LKM Groups is a London-based foreign exchange broker that is authorized and regulated by the International Business Company (FCA). This has caused a little confusion on our behalf because the FCA actually stands for Financial Conduct Authority and not the International Business Company, there is also a lot of discrepancies in the information they provide and for a London-based company, the wording is not very coherent. They haven’t provided much information about themselves, so as we go through this review we will be looking into the services that are being offered, so you can decide if they are the right broker for you,
Account Types
There are four different account types available when trading with LKM Groups, they are the Economy Class, Premium Class, First Class, and Business Class accounts. There isn’t much difference on the account pages except for the spreads, due to this, as we go through the review, we will outline any differences (including these spreads) in the appropriate section of the review rather than listing them here and then again in each section of the review.
Platforms
LKM Groups is offering its clients the use of MetaTrader 4 as their trading platform. MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most used trading platforms which hosts the trades of over 1,000,000 traders worldwide. It offers a whole host of features including built-in indicators and compatibility with thousands of others to help with analysis and thousands of expert advisors to allow for automated trading. There are multiple chart windows and timeframes available as well as features such as one-click trading. Normally not having a choice of available platforms can be negative, but when the only platform available is MT4, it is not all bad.
Leverage
The maximum leverage available is 1:200, this can be selected when first opening up an account. The FAQ on the site indicates that there is different leverage available for different instruments however there isn’t a full breakdown of these leverages. We are not sure if the leverage can be changed once it is already open, but you could always send a change request to the customer service team.
Trade Sizes
A lot size is 100,000 base currency units when trading at LKM Groups, the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots which are equal to 1,000 base currency units, the trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size available is, or how many open trades and orders you are able to have at any one time.
Trading Costs
The FAQ page on the site very clearly states that there are no added commissions when trading with LKM Groups as they only use a spread-based system that we will look at later in the review. There are however spread charges, these are fees that are charged when holding a trade overnight, they can be both positive and negative and can most likely be viewed within the trading platform that you are using (in this case MetaTrader 4). There are swap-free accounts available too just in case you are not able to accept or pay the interest due to your beliefs.
Assets
There are only two sets of assets available from LKM Group which slightly limits the overall assets available to trade. We have outlined all the instruments and assets below (and divided them up into further categories) so you can get an understanding of the sort of things that are there to be traded.
Currencies: EURUSD, EURJPY, USDJPY, GBPUSD, EURGBP, EURCHF, USDCHF, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, EURTRY, GBPTRY, TRYJPY, USDTRY, CHFJPY, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDHUF, EURHUF, SGDHKD, USDSGD, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDZAR, USDMXN.
Metals: Gold, Silver
Commodities: Brent Crude Oil, US Oil, WTI Crude Oil.
Indices: Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, FTSE 100, Euro Stoxx 50, CAC 40, DAX 30, IBEX 35, Swiss Market Index, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng
Spreads
The spreads that you get depend on the account type that you are using, we have listed down below the minimum spread value when trading with each account.
- Economy Account: 2.1 pip minimum
- Premium Account: 1.3 pip minimum
- First Class Account: 0.8 pip minimum
- Business Account: 0.6 pip minimum
- Swap-Free Account: 1.0 pip minimum
These spreads are the minimum value that they will be, the spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets, they will often be seen higher than the figures above. It should also be noted that different instruments will have different spreads, so on the Economy account, the GBPUSD pair has a starting spread of 2.1 pips, while NZDUSD has a starting spread of 2.9 pips.
Minimum Deposit
We didn’t actually come across the minimum amount required to open up an account, but by looking at various sources around the internet it seems that the minimum deposit may be 500 EUR, this may not be 100% accurate and we are also not sure if this amount reduces once an account has been opened.
Deposit Methods & Costs
The only method detailed in the FAQ is Bank Wire Transfer, however, at the bottom of the screen, there are images of Visa, MasterCard, and American Express so we suspect that Credit and Debit cards are also available to use. There is, in fact, a mention of i-payments in the terms and conditions, but we do not know what this actually entails. The FAQ on the website states that there will be no fees or commission added by LKM Groups, however, you will be liable for any fees added by your own bank or payment processor.
Withdrawal Methods & Costs
The same methods seem to be available to withdraw with, once again they seem to be Bank Wire Transfer and Credit/Debit Card. Once again, the FAQ on the website states that there will be no fees or commission added by LKM Groups, however, you will be liable for any fees added by your own bank or payment processor.
Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time
LKM Groups have not specified their exact processing times, so we do not know exactly how long it could take, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 1 to 7 working days from the date the request is sent.
Bonuses & Promotions
There wasn’t anything on the site indicating that there are any active promotions or bonuses, however, in the Terms of Service the following sentence is available:
“The Company, from time to time, and at our sole discretion, may offer several types of promotions and/or incentives through which Clients can earn specified rewards upon reaching or by completing pre-defined targets.”
So there have been promotions in the past and maybe more in the future, you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.
As an example of a bonus, there is one in the term and conditions that states:
- For deposits starting from EUR 1000 – EUR 2000 the bonus will be 100%.
- For deposits starting from EUR 2000 – EUR 10.000 the bonus will be 75%.
- For deposits starting from EUR 10.000 – EUR 50.000 the bonus will be 50%.
- For deposits that will be more than EUR 50.000, the bonus will be 25%.
Educational & Trading Tools
There is an economic and technological news section of the site, however, this is actually just an economic calendar, this details some upcoming news events as well as the sort of impact that the news events could have on the markets. There does not seem to be any other educational information or tools available on the site.
Customer Service
The contact us page has a few different ways to get in contact with them, the first is an online submission form, fill it in and you will then get a reply by email, there is also a postal address provided along with a phone number.
Demo Account
Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out their conditions and trading platforms completely free of charge. You can open one up by using the online application form. We do not know which account it will mimic in regards to the spreads or whether or not there is an expiration time on the accounts.
Countries Accepted
This information does not seem to be present on the site, should you be interested in joining up, then we would recommend contacting the customer service team just to check your eligibility before you sign up for an account.
Conclusion
Things didn’t start well with the confusion over the government and regulation bodies that LKM Groups use, when we look at their trading conditions they are ok, the spreads on the upper-tier accounts are relatively low when we also consider that there are no added commissions on the accounts. There isn’t a huge selection of assets to trade which is a little shame and when it comes to education the site is a little light. The funding options are also limited to just a few options, but the good news is that there are no fees for either depositing or withdrawing.