowance and variety of assets to trade, this broker are highly appealing. However, the minimum deposit requirements and the deposit bonuses to put a slightly sour taste in one’s mouth, especially given the absence of a demo to fully try out the broker’s services before depositing real money into a live account, and a substantial amount too.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Trader’s Home Review

Trader’s Home is a foreign exchange broker located in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. Although they’ve only been around since 2018, this broker is already becoming more well-known and has established a large customer base right out of the gate. The company boasts about providing low-cost trading in multiple asset classes, including currencies, commodities, energies, global shares, and cryptocurrencies. However, good traders know that you can’t judge a book by its cover, so stay with us to find out if the trading costs are as competitive as this broker makes them out to be.

Account Types

Trader’s Home offers six unique account types that were created with traders of different skill sets in mind. The options are the Student, Starter, Premium, Advanced, Pro, and VIP account types. While it is nice to see so many options, the higher minimum deposit amounts may limit one’s choices to one or two options. All accounts share the majority of the same specifics, including leverage, spreads, minimum trading sizes, and more.

There only seem to be a few small differences, with minimum deposit requirements being the main one, although the Student and Starter accounts are aimed towards beginners, while the other account types are meant for more experienced traders. Note that the VIP account is more mysterious than the other account types since the broker mentions one should contact their account manager for details. Islamic accounts are offered on the Starter, Premium, and Pro accounts. Once your documents have been submitted, account verification typically takes less than 24 hours.

Student Account
-Minimum Deposit: $250
-Leverage: up to 1:400

Starter Account
-Minimum Deposit: $2,500
-Leverage: up to 1:400

Premium Account
-Minimum Deposit: $10,000
-Leverage: up to 1:400

Advanced Account
-Minimum Deposit: $25,000
-Leverage: up to 1:400

Pro Account
-Minimum Deposit: $50,000
-Leverage: up to 1:400

VIP Account
-Minimum Deposit: $100,000
-Leverage: up to 1:400

Platform

Trader’s Home exclusively features MetaTrader 5, the successor to the world’s most popular trading platform, MetaTrader 4. MT5 comes with many more additional timeframes, pending order types, order execution types, market depth, an economic calendar, graphical objects, and more. The variety of features and the upgrade in the number of services offered should be enough to make the larger part of Traders Home’s clients feel content, although some may miss the user-interface offered by the classic version. Another plus to trading MT5 would be the accessibility offered by the platform, which is available on Android, Apple, browser, or download for PC. This means one can trade on the go with a phone or tablet, on their PC, and on their Mac with ease.

Trader’s Home platform options.

Leverage

Where most brokers offer leverage options up to 1:100, Trader’s Home offers more flexible leverage options up to 1:400. This means that one would be able to trade with 400 times the amount of funds in their account if they choose to open an account with this broker. This can provide a significant advantage when it comes down to making a profit. However, we should note that it wouldn’t be wise to select leverage this high if you are less than experienced. We suggest testing out different leverage options on a demo account if you fit into this category.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is listed at 0.01 lot, otherwise known as one micro lot. This is listed on all account types, except for the VIP account, which states that one should speak with their account manager for details. The website is less forthcoming with details about the maximum trade sites that are allowed for each account types and no information is listed about stop-loss levels. This broker’s website can be frustrating at times due to the lack of some important details, so feel free to reach out to support if you need more information.

Trading Costs

Fees include, but are not limited to, revenue share, commissions, rebates, overnight interest, and spreads for third parties. Furthermore, the client agrees that he/she is solely responsible for any tax that may be incurred. Commission fees will be waived when trading cryptocurrencies, but are applicable on all other asset types. Overnight interest can be avoided if one does not leave positions open overnight. Alternatively, swap-free Islamic accounts are available for those of the Muslim faith on the Starter, Premium, and Pro account types.

Assets

Trader’s home offers multi-asset classes including more than 90 currency pairs, stocks, derivatives, commodities, spot metals, indices, and even cryptocurrencies. Traders will have access to more than 1000 shares in the biggest companies in the world and will have the advantage of being charged zero commission fees when trading cryptocurrencies. Note that crypto options include the ever-popular Bitcoin, LiteCoin, Ethereum, and more. The impressive product portfolio offered by this broker provides one with an excellent selection and variety that cannot always be found elsewhere.

Spreads

This broker’s website is not too descriptive about their spreads; therefore, we did our best to come up with a clear idea of what spreads one should expect. First, we will note that it seems that spreads are based on the type of asset being traded, rather than the account type one is trading from. For example, spreads start from just 0.3 pips on currency pairs, which is significantly lower than the 1.5 pip industry average. It seems as though this is the option on all account types, although the site is not completely clear. When it comes to precious metals, spreads start from 0.4 pips on Spot Gold and from 3 pips on Spot Silver. On Crude Oil, spreads start from 6 pips. The website does not provide specific information about the spreads on indices, cryptocurrencies, or spot shares. We should also mention that the Pro Account lists fixed spreads as an advantage, so this suggests that spreads are floating on the other account types.

Minimum Deposit

Deposit minimums with this broker range from $250 up to $100,000. The Student account is the most affordable, with a $250 deposit requirement. This amount tends to be the industry average, although it isn’t rare to find brokers offering at least one deposit option around $100 or less. Moving up, you’ll need to make a much more significant deposit of $2,500 to open the Starter account. The minimum is $10,000 for the Premium account, $25,000 on the Advanced account, $50,000 for the Pro Account, and $100,000 on the VIP account. The deposit requirements with this broker can be high and may limit one to choosing the Student or Starter account types. It is common to see one or two account types with high deposits elsewhere, but a $2,500 requirement for a Starter account is steep.

Deposit Methods & Costs

This broker supports deposits through bank, card, and e-wallets. The options are Bank Transfer, Skrill, Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, and Western Union. Deposits are processed quickly, within one business day of the funding time. There may not be a lot of options to choose from, but it is nice to see a little variety available. Many clients are satisfied with Visa/MasterCard and Bank Transfer options, although some prefer to deposit through lesser-known e-wallets. On the bright side, this broker is offering a couple of e-wallet options, so most should be able to find a suitable deposit method.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals are systematically processed through the same method that was used to deposit, so you’ll want to keep that in mind when choosing a deposit method. Fortunately, the company does not charge any fees on withdrawals, but the website suggests that their clients may be charged fees from third-party payment processors. For bank wire, you can expect these fees to be around $25 or higher, but this is unavoidable, regardless of which broker you choose.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests are processed back to the method used to deposit within one to five business days. While one or two business days is a reasonable amount of time to wait with an established broker, three days or more for a withdrawal to Visa/MasterCard or to an e-wallet seems to be a long waiting period. Hopefully, the broker would manage to process your withdrawal within one of the quicker time frames, however, based on how many clients are being serviced at the time, you would need to be prepared for the longer waiting period just in case.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the time this article was written, Trader’s Home did not have any ongoing bonus opportunities. It’s disappointing that there isn’t at least a simple welcome bonus available, but extra opportunities such as these are not always offered. Remember that you should never choose a broker based solely on special bonuses, although it is a nice extra option if terms and conditions are realistic. Note that this broker does have a section related to bonuses and promotions on their legal terms document, so it is very possible that they may provide these options from time to time. Be sure to check for any updates before signing up.

Educational & Trading Tools

Under the Insights section of the website, you’ll find an Economic Calendar, a Bitcoin calculator, and a ‘Trading Signals’ option. The latter section offers recent updates that explain how different assets have been trading in the market, along with helpful charts that support each entry. However, this is as far as the educational opportunities with this broker go. It’s always nice to see brokers take the time to provide learning materials, although this doesn’t actually affect the trading experience they offer. If you’re a beginner, you’ll need to search the web for the educational material you’ll need.

Demo Account

Sadly, Trader’s Home does not seem to be offering demo accounts at this time. Many forex brokers offer these free practice accounts to clients because of the number of advantages they offer – the ability to get a feel for the trading platform, to test out different strategies, compare account types, educational opportunities for beginners, and more. Therefore, it is a little disappointing that this isn’t offered here, even though it won’t affect your experience trading on a real account. If you were really hoping to trade from a demo, you could test out one on another broker’s website, while trading from a real account with this broker. However, the experience won’t be exactly the same, since other brokers demos would reflect their own conditions, rather than those offered here.

Customer Service

Support is available 24 hours a day, five days a week and can be accessed through LiveChat, phone, email, or the contact form on their website. The lengthy support hours are convenient, although it would be nice to see this broker offering weekend support since this is often when many decide to sign-up and would, therefore, have questions. This broker is also active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so be sure to follow them if you decide to sign-up for an account. Below, you can find all of their listed contact information.

Email: [email protected] & [email protected]
Phone: +18774031459
Address: Suite 305, 5 Richmond Hill Road, Beachmont, Kingstown, Saint Vincent & The Grenadines

Countries Accepted

We were disappointed to find that the United States was excluded from the list of acceptable countries with this broker, especially considering their location in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, which is typically more accepting of clients in the US. Fortunately, US residents can get around this roadblock by selecting the US Minor Outlying Islands as their country of residence. There do not appear to be any other restrictions, but you can always check the account registration page to ensure that your county is available.

Conclusion

Trader’s Home is an established broker that offers high-leverage trading on a wide variety of asset classes. Choosing this broker would also mean that one would have the advantage of paying zero fees when depositing or withdrawing funds, access to the MetaTrader 5 trading platform, and the ability to open an account from the United States. However, this broker does have high deposit requirements that may not be affordable enough for some of their potential clients.

Another downside would be the fact that the website can be vague at times and does not explain spreads clearly enough. Educational opportunities can be limited and bonuses are not available, although those could be considered extra perks that wouldn’t affect the main experience. On another positive note, the customer service team is available 24 hours a day through several convenient contact methods. With all things considered, this could be an excellent potential broker.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Polo Invest Review

Polo Invest is a forex based investment and broker firm that was founded in 2014 and is based out of Hong Kong. Offering a number of different accounts and benefits, we take a little look in more detail and see if it is worth taking the plunge with Polo Invest.

Account Types

There are three different account types (not including demo) on offer with Polo Invest, these are the silver, gold and platinum accounts, let’s take a little look in more detail to see what each account offers:

Silver Account:

This is the entry-level account at Polo Invest, however for an entry-level account, having $10,000 as the minimum deposit can price out a lot of potential clients. It has fixed leverage at 1:100 and spreads from around 1.6 pips. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots (micro lot) and there is a maximum of 10 lots open at any one time and a maximum of 50 open trades.

Gold Account:

The gold account has a minimum deposit of $50,000 which is high, very high. The leverage can be set anywhere between 1:1 and 1:100 and the spread remains at around 1.6 pips. The minimum trade size remains at 0.01 however you are now able to have 50 lots open at one time and also 100 open trades.

Platinum Account:

The premium account from Polo Invest comes with a premium price, you need a minimum deposit of $100,000 to open this account. This gives you the standard 1.6 average spread, a choice of leverage between 1:1 and 1:100, 0.01 lots as the minimum trade size, no limits to the maximum trade size, how many trades can be open and total open lots. For an account requiring $100,000, you would expect a few more benefits.

Platforms

There is only one platform on offer with Polo Invest and that is MetaTrader 4 (MT4). MT4 is one of the world’s leading trading platforms with many retail traders using it as their go-to platform. It offers huge amounts of flexibility, compatibility with hundreds and thousands for indicators and expert advisors to help improve your analysis and trading.

It would have been nice to have more choice, however with MetaTrader 4 you can not go too far wrong, MT4 is available with Polo Invest as a desktop download, apps for both iOS and Android devices and as a WebTrader to use on your internet browser.

Leverage

There is fixed leverage of 1:100 if you go for the silver account, if you use any other account then you have the option to choose anywhere between 1:1 and 1:100. Retail traders these days are looking for more and more leverage, usually opting for between 1:200 and 1:500, so Polo Invest may put some potential clients off with their lower leverage, having said that, 1:100 is relatively safe and profitable leverage to use.

Trade Sizes

All three accounts at Polo Invest offer a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots (micro lot). There isn’t a maximum trade size for individual trades, instead, there are a maximum number of open lots on each account which in turn will limit the individual maximum trade size. With the silver account, the maximum open trade volume is 10 lots, with gold it is 50 lots and with the platinum account, it is unlimited.

Trading Costs

There are no additional commissions charged for each trade with Polo Invest, instead, they opt for ana additional spread. Spreads start at an average of around 1.6 pips, however, these fluctuate due to market conditions and also some currency pairs naturally have a higher spread. So use 1.6 as a minimum, but expect slightly higher. A 1.6 spread with no other commissions is a relatively good deal, with some other brokers going much higher, however, due to fluctuations, we have seen spreads starting at 2 pips or more at certain times of the day.

Spreads are also charged for holding trades overnight, these are not outlined on the site but can be viewed from within MetaTrader 4 itself.

Assets

With Polo Invest you have access to a number of different instruments and assets, you have the standard Forex, you also have Shares, Metals, Commodities, and Indices. There is no information however as to how many of which assets are available, there are of course some examples but they are not exhaustive lists so unfortunately, we can not give precise figures.

Spreads

Spreads on all three accounts start at around 1.6 pips, however when we have examined the spreads they have always been slightly higher at a minimum of 2 pips. While this isn’t anything crazy, due to the required capital in Polo Invest accounts, it would have been nice to see slightly lower spreads across the board.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit with Polo Invest is a whopping $10,000, so it is clear that Polo Invest is going for the bigger fish rather than people new to trading.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a huge number of deposit methods on offer, far too many for us to list here, however, we can highlight a few of them including Bank Transfer, Visa / Mastercard debit and credit, Skrill, UnionPay, PayPal, Neteller, Perfect Money and many more. If there are any fees added to deposit we can not tell, as there is no mention of any fees, but also no mention that there aren’t any.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same withdrawal methods are available as the ones for depositing, so there are plenty of choices. Similarly to deposits, there are no mentions of any fees, so we can not comment on that aspect of the withdrawal process.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There are no specific details mentioned on the site in regards to processing time, however going through the terms and conditions (we had to search for them too), it appears that withdrawal requests are processed within 48 hours. So depending on what method you used, your funds will be with you between 2 – 7 business days. This can be a long time to wait and the majority of modern brokers are now aiming for 24 hours processing as a maximum, it would be nice to see Polo Invest follow suit.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are bonuses available, however, when going to the bonus information page it gives an “Oops! This page can’t be found” error. When comparing the accounts, it appears that there are deposit bonuses available, however, the details of these are not prevalent and we could not find the exact details of these bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

Polo Invest has a very basic education program based on an introduction to the basics of Forex, it isn’t going to help you trade or become an expert, but it is something to refer to when starting out, however considering the minimum deposit, most people trading with Polo Invest should already know the basics. There is also a glossary available should you not understand any terms that are being used.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get in contact with Polo Invest, then you can do via their support page which offers a number of different ways to get in touch. They have the standard online form to fill out, a phone number, an email address, and a postal address.

We tested out the phone line, however we did not manage to get through to anyone, it was early on a Monday morning so that may be why however we would expect someone to be there considering they are touting 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday support, possibly just not that early (8:30 am) on a Monday.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available with Polo Invest, they come with unlimited usage, real market conditions, access to the MT4 platform and WebTrader and have up to $20,000 as an opening balance. The accounts remain active forever according to the terms and are easy to set up, simply select a demo account when creating a new account. If you close your demo account, you are able to open up as many others as you like.

Countries Accepted

There is no information present on countries that are accepted or not, so we can not confidently answer this part of the review.

Conclusion

Polo Invest seems competent, however, they are excluding a huge number of potential clients with their $10,000 minimum deposit, with such high capital being invested, we would have expected to see slightly improved trading conditions, sticking with a 1.6 pip spread is high for that capital investment. Customer services didn’t pick up which isn’t a concern, no matter how early it was in the morning.

There is a huge range of deposit and withdrawal methods available so anyone should be able to find one that works for them, however, the processing time for withdrawals is longer than we would be expecting from a modern broker. At this time, we would recommend looking elsewhere for a broker with a lower minimum deposit and slightly better trading conditions.

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

Categories
Forex Market

What Are The Different Types Of Orders In The Forex Market?

What is an order?

One of the first things every forex trader should know is about the different order types and implications of each one. An order in forex determines how you will enter or exit the market. Today, in trading, more options are available than just buying and selling at the current market price. With different order types, one can make the most of their trading opportunities.

Why are different order types needed in the forex market?

There needs to be some automation in the forex market. As we know that forex is 24 hours market, investors’ holdings, and their net worth keeps changing 24/7. If an open position is not managed regularly, the profit/loss figure can change drastically. Also, it is not possible to manage your positions all the time if you are working full time.

Therefore, in such a scenario, pending orders came in handy. These are tools investors and traders in the forex market use to manage their open positions. ‘Orders’ allow the traders to ensure that the value of their trades remain within certain bounds even though the market is open all day. Now let’s look at different order types.

Market order

Market orders are the most common types of orders used in the forex market. It is just an order to buy an asset at the current market price. Market orders are executed on a real-time basis when placed. Since prices in the forex market are changing rapidly, the order may be completed at a different price than you intended. This is known as slippage in market terminology. Slippage may work in the favor or against an investor. A market order creates an open position immediately.

Pending order

A pending order is an instruction to buy or sell an asset when certain conditions are met. It is a type of market order that gets executed only when certain conditions are fulfilled. It is a conditional market order. Pending orders eliminate the need to monitor the screen for placing trades continuously. It sets up an automatic order system that will execute trades instantly when the conditions are met. There are different types of pending orders. They are:

  • Buy Limit Order
  • Sell Limit Order
  • Buy Stop Order
  • Sell Stop Order

Let’s understand each of these orders below.

Buy & Sell Limit Order

It is an order placed by the traders to buy or sell a currency at a particular price. Typically, this price is better than the current market price. Traders can find both buy and sell limit orders in most of the trading platforms. A buy limit order will always be below the current market price (or sometimes equal), while a sell limit is always above the current market price (or sometimes equal). For instance, if you want to buy EUR/USD at 1.05 and the current market price is 1.11. You can place a limit order at 1.05, and your order will automatically get executed if the currency pair reaches this price.

Application limit orders

Let us assume that the market is in a downtrend. As a trend, you wish to sell precisely at the support and resistance line. Since a market order does not assure the precise price, you can prefer placing a sell limit order instead. This is because, with a limit order, your order will get executed at the exact price you were willing to take the trade.

Buy & Sell Stop Order

This is the converse of Limit order. By using this order, traders can place a buy order above the market price and a sell order below the market price. By doing this, they can increase the odds of entering or exiting the trade at their preferred price.

Application of stop orders

Let’s say the market is in a range and there is some news coming up which you think will break above the range and head north. You being a breakout trader wish to buy it after the breakout. During the news, the volatility is so high that it is hard to get hold of a good price if executing a market order. So, here is where a stop order comes to action. With this order, you can keep a buy stop order just above the range, as it will execute the trade automatically when the price hits the buy stop price.

Stop-loss order

It is an order placed by the traders to limit their losses on the trades they take. By using this order, a currency pair can be bought or sold once its price reaches a particular price, also known as ‘Stop Price.’ For instance, if you buy USD/CAD for $1.31 and not willing to lose more than $0.1 when you exit, you can place your stop-loss order at $1.21. This order only gets executed if and only if the price of the currency goes below $1.21.

Conclusion

There are more premium orders that are being provided by the advance brokerage firms. Some of them include Trailing Stop-Loss Order, After Market Order, and Bracket Order, etc. The forex market is gradually moving towards artificial intelligence for executing trades. The latest development in ‘orders’ is the creation of dependent orders. This means the investor can place two orders simultaneously, and based on the input, only one of the two will be executed. Dependent orders use complex algorithms that execute trades with minimal human intervention.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

CMG Capital Markets Group Review

Capital Markets Group (CMG) is a global forex and CFD broker registered by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and located in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. The company claims that they work relentlessly to provide their clients with competitive pricing, fast order execution, and reliable trading infrastructure. CMG also mentions that they are constantly updating their services to stay ahead of the competition and even goes as far as to claim that they are the best around. Of course, brokers typically advertise their positive qualities and try to put a positive spin on any drawbacks. We wanted to know if this broker has the right to boast, so we delved beneath the surface to find out whether they are the worthy competitor they claim to be.

Account Types

Those signing up for an account through CMG will be automatically signed up for their MT4 account, which seems to be the only option available; therefore, there is no need to compare conditions on multiple account types with this broker. From a quick glance, we discovered that the cost to open an account is $250, leverage options are above average, and spreads tend to be very competitive, although they are variable. There is a lot more to take into consideration, so stay with us to find out more detailed information on each of these categories. You can view a quick overview below.

CMG Account

-Minimum Deposit: $250
-Leverage: Up to 1:400/Up to 1:500
-Spreads: Variable from 0.2 pips
-Commissions: Not specified
-Minimum/Maximum Trade Sizes: 0.01 lot/Depends on Instrument

This broker requires compliance documents before an account can be approved for trading. For proof of ID, passports, Driver’s License, or a non-Driver’s ID are all accepted. Several documents are accepted as proof of residence, and all of the acceptable documentation can be viewed on the website under ‘Support’ > ‘Legal Documents’.

Platform

CMG supports the most commonly offered trading platform available in today’s forex world, MetaTrader 4. Most traders have probably heard of MT4 already, but if you haven’t, you should know that the platform offers a rich user-friendly interface, advanced technical analysis tools, Trading Signals, Expert Advisors, and is compatible with a variety of devices. MT4 is preferred among the vast majority of traders and is available for download on desktop, mobile, tablet, and through the web browser.

Leverage

This broker offers leverages that are very flexible and above average, although they certainly aren’t the highest options we’ve ever seen. However, we did find the website to be contradicting when listing the leverage cap. On their homepage, the broker advertises leverage options of up to 1:400. Under the forex category, the website lists a higher option, of up to 1:500 on forex pairs. We would expect the homepage to advertise the very best leverage available, so it is a little confusing as to why the higher option is displayed elsewhere. Since both options are very similar, we were not entirely alarmed by the discrepancy. Whether the highest leverage cap is 1:400, or 1:500 on forex options and 1:400 on all other tradable instruments, it should be enough for traders of all different skill levels.

Trade Sizes

All instruments offer a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, otherwise known as one micro lot. Maximum trade sizes vary, based on the type of instrument that is being traded. This is not specified on currency pairs. For oil, the maximum trade size is 10 lots. On Gold and Silver, the maximum trade size is 50.00 lots. The maximum trade size on indexes ranges between 2 lots and 20 lots and can be viewed by navigating to ‘Products’ on the website’s directory and then selecting ‘CFDs’. There are no limits to the size or number of positions that a trader may hold and available margin in the account is the only constraint on the size of a position. Initial margin and total margin requirements will fluctuate with the value of the Underlying Instrument on which the contract is based.

Trading Costs

Depending on the type of account you hold, commission fees may be applied. We know that there is only one primary account type, so we can assume that CMG is hinting that there may be lowered, or zero commission charges for their wholesale clients. In order to be considered a wholesale client, one would need a balance of $500,000, so the majority of traders will have to pay the applicable commission charges. Note that there are zero commission charges when trading commodities. Rollover interest is also applicable when positions are held overnight. Rollover time is around the New York closing time (17:00 EST). Rollover costs can either add a significant extra cost, or profit, to your trade, so keep these charges into consideration.

Assets

CMG offers trading on Forex, CFDs, precious metals, and oils. The website’s homepage mentions that 80 plus instruments are available, but we did some further research to find out more. The website does not list all of the available forex options, but we do know that some of the most commonly traded currency pairs are available, including the EUR/USD, for example. Precious metal options include Gold and Silver. Oil options include WTI Crude Oil and Brent Crude oil. Overall, there are eleven popular indexes available. Considering that we can only add fifteen options so far, it is safe to assume that the bulk of tradable products with this broker would fall within the category currency pairs, with about 65 options being available.

Spreads

Spreads with this broker are variable, meaning that they fluctuate along with the trends in the market. Spreads start as low as 0.2 pips, much lower than the industry average of 1.5 pips. However, these spreads may rise and fall, due to fluctuation. To view live spreads on all of the tradable assets, we recommend opening a demo account.

Minimum Deposit

CMG requires a $250 minimum deposit upon opening an account. This amount may seem steep to less-experienced traders, although it could technically be considered average. Still, many other brokers do offer much lower minimums and some have completely done away with them altogether. The minimum with this broker is realistic, even if it is a bit intimidating to some, although lower options are out there. Fortunately, it would not take an impossibly long time for one to save up the funds if they are not immediately available.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Deposits are accepted from the following payment methods: Bank Wire Transfer, Credit Card, Neteller, Skrill (Moneybookers), Konnectivity, China UnionPay, and B2B Transfer. Note that there is a $1,000 limit on Credit Card deposits and a $3,000 limit on deposits made through China UnionPay and Skrill. CMG does not charge transfer fees; however, fees may be charged by your provider. Deposits are credited instantly for the majority of methods. However, it can take 1-2 days for Bank Wire Transfer and B2B Transfer to be posted. It can take up to one day for Konnectivity to post. The broker cannot accept third-party deposits, but joint bank accounts are accepted, so long as the name of the account holder is listed on the document.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All of the available deposit methods can be used for withdrawal. Credit Card withdrawal can only be made for the amount used to make the deposit and extra profits must be withdrawn through a different method. Any transfer fees charged by CMG’s banking institution will be passed on to the client, however, the website does not explain how high those fees would be.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal forms received before 21:00 GMT (5:00 pm) will be processed the same business day. Any forms received after this time will be processed the same business day. Withdrawals made by Bank Wire Transfer usually take 3-5 working days to reach the client’s account. Sam-day processing is quicker than what we’re used to seeing, but note that the website does mention that any unforeseen circumstances may cause withdrawal times to be longer.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the time this article was written, there were no special opportunities or promotions available with this company. Finding these types of options is common, but finding bonus opportunities with realistic terms and conditions is rarer than one may realize. With that said, it would certainly add something extra to what this broker is offering, but we would never choose a broker based on this category alone. Since the company states that they are constantly adapting to keep up with the competition, one should definitely check back to see if anything is added in the future.

Educational & Trading Tools

On their homepage, CMG advertises an economic calendar and tools & analysis, but none of these options are accessible from the website. Most likely, the broker is referring to the built-in tools within MT4, rather than what is offered directly via their website. This broker does offer demo accounts, which is one of the best learning tools out there, but one wouldn’t be able to operate one of their demo accounts properly without any prior insight into trading. With that said, the educational resources offered by this broker fall short. This shouldn’t be something that stops a beginner, but it is disappointing that the broker doesn’t offer more directly. We would also like to see a link to the advertised economic calendar, some calculators, and perhaps updated market news on the website.

Demo Account

Free demo accounts can be opened through the broker before one has made the decision to sign-up with this broker, or one can be opened alongside a real account. Opening a demo is an excellent way to test the market and the broker offers a $50,000 balance in virtual currency upon opening one of their accounts. This should be more than enough, however, the broker does offer to add funds to a demo account if one’s balance is depleted, so you could continue trading on the same account, even after blowing through those funds. Demo accounts only expire if one does not trade regularly for 30 days. In order to open a demo account, you can make a request directly on the broker’s homepage, or through the CMG MT4 Client Terminal, by navigating to the menu bar file > Open an Account, select CMG Demo Server, and select New Demo Account.

Customer Service

24/7 customer support is available via phone, email, or through the contact form on their website. Having the ability to contact support on the weekends definitely adds an advantage to choosing this broker, especially considering many traders sign-up on the weekend and therefore have questions. The majority of big brokers fail to cover weekend support, and some even close in the evenings, so CMG is ahead of the competition on that front. However, support falls a little short when it comes to contact methods since the instant contact option LiveChat is not available. This means that the phone would be the quickest way to get in touch with an agent. We’ve listed all contact information for the company below.

-Phone: +61 2 4036 3165
-Email: [email protected]
-Address: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre 1510, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Countries Accepted

For citizens in certain countries or municipalities, currency trading is not permitted. The list of restricted countries includes: Central African Republic, Congo, Cote D’lvoire, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North), Ecuador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Myanmar, Republic of Korea (South), Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United States of America, United States Virgin Islands, Western Sahara, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Note that the website will allow one to sign up for an account under the United States, however, it is possible that compliance documents may be denied if you sign-up under that location. However, it is possible that these accounts could be approved based on the fact that this broker is located in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, which typically has more relaxed regulation laws.

Conclusion

Capital Markets Group offers high-leverage trading on a number of tradable instruments, mostly made up of currency pairs. Accounts can be opened with a minimum deposit of $250, a variety of funding methods are available, and withdrawals are often processed within the same business day, although there are applicable charges when withdrawing. CMG also offers low spreads that start from 0.2 pips, but the website does not go into detail about their exact commission charges, which could be a red flag. Customer support is available 24/7, so there should never be an issue getting in touch with this broker. Taking all of those things into account, we can say that the broker rightfully boasts about their competitive advantages when it comes to spreads, leverage options, and customer support availability.

With that said, this broker is missing some of the extra things, like bonuses, LiveChat, and educational resources. One would likely be satisfied with the majority of options available, but we can’t help to wonder if commission charges are higher than average in order to make up for the better than average spreads. Overall, the website could be more transparent in that category but seems to deliver a clear and transparent explanation of all of the other conditions. At the end of the day, only you, the trader, can take all of this into consideration and decide whether this broker is a candidate worthy of your business.

Categories
Forex Videos

Assessing Market Conditions – Becoming A Forex Master

Assessing Market Conditions

No matter which markets you trade, but in particular the Forex market, trading conditions change constantly depending on a number of factors, including the time of day the time, the time of the month, and even on an hour by hour basis. This is dependant on both fundamental, technical, and conditions based on sentiment.

Example: on an hour by hour basis because the Forex market has peak trading ours during the European, London and US session – where most volume is going through the market – daily; due to fundamental news release and a change in market sentiment, monthly, because hedge funds typically like to rebalance their portfolios at this time and also on a quarterly basis.
When these factors are taken into consideration, they transfer onto a trading chart as range-bound, which are also known as consolidating markets; breakouts, where markets begin trading outside of a consolidation zone, and we’re these breakouts typically turn into trends. All of these conditions present trading opportunities.

Example ‘A’ is a diagram of a range-bound market, with support and resistance (highs and lows). These areas are also sometimes called; floors and ceilings and where price action will typically move up and down within these ranges. Sometimes traders refer to this as sideways trading.

Example ‘B’ shows a breakout of a previously ranging market, and where a floor or ceiling has been breached and where price action advances outside of the range. We have added a trend line A, B, C. D, where price action to the upside has begun to fade, and wher moves have been limited to this new are of resistance. Incidentally, the line continues to be a support move for the breakout at area D, which again proves to be a barrier for the bulls!

Example ‘C’ shows a trending market. In this type of market, traders look for repeated signs, such as in a bull market (ascending) market and where each high is higher than the previous high, and where each low point (pullback/retracement) is higher than the previous low. The correct terminology is: higher highs and higher lows.

Example ‘D’ in a bear trend (descending) market, the reverse applies, and now traders look for lower highs and lower lows.
So, we know what we are looking for: range-bound, breakouts, and trends, in which case, when is the best time to be looking to trade them?

Let’s consider that you live in the United Kingdom and you want to trade the pound against the US dollar, AKA Cable, trading this pair at 11 PM (Sun-Fri) would not be a particularly good idea, because the European, London, and US markets will be closed at this hour, and the Asian region traders will be coming to market. This could mean that Asian traders have a different view than the other regions, regarding the value of the pound against the US dollar, or and which could be the start of a trend reversal. This could go against technical analysis as inherited

from the aforementioned markets.
Another reason could be that typically Asian markets at this time might be more focused on their own domestic currencies, such as the Yen, Australian and New Zealand dollar, for example. This would, therefore, have the effect of potentially leaving cable with little volume and, therefore, flat. Therefore, for the best time to trade the Cable would be during the European session, including London.
Another thing to be mindful of is the immediate, or near-term financial, economic calendar, especially when it comes to interest rate decisions, gross domestic product GDP releases, and on a more topical note event surrounding Brexit.

However, because currencies are traded in pairs, it is also highly advisable to observe the financial calendar releases for the counter currency, in this case, the US dollar.
We would also recommend caution when trading any of the major currency pairs when an unrelated pair is about to have an economic-related news release as this could impact the counter currency, and which may have a knock-on effect and impact on your trade.
Her is an example: let’s say that you are buying Cable, and the European Union announces an unexpected ten basis point interest rate reduction. This could cause the value of the Euro to fall and cause the US dollar to rise sharply. Thus potentially resulting in a knock-on, or adverse effect on your trade, where you need a weaker dollar and stronger pound.
Please also note that range-bound markets, breakouts, and trends will have a completely different complexion depending on the time frame that a trader chooses to trade with. For example, a 1-minute time frame, which is typically used by scalpers, or intraday traders, tends to be more frantic than a 1-hour time frame, and will also typically offer less movement in terms of pips. Hedge funds, institutions, and governments tend to hold longer views and therefore use longer time frames such as daily, weekly, and monthly set-ups.

Categories
Forex Price-Action Strategies

When A Breakout Occurs by More than One Candle

Price action traders’ main job is to watch the price action and find out the message out of it. The message comes from candles, various charts, momentum, as well as the attributes of breakouts. In this lesson, we are going to demonstrate an example of a breakout, which occurs with more than one candle. Let us find out whether a breakout with multiple candles gives us any message or not.

The price finds its support at the marked level and heads towards the North with good buying pressure. Price action traders start eyeing on the pair to go long on the pair. The first thing they would want is consolidation. Let us proceed to the next chart.

It seems that the price may have started having a pullback. The price is to come about 38% of the trend’s length to attract the buyers to watch for an upside breakout. Let us see what happens next.

The last candle seems to have covered a good distance. The buyers are going to be keen to get a bullish reversal candle on the chart now. If a reversal candle makes a breakout itself, it attracts traders more. Eventually, it pushes the price towards the trend’s direction at a good pace. Let us find out what happens here.

Here it comes. The bullish reversal candle is here. It is a ‘Track Rail,’ which is the second strongest reversal candle after the Engulfing candle. Traders are to wait for an important event. You know what that is, right?

‘The Breakout’!

The breakout occurs here by a Marubozu candle. Price action trader shall trigger a long entry right after the candle closes. Before triggering the entry, a trader must know where to set his Stop Loss and Take Profit. Stop Loss level is obvious here, which is below the support of the consolidation zone. Where the Take Profit level is to be set? Ideally, a 1:1 risk-reward ratio is the first target in any entry. However, there seems to be enough space for the price to travel. We may go for 1:2 risk-reward here. Does a trader go for a 1:3 risk-reward ratio or even more here? We get the answer later. Meanwhile, let us continue watching the drama.

The plan seems to be working amazingly well. The price heads towards the North with good buying momentum. 1:1 risk and reward ratio is easily achieved within the next candle. 1:2 risk-reward is achieved as well. Some may start splitting the hair for not setting the target with a 1:3 risk-reward ratio. Let us proceed.

The price has produced an Evening Star. This surely is not a good sign for the buyers. Those who set their Take Profit with a 1:3 risk-reward ratio must be in a pensive mood.

The price does not hit the Stop Loss, but there is no profit left for the buyers that are holding the positions. Targeting a 1:3 risk-reward ratio does not bring more pips. It rather makes them lose some pips that they could have earned.

Price Action breakout attributes suggest that if a breakout occurs with multiple candles, the trend often loses its impetus early. Thus, it is best to target 1:1 (in most cases), 1:2 (if there is enough space) risk-reward ratio when a breakout occurs by more than one candle.

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

Daily FX Brief, October 24 – Major Trade Setups – Traders Brace for ECB! 

The European Central bank rate decision is scheduled to release at 11:45 GMT, and Mario Draghi will conduct the press conference at 12:30 GMT. Apart from this, the EUR/USD currency pair may get any fresh hints from the United States Durable Goods order, which is scheduled to release at 12:30 GMT and the German preliminary Manufacturing PMIs and Eurozone due in the European trading hours.

Economic Events to Watch Today

Let’s took at these fundamentals.

 

 


GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD currency pair consolidating in the narrow range near the 1.29 and could continue to trading in the tight range due to the Brexit Uncertainty.

As the Prime Minister Boris Johson failed to convince parliament to approve the Brexit deal as a law, therefore Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now on the waiting mood that the Europan Union to decide whether to agree to his 3-months delay request.

Moreover, PM Boris Johnson Spokesman has stated that the election will be compulsory if the European Union approved a request for a 3-month delay.

However, there are very fewer chances that the European Union will decide before Friday. So, traders will be cautious until any fresh news does not come.

The GBP/USD currency pair may beat the recent highs around the 1.30 in the American trading hours if the United States Goods order data release below expects figures, by the way, the data is scheduled to release at 12:30 GMT, rising the dovish Federal Reserve expectations.

It should also be remarked that the United States Central Bank is expected to deliver a rate cut by the 25-basis-points at its coming meeting.


Daily Support and Resistance

    

S3 1.2733

S2 1.2813

S1 1.2864

Pivot Point 1.2894

R1 1.2945

R2 1.2974

R3 1.3054

GBP/USD– Trading Tips

The GBP/USD has broken the bullish channel, which was carrying the pair near 1.2945. The formation fo a bearish engulfing candle is suggesting chances of a bearish reversal in the GBP/USD pair. 

On the lower side, the Sterling may find support at 1.2785 level, which also marks a double bottom on the 4-hour chart. Besides, the resistance stays at 1.2945 level. Consider staying bearish below 1.2920 today. 

 

EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

During the early Asian session, the EUR/USD currency pair trying to cross the 100-hour Moving Average level at 1.1140, mainly due to the European Central Bank (ECB) rate decision, which will be the last decision by the Mario Draghi as president.

The central bank rate cut by ten-basis points to -0.5% during September and announced a new step of the asset purchase program.

Europan Central Bank hasn’t many reasons to change its position at today’s meeting because the recent macro data report has been positive. Moreover, the European Central Bank members were divided due to the need to reviving bond purchases.

However, the bearish trend seems limited because the September month stimulus has been priced in. Besides this, it appears that markets are more interested in knowing hints by the incoming President Christine Lagarde in 2019 and 2020.

The European Central bank rate decision is scheduled to release at 11:45 GMT, and Draghi will hold the press conference at 12:30 GMT. Apart from this, the EUR/USD currency pair may get any fresh hints from the United States Durable Goods order, which is scheduled to release at 12:30 GMT and the German preliminary Manufacturing PMIs and Eurozone due in the European trading hours.

An unexpectedly weaker US data will support the dovish Federal Reserve expectations, and probably this greenback will drop across the board. Notably, the markets remain expecting the Federal Reserve will deliver the rate cut by the 25-basis-points on October 30.

Daily Support and Resistance 

S3 1.1058

S2 1.1092

S1 1.1112

Pivot Point 1.1126

R1 1.1147

R2 1.1161

R3 1.1195

EUR/USD – Trading Tips

The EUR/USD consolidates between 1.1116 and 1.1157 after placing a high around 1.1160 at the start of the week. For now, the EUR/USD is likely to continue consolidating in the narrow range of 1.1110 – 1.1150, at least ahead of the ECB rate decision. 

The EUR/USD is bearing double bottom support at 1.1110 regions, and over this, we can anticipate a bullish trend in the EUR/USD until 1.1150 and 1.1180. On the flip side, selling can be expected beneath 1.1110 till the 1.1065 area. 

USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY currency pair flashing red and declines to 108.60, due to downbeat Brexit news increased the risk-on sentiment. The USD/JPY currency pair recently got support from the upbeat headlines regarding the United States and China trade agreement and Brexit, not to ignore the greenback weakness due to soft data. Although the increases could not long term due to the current threats from the United Kingdom. As of consequence, the recovery in the United States ten-year US treasury yields could not take much longer, whereas Wall street also ended with minor increases.

Brexit headlines and SIno-US trade headline keeps the markets cautious, as fears of hard Brexit and a potential trade deal between the United States and China.

Europan Central Bank hasn’t many reasons to change its position at today’s meeting because the recent macro data report has been positive. Moreover, today’s last meeting of President Draghi’s should be directed on the Governing Council’s views on the economic and geopolitical outlook, especially should talk about Germany’s slowdown as well as on the loud criticism by some Europan Central Bank member of restarting asset purchases. 

The ECB’s policy meeting will be under the eyes overnight, but the market doesn’t anticipate much action after last month’s rate cut package.

On the other hand, the US Durable Orders, Purchasing Managers Index, and New Home Sales will also keep under focus.

Daily Support and Resistance

 S3 107.69

S2 108.12

S1 108.39

Pivot Point 108.55

R1 108.81

R2 108.97

R3 109.4

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY gained support above 108.280, the triple bottom level, which triggered a bullish reversal in the USD/JPY. At the moment, the bullish trend seems pretty strong, but the USD/JPY may find an immediate resistance at 108.900 area first. 

The MACD and Stochastics have diverted their direction to the bullish side, signaling chances of further buying in the pair. Today, the violation fo 108.270 can help us capture a quick sell position until 107.950. Whereas, buying can be seen until 108.900 level.

All the best!  

 

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Swiss Capital FX Review

SwissCapitalFX is a Forex broker based out of St Vincent and the Grenadines, claiming to be a market-leading provider when it comes to Forex and offering unparalleled trading conditions. These are bold claims and we are now going to take a closer look to see what they really offer and if they can live up to these claims.

Account Types

There are four different account types on offer from SwissCapitalFX, these are Silver, Gold, Platinum and Pro, each with their own perks and requirements. Let’s take a deeper look at what they each offer.

Silver Account:

This is the entry-level account at SwissCapital, it has a deposit range of between $0 and $4,999 however the minimum deposit with SwissCapitalFX is $100, the leverage offered on this account is 1:500 which is a very popular level, spreads are from 1.6 pips and there is no additional commission. You can open up to 100 positions and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with the maximum being 100 lots.

Gold Account:

The gold account has a slightly higher entry fee of a minimum deposit of $5,000 and a maximum deposit of $19,999. It maintains the 1:500 leverage, however, the spread is now reduced by 30%, there is still no commission being charged for this account. Lot sizes remain the same with 0.01 lots being a minimum and 100 lots being the maximum.

Platinum Account:

The platinum account deposit requirement further increases with a minimum deposit of $20,000 and a maximum of $49,999. Leverage remains at 1:500 and the spreads are further reduced by another 30% and there is still no commission being charged. The maximum number of open trades increases from 100 to 200, however, the trade sizes remain the same as 0.01 lots minimum and 100 lots maximum.

Pro Account:

This is the top tier account and so you need a minimum deposit of at least $50,000 which will price out a lot of retail clients. Leverage again remains at 1:500, however, this account is charged differently, the spread is reduced to a minimum of 0 pips, but the commission will now be charged with each trade (however we are unsure how much). Minimum trade size has been increased to 0.1 lots but the maximum trade size has been increased to unlimited, along with the maximum allowed opened positions.

Also note that all accounts come with the ability to hedge, use of expert advisors, copy trading, crypto trading, dedicated support, and all account types can also come in an Islamic version. All accounts have a base currency of USD, EUR or GBP and use the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

There are a lot of features on offer and all four accounts seem quite enticing, so we approve of the account types which are on par with the majority of the competition.

Platforms

There is one platform on offer from SwissCapitalFX, and that is MetaTrader 4 (MT4). MetaTrader 4 is currently available as a desktop download or as an app for your Android and iOS devices, this gives a good amount of flexibility to trade both at home and on the move. MT4 is one of the most popular trading platforms due to its flexibility and compatibility with thousands of expert advisors and indicators. You can’t really go wrong with MT4, and a broker focusing solely on it as a trading platform is not such a bad idea. It would, however, have been nice to have a little choice, but we can not complain about MT4.

Leverage

All account with SwissCapitalFX come with a maximum leverage of 1:500, you aren’t stuck using this leverage though, if you want to reduce it you can and there are ranges anywhere between 1:1 and 1:500, this can be changed at any time as long as there are not any open trades.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes with the silver, gold, and platinum account start with a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots (micro lot) and a maximum of 100 lots, this is more than enough for 99.9% of all retail traders. The VIP account jumps up a bit with a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots and there is no maximum trade size, however, we can not see many people going past the 100 lot size limit of the other accounts anyway.

Trading Costs

SwissCapitalFX uses two different costing methods, the silver, gold and platinum accounts use a spread based system with the silver account having a 1.6 pip spread on average and the gold account reducing this number by 30% and the platinum reducing it by a further 30%.

The VIP account has a 0 pip spread but charges a commission, we had a good rummage around the site for the commission numbers, however, we were unable to locate it so we are unsure on what amount of commission is actually charged.

There are also waps charged for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed both on the site and also from within the MT4 platform. Islamic accounts are also available if you are unable to accept or pay swaps.

Assets

There are a number of different tradable assets with SwissCapitalFX, they are broken down into the following categories:

Forex: Over 60 instruments from major, minor and exotic pairs.
Energy Commodities: Metals, energies and agricultural commodities are available.
Stock Indices: Global indices with no commission or fees.
Equity Shares: Popular shares such as Apple, Tesla, and Amazon.

Spreads

Spreads start at an average of 1.6 for the silver account and are then reduced by 30% for the gold account, then further reduced by 30% for the platinum account. The VIP account states 0 pip spread, however, there will be some spread due to fluctuation, there is a commission charged on trades on this account though.

Minimum Deposit

Even though the silver account states a minimum of $0, there is an overall minimum deposit of $100. If you want the benefits of a higher tier account then you will need to increase this amount to a minimum of $5,000. $100 is a pretty standard minimum within the forex industry.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different methods available with SwissCapitalFX, these are Visa / Mastercard deposits, Skrill, Neteller, and bank transfer. Each has a minimum deposit of $100 and there are no added fees to the transactions. All deposit methods are instant except for bank transfer which can take 3 – 5 business days.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawal as they were for deposits. If you withdraw via bank card there are no charges, however requesting a bank transfer withdrawal will have a charge of $30 added to the transaction. It has been a while since we have seen a broker adding fees to withdrawals and it so it is a shame to see it here.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We had to dig deep into the terms and conditions to find any relevant information, the terms state that SwissCapitalFX will process all withdrawal requests within one working day, how long it takes after this will depend on the method and the bank you are receiving the money at. For e-wallets this is usually the same day, for other banks via bank transfer this will usually be between 3 – 5 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no bonuses or promotion advertised on the site, however when using their search bar, we can see some now expired promotions and bonuses, so it is clear that SwillCapitalFX has been doing bonuses in the past, there just aren’t any available right now. Be sure to check them out regularly to see if any new promotions have popped up.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is only an economic calendar available with SwissCapitalFX and nothing else, the calendar is nice to have but it is not as informative as many other ones available elsewhere on the internet. It would have been nice for there to be more education for their clients.

Swiss Capital economic calendar.

Customer Service

If you need to get in contact with SwissCapitalFX there are a number of different ways to do it. You can use their live chat which opens up pretty quick and response is acceptable, we got through to someone after around 4 minutes, there was a small delay between each response but nothing we aren’t used to. They also have a number of different phone numbers depending on the department you need as well as an email address and a postal address, so plenty of ways to get in touch.

Demo Account

We could not locate any information in regards to demo accounts, so we are unsure if these are being offered, if they are, they are not easy to find.

Countries Accepted

We could locate information regarding this on the site or within the Terms and Conditions.

Conclusion

SwissCapitalFX has a number of benefits, their accounts offer competitive features and prices and while they only offer one trading platform, it is MetaTrader 4 which is a very solid choice. The fact that there are fees charged on some of the withdrawals is a bit of a disappointment as the majority of modern brokers are no longer charging for withdrawals, that along with no demo accounts makes it harder for us to fully test the service. While SwissCapitalFX is certainly not the worst broker around, we feel that due to the fees, it may be better to look elsewhere.

If you enjoyed this review and wanted to see more, make sure to check out our other reviews to help find the broker that is right for you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Cardiff Global Markets Review

— IMPORTANT NOTICE —

We’ve just received word that Cardiff will now be operating under the brand name Trade360 Australia. Existing clients are being asked to transfer their accounts over to the new brand. Prospective clients are being asked to not register with Cardiff at this time, but instead, register directly with Trade360. We advise contacting the new brand with any questions related to accounts, the trading platform, and conditions.

Cardiff email announcing changeover to Trade360.

This ECN broker from Australia is ASIC regulated, well structured, situated in the center of Sydney besides KPMG, PwC, and other financial greats, but not popular. Cardiff’s beginning dates to 2013 since the first ASIC license application. This broker is related to the forexcfds.com that, at first glance does not look like a great brand under Cardiff. Still, from the official Cardiff Global Markets site, traders could see some great trading conditions and we are unsure as to what exactly this broker is missing, except probably better marketing.

The website uses a lot of flashy, redundant wording that in the expanding world of brokerages makes readers unimpressed by the repetition. Real investors like to see figures, comparisons, features details, unique useful tools, and services. Cardiff has none of that which blends them into the averages. Going through their services we will evaluate what benefits you can expect.

Account Types

We went into the documents about the product disclosure statements we have encountered two account types. From the Cardiff web site, a total of 3 are offered so we assume that its very new. The information table reveals enough information for each and it is easy to compare the difference. The most affordable type is the Standard, starting from a $50 minimum deposit. The first apparent limit is the trading assets scope. With Standard, you can trade Forex, indices, and commodities only. The platform used for trading is Metatrader 4 in all versions.

Spreads will start from 0.9 pip with this account and at first glance in comparison to the other two account types, this is a major drawback. On the other side, Standard is the only account that does not involve commission at all, making it attractive for traders that stay with the most liquid assets. The margin call is at a 100% level and Stop Out at 50% for all account types. 

The next tier is the Pro Account, with the same limiting assets scope. The main difference from the Standard type is lower spreads that start from 0.0 pips. This is usually just a marketing figure, in practice, it is at least 0.1 pip. To offset the spreads, commissions are charged $3 per lot with some discounts possible depending on volume.

The final account type is the Cardiff Prime available from a $50.000 deposit. As this broker expects to deal with high ticket clients, the maximum trading size is customizable and could be larger than 150 lots. An additional advantage, or better to say access, is a better range of assets to trade. As to what exactly is available here is not disclosed. More for this account type is the API connectivity feature and the commission reduction to $1.5 per lot traded. The same 0.0 pip spread is advertised for this account type too. Additional information we found about the execution method related to the account types states that the Standard and the Pro have the STP, No Dealing Desk method and Cardiff Prime is pure ECN.

A warning note to traders, the trading conditions from the web site, client portal and in the legal documents are not the same. More information about this issue in the platforms section.

Platforms

Cardiff Global Markets offer only one platform and that is the Metatrader 4. It is available for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. Unfortunately, for those that want a quick glance what Cardiff has to offer, the web MT4 is not available from the web site itself, only through the client portal. A client portal is well designed, with a clear information arrangement and categories. From the dashboard, you will have a wallet where all the transactions come from.

As you will be able to open multiple accounts, funds can be transferred between them. Also, there is a market news feed that works well with the latest information from the DailyFX. Trading Accounts overview gives good management feed over all the accounts a trader has. Here transaction history can be shown based on the account, time frame and open/close time. If traders want to change the leverage or password for the MT4 platform, it can be done from here. The support ticket is opened from Cardiff’s client portal as well as some additional tools that will be reviewed in the education and tools section.

The MT4 platform is at its default settings, version 4 build 1220 (latest at the time of review). Ping to the server is average at 121 ms. Execution times were great and always below 200ms mark, on average 180ms, testifying a real ECN environment. By default after installation, one-click trading is disabled, unlike some other brokers. The trading asset specification widow will show all the usual information a trader may need. The leverage is set during the account creation. 

The account opening process through the client portal presented us with completely different trading conditions we have encountered on the Cardiff web site. Account comparison table showed different spreads, maximum leverage levels, commission, minimum trading sizes, minimum deposits, and even different margin call/stop out levels. As we want to be sure what is true, we will use the MT4 platform feedback for each in the following sections of this review. For serious investors, this issue is very aversive. 

Leverage

Cardiff has a questionnaire for clients in order to accept them. This will also affect the leverage you are granted. Moreover, the leverage will also depend on the country of origin and the equity in the client account. The default leverage set is 1:20. After all set, the maximum leverage for the Standard Account is up to 1:200 as well as for Pro Account. The Cardiff Prime Account has a maximum leverage of up to 1:50. The leverage levels are customizable with Cardiff and easily requested from their client portal. 

Trade Sizes

Another issue about uncorrelated information is the minimum trade sizes associated with the three account types that Cardiff offers. From the platform, we can confirm that for the Standard Account the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots, as well as increment steps. The maximum per trade is 200 lots. For the Pro Account, the comparison table from the client portal shows a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots. Our MT4 platform did not confirm this, the minimum trade was like with the Standard Account, 0.01 lots. The top tier account, Cardiff Prime, has a 0.5 minimal trading size and step. 

Trading Costs

Cardiff Global Market presents different figures even for costs. If we take the downloadable Product Disclosure Statement, there are no exact figures but we have noticed the conversion fee that will be charged if your account currency is not the same as the position closed. An additional spread will be applied that the MT4 will not reflect.

The commission rates are shown in the demo account. This is another issue for serious investors because transparency seems is not a priority for Cardiff. The conflicting info about the costs adds to this. 

According to the info panel during the deposit process, the Standard (Classic) Account does not have any commissions. The Pro and Prime Accounts have a $5 commission per lot traded. 

More from the legal documents shows interest charges that apply to accounts with insufficient margin requirements level. These rates will be determined at Cardiff’s own discretion. Swaps are under normal levels but the positive swap is rare, only minimal for some exotics like for the TRY.

Assets

Cardiff is not a very generous broker regarding the range of assets offered. Cryptocurrencies, ETFs and other categories are absent from the list. Forex market though has 43 pairs for the Standard Account and 47 for the Pro account. SGD has many crosses with the majors and from the exotics, we found TRY, Scandinavian currencies, MXN and ZAR. Interestingly, the Pro Account does not have the HKD/CNH pair present in the Standard.

We are unsure why these differences are not described to the traders in advance. Commodities range is extremely limited to the spot WTI and Brent oil CFD. Precious metals offer is good enough. Traders can choose between Gold, Silver, Palladium, and Platinum denominated in USD and AUD. Equities are limited to indices only. A total of 12 indices, majors like the AUS200, Germany 30, Spain 35, France 40 (two available), Nikkei Index, etc. Any difference between the accounts types except some Forex pairs is not evident. We see a lot of assets that have more influence in the global east market and this is no wonder as Cardiff Global Market is From Australia. 

Spreads

Disregarding the information from the Cardiff web site, we will reflect the MT4 platform spreads. What is certain is that all spreads are a variable type. The Standard Account has the spreads as stated in the client portal from 1.6 pips for the EUR/USD pair. SGD/JPY shows 10 pips spread which is great considering the average ATR of this pair. The highest spreads for Forex pairs get up to 8.1 pips for the ZAR/JPY and for GBP/NZD 18 pips. For the Gold, the spread is relatively attractive at 3.5 pips. For the Pro Account, the spreads are lower, for example, the EUR/USD spread is at 1.6 pips, SGD/JPY has 8.6 pips and ZAR/JPY 7.3 pips. In general, the Pro Account has 20-50% tighter spreads than Standard. Cardiff Prime Account has spread around 50-90% lower.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount we have detected when filing for the deposit is $100. From the comparison table, the minimum deposit for the Standard Account is $500, therefore the information conflict makes everything unclear. For the Pro account the minimum is $2000 and for Prime, $25.000. Margin requirements are also different, Standard requires 100% level until call and at least 30% before the stop out. Pro requires 100% and 50% levels respectively and Prime 125% and 75%.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Cardiff legal documents have clearly described the fees associated with the deposit transactions. There are no deposit fees except the client’s bank costs. The deposit methods could change depending on the country you have selected during the registration process. In general, Cardiff accepts Credit Cards, Visa and MasterCard, e-wallets like Skrill, Neteller, B-pay  (AUD), Union Pay, Poli Pay, and bank transfers. The deposit maximum is $100.000 or another currency equivalent. 

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The fee for international electronic funds transfer is 20AUD. Depending on the deposit method, the withdrawal will be made using the same channel as the deposit (Skrill, Neteller, Bank Transfer). Any amount that is larger than the original deposit is paid via bank transfer. In the Wallet section of the Cardiff client portal app, traders can add Credit Cards, e-wallets, and bank accounts that can be used for deposits and withdrawals. Here, any withdrawal requests can also be tracked. Additional methods presented at the web site will direct to the client portal wallet.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All the methods take 24 hours to process by the Cardiff, for the bank wire method additional 1-5 days is required. 

Bonuses & Promotions

Cardiff Global Markets does not mention any kind of bonuses. Introducing broker and Money Manager services are available for anyone interested in helping this broker expand their client base.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational service or material does not exist. What is contributed toward giving some insight into what potential traders are getting into is the Product Disclosure Statement. The document contains Q&A, both related to trading and Cardiff trading environment. The quality of information is good, a lot of facts and definitions about the processes during trading are explained but also what Cardiff is doing. An interesting fact about this broker is the sole discretion to hedge client positions and decide to accept an order. Still. Cardiff claims that no requotes are possible. 

The client portal has an interesting news feed tool from the DailyFX that is showing the most recent developments. Clicking the news will open the details and a link to the source. Unfortunately, under the tools section in the client portal there us a market analysis that is no longer operational. This tool used to provide analysis from the Smart Markets. The economic calendar is not available. Taking a look, it seems that Cardiff was once a much better brokerage.

Customer Service

Live Chat that we have used established the connection with the Cardiff support but we have not received a reply to our queries. The contact form is on the site and the ticket service is available through the client portal app. Email and phone are there for visitors that do not want to register.

Demo Account

Cardiff does not hide the demo account like some other brokers that resort to aggressive and manipulative marketing. To open one, traders need to fill in the details and the email where the login credentials will be sent. The phone is required. After this process, you will be able to login to the Cardiff client portal where demo accounts are created. Demos are available like the Standard and Pro Account. For the GBP currency only the Pro. Traders are able to create more than one account so they can easily compare the differences. Note that the demo account does not reflect the commissions charged with real Pro and Prime Accounts.

Countries Accepted

Cardiff does not accept clients from Japan and the United States. Other countries could be on the list if the laws prohibit CFD trading service from this provider.

Conclusion

This broker has evident issues about the information they handle to potential investors. The web site is like any other average broker that does not follow the trends and demands of the market. Beeing regulated with a reputable regulator, a lot of effort is made towards the safety of clients funds, but this may be reserved for Australian clients. The required minimal capital for the Australian Financial Services Licence is 1 million AUD and this is a significant barrier to entry, in return giving some credibility to investors. We are not sure as to why the information about the account type, spreads, commission, and many other key investor figures are not disclosed in a single, accurate and indisputable manner. The Cardiff web site is full of usual sentences that try to assure in the quality of service, safety, etc. It takes more than just saying a broker is great, a leader, innovator, safe, and supportive. 

Cardiff Global Market is an ECN broker that is not doing a requote but has a right to hedge and to choose not to accept the order. This is a sign of a market maker but it does not mean that this practice is often. The legal documents provide enough information that could be less obscured and integrated into the web site. Taking all into consideration, the popularity of this broker is low because of the marketing and the inaccurate information that traders will feel at every step, bringing them closer to the decision of no return. Additionally, Cardiff does not offer any popular assets to trade, like the cryptocurrencies, equities, automated trading service, copy trading, and so on. The support is not present in the chat. Traders that are already trading with Cardiff cannot switch to equities or crypto in case of market shifts, will start to seek another broker. Our final opinion is to avoid this broker until a better service is offered.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

OD Markets Review

OD Markets are based in New Zealand and established themselves in the year 2014, Despite operating for a few years now, they do not seem to have accumulated a huge amount of traction online, nor do they seem very popular. However, their website offers attractive trading conditions overall. In addition, they also offer IB partnerships as well as deposit bonuses, if that is of interest.

Account Types

OD Markets offer one live account for all clients. For this account, one must submit one photo proof of identification and document proof of residence, such as a utility bill or bank statement. The minimum deposit is $100 and you have access to a wide variety of instruments to trade on the world’s trusted MT4 platform. Islamic accounts are also available.

Platforms

As just mentioned, OD Markets have decided to stick with the well known and trusted platform, MetaTrader 4. This platform is favorable for most traders.

Leverage

The FAQ page helped us to easily pinpoint the leverage allowances, which are as follows: 1:200 for Forex and Commodities and 1:50 for Gold. This leverage is rather generous and definitely competitive for Forex trading.

Trade Sizes

Unfortunately, the minimum and maximum trade sizes are not mentioned on the OD Markets website, so this is not something we can comment on at this time. Feel free to contact the broker’s support team for more information regarding trade sizes and other platform specifics.

Trading Costs

Aside from taking into consideration the spreads you are trading with, other costs to bear in mind are Swap and Commission fees. OD Markets do not charge trade commissions, meaning they make their income via the spreads- so we expect these to be a little above average- but we will get to that shortly. In regards to swaps, these vary according to market volatility, which is stated on the FAQ page, so we cannot comment on the specific charges you would incur.

Assets

OD Markets offer a fair range of instruments to trade including CFDs on Forex, Indices, Metals, and Energies. You may also trade Gold Options. A full list of tradable instruments is available on the Spreads page on the website.

Spreads

Overall, for the major Forex pairs, the spreads are reasonably low, but of course expect the exotics to have much higher spreads, which is understandable since this is the same with all brokers. You can even see average spreads set out in a full list on the website.

Minimum Deposit

The FAQ page states that $100 is the minimum deposit required to get started. This is not particularly low, but also not extortionate compared to other broker requirements.

Deposit Methods & Costs

With OD Markets you may choose from 4 methods to fund your account: Local Depositor (full available location list available through the website), China Local Interbank transfer, Credit/Debit card or Bank Wire. This gives a fair variety of options that should satisfy most clients. Although additional fees are not mentioned, bear in mind your provider may apply some charges, so be sure to check with them prior to making the transfer.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The website FAQ insinuates the only withdrawal option from an OD Markets account is via Bank Wire. It also states that the client is liable for any charges (check with your banking provider in regards to any applicable charges) which will be deducted from the full amount you withdraw.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

According to the FAQ page, withdrawal requests can take up to 5 business days to be processed. This is not very efficient, and definitely not competitive since many brokers process withdrawal requests within hours or the same day. Of course, the time it takes for your funds to hit your account could also vary depending upon your banking provider so it would be wise to check any timescales with your bank before you make the withdrawal.

Bonuses & Promotions

OD Markets do offer deposit bonuses and you can find information in regards to this scheme on the website. Upon registration, you can receive a welcome bonus of 20% of your deposit (maximum $5,000). Upon reading this section of the website, we also noticed that leverage is set at 1:500 for trading with this bonus. Be mindful these bonuses are not entirely what they appear, and strict trading rules apply in order to be allowed to withdraw any profit made on the back of the bonus.

OD Markets also held a trading competition back in 2015, but the minimum deposit was $30,000. No other competitions have been mentioned on the website since then.

Educational & Trading Tools

OD Markets offer a section on their website called the ‘Learning Center’ where some free trading education (reading) material is available to help you understand the basics of trading as well as terminology used.

Customer Service

OD Markets offer customer support on a 24/5 basis via telephone, email and live chat.

Demo Account

If you wish, you may open a demo version of the live account to practice and test their trading conditions before you go ahead and register for a live account. A demo account is always a good gauger to verify if a particular broker trade conditions fit well with your trading style.

Countries Accepted

It seems that OD Markets accepts most/all residents, other than residents of New Zealand, which is a clear disclaimer printed on the bottom of their website.

OD Markets awards.

Conclusion

Overall, OD Markets appear to be an average broker, offering amicable trading conditions. However, they lack in particular areas such as when it comes to a variety of instruments to offer where there is the absence of crypto trading, per example. Moreover, having only one method of withdrawal can be quite limiting and wire transfer is notorious for having a lengthy timescale and delays which means a lot of back and forth communication with the broker as well as your banking provider which is just unnecessary and time consuming for the client. All aspects considered, this broker appears to be amicable across the board, and suitable for even the newer traders, with helpful educational material and an FAQ page handy for quick reference.

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Forex Forex Brokers

YLD FX Review

YLD FX is a Forex and CFD broker located offshore. There is no mention on their website of exactly where they are based which is rather strange, to say the least. A look on their Facebook page suggests that they are based in Saint Kitts and Nevis though. YLD FX was built by traders and for that reason, they claim to know exactly what traders want in a broker – tight spreads, good customer support, fast execution and most of all minimal slippage. There is no mention on their website as to when they were established.

Account Types

There are no tiered accounts with YLD FX so everyone trades under the same conditions.

Platforms

It appears that the only option available is MT5 which will probably turn a lot of potential new customers away as many traders prefer to use MT4. The MT5 platform can be downloaded to Windows desktops, Apple OSX desktops, and Android devices. MT5 also has a web browser option which can be accessed via any operating system.

Leverage

YLD FX offer Forex leverages of:

  • 1:50
  • 1:100
  • 1:200
  • 1:300
  • 1:400

Trade Sizes

There is no mention of minimum trade sizes anywhere on their website and as they don’t reply to emails or questions on their Facebook page this will remain a mystery.

Trading Costs

Again, not much information about this on their website so hard to say what (if any) the trading costs are.

YLD FX’s Forex heat map.

Assets

Assets available to trade are the usual currency pairs, indices, commodities, precious metals, and stocks. I don’t see any sign of any crypto assets being available to trade.

Spreads

The spreads are not terrible and I’d say they were slightly lower than the industry average.

Liquidity Providers

YLD FX provides an (HFT) High-Frequency Trading liquidity provider to give minimal slippage and competitive spreads.

Minimum Deposit

Minimum account deposits are £200, $250 or €250. These are relatively high these days in my opinion.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Only one deposit option and that is by secure bank transfer. YLD FX does not charge any fees for account funding. They do not cover any of the fees your local bank may charge.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

YLD FX offers secure bank transfer account withdrawals with zero % fees. They cover all outgoing bank fees that are visible to them. They do not cover any of the fees your local bank may charge.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There is no reference as to how long withdrawals take but given that the only withdrawal option is bank transfer then we can assume it will take days rather than hours.

Bonuses & Promotions

YLD FX does not offer deposit bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

YLD FX provides free educational support to assist the trader in growing their market knowledge and to perform to their best potential. I can find no evidence to support this on their website so it’s not immediately apparent how they provide this support.
They have an economic news section providing daily updates and a listing of upcoming news events which is always handy to see.

There is also a real-time price listing, heat map and Forex correlation charts showing the main pairs. Not sure how useful these are, to be honest. By far the most useless trading tool available is the YLD FX Desktop Wallpaper. This can be downloaded and installed on your desktop. There are claims that EA’s and indicators will be arriving soon.

Customer Service

YLD FX offers online chat but only during the London trading session which is a big negative. Live chat should be offered for the entire duration that traders are using the broker’s platform in my opinion. Another bad sign is their email support. I sent them an email asking some questions for the purpose of this review. At the time of writing that was 4 days ago. This is not good enough and gives the impression of an amateurish setup.

Demo Account

Demo accounts can be used with YLD FX. They appear to be free to use (and so they should be). One slight worry is that as soon as I applied for my demo account I was sent to a webpage where I was encouraged to open a live account while I was waiting for my demo account to be opened. Why would I want trade live before testing the water with a demo account and also why not just open my demo account straight away?

Countries Accepted

There is no mention of any restricted countries on the YLD FX website.

Conclusion

There is a serious lack of information about this broker on their website. Their Facebook and Twitter pages are also light on information in this regard. The customer support is poor and unresponsive. Not offering the popular MT4 platform is a big mistake in my opinion and having only one (and a slow one at that) deposit and withdrawal option is also a weak offering. On the plus side, their spreads appear to be ok and the leverages are quite high if that suits your trading style. Would I sign up with this broker?……erm No.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Aronex Corporation Review

Aronex is a small broker and an educational service group headquartered in Cambodia. The offices are in Seychelles as this is a popular getaway from taxes and regulators. Aronex is not regulated but a simple company under Cambodia law and local securities commission license. This group focuses on trading education and in the Metatrader 4 platform. We will check out what value they have for traders.

Account Types

Aronex does not complicate things, two account types are offered. The Classic Account with low commissions and tight spreads. How low is yet to be determined. Aronex mentioned their own platform, but only Metatrader 4 is available.

The Privilege Account offers a 1% interest per annum, a fully customizable market report, and a priority queue for services. These reports are not public, some examples can be seen on Aronex Facebook page but not on the website. Overall, very little information is given about these account types and nothing measurable. Note that during the registration for any account type, you will be warned about an insecure connection. This connection is direct to Aronex Corporation CRM software.

Platforms

Aronex uses the Metatrated 4 platform only, highlighting its great ability for analysis, indicators, automation, etc. No web or mobile versions are up. An interesting quote is a relationship Aronex has with the developers of the MT4 platform to provide the best experience and trading conditions to clients. We are unsure as to how the developers can influence the trading conditions a broker provides unless some plugins are used, like the notorious Virtual Dealer plugin.

We did not detect any deviations from the default MT4 version 4.00 build 1220. Aronex registration panel calls this platform “MT4 Mate Pro”. A serious warning to anyone that uses this broker for trading is the order execution and the server. We have encountered long delays to our orders, up to 5 seconds, and also platform connection drops. The slippage was evident, but positive was not filtered. Anyone serious about trading knows this is a red flag.

Leverage

The leverage is not mentioned on the web site but while making an account, traders will be available to select between 1:100, 1:400 and 1:500 leverage applicable only to the Forex market. Equities and commodities are not leveraged at all. These levels count for both account types.

Trade Sizes

From the MT4 platform, the minimum trade size volume is 0.01 lots. Additional steps are also 0.01 lots. The maximum is larger than with other brokers at 100 lots. Information about trading conditions is not present on the Aronex website.

Trading Costs

Aronex did not disclose any information about the commission they charge. The demo account does not reflect commissions. As for other trading costs, swaps are under normal levels with frequent positive amounts. For example, the XAU/USD short position provides 6.63 points, EUR/USD 4.7 points for short or CAD/JPY 2.59 for long. For USC/CNH the negative swap is just -3.45 for a long overnight position. The rebates are also mentioned for every trade. It is unclear to what amount as this information is not disclosed.

Assets

Aronex is a small broker and it shows with a modest range of assets to trade. The focus is on forex markets trading. A total of 53 currency pairs is listed with some interesting exotics like TRY/JPY, NOK/JPY, ZAR/JPY, and China offshore Yuan pairs. For forex traders, this is more than enough, with a good balance between the east and western markets. The rest of the trading categories are very limited. Gold, silver, and copper from precious metals, also denominated in EUR. For commodities, only oil and natural gas are listed. Equities do not include stocks at all, just major 11 indices like S&P500, NASDAQ, CHN50, etc. Cryptocurrencies are not included.

Spreads

Aronex states they are an ECN broker with tight spreads. This is true according to the feedback from the MT4 platform. The usual variable spread for the EUR/USD is 0.3 pips, GBP/USD 1 pip and the largest spread for non-exotics is GBP/CHF at 1.7 pips. From the metals category, the gold spread was just 24 points, which is on par with some top broker spreads. In general, the spreads offered are great and Aronex is certainly making the most from commissions.

Minimum Deposit

Aronex offers the Classic Account with a minimum of $200.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Aronex is not clear whether there are costs regarding the deposits as well as what deposit methods are available. From other sources, we are informed that bank transfers and Credit Card deposits are offered once the ID documents are uploaded. Another key investor information is not disclosed by Aronex.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Same as with the deposits, the information about withdrawals is not disclosed.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

From the incomplete web site structure, we have noticed pages that explain the withdrawal process monitoring feature that should show the status of the client’s funds while it is processed. This page is not meant to be published online and is filled with random text.

Bonuses & Promotions

Some promotions are available in terms of volume-based rebates but the exact structure remains undisclosed, similarly to other key investor information. Another kind of rebates is offered for referrals. For every referred client that deposits $1000, a $50 rebate will follow for the contributor. For $500 deposits, $25 is counted as a rebate. Of course, some terms and conditions are applied but as to exactly what is not stated. Introducing Brokers (IB) program is offered to potential agents that want to earn a commission from Aronex.

Educational & Trading Tools

Clearly, Aronex presents itself as a broker that focuses on education. For that purpose, they offer educational packages. On their web page, some useful tips and fundamentals about trading hold true about serious approach to trading. Aronex even offers some career opportunities for good traders. Still, the educational packages are very expensive for what they offer. For example, “Strategies for day trading” costs $2000, “Forex fundamentals” is $1000, etc. A total of all four courses costs $5000. The material covered here is mostly available for free on the internet alone.

The economic calendar is on the web site. It also serves as an invisible marketing link to other brokers, but just once. The economic calendar has the filtering, time scaling, description for every event and also chart for past event levels. This economic calendar has all the information needed for a normal trader and is easy to use.
Aronex has put some other tools under the web site menu like the news updates and the technical analysis. Unfortunately, these pages are incomplete and leave a bad impression on Aronex professionalism.

Customer Service

There is no chat service so your immediate curiosity will have to wait for the email response. The phone line is available. We did not receive a response to our email in 24 hours.

Demo Account

The demo is available with an easy registration process. Interestingly, the phone is not required implying that Aronex is not heavy on marketing and pushing the clients for deposit. With the demo MT4 platform available for desktop only, traders will see the spreads but not the commissions. Swaps are accounted for though. The demo is not time-limited. The client portal accessible from the web site is not working for the demo accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not disclosed to us as we did not receive any response from the Aronex support staff. Taking into account that this broker is not regulated, we assume there are no countries prohibited.

Conclusion

Aronex has developed an interesting tool called “Trade Alchemist” showing some impressive income results, of course. The educational and the whole business around Aronex seems to come from Rieve Ko, a professional technical analyst, speaker, coach, columnist, etc. Aronex looks to be one of his own channels for putting his skills to use through the mentioned educational section. Whether this is attractive and has some added value to traders is questionable. The facebook page in updated regularly with promotions, iPhone giveaways and other meetings that prove that this broker is active in the press and marketing. As a broker, Aronex does not pass our test mainly because of completely unreliable trading execution, lag, information obscurity, security and lack of any regulation.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Merit Forex Review

Merit Forex is a Forex broker located in the Republic of Vanuatu, they claim to have some of the best trading environment, unique customer service, competitive spreads, and superior trading technology. In this review, we will take a close look at Merit Forex to see if they live up to their promises.

Account Types

There are four account types with Merit Forex, Standard, Gold, VIP and EA Robot, each one with different requirements and features. Let’s take a little look at them in some more detail.

Standard Account:

The standard account is the entry-level account from Merit Forex, it has a minimum deposit on $250 and maximum leverage of 1:400. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots (micro lot), spreads are around 1.5 pips and there is no added commission on this account. You also have access to a personal mentor which could be a nice benefit.

Gold Account:

The gold account has an increased minimum deposit of $1,000 with this higher entry, there are a couple of additional benefits. Firstly the spread has been reduced from 1.5 pips to 1 pip, the leverage, however, has decreased to a maximum of 1:200. The minimum trade volume has also increased up to 0.1 lots. This account also grants you access to Merit Fore’s copy trading service.

Merit Forex account types.

VIP Account:

The VIP account is the top tier account on offer, due to this, the minimum deposit is $10,000, this account comes with some larger changes to the other accounts. It’s spread is reduced down to 0.4 pips, however, a commission is now being charged on each trade (how much is unknown). The minimum trade volume has increased once again and is at 0.5 lots, which is rather large and there is a further decrease in leverage which now sits at 1:100. The copy trading service is also available and there is access to some live educational sessions which are not available for the other account types.

EA Robot:

This account is only for people using an EA robot from Merit Forex, it has a $500 minimum deposit and a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots (micro lot), leverage is decided upon request.

There is a nice selection of accounts, however, the increased minimum trade size is a bit of a concern for the larger accounts.

Platforms

There are two platforms on offer, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5(MT5), both from the MetaQuotes company. MetaTrader 4 comes with the desktop download and mobile apps, while MetaTrader 5 comes with the desktop download, mobile apps, and online WebTrader. Apps for both software are available on both iOS and Android devices.

Both platforms and flexible and compatible with hundreds and thousands of expert advisors and indicators, MetaTrader 4 being the most widely used, however, MetaTrader 5 is the newer platform, offering a more streamlined experience. Both options are great choices for any trader so it is hard to not be happy with the options available with Merit Forex.

Leverage

The leverage that you get is dependant on the account which you open, the standard account has a leverage of 1:400, which the gold has a leverage of 1:200 and finally, the VIP account has a leverage of 1:100.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size, as with leverage, is dependant on the account that you have. If you have a standard account then the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots (micro lot, a gold account has a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots and the Gold account has a minimum trade size of 0.5 lots. 0.5 lots is a surprising minimum as it is higher than what a lot of retail traders ever get to, it increases risk and does not allow you to trade small percentages of your account at a time.

Trading Costs

Trading costs for standard and gold accounts are based on their spreads with the standard account having spreads at an average of 1.5 pips and the gold account at 1 pip, there are no added commissions on these accounts. The VIP account, however, has a reduced spread at an average of 0.4 pip but it does charge a commission. We were unable to locate on the website what the value of this commission is and if it is worth having the reduced spread in exchange for the commission.

Assets

Merit Forex offers a number of different instruments and assets to trade and these are spread over a number of different categories including Forex, Commodities, Energies, Equity Indices, and Metals.

The Merit Forex website does not specify any of these categories specifically except for metals where it states that you can trade Gold, Silver, and Copper. All other categories may list one or two instruments, but there is no concrete information on all available tradable assets.

Spreads

Spreads are dependant on your account type, with the standard account having average spreads of around 1.5 pips, the gold account has a spread of 1 pip on average and the VIP account has a further reduced spread at 0.4 pips on average.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit for the entry-level account is $250, if you want more features and reduced spreads, you will need to make a minimum deposit of at least $1000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following deposit methods are currently available with Merit Forex, Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Skrill Neteller, and Bank Transfer. All deposit methods have a minimum deposit amount of $250 except for bank transfer which has a minimum deposit of $1000. All methods are instant except for bank transfer which can take 3 – 5 business days. There are no fees for any of the deposit methods.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawal as there were for deposits. You can only withdraw using USD and not any other currency. All withdrawal methods take 1 – 5 business days except for bank transfer which is 3 – 5 days. There are also no fees added to withdrawals, similar to deposits.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals are processed between 07:00 and 16:00 GMT+2 and the withdrawal processing times depend on the method used, if you use bank transfer then there is a processing time of between 3 – 5 business days. All other methods including Skrill and card transfers can take between 1 – 5 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

From having a little explore around the Merit Forex website, we could not see any mention of bonuses or promotions, so it does not look like there are any at this current time. This does not mean that there won’t be in the future, so be sure to regularly check back to see if any new ones have come up.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is some basic education available on the Merit Forex website, it offers information on the basics of trading which is a nice touch as well as a glossary of forex terms. There are also sections of market news and research to help you analyze the markets and confirm your own analysis. This can be helpful, however, the standard is not as high as what can be found at other sites on the internet.

Customer Service

Should you need to get in touch with Merit Forex for any reason, there are a number of different ways that you can do it. There is everyone’s favourite contact form to fill out, there is also a raw email address that you can use. There is also a skype available for messaging which we tested out and got a response within 10 minutes which while not the quickest, at least someone replied. The support team is available 24/5 and is closed at the same time as the markets close over the weekend.

Demo Account

There are demo accounts available with Merit Forex, there is a button at the bottom of the main page to apply for one. Simply fill in the details and it will open up for you. These accounts last indefinitely if they are being used if you stop using one, after a period of time they will close and you will be required to open up a new account.

Countries Accepted

Merit Forex allows anyone to sign up as long as you are not located within the United States of America.

Conclusion

Merit Forex offers a nice selection of account types with varying benefits, spreads are decent for the accounts that are not charging a commission. Having both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 is excellent as it gives you as much flexibility as any broker probably can. It would have been nice to have a full breakdown of tradable assets though. Our main concern is the withdrawal processing time, the quickest is between 1 – 5 business days which is quite a long time to wait for your funds.

There are plenty of worse brokers out there, but also plenty of better ones. While we would not recommend Merit Forex as our go-to broker, we also feel comfortable enough to not warn you away from them, so ultimately, it is down to your own preferences.

We hope you enjoyed reading the review, make sure to check out some of our other reviews to help find the broker that is right for you.