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Forex Market Analysis

Daily F.X. Analysis, July 29 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – FOMC in Focus! 

On the news front, the focus will be on the FOMC and Fed policy decision which is expected to be 0.25%. Since no change in rate is expected, there’s is likely to be a neutral sentiment in the market. Besides, the investors will also focus on the Pending Home Sales from the U.S. which is expected to have dropped sharply. The dollar can stay weaker on this news.

Economic Events to Watch Today  

    


EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

The EUR/USD pair was closed at 1.17166 after placing a high of 1.17734 and a low of 1.16984. Overall the movement of the EUR/USD pair remained bearish throughout the day.

After rising for eight consecutive days, the EUR/USD pair dropped on Tuesday and posted losses for the day as the U.S. dollar rose marginally across the board but remained under pressure ahead of the Fed meeting.

The U.S. Dollar Index was also up on Tuesday and posted a high of 94.0. The recovery in the greenback could be because of correction after losing ground significantly over a few days. Or the recovery could also be because of the rising hopes of the U.S. stimulus package and the economic recovery hopes associated with it.

The Republicans made a proposal on Monday for a stimulus package worth about $1 trillion. The Senate Republicans plan to issue another round of stimulus checks of $1200 while it also cut the emergency unemployment benefit from $600 to $200 per week.

More than 100 billion dollars were allocated to reopen schools in the presented proposal of coronavirus relief fund by Republicans. The proposal is yet to be approved by the Democrats. On the data front, the Spanish Unemployment Rate was decreased to 15.3% from the expected 16.6% and supported Euro. From the American side, at 18:00 GMT, the S&P/CS Composite-20 Housing Price Index for the year was also dropped to 3.7% from the expectations of 4.1%. At 19:00 GMT, the C.B. Consumer Confidence from America dropped to 92.6 in July from 94.0and weighed on the U.S. dollar.

However, the EUR traders ignored the macroeconomic data on Tuesday, and the pair EUR/USD continued to follow the improved U.S. dollar movements.

A two-day Federal Reserve meeting started on Tuesday, during which investors expected reaffirmation on the outlook. Though no monetary policy changes were expected, traders were speculating about a change in emphasis in the Fed’s forward guidance at the meeting.

On the other hand, the bearish correction in EUR/USD pair on Tuesday was due to the rise in its prices for eight consecutive days. The trend in the EUR/USD pair was still positive, and even a sharper slide could have been normal.

On the previous day, the pair EUR/USD posted the highest daily close since June 2018 near 1.1780 level, confirmed that both single currencies had a solid momentum. And despite falling and posting losses on Tuesday, the pair EUR/USD continued to hold just below 1.18 level, which shows that it has a key multi-year trend resistance.

Daily Technical Levels

Support Pivot Resistance
1.1686 1.1730 1.1762
1.1654 1.1806
1.1610 1.1837

EUR/USD– Trading Tip

The EUR/USD is trading at 1.1728 level, holding above resistance to become a support level of 1.1715. On the hourly timeframe, the EUR/USD was previously forming highers high and highers low pattern, but now the recent cycle seems to change the trend. A bearish breakout of 1.1715 can drive more sales until the 1.1683 level. On the higher side, the resistance can stay at 1.1780.

GBP/USD – Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD pair was closed at 1.29316 after placing a high of1.29526 and a low of 1.28379. Overall the movement of GBP/USD pair remained bullish throughout the day. The GBP/USD pair extended its previous day’s gains and maintained its bullish streak for the 8th consecutive day on Tuesday amid improved market mood on vaccine hopes. The U.S. Dollar struggled on Tuesday after hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine boosted the risk sentiment. As in result, the greenback suffered as markets inclined towards riskier assets. The positive news about vaccine development supported the risk sentiment.

The pharma firms worldwide are working on treatment and vaccine development that provides multiple routes to success. Companies like Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca were all pushing to get their vaccines across the line.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar was also supported ahead of the 2-days Federal Reserve meeting that started on Tuesday. Though no change in interest rate is expected, the traders were cautious to know about the statement of meeting to find more clues about the U.S. economy.

However, the release of S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for May fell below the forecast of 3.9% to 3.7%. It is because investors have become concerned about America’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Richmond Manufacturing Index was released at 18:59 GMT as 10 for July against the expectations of 5 and supported the U.S. dollar. However, the C.B. Consumer Confidence also dropped to 92.6 from the forecasted 94.0 and weighed on the U.S. dollar that eventually added in the currency pair gains.

From the GBP side, the Pound was benefited from a stronger than expected CBI Distributive Trades Survey that rose to 4% from the expected -37% and gave hopes to investors that the British economy could be on the road to recovery.

Meanwhile, the Sterling traders were cautious after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of the possible signs of the pandemic’s second wave in parts of Europe. This raised concerns that the U.K. could also suffer from a second wave of coronavirus in the month ahead. The London School of Economics has also reported that Brexit could prove a double-shock to the economy. As a result, GBP traders remained cautious as UK-EU post-Brexit trade talks continue despite a lack of progress.

The GBP/USD pair traders will look forward to the Fed’s interest rate decision and the statement of the meeting. If fed in notably downbeat in s monetary policy statement, the GBP/USD pair would edge higher as concerns about the global economy grow.

The Brexit developments will also drive the GBP/USD pair in the coming days of the week as there will be a lack of macroeconomic data until next week. If the talks between the E.U. & U.K. show any progress, then Sterling would rise.


Daily Technical Levels

Support Pivot Resistance
1.2863 1.2908 1.2978
1.2792 1.3024
1.2747 1.3094

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

On the 4 hour chart, the GBP/USD has completed 23.6% retracement at 1.2927 level, and closing below this level has the potential to lead GBP/USD prices towards 1.2910, which marks 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level. On the lower side, the GBP/USD pair can find support at 1.2810 and 1.2765 level. Conversely, the resistance stays at 1.2975. Let’s consider taking buying trade over 1.2760 until 1.2860 level today.  

USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY pair was closed at 105.073 after placing a high of 105.684 and a low of 104.954. Overall the movement of the USD/JPY pair remained bearish throughout the day. The USD/JPY pair extended its bearish trend and losses on Tuesday amid U.S. dollar weakness and struggled with 105 level. The haven was on the bid, which supported the Japanese Yen and caused a decline in the USD/JPY pair.

The rising numbers off coronavirus cases in the U.S. and the Federal Reserve Interest Rate decision event were the market’s dominating sentiment. Meanwhile, the U.S. stimulus negotiations and mixed earnings reports sent the investors to the sidelines.

The greenback managed to correct some of its oversold conditions during the past sessions; however, the USD/JPY pair remained still on the bearish path on Tuesday. The reason behind it was that background picture containing the concerns about the spread of coronavirus, and the ongoing US-China tensions did not change.

The U.S. Senate Republicans revealed the new coronavirus aid proposal that will need Democrats’ support. The package would include another round of $1200 in direct payments to individuals and a reduction in federal unemployment benefits from $600 to $200 per week and also more than $100 billion for reopening schools.

In remarks, Nancy Pelosi, a white house speaker, criticized it and called it a “pathetic” offer that was not enough to support the country.

On the data front, Japan published the June Corporate Service Price Index, which improved to 0.8% from 0.5% in May. On the U.S. side, the Richmond Manufacturing Index raised to 10 from the expected five and supported the U.S. dollar. The S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI dropped to 3.7% from the expected 4% and weighed on the U.S. dollar. The C.B. Consumer Confidence also dropped to 92.6 from the expected 94.0 and weighed on the U.S. dollar.

The poor than expected Consumer Confidence and HPI data added further losses in the USD/JPY pair on Tuesday. Furthermore, despite the prospects of a prolonged U.S. recession, the U.S. dollar will favor any breakdown in the market confidence due to its dominance in the global payment system. On JPY front, the currency is sensitive to geopolitical news in the Asian region, and with the ongoing conflict between U.S. & China, JPY is set to remain firm for the time being. JPY was the third worst-performing currency this month after the USD and Canadian Dollar.


Daily Technical Levels

Support Pivot Resistance
104.80 105.25 105.55
104.50 106.00
104.05 106.30

 

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY trades with a selling bias around 105.526 level, trading within a downward channel that provides an immediate resistance at 106.120. On the lower side, the USD/JPY may find support at 105.375 level, and closing of candles below 105.375 can open further selling bias until 104.850. Overall the pair is forming lowers low and lowers high pattern, which signifies selling sentiment among traders. The RSI and MACD suggest selling signals; for instance, the RSI is holding below 50, and the MACD is staying below 0. Today, let’s look for buying trade above 105.200. Good luck! 

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Forex Market Analysis

Daily F.X. Analysis, July 09 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Trade Plans to Follow! 

On the news front, traders will keep their focus on the German trade balance, and U.S. Jobless Claims data in order to predict further price action in the market. Both events are expected to perform better than before and may help positive moves in the U.S. dollar.

Economic Events to Watch Today 

 


EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

A day before, the EUR/USD pair was closed at 1.13294 after placing a high of 1.13516 and a low of 1.12621. Overall the movement of the EUR/USD pair remained bullish throughout the day. The EUR/USD pair rose on Wednesday due to the U.S. economy’s gloomy look after a rising number of infection cases from the U.S. Despite growing fears over a possible second wave of coronavirus in the U.S., the market’s risk sentiment improved. Investors have weighed hopes in favor of a swift economic recovery despite signs of a pandemic resurgence.

The Greenback has been increasingly compromised by the growing doubts over its safe-haven status, as the Chinese economy was improving quickly while the U.S. was still facing the prospect of the second wave. The EUR/USD pair edged higher on Wednesday against the U.S. dollar despite concerns that Eurozone’s economy could be headed for an additional recession than previously forecasted.

According to E.U. Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovski, the European economy was facing many risks, including the second wave of coronavirus. The report of the E.U. Commission indicated that the rising number of infection cases in the U.S. and other markets had deteriorated the global outlook, and it could drag the European economy with itself.

However, in the absence of Eurozone economic data on Wednesday and the presence of safe-haven demand, the investors lost confidence in the U.S. dollar because of America’s struggling economy. And with the Euro being a direct competitor of the U.S. dollar, investors turned towards it and benefited single currency Euro, which ultimately pushed the EUR/USD pair.

On Wednesday, Spain and Italy’s leaders called for a strong response from the European Union to the economic crisis triggered by COVID-19. Ten days ahead of the E.U. Summit, where leaders of member countries will try to reach a deal on 750 B euros COVID-19 recovery package and the long-term E.U. budget, Italian PM met its Spain counterpart on Wednesday. 

On the other hand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday urged E.U. countries to show unity and overcome differences to approve a massive coronavirus recovery plan in E.U. Summit. However, the gains were limited due to recent forecasts of and 8.7% contraction in the Eurozone economy this year. This weighed on the single currency and limited the daily gains in EUR/USD pair.

On Thursday, Euro traders will look forward to the release of German Trade data. Any improvement in the Eurozone powerhouse economy export will push the pair EUR/USD higher further. Meanwhile, the U.S. employment data will be under close observation by the traders to take fresh impetus. The EUR/USD pair will be driven by Eurozone economic data for the rest of the week. Any signs of economic recovery in the Eurozone area will provide support to the persisting gains.

Daily Support and Resistance

  • R3 1.1459
  • R2 1.1406
  • R1 1.1368

Pivot Point 1.1315

  • S1 1.1278
  • S2 1.1224
  • S3 1.1187

EUR/USD– Trading Tip

The EUR/USD pair has violated the triple top resistance level of 1.1340 level, and above this, the pair has the potential to go after the 1.1405 resistance area. A bullish breakout of 1.1405 level can extend buying until 1.1489. Stay tuned to our forex signals; we will share more signals as soon as the market shows some movement. 


GBP/USD – Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD pair was closed at 1.26092 after placing a high of 1.26229 and a low of 1.25085. Overall the movement of GBP/USD pair remained bullish throughout the day. The GBP/USD exchange rate rose for the 4th consecutive day on Wednesday and reached 1.26229 level on the back of decreased demand for the U.S. dollar and a new stimulus package from the U.K. government.

The UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that U.K. would cut VAT on hospitality as part of a 3 Billion British Pound plan to prevent mass unemployment that was caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

He also announced that the U.K. government would pay firms a 1000 pounds bonus for every staff member they kept for three months when the furlough scheme will end in October. He also announced a scheme which will give 50% off to the people dining out in August. He added that he would cut VAT on food, accommodation, and attractions from 20% to 5% from next Wednesday. Mr. Sunak warned that hardships were ahead but also vowed that no-one would be left without hope.

The Chancellor refused to extend the furlough scheme beyond October as it would provide false hope to people that they will return to their jobs. Longer, the people remain on furlough; the more likely their sill could fade.

Mr. Sunak said that the U.K. would cut stamp duty on house purchases of up to 500,000 British pounds. The government will also invest an extra 1B pound in the work & pension department to support unemployed people.

After the 30 B pound stimulus package announcement, the GBP currency got some support and lifted GBP/USD pair a little.

On Brexit front, the U.K. government was seeking to agree “special provisions” with the European Union over food supply to Northern Ireland from the U.K. This provided some optimism over the Brexit and compromised deal. However, prospects of no-deal were also there in the market as the U.K. has said that it would go for Australian-style agreement if the end of the transition period secured no deal.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was under pressure as its safe-haven status was compromised due to the pandemic’s struggling American economy. The U.S. Dollar Index was slipped 0.5% at 96.40 on Wednesday and weighed on the U.S. dollar. The weak U.S. dollar in the wake of an increased number of coronavirus cases from the U.S. gave a push to the already increasing GBP/USD pair on Wednesday.

 Daily Support and Resistance

  • R3 1.277
  • R2 1.2697
  • R1 1.2654

Pivot Point 1.2581

  • S1 1.2538
  • S2 1.2465
  • S3 1.2421

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

The GBP/USD is trading with a bullish bias, especially after violating the resistance level of 1.2570 level. For now, this level is working as support, and the Cable can show further bullish bias above 1.2570 level to lead the GBP/USD pair towards 1.2680 level. The MACD and RSI are holding in a buying zone and the 50 EMA, which also supports the pair’s buying trend. The recent candles are also bullish, as it seems like the traders are looking to enter fresh long entries over 1.2630 level. Let’s consider taking buying trades today. 


USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY pair was closed at 107.257 after placing a high of 107.709 and 107.200. Overall the movement of the USD/JPY pair remained bearish throughout the day. On Wednesday, at the Department of Education, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed progress against COVID-19 even the infections topped 3 Million in numbers. In reply to the hiked number of cases from Florida, Arizona, and Texas, Mike Pence said that these were the early indications of a percent positive testing.

Pence joined President Trump in his push for reopening schools as it was needed not just for educating kids but also for the workforce and providing essential services. He also announced plans for new CDC guidelines after President Trump criticized public health agency for its impractical instructions to reopen schools. Donald Trump warned schools on Wednesday that if they do not open in fall 2020 due to coronavirus pandemic, he may cut off government funding.

Pence said that the national death rate from coronavirus was lowered compared to before and said that early indications for positive testing from three major states were flattening. Pence and Trump’s statement pushed he equities back into upward trend and decreased the demand for safe-haven U.S. dollar, downed the U.S. Dollar Index to 96.47 level, and added in the downward trend of USD/JPY.

The U.S. dollar was already under pressure due to the rising number of coronavirus cases, which affected the U.S. economic outlook as it was struggling heavily to fight the pandemic. This compromised the safe-haven U.S. dollar status, and hence U.S. dollar lost its demand in the market, which dragged the USD/JPY pair with itself.

However, the safe-haven Japanese Yen was stronger against the U.S. dollar on the back of increased demand for safe-haven during uncertainty related to coronavirus and positive macroeconomic data from Japan on Wednesday, which helped to add losses in USD/JPY pair. On the data front, at 4:50 GMT, the Bank Lending for the year from Japan surged to 6.2%from the forecasted5.0% and supported the Japanese Yen, which ultimately pushed the already rising USD/JPY pair prices further.

The Current Account Balance from Japan showed a surplus of 0.82T against the forecasted 0.71T and supported the Japanese Yen. At 10:00 GMT, the Economy Watchers Sentiment for June from Japan also increased to 38.8 from the forecasted 24.7 and supported Japanese Yen that added in the bearish trend of USD/JPY pair.

Support and Resistance    

  • R3 108.1
  • R2 107.91
  • R1 107.59

Pivot Point 107.39

  • S1 107.07
  • S2 106.87
  • S3 106.55

 

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY is consolidating in a wide trading range of 107.800 to 107.250. At the moment, the pair is trading with a selling bias of below 107.80 resistance. On the hourly charts, the USD/JPY is dropping below 50 periods EMA, which supports the Japanese pair’s selling bias. It seems like we have a margin to capture quick 25 pips in USD/JPY as the pair moves within a sideways range and has odds of the testing support level of 107.250. Good luck! 

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Forex Brokers

WorldFXM Review

WorldFXM is a forex broker based in the Marshall Islands, they do not give a lot of information about themselves away, they offer technical support and consultation as well as creating an easy to use withdrawal process. These are all things that we would expect anyway but throughout this review, we will be looking deeper into the services being offered so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different accounts on offer with each one having its own entry requirements as well as its own trading conditions, so let’s see what they are.

Silver Account: A minimum deposit amount of $1,000 is required to open this account. It has a choice of fixed or variable spreads and is eligible for a bonus of up to 30%. It has flexible leverage and has support for margin calls, it is also entitled to a free VPN (we will look at that later in this review).

Gold Account: The Gold account requires a minimum deposit of $2,500. It comes with a choice of fixed or variable spreads, eligible for a 30% bonus and supports margin calls, there is flexible leverage up to 1:400 and it has access to a VPN at minimum charges.

Platinum Account: This top-tier account requires a minimum deposit of $25,000. It has a choice of fixed or variable spreads and has improved attractive spreads, it can have trader rebates (on request) and has flexible leverage, the account is also eligible for a bonus up to 50%.

Platforms

There is a selection of different trading platforms on offer, we will outline them below so you can better understand what they offer.

MetaTrader 4: One of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason.

SIRIX Crypto: SIRIX Crypto will allow any business to add or even start their operations with Cryptocurrency trading.

Social Trading: WorldFxm offers investors a way to copy the trades of other successful traders from their community of traders.

ACTIV8: Activ8, or “Activ8” as it is popularly known, is a powerful platform that includes everything a Forex trader needs, no matter whether a beginner or a pro.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:400 which is stated on the accounts comparison page, it states that the leverage is flexible, this normally means that it changes based on the trading volume, the bigger the volume the lower the leverage will be however this information is not clear and so we cannot say for sure.

Trading Costs

It is unknown what the trading costs actually are, there is no mention of any commissions so it does not seem like there will be anything. The only thing that we are sure about is that swap charges are present, these are interest charges that are incurred for holding trades overnight, they can be both negative or positive and can usually be viewed from within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

There is not a full breakdown or list of assets anywhere on the site, we do not know what is available apart from a few small sentences saying how there are 65 currencies and 33 CFD products, which ones they are we do not know. This information is normally vital as a lot of potential clients will be looking at what is available to trade so they can decide if this is the right broker.

Spreads

Spreads are not mentioned don the site anywhere apart from the accounts comparison page where it simply states “Attractive Spreads” which in the real world, doesn’t really mean anything. What we do know is that there is a choice of either fixed or variable spreads, fixed spreads mean they remain the same no matter what is happening in the markets, variable spreads mean that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher.

It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 3.3 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is $1,000, this will get you the Silver account, to get a different account you will need to deposit at least $2,500. There is no mention of the minimum amount decreasing after an account is open but we suspect that it does.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available for depositing, you can use Visa Credit / Debit card, MasterCard Credit or Debit card, MegaTransfer (credit cards) and Bank Wire Transfers. There does not appear to be any deposit fees, however, be sure to check with your bank or card issuer to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

It seems that the same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are
There are a few different methods available for depositing, you can use Visa Credit / Debit card, MasterCard Credit / Debit card, MegaTransfer (credit cards) and Bank Wire Transfers. There is no indication of fees but also no indication that there aren’t any, at any rate, we would recommend checking with your bank or card issuer to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Processing time depends on the method you are using, WorldFXM states on their site that Visa, MasterCard, and MegaTransfer withdrawals are instant, but it seems like the page may actually be referring to deposits. At any rate, we would expect there to be a processing time of between 1 to 5 working days for all available methods.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a bonus mentioned in the accounts page that each account type is eligible for, however, no further information on the website, we managed to go through the terms and conditions to find some information though. You can receive a bonus of up to 50% of your deposit, the bonus amount cannot be used for withdrawals until the end of Term or Period. The length of a Term or Period varies from asset to asset; please check our website www.worldfxm.com for more details.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few basic educational and trading tools available on the site, there is something called MArket Signals. However, the information on the page is quite basic, it doesn’t actually give any examples of the signals so we cannot gauge their accuracy or profitability. There is a page on fundamental analysis and technical analysis, however, both pages are just a single page of information about the topics, not real,y anything helpful to a trader.

Customer Service

Should you need to get in contact with WorldFXM you can do so using an online submissions form, fill in your query and you should get a reply via email, you can also use the support email that is provided or the phone number should you wish to speak to someone directly. The support page does not state the opening times of support but we would expect them to be closed over the weekends and on bank holidays just like the markets are.

Demo Account

Demo accounts or practice accounts as they are known on WorldFXM are available to use, you can sign up using a simple form, you can select which account type you want to mimic as well as which trading platform you want to use. There isn’t any more information though such as how long they last and if there is an expiration timer. Demo accounts are a good way for new clients to test out the markets and for existing clients to test out new strategies without risking any of their capital.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website:

“This information is intended for investors outside the United States who are not the US/Japanese citizens and residents. This website is intended for informational purposes only. This website is not directed at any jurisdiction and is not intended for any use that would be contrary to local law or regulation. The products described on this are not offered and may not be sold in the United States/Japan or to US/Japanese citizens and residents. The products described on “www.worldfxm.com” are not offered and may not be sold for Austrian citizens and residents.”

If you are unsure of your eligibility we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to check prior to signing up.

Conclusion

We started out very positive, there was plenty of information on the accounts and the trading platforms. Unfortunately, the more we looked into it, the more the gaps became apparent. There is little info on trading conditions such as commissions or spreads and even less on the available assets, potential traders will look at this and run a mile, not knowing what they can trade or how much it will cost is a bit turn off. The deposit and withdrawal methods were stated, but not the costs which his another bit of vital information. The bonus on offer is very expensive, making it very hard to get the bonus funds to convert into real funds. For the reasons mentioned above, it is hard for us to recommend WorldFXM as a broker to use at this point in time.

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Forex Brokers

Esplanade Market Solutions Review

Esplanade Market Solutions features four different live accounts: FIX, Standard, ECN, and VIP. The FIX account offers instant execution, while the other accounts are under market execution. The FIX account is also designed to offer fixed spreads that start from 3 pips, while the Standard account offers floating spreads that start from a slightly below average 1.2 pips. Both of those accounts are commission-free.

Account Types

The ECN and VIP accounts offer different pricing, with lower starting spreads from 0 pips in exchange for commission costs, which are $ 3 lower (round turn) for VIP members. Surprisingly, the broker offers their first three accounts for the same entry-level $250 deposit. All of the live accounts share the same trade sizes, with differences in the margin call and stop out levels (the Standard account shares levels with the FIX account, while the ECN account shares conditions with the VIP account).

Accounts also offer a personal account manager for deposits of $10K or more. Traders will find the most flexible leverage options on the FIX, Standard, and ECN accounts. VIP account holders are excluded from participating in promotional offers, although there were none available at the time this review was written. We’ve provided an overview of each account type below for convenience.

FIX Account
Minimum Deposit: $250 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:1000
Spread: Fixed from 3 pips
Commission: None

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $250 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:1000
Spread: Floating from 1.2 pips
Commission: None

ECN Account
Minimum Deposit: $250 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: Floating from 0 pips
Commission: $4 per side

VIP Account
Minimum Deposit: $20,000 USD
Leverage: Up to 1:100
Spread: Floating from 0 pips
Commission: $2.50 per side

Platform

EMS exclusively features the award-winning MetaTrader 4 platform, which is available for direct download on PC/MAC, through mobile trading on iPhone/iPad/Android devices, or through the web-browser version. MT4 is one of the most popular trading platforms on the market, due in part to its ease of use, high performance, reliability, and rich functionality. The platform also provides an opportunity to develop and use Expert Advisors and provides financial news and technical analysis data. All of these features combined with customization options and extreme reliability make MetaTrader 4 the best option that a forex broker could have available.

Leverage

Leverage caps range from an average of 1:100 on the VIP account to significant offers of 1:500 on the ECN account and 1:1000 on the FIX and Standard accounts. While the VIP account’s leverage is more limited based on the size of the account’s initial deposit, the broker’s remaining accounts offer options that are much higher than many competitor’s offers. However, upon opening an account, traders should note that the default leverage will be set to 1:100. In order to change the leverage to a higher option, one would need to contact a manager by phone or email ([email protected]) to request the change. The website doesn’t state that there would be any conditions, but it is possible that the broker may implement policies of rejecting the desired leverage amount if they do not believe the trader is of a high enough skill level.

Trade Sizes

All accounts share a 0.01 (one micro lot) minimum trade size and a 100-lot maximum trade size. Accounts also support an unlimited number of maximum orders. The FIX account shares the same margin call and stop out level with the Standard account, while the ECN account shares the same limits with the VIP account. Note that reaching the margin call level would restrict one from placing any new trades and that would be an ideal time to deposit more funds or consider closing certain positions. Reaching the stop out level would result in the system automatically closing out unprofitable trades. Those levels have been listed below.

  • Margin Call/Stop Out
  • FIX/Standard Account: 75%/1%
  • ECN/VIP Account: 100%/40%

Trading Costs

EMS collects profits from spreads, commissions, and overnight interest charges. The broker features two price models, the first of which being where traders trade under higher spread conditions without paying any commission charges, which is applicable on the Standard & FIX accounts. The ECN and VIP accounts fall under the second category, where traders see low staring spreads from 0 pips in exchange for paying commission charges. The ECN account charges commissions at a rate of $4 per side, or $8 round turn, while the VIP account offers lowered commissions of $2.50 per side/$5 round turn, making it $3 cheaper to place a trade from the broker’s best account.

Overnight interest charges, otherwise known as swaps, are also applicable unless one is trading from an Islamic account. Swap charges are credited or debited to the account based on current rates when positions are held past the daily market closing time. On Wednesdays, the swap rates are tripled. Traders can view the current rates within the MT4 platform and more information about the broker’s swap policy can be found under their terms & conditions.

Assets

EMS features an asset portfolio that is made up of FX pairs, metals, 22 index CFDs, oil, share CFDs, and Russian shares. Traders will have access to 35 currency pairs, including majors & minors, plus exotic options like the Swedish Krona and the Mexican Peso. A few familiar exotics are missing, which takes away from the overall number of FX pairs. Available metals include the most common options Gold, Silver, plus one additional option, Platinum. Oil options consist of Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and US Oil.

There are more than 60 shares available in popular American companies like Google, Apple, Ford, and many other options. The addition of 35 Russian shares brings the total number of investible shares to nearly 100 options. We’re missing the option to trade additional commodities, cryptocurrencies, and a few other options, but EMS does manage to bring traders a rather diverse range of instruments to choose from.

Spreads

EMS allows traders to choose from fixed, variable, or ECN type spreads. The fixed spread is typically maintained at a certain level, although high market volatility may cause those spreads to fluctuate. Options start from a rate of 3 pips on the FIX account on the benchmark EURUSD pair. The website doesn’t offer us further details, so it isn’t clear just how much higher those spreads are set on minors and exotics. Variable spreads can fluctuate more widely, but they do come with a lower minimum level. Variable spreads are offered from 0 pips on the ECN and VIP accounts, or from 1.2 pips (0.3 pips below average) on the Standard account. Judging by the advertised amounts, it seems as though the company is offering competitive spreads on all three of the variable-based account types.

Minimum Deposit

The broker sets its entry-level deposit at a rather expensive $250 USD. This amount was once considered an average investment amount, but many brokers offer at least one account type for $100 or less, and some have done away with deposit requirements altogether. On the plus side, this amount grants access to the FIX, Standard, and ECN account types. As long as one can afford the deposit, then they would have the ability to choose from three different accounts that offer different pricing models. Elsewhere, this amount likely wouldn’t be enough for an ECN account.

Note that EMS also offers a VIP account, which asks for a $20,000 USD deposit. This account was designed for more professional high-volume traders and comes with commission costs that are $1.50 lower per side or $3 lower round turn. Traders that make a deposit of $10K or more will have access to a personal account manager. This perk is guaranteed to VIP account holders.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Available funding methods include Visa/MasterCard/Maestro, MNP, IKS Megafon, MTC, QIWI, Fasapay, iPay, Skrill, Neteller, AdvCash, Perfect Money, and Beeline. Note that some restrictions apply that would prevent residents of certain countries from using specific funding methods, with Russian clients primarily being among those that would have fewer options. Several deposit options also limit the maximum transaction to around $1,000 USD or less. Others, like Beeline, limit the maximum transaction amount to $70.

Commissions are charged on most of the deposit methods, although the exact percentage of the charge sometimes depends on more technical aspects of the payment provider. Traders would be able to view the restricted countries for each method, deposit minimum/maximum, and exact fee charges on the “Deposits/Withdrawals” page of the website. We’ve provided an overview of the commission charges below.

  • FasaPay: 0%
  • iPay: 2% + $0.50 USD
  • AdvCash: 3%
  • PerfectMoney: 3%
  • Skrill: 3.9% + $0.37 USD
  • Visa/MasterCard: 4% – 6.5%
  • Neteller: 4.9% + $0.29 USD
  • Maestro: 6.5%
  • MNP: 4% – 6.5%
  • Megafon: 7.5%
  • Beeline: 7.5%
  • MTC: 7.5%
  • QIWI: 8 – 8.5%

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All of the available deposit methods can be used for withdrawals, under the condition that withdrawals would be processed back to the original payment source. The commission charges on withdrawals are typically lower than those on deposits, but the charges still manage to be extremely expensive. For example, making a deposit and withdrawal through Neteller would result in a total commission charge of nearly 10% of the funded amount, while doing so through Skrill would claim an outrageous 14% of the trader’s total funded amount. Choosing one of the higher methods could significantly reduce profits or even eliminate them altogether, so it is important to consider which payment provider to use carefully. Withdrawal fees have been listed below in order from the least to most expensive.

  • FasaPay: 0%
  • Perfect Money: 1%
  • Beeline: 2%
  • Megafon: 2%
  • MTC: 2%
  • iPay: 2% + 0.50 USD
  • QIWI: 2.5%
  • AdvCash: 3%
  • MasterCard/Visa: 3% + 7.50 USD or 3% or 4.5% + 2.60 USD or 3% + 1.25 USD
  • MNP: 3% or 3% + 7.50 USD or 4.5% + 1.25 USD or 3% + 1.25 USD
  • Neteller: 4.5% + 0.29 USD
  • Maestro: 3% + 1 USD – 4.5% + 2.60 USD
  • Skrill: 10%

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It takes 3-5 days for funds to be received after the broker has finished processing the withdrawal request. The website doesn’t list the actual processing times, so traders should add at least one or two business days onto the anticipated wait time. The financial department is likely in the office on weekdays, but we don’t have any information about their exact working hours. If a request is sent after those hours, then another business day would be added to the wait time.

Bonuses & Promotions

EMS doesn’t currently offer any bonuses, contests, rebates, or other promotional opportunities for retail clients. The company does have a “Multilevel” partnership program, which would reward partners with different levels of partnership rewards when referred clients place trades under different spread conditions. It would be nice to see some additional offers added, especially considering how helpful deposit bonuses can be for beginners or those that don’t have a lot of funds to start with. Hopefully, the broker will consider adding retail offers in the near future. Traders should note that VIP account holders would not be able to participate in any type of bonus opportunity if one becomes available.

Educational & Trading Tools

The EMS website does have a few tools available in the form of company and market news, an economic calendar, a profit calculator, and a technical summary. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for educational resources. Aside from demo accounts, the broker just doesn’t offer anything of educational value to their potential or existing clients. It’s always possible to find resources elsewhere on the web, but there is an added convenience in having educational videos, e-books, articles, and other mediums available directly through one’s broker. This can also promote learning and help traders to become more educated before making a deposit and potentially losing money because of a lack of knowledge.

Demo Account

Along with the majority of other forex brokers, EMS recognizes the benefits of trading from a practice account and therefore offers the ability to open a risk-free demo account to any trader that would like to do so. Demo accounts allow traders to accumulate practical trading skills and to get acquainted with all specific features of the software without risking real money.

When registering an account, traders will be able to select an initial deposit amount in virtual currency. The amount can be based on one’s ideal real account deposit amount for a more realistic experience, or one could request an extremely large amount of virtual funds to play with. If one isn’t yet familiar with the broker’s supported trading platform, MetaTrader 4, then it would also be possible to open a demo account in order to efficiently practice using the platform.

Customer Service

Support can be contacted via LiveChat, email, or phone. It is possible to reach an agent through the direct phone line with any questions during weekday hours from 9:00 – 18:00. As for LiveChat, we would have assumed that agents would be active during those hours as well, but support was offline when we attempted to start a chat. It’s possible to leave a message for email through the chat window, but traders will find that the primary chat language is in Russian, so this may be a potential downside.

Hopefully, our readers won’t find themselves stuck with the “out operations are currently busy” message like we did if they find the need to contact an agent quickly. Of course, the phone is usually a quick back up method, but traders in today’s world primarily prefer the ultimate time-saving convenience of LiveChat. This is why it’s so disappointing when we see brokers promoting this feature while failing to provide enough agents to manage it. All contact details have been listed below.

Phone: +357 25 654-100
Email: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

Esplanade is not very clear with regards to countries that are barred from using their platform. Instead, they take a more generic stance, stating that those who reside in countries where Forex is not allowed should not register for an account. Their website states the following, “This site is not intended for distribution, or use by, any person in any country where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation. None of the services or investments referred to in this website are available to persons residing in any country where the provision of such services or investments would be contrary to local law or regulation. It is the responsibility of visitors to this website to ascertain the terms of and comply with any local law or regulation to which they are subject.”

Conclusion

Esplanade Market Solutions, or EMS, offers leveraged trading as high as 1:1000 on 35 FX pairs, plus metals, index CFDs, oil, Share CFDs, and Russian Shares from the MetaTrader 4 platform. Accounts offer two different pricing models; zero commissions on the FIX and Standard account with fixed spreads at 3 pips or variable spreads from 1.2 pips, or low starting spreads from 0 pips on the ECN and VIP account with applicable commission costs that are $3 lower on the more expensive VIP account. The remaining accounts allow for an initial deposit of $250, which is somewhat expensive, but the amount does make it possible for traders to choose the account they’d prefer with a realistic entry amount.

Although some of the conditions are advantageous, the broker’s funding fees would likely eat into profits significantly. Commissions are charged on almost every deposit method at rates that climb up to 8% on some methods and there are fees charged on deposits as well. For example, funding through Skrill would claim an insane 14% of the client’s total funded amount by the time one received their withdrawal. Support is available through LiveChat, phone, or email. Phone service is offered from 9:00 to 18:00, but LiveChat support is not always available during those hours. Currently, the only promotional offer is limited to referrals by partners.

The website does host some trading tools like news and calculators, but demo accounts are the only offer education-wise. If you’re interested in opening an account, you’ll find several advantages through EMS. Our best advice would be to carefully consider which payment method to use, otherwise, there wouldn’t be any significant reasons to stop one from choosing this broker.

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

Daily F.X. Analysis, May 13 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – U.S. Inflation Ready to Play! 

The latest economic figures from the United States raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will launch more monetary stimuli in the next meeting, and markets started to price in for a negative interest rate scenario. Donald Trump, while examining the state of Beijing amid coronavirus lockdown, warned about the US imposing new tariffs if China failed to purchase $200B worth U.S. farm goods. After that, trade delegates from both sides held a meeting via phone call and released a positive statement hence created optimism about the US-China relationship.

Economic Events to Watch Today 

 

 


EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

The EUR/USD currency pair remained directionless around the 1.0850 as investors found on the waiting track and cautious about placing any strong position ahead of the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on economic issues. The broad-based U.S. dollar flashing green and likely turned out to be one of the key factors that kept a lid on any gains in the pair, at least for now. As of writing, the EUR/USD currency pair is currently trading at 1.0850 and consolidates in the range between the 1.0843 – 1.0858.

As we all well aware that the investors expected the interest rate would be negative in June 2021. Whereas, the rate options market was putting in a 23% chance of the key federal funds rate falling below zero by end-December, As well as, the U.S. President Donald Trump also urged by the tweet that the negatives rate cuts would be considered good for the U.S.

On Wednesday, the European Commission will also recommend a phased approach to reopen borders with countries that have similar coronavirus risk profiles for tourists. Travel between similar risk profile countries will be recommended in the COVID-19 recovery plan.

The E.U. Foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Tuesday that coronavirus pandemic will likely deteriorate the security environment in years ahead and that countries should not slash their defensive spending in their budgets. He stressed the importance of security and defense funding in the challenging environment of a pandemic.

Meanwhile, due to the easing of lockdowns from countries across the globe, the new coronavirus cases were started being reported from many countries, including China, South Korea, and Germany. This weighed on markets as chances for second-wave of coronavirus could hurt the hopes of quick economic recovery. There was no economic data to be released from the European side, so the movement of pair EUR/USD followed the directions from U.S. dollar and market news.

Daily Support and Resistance  

  • R3 1.0995
  • R2 1.094
  • R1 1.0894

Pivot Point 1.0839

  • S1 1.0793
  • S2 1.0738
  • S3 1.0691

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

The EUR/USD price dropped after testing the double top resistance level of 1.08770. The market is a bit slow today, which is why, the EUR/USD prices are consolidating above 1.0826, which is working as support that’s been extended by the 50 EMA. The bearish breakout of 1.0826 level can extend the selling trend until the next support level of 1.0777, while bullish breakout of 1.0850 can lead EUR/USD prices towards 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of 1.0869 level. Consider taking selling trades below 1.0839 and buying above the same today.


GBP/USD – Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD currency pair stops its 2-day losing streak and hovering near the late-April low 1.2250 as traders are cautious to place any strong position ahead of critical U.K. macro releases. As we mentioned, the market participants are waiting for the key data while staying near April low, a continued break of a bullish sloping trend line from April 06 keeps sellers hopeful of targeting April month low near 1.2165 beneath 1.2250. At the press time, the GBP/USD currency pair is currently trading at 1.2271 and consolidates in the range between the 1.2251 – 1.2284.

At the data front, the U.K.’s heavy economic calendar is going to control the markets moves at 06:00 GMT with the first quarter (Q1) GDP figures for 2020. As well as, the March month Trade Balance and Industrial Production detail will also decorate the economic calendar.

According to the forecasted view about GDP, the United Kingdom GDP is expected to reach -8.0% MoM in March against -0.1% prior while the Index of Services (3M/3M) in the same timeframe is seen higher from 0.2% to 0.30%.

Broadbent said that risks were still to the downside and committee would do whatever will be necessary to recover.

Meanwhile, the Brexit talks were on board, and a little progress was made in the future fisheries agreement between E.U. & U.K. According to the MEP for CDU, it was only because of France and Netherland that U.K. was set to come to an agreement with E.U. on fisheries. U.K. did not want fisheries to be a part of economic agreement but number of member states including France & Netherland made very clear that they will not agree on any future economic partnership without long-term solution on fisheries.

Pound dropped on slow progress of post-Brexit deal with the E.U. and increased fears of second wave of coronavirus. However, The GDP data from U.K. will remain under high focus for GBP Traders on Wednesday.

Daily Support and Resistance

  • R3 1.2577
  • R2 1.2508
  • R1 1.2422

Pivot Point 1.2353

  • S1 1.2268
  • S2 1.2198
  • S3 1.2113

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

The GBP/USD sideways trading continues in between a narrow trading range of 1.2320 – 1.2245. The Cable is still holding below 50 EMA, which is extending resistance around 1.2370 level today. On the 4 hour chart, the GBP/USD is gaining support at 1.2285 level while the 50 EMA and horizontal resistance stay at 1.2365 level. Today, the Fed chair Powel speech may drive the selling trend in the GBP/USD pair to lead its prices towards an immediate support level of 1.2240 and 1.2190. Conversely, the worse than expected retail sales data will lead the GBP/USD pair towards 1.2360 and 1.2450. 


USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY was closed at 107.147 after placing a high of 107.691 and a low of 107.120. Overall the movement of USD/JPY pair remained bearish throughout the day. The pair USD/JPY lost its previous day gains but managed to remain above the 107 territory on Tuesday. On the back of broad-based U.S. dollar weakness, the pair USD/JPY dropped about 0.5% on that day.

U.S. dollar was weak due to the poor than expected CPI data in the month of April. The U.S. Consumer Price Index fell and posted its biggest monthly decline since the 2008-2009 recession. The CPI dropped by -0.8% against the expected decline by -0.7% and weighed on U.S. dollar. The Core CPI dropped by -0.4% against the forecasted -0.2%.

Moreover, the tensions between China and the U.S. have increased the fears of renewed trade-war. There were reports suggesting that Chinese Officials revive the possibility of revoking the signed trade deal and negotiate a new deal which will tilt more to the Chinese side. 

U.S. President, Donald Trump was asked about this possibility and in response to whether he would renegotiate a deal with China, he said, “No, not at all. Not even a little bit.” He was not interested in renegotiate the deal. He said that he also had heard about it that China wanted to reopen the trade talks to make it better deal for them but a deal has already been signed and he would not cancel it.

Apart from China-US trade war, another trade-war fears are emerging in the market between Australia and China. The announced duties on Aussie meat by China is being considered as a safe play against the action of Australian PM to favor the inquiry of China’s role in the origin of the virus.

 All these renewed trade-war fears along with coronavirus pandemic have increased the risk in the market. The virus cases in Germany increased, and the Wuhan city in China reported fresh rise in number of coronavirus cases after easing of lockdown.

Furthermore, an ex-member of White House Coronavirus Task Force Team, Doctor Anthony Fauci warned that gradual restart of economy was dangerous because it could cause needless suffering and would slow down the economic recovery.

Additionally, the officials from Bank of Japan also cited negative impact of virus on Asian economy and stated the importance of acting quickly by central banks when needed. At 10:00 GMT, the Leading Indicators of economy from Bank of Japan came less than the expected 84.3% as 83.8% and weighed on JPY.

Daily Support and Resistance    

  • R3 109.37
  • R2 108.57
  • R1 108.12

Pivot Point 107.33

  • S1 106.88
  • S2 106.09
  • S3 105.64

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY pair is gaining support at 107 level which marks the 50% Fibonacci retracement level. At the same level, the 50 EMA is supporting the pair and it could drive a bounce off above 107 level. At the moment, the 4-hour candle seems to close above 107 support, but it’s not sufficient to go long on USD/JPY. We need to wait for couple of more candles to give us closing above this level.

The MACDis holding in selling , which is supporting the bearish trend in the USD/JPY pair. The violation of an immediate support level may extend selling until 106.600 level. Conversely, the closing of buying candles above 107 can trigger bullish bias until 107.50. By the way, bearish bias seems solid today. All the best for today! 

Categories
Forex Brokers

Fibonetix Review

Fibonetix is a broker owned and operated by Zeus Tech & Trading Group Ltd. Although their headquarters are located in Luxemburg, this company is actually registered in Belize, a very popular offshore zone where brokers can set up with minimum regulations. We also found evidence online that Luxemburg’s CSSF had warned people against unregulated brokers, including Zeus Tech & Trading group, back in July 2019.

Fibonetix offers four different account types and also a wide variety of assets available for trading. Keep reading to find out what this broker has to offer.

Account Types

Customers wanting to open up an account with this broker have a choice of four accounts to choose from namely, the Expert, Basic, Advanced, and VIP. The accounts vary in spread types, leverage, type of training offered, and monthly fees. From their Account Types page, it seems like the Expert account is the most popular with their customers. Here is a breakdown of the main characteristics of all available accounts.

Expert Account
Spreads – Floating
Leverage – 1:200
Free Withdrawals per month – 2
Hedging – Yes

Basic Account
Spreads – Fixed
Leverage – 1:100
Free Withdrawals per month – 1
Hedging – Yes

Advanced Account
Spreads – Floating
Leverage – 1:100
Free Withdrawals per month – 2
Hedging – Yes

VIP Account
Spreads – Floating
Leverage – 1:400
Free Withdrawals per month – Unlimited
Hedging – Yes

All accounts can be opened as Islamic (swap-free) accounts if the customer requests it.

Platforms

Unfortunately, this broker does not provide any information regarding the trading platforms that they have available. Upon loading the platform, however, it appears to be their own proprietary platform. There appears to be no MetaTrader integration and no possibility to trade from a mobile device.

Leverage

The leverage offered depends on the account type chosen by the customer. The highest leverage customers can use is 1:400 which is available on the VIP account only. The basic and the Advanced accounts both offer leverage of 1:100 whereas the Expert account has a 1:200 leverage available.

Trade Sizes

The broker does not go into detail about the minimum and the maximum trade sizes available so we cannot comment any further on this for the time being.

Trading Costs

When placing trades with Fibonetix customers should expect to pay swap fees (unless they opt for an Islamic account), the spread which can be either fixed or floating depending on the account type and we also found mention of another fee customer’s might encounter when using this broker. This fee is for those accounts that are active for less than 30 working days that have less than 25 trades. For these instances, the customers are expected to pay a 150 Euro service fee in case of full liquidation.

Assets

Fibonetix has quite a variety of assets available including CFDs, Stocks, Currencies, Commodities, ETFs, Indices and also some Cryptocurrencies. The broker does not provide the full list of their available assets on their website, so it would be best to contact the broker directly for this information.

Spreads

The Advanced, VIP, and Expert accounts all have floating spreads for all available assets whereas the Basic account has fixed spreads. The broker does not provide solid information regarding the spreads customers may encounter when using their service.

Minimum Deposit

The broker does not mention that they have a strict minimum deposit requirement to open up any of their available account types, however, we cannot confirm this as the broker did not answer our questions regarding this.

Deposit Methods & Costs

If you have an account with Fibonetix and you’re looking to deposit funds into it, you can do so via Visa, Visa Electron, Mastercard, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum. To deposit funds customers must log in to their account, click on the Deposit button and choose their preferred payment method.

When depositing via Credit/debit cards the funds are transferred instantly, or within 1 business day for the first credit/debit card deposit. E-money should be credited within 24 hours and deposits made via Wire Transfer may take up to 10 business days to be completed.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

To withdraw funds, customers must click on the Withdrawal button found on their account. Customers must be fully verified in order to withdraw and the broker also states that there is a minimum withdrawal amount of Eur 250 for all account types. The broker does not mention if there are any charges for withdrawals, however, on their Accounts page, they do mention that different account types have a number of free withdrawals per month, which makes us think that there are some fees that are applied to each withdrawal.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests are processed within 2-3 business days and customers should expect to receive their money within 24 hours for E-money transfers, up to 5 business days for Credit/Debit card withdrawals, and up to 10 business days for Wire transfers.

Bonuses & Promotions

On their Bonus Policy page, the broker states that they offer a number of interesting rewards and bonus features to its regular and new customers. These are available once customers become part of the company’s promotion program. Unfortunately, we could not find any more information regarding this promotion program on the website.

Education & Trading Tools

When it comes to educational content, Fibonetix only offers a trader’s glossary of all the terms and phrases that are commonly used within the trading industry.

Customer Service

Customers wanting to get in touch with this broker can do so via email or telephone, unfortunately, they do not offer a live chat option.

Here is their contact information:

Address – 24 Boulevard d’Avranches, 1160 Luxembourg
Telephone – Luxemburg – +352 20 20 42 90
Germany – +49 32 221095494
United Kingdom – +44 3318 7100
Email – [email protected]

Demo Account

Fibonetix does not offer a Demo account for those wanting to test out their trading conditions.

Countries Accepted

Although the broker does not mention any countries that are specifically restricted from using their services, in their terms and conditions they do inform potential customers that access to their website and their financial contracts may be restricted in some jurisdictions.

Conclusion

Fibonetix is a broker located in Luxemburg that is registered in Belize. They have a choice of 4 account types to choose from and it seems like they offer quite a nice variety of assets available. Unfortunately, there is a lot of important information that is not found on their website such as; list of assets, trade sizes, trading platform, and spreads available. Apart from this, the broker does not offer a Demo account, which means a customer can only test out their conditions by investing real money into their account. We did reach out to the broker via email, however, we were not given any answers, so their customer service is not very efficient.

If you are interested in what this broker has to offer head on to their website to discover more.

Categories
Forex Market Analysis

Gold Bullish Correction – Is It Good Time to Go Long?

On Monday, the precious metal gold edged higher from a more than one-week low hit earlier, helped by dwindling share markets as U.S. crude prices plunged and concerns about coronavirus-linked economic damage persisted.

The reason behind the fresh risk-off market sentiment is the rise in the coronavirus (COVID-19) driven death numbers from the U.S. and the U.K. The U.S. President Donald Trump’s indirect attack on China’s struggles to stop the coronavirus outbreak also pushes the risk-off.

On the flip side, U.S. President Donald Trump showed some willingness to deliver another relief plan while also pushing for an economic re-open program but failed to extend the Friday’s risk-on market sentiment. The yellow-metal got mild support earlier by the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) rate cut.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yields drop more than 2-basis points (bps) to 0.634%, whereas Asian stocks also struggle. Looking forward, the traders will keep their eyes on the virus-related headlines for taking fresh directions.

Daily Support and Resistance

  • S1 1629.37
  • S2 1660.04
  • S3 1672.4
    Pivot Point 1690.72
  • R1 1703.07
  • R2 1721.39
  • R3 1752.07

Technically, gold is bouncing off above a strong support area of 1,672 to trade around 1,695 level. Closing of candles below 1,701 levels may drive some bearish correction in the market while the major resistance stays around 1,712. Below this, we may see some selling bias in gold today. The 50 EMA is suggesting buying while the MACD is suggesting selling trend, but histograms are becoming smaller suggestings chances of a bullish reversal. Let’s look for buying trades over 1,686 and selling trades below 1,712 today. Good lucK!

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Tradelyo Review

Tradelyo is an online foreign exchange and CFD broker. They do not give a lot of information about themselves away apart from the fact that they offer MetaTrader 5, 24/7 support, a single wallet, and quick withdrawals, so as we do not know a lot, we will use this review to find out a little more about them and to see exactly what services they really offer.

Account Types

There is just the one account type available which is the Standard account, the account requires a minimum deposit of at least $100 and can be leveraged up to 1:200, the account also comes with a fixed spread that starts at 1.6 pips. As we go through this review, we will be looking into each section in a little more detail, all information in this review is related to this singular trading account.

Platforms

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

MetaTrader 5 offers the built-in Market of trading robots, the Freelance database of strategy developers, Copy Trading and the Virtual Hosting service (Forex VPS). Use all these services from one place, and access new trading opportunities. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

Leverage

The account can be leveraged up to 1:200, this can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by sending a change request to the customer service team. Leverage at 1:200 is an appropriate level to have as it gives a good risk and reward ratio, however, many modern brokers are now aiming to provide their clients with leverage up to 1:500.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots which are known as micro-lots, the trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. Unfortunately, we do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There aren’t any commissions or trading fees mentioned on the website, looking at the demo account, there are no commissions reflected in that either so it does not look, like there are any, especially as the spreads are as high as they are (we will look at that later in this review).

There will however be swap charges which are fees charged when you hold a trade overnight, they can be both positive or negative and are based on interest changes, they can be viewed within MetaTrader 5.

Assets

The website does not provide us with a list of available assets or a product specification. Looking at MetaTrader 5 there seems to be a large selection available including Forex Currencies, Indices, Commodities and Shares available to trade.

Spreads

The spreads are actually not disclosed on the website, instead, we have to use the demo account to find out what they are, this, however, is not a 100% accurate way of finding out as the demo account may have slightly different spreads to the main account. We believe that the spreads are starting from 1.6 pips and are fixed, this means that they do not change, no matter what is happening in the markets, they will always remain the same. Different instruments also have different spreads, so while the lowest starts from 1.6 pips, there are others with spreads fixed at 2 or 3 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100 which makes it very accessible to newer traders, we are not sure if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a specific page detailing and payment methods, at the bottom of the page there are some images of Visa and Mastercard, however, the actual terms of these methods are not known. We do not know if there are any added fees or if there are any additional methods available. You should check with your own card issuer for any potential outgoing transfer fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We do not have any information on the withdrawal methods either, so the only information we have to go on are the same images of Visa and MasterCard at the bottom of the site. We do not know of any possible fees which are not good as the last thing people want is to sign up, deposit, trade and then find that half their profit will be taken away with fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

This is yet more information that is not available on the site, due to this we cannot say exactly how long withdrawal processing may take but we would hope that it would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

We did not notice any information on bonuses on promotions on the website or within the terms of service, so it does not look like there are any active promotions at this current point in time. You could always contact the customer care team to see if there are any coming up or not listed that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

While going through the site, we did not come across any educational information, this is a shame as many modern brokers are now trying to do what they can to help their clients improve their trading, so it would be nice to see Tradelyo do something similar.

Customer Service

Sadly there isn’t a customer support or contact page, this is a massive red flag because if there is no way to get in contact with them, not even an email, there would be no way to get any help, there may be ways once you have opened an account, but there is nothing from on the site directly.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available for use in MetaTrader 5, this is how we got most of the information for this review. We hope that the information provided by the demo account is accurate to the live account, as sometimes they can vary a little bit. We do not know what the expiration time on these accounts is if there is one.

Countries Accepted

This is another aspect where there is no information present, so be sure to check with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account prior to signing up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the site, luckily we were able to find out some of it by using the demo account, if we were only going by the information on the site then we would not know anything about the trading conditions, payment methods or anything else, and that is the information that most potential clients will see, as they will not use the demo account to find out. The most concerning things are the lack of financial information, deposit and withdrawal methods and fees, and also the fact that there is no information available to contact the customer service team, nothing, not even an email, so this is the main reason why we would suggest looking elsewhere for a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Tradesto Review

Tradesto is a foreign exchange broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines but also with offices and corporations within the United Kingdom. Tradesto Corporation is supervised and regulated by the authorities of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) and registered under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Some of the main features offered by Tradesto is their fund security, easy payments, tight spreads, and excellent service. This review will be looking at the services being offered to see if they manage to achieve this and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are six different accounts available however we will only be looking at the first three as we are not interested in the MAM account, joint account or corporate account, so what are the features of the three accounts we are looking at?

Standard Account: With the all-time classic forex account, the Standard Account at Tradesto offers traders a wide range of features suitable for all traders, from the beginner to the experienced. This account type was the first to offer traders the ability to trade standard lots in the forex market.

Islamic Account: Forex Islamic accounts are also known as swap-free accounts for clients following the Muslim Faith as they imply no swap or rollover interest on overnight positions. The account is 100% Shariah-compliant, it has no interest/swap charges on overnight positions and positions can be held with no time limit.

ECN Account: Tradesto offers ECN Account with real market spreads as low as zero pips, along with no re-quotes execution on the MT4 trading platform. Clients can choose to trade over 50 currency pairs, spot metals, and commodities. Spreads as low as 0 pips, can use MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform and, there is a low commission charged (USD 10 per standard lot).

ECN Account Perks

Platforms

Tradesto uses MetaTrader 4 (MT4) as its only trading platform, MT4 is one of the world’s most used trading platforms, hosting the trading of millions of traders. You can trade anywhere and at any time as MT4 comes as a desktop download, web trader and as applications for your mobile devices. A user-friendly interface makes it easy to put powerful charting features, real-time quotes, advanced technical analysis, and automated trading capabilities to work for you. While it would be nice to have a choice of platforms, you cannot go wrong with using MetaTrader 4.

Leverage

We may have been going blind but we could not locate this information on the website, after scouring the internet it appears that the maximum leverage available is 1:500, we are not sure if this is relevant to all account types though.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots. There is no mention of the maximum trade size, however, whatever it is, we would not recommend trading over 50 lots as it can become increasingly hard to execute larger trades without slippage and to perform the trade quickly. It is also not known what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

The ECN account has a “low” commission of $10 per lot traded added to the account, while Tradesto calls this low, it is actually considerably higher than the industry average of $6 per lot traded. The other accounts do not have an address commission as they use a spread based system instead.

If you are using a normal account then swap charges are also present, these are interest charges that are incurred for holding trades overnight, they can be both negative or positive and can usually be viewed from within the trading platform of choice. If you are using an Islamic account then these swap charges are not relevant to your account.

Assets

Tradesto has very handily made their assets available to view so we have a full breakdown of the available tradable instruments, let’s see what is available.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Spot Metals: Gold and Silver.

CFDs: AUS 200, CHN 50, German 30, WU 50, FRA 40, HK, Italy 40, Japan 225, Spain 35, SUI 20, UK 100 (FTSE), Nasdaq (US 100), Dow Jones, SP 500, UK Brent Oil, Natural Gas, US WTI Oil.

As you can see there isn’t a huge selection so it would be good to potentially see this list grow in the future.

Spreads

Tradesto has spreads as low as 0.1 pip, this is for the ECN account, it is not clear to us what the spreads on the Standard or Islamic accounts are. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets when there is added volatility in the markets they will often be seen higher than when there isn’t. Different instruments also have different spreads so while one such as EURUSD may have a spread (example) of 1 pip, other instruments slike EURCAD will have a slightly higher starting spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100, this will get you the standard account. It is not known if there is a different requirement for Islamic or ECN accounts. After an account has been opened the minimum deposit for top-ups is $25.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are plenty of ways to deposit, unfortunately, there are also fees, so we have outlined the deposit methods, along with any applied fees below.

  • Bank Wire – Bank fees
  • Neteller – 2%
  • Fasapay – No Fee
  • i-Account – No fee
  • Bitcoin – 1%
  • Shop2Pay – 3.4%
  • Help2Pay – 2.5%
  • China88Pay – 1.8%

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We are a little confused as to which methods are available to withdraw with, there is only a tick next to Bank Wire Transfer and fasapay, however, there are withdrawal fees stated for different methods also, so we believe they may also be available, the methods we think are available are:

  • Bank Wire – Bank fees
  • Fasapay – 0.5% + 0.5%
  • i-Account – 3 USD
  • Bitcoin – Transaction fee

Again, it is not clear if the other methods are available, they may well be but we cannot say. It is a shame to see so many fees for both deposits and withdrawals as many brokers are now looking to get rid of transaction fees. It would be good to see Tradesto do something similar.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal processing time is not known, but depending on the method used you should expect your withdrawals to be fully processed between 1 to 7 days after the request is made.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not appear that there are any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, if you are interested in bonuses then we would recommend getting in touch with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There isn’t a whole lot when it comes to education or trading tools. There is the usual economic calendar that details upcoming new events and which currencies they could have an effect on. There is also a page containing daily forex analysis which is currently being updated daily. If you are looking for a proper education then you will need to look elsewhere on the internet.

Customer Service

If you need to contact Tradesto for whatever reason you can do so in a few different ways, you can use the online submission form to fill in your query and you should then get a reply back via email within 1 business day. You can also contact the Tradesto corporation or UK Limited via phone or post.

Tradesto Corporate:
Address: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, P.O.Box 1510, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Phone: +1-855-246-7284

Tradesto UK Limited:
Address: 7 35-37, Ludgate Hill, London, England, EC4M 7JN.

Demo Account

It seems like a demo account should be available, but at the time of writing this review when you click on the open demo account button it loads up a “Page Not Found” error, this may be a temporary thing we are not sure.

Demo accounts allow potential clients to test out the servers and trading conditions while also allowing experienced traders to test out new trading strategies without risking any of their own capital.

Countries Accepted

Tradesto does not specify which countries are allowed to trade with them and which are not, so if you are thinking of signing up we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check your eligibility prior to signing up.

Conclusion

Tradesto offers a lot of information on their site, however, there is a lack of information specific to the account types so we had to either dive deep into the site or look to other websites in order to find the relevant information. All info should be made readily available as it can put off potential clients if they cannot find something they need to know. There are not a lot of tradable assets which is a shame and there is not a whole bunch of deposit methods either, there are also fees for deposit and withdrawals which is always a little disappointing to see.

Tradesto looks like they offer decent trading conditions but we could not test them as the demo account sign up page was down. While Tradesto could be a good broker to sue, there are too many small issues for us to be able to fully recommend them at this time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Mt Cook Financial Review

Founded in 2013, Mt Cook Financial is ECN and DMA forex broker. Aiming their services more towards the professional trader they are looking to provide the best in terms of trading conditions and trading platforms. We will be using this review to dive deep into the services on offer to find out what they offer and so you can see if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are two different account types available, they are based on liquidity streams and execution types. Let’s look at what they are.

ECN Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000, it uses ECN / STP as its clearing method and has a raw spread. It has an added commission of $32.5 per million per side, which equates to around $6.5 per lot traded. The account can be in EUR, USD, GBP or AUD and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots which go up in increment of 0.01 lots. The account can be leveraged up to !:100 and has access to forex, metals, indices, and futures. The margin call level is set at 80% with the stop out level at 60%. And the account can use the MetaTrader platforms as well as social trading.

DMA Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000, it uses DMA / STP as its clearing method and has a raw spread. It has an added commission of $30 per million per side, which equates to around $6 per lot traded. The account can be in EUR, USD, GBP or AUD and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots which go up in increment of 0.01 lots. The account can be leveraged up to !:100 and has access to forex, metals, indices, and futures. The margin call level is set at 80% with the stop out level at 60%. And the account can use the MetaTrader platforms as well as social trading.

Platforms

The main trading platform on offer is MetaTrader 4, but there are also additional social trading platforms that can be used which we have outlined below.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4):
MetaTrader 4 is one of the most innovative and powerful trading platforms and is still favored by the vast majority of professional currency traders. After years of development, its suite of analytic tools and algorithmic trading capabilities provide the user with a powerful platform from which to access the markets. Metatrader platform raises the bar for those familiar with trading on MT4. Mt.Cook’s unique configuration can process trades entered via MetaTrader GUIs in under 20 milliseconds which provides our clients with an operational advantage. The platform is available as a desktop download, web trader and as an application for your mobile device.

Social Trading Platforms:
There are two social trading platforms available to use, these are ZuluTrade and Myfxbook Autotrade. ZuluTrade is one of the largest social trading communities. The users of the platform can follow between thousands of registered talented currency traders from 192 countries automatically. By engaging in auto trading, users can eliminate the potentially harmful factor of emotion and the error-prone human factor from their trading practice. Myfxbook Autotrade is an account mirroring (trade copy) service operated by Myfxbook who happens to be one of the largest social trading communities and FX tech providers in the industry. The AutoTrading service allows you to copy the trades of other profitable traders and systems from the Myfxbook community directly into your Mt.Cook MetaTrader 4 account.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available to both accounts is 1:100, however, this can be increased if you contact the customer service team and they deem it appropriate. The leverage can otherwise be selected when opening up an account.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for both accounts start at 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We are not sure what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

Both accounts come with a commission, the ECN account has an added commission of $32.5 per million per side, which equates to around $6.5 per lot traded. The DMA account has an added commission of $30 per million per side, which equates to around $6 per lot traded which is in line with the industry average of $6 per lot traded.

There are also swap charges which are fees charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a few different categories, we will now outline the different instruments within them.

Forex:
AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, USDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CADSGD, CHFJPY, CHFSGD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURDKK, EURHKD, EURJPY, EURMXN, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPUSD, HKDJPY, MXNJPY, NOKJPY, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, SEKJPY, SGDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Metals:
XAGUSD, XAUUSD, XPDUSD, XPTUSD.

CFD Futures:
WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, High Grade Copper, Natural Gas.

CFD Indices:
JP225, EU50, FR40, DE30, HK50, UK100, US500, UT100, US30, ES35, AU200.

Spreads

Both accounts use raw spreads form the markets so they can be as low as 0 pips. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets and so when there is added volatility they can be seen a little higher, the spreads will always remain quite low when using raw spreads though.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $1,000 which gets you to access either of the accounts. We do not know if this amount reduces for further top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are just a few methods available to deposit, these are Bank Wire Transfer, Neteller, and China Union Pay. There are no added fees from MT cook when depositing funds but be sure to check with your own bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, Neteller, and China Union Pay. When withdrawing via Bank Wire Transfer there is a fixed fee of $25 added to the transaction. The other methods do not have any added fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, we do not know what the withdrawal processing times from MT Cook are, however, we would hope that any request is fully processed within 1 to 5 days from the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

It doesn’t appear that there are any bonuses or promotions available to take part in. If you are after bonuses then you could contact the customer support team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The only tools that seem to be available are the ones relating to a VPS, these are paid however so the value is not as good as they could be as a lot of other brokers are giving VPS for free as long as certain conditions are met. It would have been nice to see more educational material as many modern brokers are now looking to help their clients improve.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get in contact with MT Cook there are a few different ways you can do it, firstly is the online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. You can also use live chat features. There is then a number of different phone numbers and email addresses for various departments.

Phone: + 1 (866) 672-8733
Support: [email protected]
General Inquiries: [email protected]
Accounts: [email protected]
Compliance: [email protected]
Partnerships: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to both test out the conditions and also strategies without risking any capital. When signing up for a demo account you can select the leverage, account type and the balance that you desire. We are not sure if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “The information on this site is not directed at residents of the United States and is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation” If you are still not sure of your eligibility for an account, contact the support team to find out.

Conclusion

MT Cook Financial offers some very competitive trading conditions, the spreads are low and the commission is in line with what you would expect from the industry. Plenty of assets are available to trade and the choice of manual trading or social trading is good to see. It would be nice to have seen a few more deposit methods and to remove the Bank Wire withdrawal fee, but otherwise, the deposits and withdrawals are not too expensive. When looking at the services on offer, MT Cook looks like a promising broker, but the decision to use them or not is yours.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Commodity & Forex Merchants Review

CF Merchants was established in 2011 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. CF Merchants aim to offer the best service to all their customers with a service team available 24/6, offering the best trading platforms, variety in trading assets, competitive spreads and high leverage. In this review, we will be looking into what CF Merchants actually offer and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available from CF Merchants, each with different entry requirements and trading conditions, we will now give a brief overview of what each one offers.

CFM Standard Account: This account has a $100 minimum deposit in order to open it, it has a spread starting from 1.6 pips and has no added commission. Leverage on the account can go up to 1:500 and margin call is set at 99% while the stop out level is at 50%. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and the maximum trade size is 8 lots. Hedge margin on the account is 50% and this account can also be made as an Islamic swap-free account.

CFM Prime Account: The prime account also has a minimum deposit amount of $100, spreads are slightly reduced to 1 pip and there is again no commission added to this account. Leverage remains at 1:500 as a maximum and the margin call and stops out levels remain at 99% and 40% respectively. Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and go up to a maximum of 8 lots. The hedge margin is 50% and this account can also be used as a swap-free Islamic account.

CFM ECN/VIP Account: This account increases the minimum deposit up to $10,000, this account has spreads starting as low at 0 pips but due to this there is a $3.5 commission on opening and closing trades, so $7 for a complete trade per lot. Leverage remains at 1:500, so does the margin call and stop out levels at 99% and 40%. Minimum and maximum trade sizes remain the same at 0.01 lots and 8 lots. This account can also be used as an Islamic account.

CFM Fix Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $25,000, this account is different as it has a fixed spread starting at 2.5 pips and there are no added commissions. All other features remain the same as the other accounts except this time getting an Islamic swap-free account is conditional so you will need to be in contact with the customer service team to get one opened up.

Platforms

CF Merchants offers MetaTrader 4 as their only trading platform, so let’s take a little look at what MetaTrader 4 offers. In terms of accessibility, MT4 is second to none, available as a desktop download, an app for Android and iOS devices and as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great trading solution to have.

Leverage

The accounts page state that the maximum leverage on all the account sis 1:500, however on the “Why Choose Us” page it states that the leverage ranges between 1:1 and 1:400, as the numbers are different we will look at 1:400 as the maximum, however, if it is 1:500 then that is a bonus.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all accounts start at 0.01 lots which are also known as a micro lot. Trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade size would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is currently 8 lots which are quite low when looking at the competition, however, the majority of retail traders may not make it this high, or can be limiting for those that do.

Trading Costs

The Standard, Prime, and FIX account use a spread based system which we will look at later in this review. The ECN / VIP account uses a commission-based system and adds a commission of $3.5 for each side of a lot. This means $3.5 when opening trade and $3.5 when closing it, totaling $7 per round lot traded.

There are also swap fees on all accounts, these are fees charged for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed directly within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. If you opt for an Islamic swap-free account then these fees will be substituted with an administration charge.

Assets

CF Merchants have broken down their assets into a number of different categories, there are forex currencies, majors, minors and exotics, lots available with a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a max of 8 lots, examples are EUR/USD, GBP/AUD and ZAR/USD. Energies in the form of Crude Oil and Brent Oil are available along with precious metals like Gold, Silver, Palladium, and Platinum. Stock Indices such as DOW 30, GER 30 and UK 100 are available along with the addition of cryptocurrencies, only four are available which are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple but it is great that they are included.

Spreads

Spreads are dependent on the account type you are using, with the Standard account spreads start at 1.6 pips, the Prime account starts at 1 pip and the ECN / VIP account they start as low as 0 pips. These spreads are variable (also known as floating) which means they move with the markets, when the markets are being volatile they often widen and become bigger, so the starting spread is the minimum but they are often seen higher.

The Fix account has fixed spreads, this means that they do not move, they start at 2.5 pips and no matter what the markets are doing they do not change. It should be noted that different assets have different minimums so while EURUSD may be 1.6 pips, other currencies such as AUD/USD will have a slightly higher starting spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum required to open up an account is $100, however, once an account has been opened the minimum amount required for a top-up reduces down to $25 for all methods except for bank wire transfer which remains at $100.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available to deposit with: Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money and Visa/Mastercard both Credit and Debit cards. There are no additional fees added by CF Merchants, however, be sure to check with your processor and bank to ensure that they do not add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw as they were to deposit, for clarification these were Bank Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money and Visa / Mastercard both Credit and Debit cards. Similarly to deposits, there are no additional fees when withdrawing, again be sure to check with your processor just in case they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal times on the site state that all withdrawal methods have an instant processing time apart from bank wire transfers which have a processing time of 3 – 5 days. All withdrawals will be processed to the same method used to deposit. Bank wire to bank wire, Skrill to Skrill, Neteller to Neteller, Perfect Money to Perfect Money and credit card to credit card.

Bonuses & Promotions

There seems to be three different promotions on offer, we will outline the basics of each one below using information from the website.

10% Credit Bonus:

  • Minimum Deposit 2500$
  • The client needs to send email to the support team to get Credit Bonus.
  • On First withdrawal All Credit Bonus will be deducted.
  • This Bonus is not cashable in any case only tradeable.
  • This offer will be credited only in the Deposit Account.
  • No IB can claim this Credit Bonus.
  • The company reserves the right to cancel this Bonus at any time without mentioning any reason or prior notice.
  • This offer is only for Online Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money Deposits.

Champions Welcome Bonus:

  • All new clients registered on our website are entitled to get a $50 bonus in their first trading account only.
  • For crediting a $50 Welcome Bonus, you are required to send an email at [email protected], you must mention your trading account no in your message.
  • For account, opening client must complete the verification of the documentation process.
  • $50 bonus amount is only tradeable not Cashable.
  • Profit earned on No Deposit Bonus is withdrawable, The maximum profit withdrawal limit is $100 without depositing funds and a minimum of 50 Standard lots are required.
  • If client deposits a minimum of $100 into a bonus account, then the client needs to place a minimum of 10 more standard lots after deposit to withdraw unlimited profit.
  • Whenever clients withdraw from the trading account, the company will deduct its bonus amount on first withdrawal.
  • Only one trading account will have a $50 welcome bonus Against One ID.
  • For deposit & withdrawal amount, see our deposit and withdrawals policy.
  • Leverage on these bonus accounts will be 1:50 maximum.
  • All accounts will be opened in ECN spreads category only.

Demo Contest:

  • The duration of the contest will be 1 month only, (1st Nov to 30th Nov 2018).
  • The leverage in the demo trading account is 1:1000.
  • All Participants will get the Initial deposit of $10,000 in demo Contest trading.
  • All Participants must be at least 18 years old or legal age according to their origin.
  • One ID/Passport has only one account in Demo Contest.
  • At the end of the contest, all open positions will be settled before final calculations.
  • The company has the right to terminate the account at any time if fraud and any specious activities have been found.
  • The Company can discontinue the contest at any time without prior notice.
  • All winning account is in Standard account Category & shall not be under any IB.
  • Winner will get a live trading account.
  • The winning amount is withdraw-able.
  • Withdrawals are only in Skrill, Neteller, Perfect Money.

Educational & Trading Tools

CF Merchants have broken down their education and research into the two distinct categories.

Education: The majority of the education provided by CF Merchants is based around getting to know the trading platform as well as how to use the CF Merchants platform. There are two sections based around reaching charts and basic indicators which could be helpful, but if you are really looking to learn how to trade we would recommend looking for more in-depth information out on the internet.

Research: There is the standard economic calendar offering you information on upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. There are also some daily feeds, however, these have not been updated since April 2019. Finally, there is some market analysis that can help you decide what to trade, again though this has unfortunately not been updated since April 2019.

Customer Service

The contact us page is quite empty, there is an online submission form for fill in and you should get a reply via email, there’s also a single email address, however, a second email address for the support team can be found at the bottom of the page.

We did not manage to test out the customer service team, but it would have been nice to see more options and a phone number would have been good to see too. We are also unsure of the opening times but we expect the customer service team to be closed over the weekend at the same time as the markets.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available with CF Merchants however the details on them are unknown, we do not know the trading conditions or how long they last.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is available on the CF Merchants website: “CF Merchants (SV) Ltd does not provide services and accept applications from the residents of certain countries, such as the United States of America, Canada, Israel, North Korea, and Saint Vincent & The Grenadines. The statistics on this website is not directed at residents in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contradictory to local law or regulation.” If you are unsure of your eligibility, be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

CF Merchants have decent trading conditions, they are in line with a lot of the competition, plenty of ways to deposit and withdraw along with no fees is also a good point, not to mention the vast number of tradable assets means you will always have something to trade. The main downside comes when we look at the support system, there is no phone number available and just a simple contact form and email address, it is vital to have clear lines of communication when using a financial institute, so it is up to you to decide if that is important to you or not.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Real FXM Review

Real FXM is a UK based foreign exchange broker that is operating as a Straight Through Processing (STP) broker. They claim that some of the main benefits in using them include commission-free trading, access to advanced trading tools, negative balance protection on all accounts, access to a dedicated account manager, the use of straight-through processing, no dealing desk, the ability to use high leverage, free demo accounts and training, an array of instruments to trade, fund segregation and high levels of security. We will be using this review to see if all of the above is really offered and you help you decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

When signing up with Real FXM there are three different accounts that you can choose from, we have outlined them below along with their requirements and features.

There are some features that come with all accounts including fixed spreads, economic calendars, real-time news, daily analysis, one-click trading, exclusive chart access, traders’ views, and analysis, and data security.

X-Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200 in order to open, it has standard spreads and a leverage of 1:200. It only has Forex pairs available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform. There is a free demo account that lasts for 2 weeks and there is limited personal training. You can have a maximum of 25 open trades or orders and there is limited access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Premium Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $2,000. It comes with premium spreads and leverages up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs and metals available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that lasts for 1 month and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 75 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Pro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $5,000. It comes with premium spreads and can be leveraged up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs, metals and commodities available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that is unlimited and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 200 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

Platforms

X-Web is the only platform available to use from Real FXM, the platform is easy to use and does not require any installation or download it can be accessed by clients through a PC or Laptop from anywhere in the world.

A few of its many features are its customization, chart analysis, and trading, news and analysis, one-click trading, built-in the economic calendar, and automated trading. It also comes as a mobile application that offers the ability to trade on the move, it’s easy to use and is optimized for mobile devices.

Leverage

The leverage you are able to use depends on the account you use. If you use the Standard account you can have the account leveraged up to 1:200, using the Premium or Pro accounts will allow you to use leverage up to 1:400. The account leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it you can do so by contacting the customer service team with the request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all three accounts start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro lot and equates to 1,000 currency units. The trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots until it reaches the maximum. Unfortunately, we do not know what the maximum trade size is for any of the accounts or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

All three accounts use a spread based system (that we will look at later in this review) and so there are no added commissions added to the accounts or trading. There are things called swap charges though these are fees that are charged when you hold a trade overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can normally be viewed within the trading platform that you are using. Some brokers offer swap-free accounts but we did not see a mention of them here at Real FXM.

Assets

Sadly, there isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets or a product specification available, there is however a small section indicating some of the available assets which we will briefly go over.

Forex: We do not have a full breakdown but Real FXM gives you the opportunity to trade major currency pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and also exotic currencies like USD/MXN (Mexican peso), USD/TRY (Turkish lira).

Metals: Through CFDs, you can also trade metals like Copper etc. and you can also trade precious metals like Gold, Silver & Platinum at a much lower cost than the physical purchase of them.

Commodities: Soft commodities like Sugar, Coffee, and Crude Oil are available to trade, there seems like there will be more but those are the only ones mentioned by name,

Indices: A selection of major global indices in the UK, US, Europe, Asia, and Australia is available to trade. Some examples given are France 40, Nifty 50 and UK 100.

Shares: Shares from all over the world are available including shares from the UK, US, Europe, and Asia.

Spreads

We do not fully understand the spreads, we know that the higher tier account you get the lower your spreads will be but we do not have any specific examples of actual spreads. The Standard account gets standard spreads, the PRemium account gets premium spreads and the Pro account gets pro spreads, what these actually equate to we do not know, so ultimately, we do not know what the overall trading cost of trading with Real FXM is.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $200, this will allow you to access the Standard account, if you want the Premium account when you will need to deposit at least $2,000 and $5,000 if you want to use the Pro account. Usually, once an account has been opened the minimum deposit amount reduces, unfortunately, we do not know if that is the case here with Real FXM.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Card and Neteller.

The deposit information page talks a lot about when you should deposit (after opening an account) but it does not mention anything to do with fees, so we are not sure if there are any added. What we are sure of, is that you should check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they will add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same three methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification those are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Cards and Neteller. When using a Credit or Debit card you can only withdraw the same amount that you deposited, any extra will need to use one of the other available methods. There is an added withdrawal fee of $20 depending on your country when using Bank Wire Transfers. There is no indication for any fees for the other two available methods.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The withdrawal processing time is not indicated on the site, we would hope that Real FXM would process any requests within 48 hours of the request being made, once it has been processed by Real FXM it will then take an additional 1 to 5 working days for the funds to be fully processed by your bank, this time will vary from bank to bank.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few little bonuses available to sue, the first one is a referral scheme which is just like any other, there is also an introducing broker scheme which works much the same but on a larger scale.

The main bonuses available are an exclusive deposit bonus. You can get this bonus on your first deposit of $500, you will get an additional 25% bonus and reduced spreads on an instrument of your choice. You can then get up to a 50% bonus on further deposits depending on your account. We do not know the terms of these bonuses such as how to convert the bonus funds into real funds.

There is also a social media promo, simply like and connect with Real FXM through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and get access to weekly promotions such as a $25, $50 or $100 bonus, again the terms of these bonus funds are not known to us.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a forex school part to the site, unfortunately once the first overview page loads, any additional pages are giving an error stating that the page cannot be found. This is a shame as it would have been good for their clients to have some learning materials to help them improve their trading, so with it not working, the section may as well be removed from the site.

Customer Service

The customer service team can be contacted 24 hours a day 5 days a week, they close over the weekend and on bank holidays.

You can use the online submission form, fill it in with your query or request and you should then get a reply via email. You can also use the provided postal address, phone number, support email, compliance email or Skype username.

Address: C B C House Realfxm, 24 Canning St, Edinburgh EH3 8EG, United Kingdom.
Phone: +441316189330
Support Email: [email protected]
Compliance Email: [email protected]
Skype Username: realfxm.Support, Realfxm

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but there isn’t much information about them as you need to be fully logged into your website account in order to open one up. The demo accounts allow you to test out market conditions and strategies without any real risk, we do not know the full details or conditions of the demo account at Real FXM such as which account it mimics or if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not readily available on the website, so if you are thinking of joining Real FXM, we would recommend getting in contact with the support department before you do, just to be sure that you are in fact eligible for an account with them.

Conclusion

The available accounts offer a range of conditions, unfortunately, when it comes to the cost of trading we do not know as we do not have a full understanding of what the spreads are, we know that the higher tier accounts have lower spreads, but no indication of what they actually are, some of that lack of information is due to there not being an asset breakdown or specification.

There is also a limited number of ways to deposit and withdraw, it does not seem like there are any fees for depositing but there are for withdrawing via Bank Wire, it’s not the biggest fee but it is still present. Plenty of ways to get in touch with the customer service team. The site is well laid out, but the main downside is the lack of the finer details, product specification, things like the bonus terms and conditions are not shown and other smaller details are what let the site down.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

TopGrowth Futures Review

Topgrowth Futures is a brokerage company that was formed in 2003, based in Indonesia and aimed towards those living in the same jurisdiction. They do not give a lot of information about themselves, some of their main emissions are to become a leading foreign exchange broker through building a transparent platform, good customer service, and a continuous education program. We will be looking into the services that are being offered to help find out a little more about them and the service that they provide their clients.

We had some issues loading the site with Google Chrome so we had to switch over to a different browser, we have noted this just in case you have a similar issue.

Account Types

There are two different accounts available, they are not providing a lot of information about them but the information we do have is below.

Mini Account: A minimum deposit of 5 million Indonesian Rupiah ($500 for USD users) is required to open up the account, it comes with a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots and a maximum trade size of 5 lots. The account uses Meta Trader 4 as its trading platform.

Regular Account: A minimum deposit of 100 million Indonesian Rupiah ($10,000 for USD users) is required to open up the account, it comes with a minimum trade size of 1 lot and a maximum trade size of 50 lots. The account uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Platforms

While they do not have any information surrounding it, we do know that Topgrowth Futures uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. MT4 is an extremely popular trading platform used by millions all around the world, it comes with a lot of customization to help make it a trading platform that can suit your needs. It has multiple charts, timeframes and is compatible with thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help with both auto trading and your analysis. It can also be accessed via a desktop download, mobile application or web trader so you know you can always have access to your trades and accounts.

Leverage

We, unfortunately, we do not have any information surrounding the available leverage so we cannot comment on what the maximum leverage for either account type may be.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on the Mini account start from 0.1 lots and go up to 5 lots. The Regular account has trades starting at 1 lot and they go up to 50 lots. There is no indication as to how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

Trading costs are another aspect that we do not have any information on, this goes for both commissions and swap charges. Due to this, we do not really know how expensive it could be to trade at this broker. While there is no mention of any swap charges, we would expect there to be any unless stated otherwise, they would be charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MT4 trading platform.

Assets

There is a small breakdown of the available trading assets, we are not sure if they are the entire list as it would be pretty small if it is, however, there is a chance that this is all that is available, we have outlined them below for ease of reading.

Forex: EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, USDCHF, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, EURGBP, EURJPY, GBPJPY, CHFJPY, and AUDJPY.

Spot Metals: Gold and Silver only.

Commodities: It seems that only gold is available as a commodity, you are able to trade in different sizes from different exchanges using contracts.

Indices: Only three are mentioned which are the Nikkei 225, HK 150 Hang Seng, and the KOSPI 200. It is unknown if there are more available.

CFDs: Lastly, there are CFDs, these include the likes of Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, FTSE, Dax, and Crude Oil.

Strangely, some instruments we would expect to see in different categories, but this is how they have been set out on the site.

Spreads

This is yet another aspect of the trading conditions that we do not know, the front page of the site states that there are low costs, which we would assume is relating to the spreads, however, there are not any examples of the spreads and as there is no product specification, there are no details of the spreads there either.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is 5 million Indonesian Rupiah or $500, this will allow you to use the Mini account, if you wish to use the Regular account then you will need to deposit at least 100 million Indonesian Rupiah of $10,000 if using dollars.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There doesn’t seem to be any information on the site regarding deposit methods, this includes the methods available or any potential fees that may come with them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

This information is also not available, this is often vita as it allows potential clients to see how they can get their money back out and also if it will cost them anything, not having this information available long with the deposit methods makes it hard to judge if it is worth signing up and doesn’t help to build trust between the broker and client.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know how to withdraw, we also do not know how long it will take, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made but we cannot say this for sure.

Bonuses & Promotions

While looking through the site we did not come across any information on bonuses and withdrawals, so if you are interested in them we would suggest contacting the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

Education is an aspect of the broker that they seemed to mention as a big plus, so let’s see what they offer. To be honest, not a lot which is a real disappointment. There is a page with a few tutorial videos on how to use the Topgrowth Futures platform and website, there is a section for Trading for Beginners, however, the page is blank and so there is nothing to learn. There are then some more videos on how to use the trading platforms and a Webinar section, which again is blank. On the front page, there are some links to daily analysis that are up to date and being updated.

There is a separate news site called Topgrowth News which is from the same company, however that is not directly part of the broker so we won’t go into much detail on it, it does seem that the majority of the educational material is found on this news site.

Customer Service

Another aspect that Topgrowth Futures pride themselves on is their customer service team, there is no indication as to their opening times but we would expect them to be closed over the weekends when the markets are also closed.

You can get in touch using the online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email, there is also a postal address and phone number available to use. At the bottom of the site, there is also an email address present.

Address: Sahid Sudirman Center, Lantai 40, Unit F-G, Jl. Jend Sudirman Kav. 86, Jakarta 10220 Indonesia
Phone: +62 21 2788 9393
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available however there is no information available on the trading conditions of the demo account. You can sign up by creating an account and it uses MetaTrader 4 but that is all we know, we do not know if there is an expiration time on the account. Demo accounts are great as they allow clients to test out the markets as well as new strategies without any real risk to their own capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site, however, it seems like the broker is aiming more towards those that are from Indonesia, however, if you are interested in joining we would recommend contacting the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account, prior to opening one up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of helpful information missing from the Topgrowth Futures site, we do not know what the trading conditions are, leverage spreads and commissions are all missing, so the total cost of trading is also unknown. There is also a complete lack of information surrounding deposit and withdrawal methods, it is important for potential new clients to know how they can get their money in and out and also how much it will cost them to do so. Without any of this information being readily available, it is hard for users to recommend Topgrowth as a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

WinFinance / WinCapital Pro Review

WinFinance is a foreign exchange broker based in the Marshall Islands, the company was founded in 2013 and aims to provide an unequaled value to their clients. They claim to offer an outstanding customer support team, a host of tradable assets, advanced trading platforms, tight spreads, and an experienced team. We will be looking into the services on offer to see how they stand up next to the competition.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available to use from WinFinance, we have outlined some of their main features below.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $250, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives part access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade base currencies and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 3.3 pips, and USD/JPY 2.8 pips. The account has a fixed spread, access to an account manager and can be leveraged up to 1:200.

Classic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,500, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives part access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade base currencies, Gold, Silver and Oil and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 2.0 pips, and USD/JPY 1.4 pips. The account has a choice of fixed or floating spread, access to an account manager and can be leveraged up to 1:200.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $20,000, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives full access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade all currencies, indices, and shares and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 0.6 pips, AUD/USD 1.3 pips, and USD/JPY 0.6 pips. The account has a choice of fixed or floating spread, access to an account manager and can be leveraged up to 1:200.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000, it allows you to trade forex and uses a desktop and mobile platform. It gives full access to video tutorials and has access to a support team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It can trade all instruments and typical spreads range from EUR/USD 0.6 pips, AUD/USD 1.3 pips, and USD/JPY 0.6 pips. The account has a choice of fixed or floating spread which is adjustable, access to premium customer support and has adjustable leverage.

Platforms

Just the one platform available to use is xStation, xStation was designed for advanced currency traders who prefer more control, flexibility, customizations, and speed than traditional retail trading software packages. It provides true one-click trading on Level 2 market depth/order book views, built-in trading calculator, in-platform economic calendar, customizable layouts saved in the cloud, and a direct connection to the WinFinance liquidity infrastructure. It was designed from the ground up as an ECN/STP platform. It is usable as a desktop download, mobile application and as a web trade.

Leverage

The Standard, Classic and Premium accounts all have a maximum leverage of 1:200, the Gold account doesn’t have a set limit, it instead can be selected when creating an account. All accounts can have their leverage (up to the maximum) selected when opening up an account and can have it changed by sending a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots on all accounts, they then also go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade size would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. Unfortunately, we do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades/orders you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There doesn’t appear to be any added commission on any of the accounts as they all use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are however spread fees, these are interest charges that take effect when holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed from within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown or any sort of product specification so we cannot see exactly which assets or instruments are available to trade, this is disappointing as many potential clients will look to see if their preferred assets are available, the last thing they want is to sign up and find that they cannot trade it.

Spreads

The spreads are based around the account that you use. The Standard account has spread starting at EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 3.3 pips, and USD/JPY 2.8 pips. These spreads are fixed which means they will never change, no matter what is happening in the markets or how volatile they are.

The Classic account has spreads ranging from EUR/USD 2.4 pips, AUD/USD 2.0 pips, and USD/JPY 1.4 pips. These spreads can be either fixed or variable, variable spreads mean they move with the markets, the more volatility there is the higher they will be, the starting figure for variable spreads is often lower than fixed spreads.

The Premium and Gold accounts also have a choice of fixed or variable spreads and start at around EUR/USD 0.6 pips, AUD/USD 1.3 pips, and USD/JPY 0.6 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account with WinFinance is $250, this allows you to use the Standard account, if you want a higher tier account you will need to deposit at least $2,500. We do not know if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sadly there isn’t any information on the site regarding deposit methods or anything to do with them except for three little images of Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro, so we will be confident to say that they will be available, but we cannot say about any other methods. We also cannot comment on whether there are any added fees for depositing by WinFinance.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As we do not know how you can deposit we also do not know how you can withdraw, the same three images are available but that is it. Just like with the deposits we do not know if there are any added fees when withdrawing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, we also do not have any information on this topic, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days after the request is made depending on what methods are available to withdraw with.

Bonuses & Promotions

We had a good look around the site and could not see any indications of an active promotion or bonus so we do not believe there are any. This does not mean that there won’t be any in the future, if you are interested in bonuses we would suggest contacting the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t appear to be any educational material or tools on the site which is a shame as a lot of modern brokers are now trying to help their clients improve, so it would be good to see WinFinance add something to help their clients.

Customer Service

The customer service page states that the team is available from Sunday to Friday 10 am – 8 pm GMT, however, the account page states that there is 24/7 support available, so they contradict each other.

You can use the online submission form to send in your query and then you should get a reply via email. There is also a postal address available along with two emails and two phone numbers.

Address: Trust Company Complex, Majuro, MH 96960, Marshall Islands
Support Email: [email protected]
Marketing Email: [email protected]
Great Britain Phone: +442036082593
Italy Phone: +97316195023

Demo Account

There isn’t any information surrounding demo accounts on the site, however, we do not have a full account so we cannot see if there are any available in there if there aren’t then it is a shame as demo accounts allow clients to test out the trading conditions and new strategies without risking any real capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site so we would suggest contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The four different accounts offer some variety especially when it comes to the choice of fixed or variable spreads. Sadly, that is about where all the positives end, there is no information about what assets and instruments are available to trade or how you can deposit and withdraw your funds., This information is vital if a company is going to be holding onto your money, you need to know how you can move it about and also if it will cost you to do so, without this information being available is it hard for us to recommend them as a broker to use, and would instead suggest looking somewhere that is being a little bit more transparent.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Vinson Financials Review

Vinson Financials is a foreign exchange broker founded in 2004 and situated in Hong Kong however, they also have offices in the UK and Cyprus. They do not give a huge amount of information about themselves away, however, their objectives and goals are to operate responsibly, executing with excellence and capture new opportunities for growth. They are always looking to improve and so throughout this review, we will be looking into what is on offer to see if they live up to the expectations.

Account Types

There are two main account categories with Vinson Financials, within each category are two different account types, we will briefly overview the 4 total accounts.

Classic Accounts

Pearl Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200, it can be leveraged up to 1:500 and has forex and metals available to trade. The account can use both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as its trading platforms and has spread starting from a fixed 2 pips. Swap fees are present and expert advisors are not allowed. Trading sizes start at 0.1 lots and go up to 20 lots maximum. Support is available 24/5 and the margin level is set at 30% with the stop out level at 5%.

VIP Account: The minimum deposit raises up to $5,000 for this account type, it can be leveraged up to 1:500 and has forex and metals available to trade. The account can use both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as its trading platforms and has spread starting from a fixed 1 pip. Swap fees are present and expert advisors are not allowed. Trading sizes start at 0.1 lots and go up to 30 lots maximum. Support is available 24/5 and the margin level is set at 30% with the stop out level at 5%.

Advance Accounts

Diamond Account: This account type has a minimum deposit requirement of $200, it can be leveraged up to 1:200 and uses market execution. It has forex, metals, and indices available to trade and can be used with both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. It has a floating spread starting at 1.6 pips and trading starts at 0.1 lots and goes up to a maximum of 50 lots. Support is available 24/5 and both expert advisors and trading signals are allowed, the account also has a margin level set at 30% and stop out level set at 5 %.

VIP Account: The minimum deposit for this VIP account raises up to $5,000 as a minimum, it can be leveraged up to 1:200 and uses market execution. It has forex, metals, and indices available to trade and can be used with both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. It has a floating spread starting at 1 pip and trading starts at 0.1 lots and goes up to a maximum of 50 lots. Support is available 24/5 and both expert advisors and trading signals are allowed, the account also has a margin level set at 30% and stop out level set at 5 %.

Platforms

There are two trading platforms available to use, both from MetaQuotes, so let’s look at what they are and what features they offer.

MT4: The MetaTrader 4 trading platform is a fully-equipped trading system that enables you to trade various financial instruments, including forex, CFDs, metals, and futures. The MetaTrader 4 trading platform offers you many advantages such as placing different order types, the ability to analyze the market with more than 50 built-in indicators, trade on a variety of mobile devices, use Expert Advisors (EAs) for automated trading, develop your own EAs, custom indicators and scripts and, it uses 128-bit encryption ensuring the security of trade transactions. The platform is accessible via a desktop download, web trader and application for your mobile devices.

MT5: The MetaTrader 5 platform offers a complete selection of trading functions, including many impressive analytical features. Moreover, the platform contains a full spectrum of trading tools to ensure flexible and full-fledged trading activities. Useful tools, such as alerts on trade positions, automated trading programs, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and trading signals, are available directly on the platform. Some other features it has included trading with a variety of order types, the ability to analyze the market with 30+ built-in technical indicators, open up to 100 charts simultaneously, use Expert Advisors for automated trading, create your own technical indicators and the use of 128-bit encryption ensuring the security of trade transactions. The platform is accessible via a desktop download, web trader and application for your mobile devices.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available depends on the account you are using. If you are using a Classic account then your maximum leverage will be 1500, if you are using one of the Advance accounts then you will have a maximum leverage of 1:200. The leverage can be selected when opening up the account and once it is open, you can contact the customer service team should you wish to change it.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all accounts start at 0.1 lots, however, the maximum trade size for each one is different and is 20 lots for the Classic Pearl, 30 lots for the Classic VIP, 50 lots for the Advanced Diamond and, 100 lots for the Advanced VIP.

We would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to it being harder to execute quickly, and we are not sure about the maximum number of open trades allowed at any one time.

Trading Costs

The accounts do not have any added commissions, instead, they all use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. The accounts do have swap charges, these are interest fees charged for holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative, they can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

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

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

Metals: Gold and Silver.

Indices: Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, DAX, FTSE, Nikkei, France 40, Swiss 30, Euro 50, Hong Kong 40, Spain 35, Italian 40.

Futures: Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Light Sweet Crude Oil, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Coffee, Copper.

Spreads

The spreads on offer vary quite a lot, they are using two different types of spreads fixed and variable. Variable (or floating) spreads mean that they move with the market when there is added volatility the spreads often widen and are seen larger. Fixed spreads are the opposite, they do not change no matter what is happening in the markets, they always remain the same.

Here are the outlines of the starting spreads.

  • Classic Pearl: Fixed from 2 pips
  • Classic VIP: Fixed from 1 pip
  • Advanced Diamond: Variable from 1.6 pips
  • Advanced VIP: Variable from 1 pip

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $200, this will get you either the Classic Pearl or Advanced Diamond accounts, if you want a VIP account you will need to deposit at least $5,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are only three ways to find your account, you can use Bank Wire Transfer, Credit / Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard) and Skrill. Looking through the FAQ on the site, they state that there are no added fees, however when depositing using Bank Wire Transfer you should check with your bank to see if there are any added fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You must return funds to the account used to deposit, however, once the withdrawal equals the deposit, it seems like you can only use Bank Wire Transfer as a withdrawal method. Just like with deposits, there are no added fees but be sure to check with your bank to see if there are any transfer fees added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Vinson Financials will aim to process withdrawals within 2 business days, however, on occasion, they could take longer. The amount of time in total that it takes depends on the method used and could take between 1 to 5 working days to fully process.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not seem like there are any bonuses or promotions active at the time of writing this review if you are interested in bonuses you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you can take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the tools and educational side of the site, in relation to tools there is an economic calendar which details upcoming news events along with the markets they may affect, there is also a currency converter for working out the exchange of currencies. Finally, for tools, there are live charts of various pairs and assets to view on the site.

There are a few different sections centered around learning, the first are guides to different aspects such as forex trading, metals trading, CFD trading, commodities, futures, oil trading, and Expert Advisors. There is then a section for articles however this has not been updated since 2018 so it isn’t the most relevant, there is then market news, but this again is slightly out of date as the latest article is from November 2019. There is technical analysis, but again the last update was in 2018, finally, there are webinars that again have not been updated since November 2019.

Customer Service

If you are required to get in contact with the Vinson Financial support team you can do so 24 hours a day 5 days a week, they are closed only over the weekends and on bank holidays. You can get in contact using the online submission form to fill in your query or you can also use the online chat feature. If those don’t suit you then you can email them directly or use a phone number and finally, the postal address.

There are a few different offices, but we will detail the Cyprus office.

Address: 6 Voreiou Ipeirou Street, Limassol 3022, Cyprus
Email: (+357) 25 02 88 61–63
Phone: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, the demo account allows you to test using the MetaTrader 4 platform, you can select between the classic or advanced accounts and choose leverage between 1:1 and 1:500. The account comes with a balance of $100,000, there is no expiration o the account so they will remain open indefinitely.

Demo accounts are a great way for new clients to test the servers and trading conditions while also allowing existing traders a way to test new strategies without risking any of their own capital.

Countries Accepted

Vinson Financials do not specify who can and who cannot use their service, so if you are not sure, get in contact with the customer service team to check prior to signing up.

Conclusion

The trading conditions offered by Vinson Financials can be seen as competitive, they are very slightly on the high side but still in line with what you would expect. There are no added commissions and so the spreads are expected to be high, starting at 1 pip for the VIP account is more than acceptable. There are quite a few assets to trade which is good to see, additions of crypto would help them out a lot. The main downside is the deposit and withdrawal methods, they are very limited. While there are no fees, if you use a different transfer method normally, you may be forced into using one you don’t normally use. Plenty of ways to contact the customer service team which is great and they are available 24/5. Not too many negatives from Vinson Financials from what is on the site, but whether they are right for you, is your decision.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Traderia Review

Traderia is a foreign exchange broker that doesn’t give a lot of information about themselves away. It is always a concern when they don’t list things like locations, addresses or other important information. What they do say is that they are a team of hardworking professionals that are focused on your success. We will be using this review to look at the services on offer to try and find out a little more information about them and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available each coming with different features, the account page doesn’t specify trading conditions so we will outline those in each section of this review. Let’s get a brief overview of what the accounts offer.

Classic Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000. It comes with daily briefing & research as well as desktop & mobile trader and video tutorials.

Gold Account: This account has a minimum deposit of $10,000. It comes with daily briefing & research, desktop & mobile trading platforms, video tutorials, competitive spreads, and webinars & seminars.

Platinum Account: The minimum deposit amount for this account is $25,000. The account comes with daily briefing & research, desktop & mobile trading platforms, video tutorials, competitive spreads, webinars & seminars, a general account manager and, SM news & signals.

VIP Account: This is the top-level account and requires a minimum deposit of $100,000. The account comes with daily briefing & research, desktop & mobile trading platforms, video tutorials, competitive spreads, webinars & seminars, a general account manager, SM news & signals, premium daily analysis and premium customer care.

Platforms

The only platform available to use with Traderia is MetaTrader 4, the good news is that it is an extremely popular and versatile platform. It is accessible anywhere as it can be used as a desktop download, mobile application or as a web trader. You can execute trades manually or with preloaded indicators and automated robot trading strategies (or Expert Advisors). Alternatively, MT4’s highly customizable, advanced software allows you to create your own trading strategies using its unique MQL4 programming language. Take advantage of MT4’s one-click functionality to make sure your trades are executed fast, every time.

Leverage

Unfortunately, it was not clear to us what the maximum trade size was, leverage is normally selectable when opening up an account but we did not see the option so it must be further in the account creation process, so, unfortunately, we are not able to comment on the maximum leverage.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size available is 0.01 lots which is known as a micro lot, the trade sizes then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. There is a maximum trade size of 1,000 lots which is far too high and you shouldn’t really trade any more than 50 lots in a single trade. It is not known what the maximum trade size is.

The different instruments also have different trade size boundaries, we have outlined them below.

  • Forex: Min 0.01 lots / Max 1,000 lots
  • Indices: Min 1 lot / Max 1,000 lots
  • Commodities: Min 1 lot / Max unknown

Trading Costs

It seems like all accounts use a spread based system (that we will look at lateR) rather than having any commission, so we do not think there is any added to the accounts at Traderia.

Swap fees are present, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative. They can be viewed on the website or within the MetaTrader trading platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, we will outline the different instruments within them below.

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

Commodities: WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Gold, Silver, Aluminum, Copper, Cotton, Feeder Cattle, Heating Oil, Live Cattle, Lead, Nickel, Palladium, Platinum, RBOB Gasoline, Rough Rice, SoyBean, Tin, Zinc.

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

Spreads

Looking at the product specifications it doesn’t make it entirely clear what the spreads are for each account. When looking at USDJPY as an example, it states that the Classic account has spread of 30 (which normally means 3.0 pips), the Gold account has spread of 0.9 pips while the VIP account says 3, which we are not sure if it means 3 pips or 0.3 pips, using the different styles for each account is confusing. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets and when there is added volatility they will often be seen higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit depends on the funding account used but the bare minimum is 250 USD, EUR or GBP. It seems that this amount remains even after an account has been opened rather than reducing for top-up payments.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are just a few ways that you can deposit into Traderia and they are Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill. We have outlined the minimum deposits of each below.

  • Credit / Debit Card – $250 / €250 / £250
  • Skrill – $250 / €250 / £250
  • Bank Wire Transfer – $500 / €1000 / £1000

There is a daily and monthly deposit limit which is 10,000 and 40,000 respectively. There is no mention of any fees, but be sure to check with your bank or card issuer to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw which are Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill. When withdrawing with a Credit/Debit card, you are only able to withdraw the same amount that you deposited, any extras must be withdrawn using one of the other available methods.

Platinum and VIP accounts have free withdrawals, however, the other accounts will have the following fees added to their withdrawals.

  • Credit Card: 3.5%
  • Debit Card: 3.5%
  • Wire Transfers: $30, €25, £20

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Traderia simply states that they will process withdrawals as quickly as possible, they don’t actually give a timescale, we would hope that all withdrawal requests would be fully processed between 1 to 5 business days from the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not seem like there are any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any in the future so be sure to check regularly. You could also contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming bonuses or promotions that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The academy section of the site has a few different aspects to it. The first is an economic calendar that details various news events that are coming up as well as indicating the potential effect they could have on the markets. There is also a calculator available to help work out margins, some real-time charts which simply show what the charts currently look like. There is also a glossary of forex related terms which is helpful if you come across something you do not know the meaning of. Finally, there is an ebook available, it is quite basic and just goes over the real basics, good if just starting out but if you have traded before then you probably know everything it has inside.

Customer Service

The contact us page consists of a single submission form, you can fill it in and then get a reply via email. Luckily at the bottom of the screen, there is an additional phone number and email address should you prefer to use those methods of contact.

Phone: +44 2038 078 269
Email: [email protected]

The customer support team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and is closed over the weekend and on bank holidays, just like the markets are.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and you can have as many of them as you want, demo accounts are great as they allow you to test out new strategies without risking any real capital. The account lasts forever and so they can be used indefinitely. The trading conditions of the accounts are not noted but we suspect them to be similar to those of the live accounts.

Countries Accepted

Information about eligible countries is not on the site, so in order to find out if you are able to get an account or not, you will need to contact the customer service team to check.

Conclusion

Traderia seems to get a little confused as to who they are, there are mentions of multiple different brokers when referring to themselves, so either they are a shell of another company or they were copy and pasting information from other sites and simply forgot to change the name. In terms of the trading conditions it wasn’t easy to find some of it, leverage is not stated and the spreads are a little confusing due to different formats being used. There are enough assets available to keep you busy and when it comes to deposits and withdrawals, the methods are slightly limited and for withdrawing there is a fee if you do not have one of the higher-tier accounts. The fact that some information seems to be copied from other sites means we would probably avoid using them, as not a lot of care has gone into the site.

Categories
Forex Videos

Become A Better Forex Trader By Utilising The Economic calendar

https://youtu.be/39wMrQXLydI

Unlock The Hidden Secrets Of The Forex Economic Calendar

In this video presentation, we will be looking at the economic calendar pertaining to the forex market and how It can be extremely useful to traders who implement the knowledge in their fundamental analysis.


Example A, The economic calendar is a fundamental resource that tells traders about economic data releases, which are due to be released by governments or independent research establishments, which collate statistics pertaining to the economic activity of a country and whereby these statistics are released daily, weekly, or monthly. Such data varies in importance to the market from low risk to medium and high risk. The higher the risk, the greater potential for extra volatility impacting those associated currencies whose countries have released the data, and of course, this will likely affect every pair traded and even, on some occasions, have a knock-on effect on other currency pairs as markets adjust to risk sentiment post-release.
Economic calendars are widely available, and where most brokers will provide one. Here we are looking at the economic calendar as provided by the broker EagleFX.

Traders keep a careful eye out for the events in the economic calendar, which are scheduled for release because these events can help traders plan trades throughout the days, weeks, and months, depending on their style of trading. They use the released data to set up trades while also mitigating against risk.
The most keenly observed data releases and the ones which potentially cause the largest amount of volatility post-release are gross domestic product updates, interest rate decisions by central banks, and on the first Friday of each month nonfarm payrolls, which relate to unemployment in the United States.
Learning you to navigate the economic calendar will save you time. It is generally displayed in a linear fashion, on an hour by hour and day by day basis.


Example B, Information is key when trading currencies, and economic calendars are a fantastic tool to keep you informed of major news events in the diary and will potentially greatly enhance your trading.

Example C, In this example, we can see that on Tuesday, April 7th, the Royal Bank of Australia is to make an interest decision at 4.30 AM GMT and where the importance is signified by the red lines, which indicates this as a high-risk event. Traders will be keeping a close eye on the Australian dollar and associated currency pairs being traded against it leading up to and just after any announcement by The Royal Bank of Australia.

Example D, The flag beside the type of economic data release denotes the country that is releasing the data, in this case, Germany.

Example E, And the time of the release is usually on the left-hand side of the calendar. This is typically the time of the source of the release.

Example F, So here we can see that in this example, the Netherlands will be releasing its consumer price index year on year for March 2020 and where this information will be released as low importance and is not likely to affect market volatility.

Example G, In this example, the Japanese will be releasing leading economic index preliminary data for February and whereby this information is medium risk and Michael’s market volatility.


Example H, Another important feature of an Economic Calendar data release information which is highlighted here. The previously released data pertaining to the country in question is available on the calendar in the lead up to the current release, and also some brokers will show a market consensus of the data as suggested by various analysts who suggest what they believe the figure will actually be. Upon data release, the actual figure will be updated on the calendar in a timely fashion. The majority of data releases are subject to an embargo where institutions are not allowed to benefit from data, which could cause insider dealing in the markets. While all of this may seem slightly daunting to new traders, it is important that you understand the significance of fundamental data releases and how they will help you to become a better trader.

Example I, As you become more knowledgeable, you will learn how to filter out various parts of the economic calendar which you may deem as not so important, and these can be reduced to certain countries data releases, and therefore their currencies being emitted to your calendar or even filtering it down to only high-risk news events being shown on your calendar.

Example J, Here we have filtered out all currencies apart from the Great British pound and the United States dollar for our calendar for next week. This is a great option for traders who only trade the GBPUSD pair, also known as cable. The economic calendar is, therefore, a customizable tool for your convenience.
Failing to observe the release of economic events is inherently risky. If economic events happen and you are not aware of them, it could dramatically affect any open trades or trade ideas which you may be about to set in place.
Therefore it is vitally important that you incorporate the economic calendar into your daily trading routine. Make a habit of checking it in the morning, and in the evening, It will pay dividends in the long run.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Twin Option Review

Twin Option is an online foreign exchange, binary options, CFD and cryptocurrency broker, fully regulated and governed by the European MiFID regulations. The vision of the company is to give everyone access to the trading world by improving their understanding and offering a lucrative trading experience. Some of their main goals are to grow their community, offer a secure trading environment and to ensure that their clients are well looked after by their customer service team.

Twin Option offers both trading and binary options, for the purpose of this review, we will only be looking at the trading port of the broker and not the binary options side of the broker.

Account Types

The FAQ on the site states that there are multiple different accounts on an account type page, however, we could not find that page. We did sign up and could locate a number of different accounts however they doid does not have many differences, especially in terms of trading conditions which seem to be the same for all, we have outlined a few of the major differences.

Standard Account: This is the account that you automatically receive when signing up, it does not come with any extra features and has a withdrawal time of 4 to 6 working days.

Bronze Account: This account requires you to deposit at least $1,000. It does not come with any special features apart from a slightly reduced withdrawal time of 3 to 4 days.

Silver Account: This account increases the minimum deposit up to $5,000, it comes with the addition of technical reports, an account manager, trading signals, investment strategies, and the withdrawals are performed between 2 to 3 days from the request being made.

Gold Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $10,000, it comes with all the same features as the Silver account except there are more in-depth investment strategies available and the withdrawal times are further reduced down to 1 to 2 days.

Platinum Account: You need to deposit at least $20,000 to use this account type, all features remain the same with the addition of a personal account manager and further detailed investment strategies. The withdrawal timeline is once again reduced down to 12-24 hours.

Diamond Account: This is the top tier account and so requires a minimum deposit of $50,000, it comes with a dedicated account manager, access to technical reports, an economic calendar, trading signals, the most detailed investment strategies. The withdrawal timeline for this account is 1 to 2 working hours.

Platforms

Twin Option uses its own trading platform, we have to open up an account to view it properly, it uses a layout similar to binary options (this is not a surprise as they also provide binary options trading). The platform only has three different time frames which are 1 minute, 5 minutes and 15 minutes. It also does not seem to have much analysis capability as we did not find any indicators available to use. It is a very simple platform and not something that you can use to analyze, only to place your trades.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:1000, you get a choice of 1:100, 1:200, 1:500 or 1:1000 for each trade that you make. This is a slightly different way of working as it is based on each individual trade and not account type.

Trade Sizes

There are a limited number of trade sizes that you are able to use, they are all in lots and are as follows: 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.50, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0. You are not able to place trades at any other interval. We do not know how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

We could not locate any information surrounding any additional fees or charges when trading so it does not appear that there are any and the accounts all use the fixed spreads as their payment structure. We also do not know if there are any swap charges present when trading as there is no relevant information about them.

Assets

We are only looking at the assets that are available for trading on the forex side, there isn’t a huge selection of them but we have outlined them below.

Forex: EURUSD, USDCHF, GBPUSD, USDJPY, AUDJPY, AUDUSD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, GBPAUD, GBPJPY, USDCAD, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDNZD, EURNZD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDSEK.

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

Spreads

Looking through the platform it looks like the spreads for all currencies are set at 1 pip, the FAQ on the sites states that the spreads are fixed so this means that they will not change and the FAQ also said that they will remain fixed even during news events.

Minimum Deposit

There is not a minimum amount required to open up an account as you automatically get access to the lowest tier account, the overall minimum deposit requirement is $10 which is the lowest that the payment methods available allow.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available to withdraw with: Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, Crypto, Perfect Money, Payeer, WebMoney and AirTM. Unfortunately, we do not know if there are any fees charged by Twin Option so we are not able to suggest what they may be.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

A slightly different selection of methods is available to withdraw with, they are Skrill, Neteller, Crypto, Perfect Money, Payeer, WebMoney, AitTM, and Bank Wire Transfer. The FAQ on the site indicates that there may be some fees charged, but they do not indicate what they might be. The minimum withdrawal amount allowed is $5.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The amount of time it takes for Twin Option to process your withdrawal request will depend on the account you are using, we have listed the expected times below:

  • Standard: 4 to 6 working days
  • Bronze: 3 to 4 working days
  • Silver: 2 to 3 working days
  • Gold: 1 to 2 working days
  • Platinum: 12 to 24 working hours
  • Diamond: 1 to 2 working hours

It will then take some additional time for your own processor or bank to process the incoming transaction, how long it will take will depend on the method used.

Bonuses & Promotions

Apart from the usual affiliate scheme, there did not appear to be any promotions or bonuses taking place. You could always check with the customer service team if bonuses are something that you are interested in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few little tools available, or at least information about them, we say information as we don’t actually see the tools, just information about what is available. The first is an economic calendar, this can be used to look into the future at what sort of news events will be coming up; it will also give you an idea of what sort of impact those news events could have on the markets. There is a currency conversion tool which will do what it says on the box, it will help you work out the exchange rates between different currencies. The pip calculator tools allow you to work out a pip price while the broker spread comparison tool simply compares different spreads between brokers.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day, they do not state if they are open on the weekends though. You can use the online submission form to send your query, they have also provided us with a postal address or a direct email address to use.

Address: Twinoption Ltd, 21 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to use fake or pretend money to trade with, the demo account will closely mimic the trading conditions offered on a real account and are a good way to test out the markets. We do not know what the specific trading conditions of the demo accounts from Twin Option are, but they should be similar to any information provided throughout this review.

Countries Accepted

Twin Option has not provided this information, so we would suggest getting in touch to find out your eligibility prior to signing up.

Conclusion

The accounts on offer give you a different selection of tools and analysis, but the trading conditions do not seem to change between them. The leverage available can be set per trade which is a different feature to most brokers, there is also a limited set of trading sizes with 5 lots as the maximum which could be a little restricting. Spreads are fixed at 1 pip which is relatively low and if there are in fact no added commissions could make trading with Twin Option quite cheap. Plenty of methods available to withdraw and deposit with, but their fees are unknown, they are present for the withdrawals but it does not state how much they are. There is also a slight lack of tradable assets. While the platform offered by Twin Option is interesting, if you are looking for a more traditional trading experience you may need to look elsewhere.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Volume Groups Forex Review

The website that Volume Groups Forex uses is basically a template, there are sections that they have not yet rewritten, instructions telling them what to write, that doesn’t build a lot of confidence in the service that is going to be offered. Due to this, they haven’t posted much information about themselves, so we will be going in blind with this review, we will outline our different findings within each section of the review so we can see what services are on offer and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you. The following is an extract from their site and the only real information about themselves:

“Volume Groups FX is a leading online FX and CFD brokerage firm offering trading facilities to worldwide investors and traders in forex, indices, commodities, and futures. We are proud to offer a trading solution to both retail and institutional clients across a wide range of risk and experience levels and our client base currently spans more than 20 different countries.”

Account Types

There isn’t any account information or comparison page, from briefly looking through the site it seems that there may only be the one account on offer, as we go through each section of the review, we will outline any potential differences, otherwise, all information provided is relevant to the one account that is available.

Platforms

Volumes Forex Group offers just MetaTrader 5 as its trading platform. It offers instant execution and request execution, complete technical analysis package: wide range of inbuilt indicators and charting tools, the ability to create various custom indicators, different time periods (from minutes to months), inbuilt program language MetaQuotes Language it’s a multilingual platform interface (English, German, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Farsi, Japanese, Chinese Simplified, Polish, Turkish, Korean, Indonesian, Bulgarian, etc.), a history database management and import/export facility, inbuilt help guides for MetaTrader and MetaQuotes Language, and the ability to manage your account in different base currencies. It can also be used in a number of ways such as a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader, so you can access your trades and account wherever you are.

Leverage

The average on offer ranges from 1:1 all the way up to 1:500, this is a good level to have and seems to be what a lot of brokers are now aiming for, it can offer a good level of risk and reward. Leverage can be selected when first opening up an account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there are any added commission on the trading account as there is no mention of it anywhere, there are also no mentions of swap charges, looking a the Arabic version of the site the only account available is an Islamic account, however, we do not know what sort of account the English version uses, we would expect the same but cannot say for sure.

Assets

There is no product specification or breakdown of assets, so the only information that we know if that there are both Forex and CFDs available to trade, it is a shame that we do not know which ones though as many potential clients will look for their preferred assets prior to signing up and may go elsewhere as hey cannot see what they can trade.

Spreads

Spreads are another aspect of the broker that we do not know, the information provided simply states that they are competitive and low. It also mentions that they are fixed, this means that they will not move or change, no matter how much volatility there is in the markets, they will always remain the same.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required for the initial deposit is $500, once this first deposit has been made, and further deposits will no longer have a limit and can be of any amount desired.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are two mentioned methods, the first being Bank Wire Transfer and the second being Credit/Debit Card. Volume Groups FX does not charge any additional fees or commissions when depositing, however, you should check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they will add any transfer fees of their own.

Strangely, in the notes there is a mention that PayPal charges approximately 1.9% EUR 0.35/USD 0.20 per transaction, however, they are not listed as a deposit method, so we are unsure if they can actually be used or not.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The two methods mentioned on the site are Bank Wire Transfer and PayPal, so it does, in fact, seem like PayPal is available. Volume Groups FX Does not charge any fees or commission for withdrawing funds. However, please note that PayPal and the banks that they deal with usually charge fees/commission for their services.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Funds withdrawn to a PayPal account will show up in your account within 24 hours of receiving your Withdrawal Form. And the funds withdrawn to a bank account will reach your bank account in 2 to 4 working days from the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not seem to be any active promotions or bonuses happening at the time of writing this review, if you would like to see if there are any coming up then you could always contact the customer service team to find out.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are three very basic blog posts that equate to the educational side of the site. The first is a page giving tips on how to trade better, the second is more forex trading tips and the third is a very short overview of trading Gold and Silver.

Customer Service

The customer service department can be contacted by using the online submission form, fill it in with your query and you should then get a reply via email. They have also provided a London and Istanbul based telephone number and an email address.

London Phone: 0044 2076600966
Istanbul Phone: 00905533000084
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

A demo account is available, there isn’t any additional information provided about them so we would expect the trading conditions to mimic the information that we have put into this review. We do not know how long they last for (expiration times) however the demo account is a great way to test out the markets and new strategies without any real risk to your own capital.

Countries Accepted

Details regarding this are not present on the site, if you are thinking of signing up, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to make sure you are eligible prior to opening up an account.

Conclusion

The website isn’t a great one, there are images not loading properly and some of the text is still the default text, this is not a good way to build a good first impression. In terms of the actual trading, it seems like there is just the one account, sadly not all the information regarding it is available, we still do not know what the spreads are or what assets are available, due to not knowing the spreads it means we do not know what the true trading cost of the account is or how expensive it is to trade here. There are limited funding methods, but with no added fees it is a small plus. Based on the site we would probably recommend looking somewhere else, the broken aspects of the site could indicate that they no longer care, or that they are not as competent as they try to make out.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

WealthTrade FX Review

WealthTrade FX is a foreign exchange broker that doesn’t give a lot of information about itself away. Based in the Seychelles, WealthTrade FX has offered some quick stats about itself which include that there are no FIFO rules or restrictions, it offers full hedging capabilities, fast, instant executions on every trade has industry-leading analysis and tools, easy to use funding methods, has practice accounts and has full access to Expert Advisors and scalping capabilities. We will be using this review to learn a little more about the broker and to see how they stand up next to the competition.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available for individuals, these are the Micro, Standard, and Premium accounts. The only information that we have on them at this stage is their required deposit amounts, so we have outlined those below, as we go through the review we will detail any other differences in each individual section, we won’t be looking at the joint or corporate accounts.

  • Micro Account: Requires a minimum deposit of $250 to $10,000
  • Standard Account: Requires a minimum deposit of $0 to $50,000
  • Premium Account: Requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 or more

Platforms

WealthTrade FX uses a platform called WealthTrader FX Pro, however, this is basically MetaTrader 4 with a few changes made by themselves. Some of the features stated include the fact that all Metatrader 4 Expert Advisors (EA) are supported, it has direct STP connections and execution, tight STP spreads and quotes, a true non-deal desk environment, no proximity restrictions when placing entry or exit orders, scalping is available, offers leading analysis tools, and offers full hedging capabilities.

Leverage

When signing up for any of the available accounts, the only option in the leverage section is 1:100, so it appears that all accounts must have this single leverage. This is selected when opening an account and unfortunately cannot be changed.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots on all accounts, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades and orders you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there are any added commissions, there is no mention of them only of spreads which we will look at later in this review. There are swap charges which differ from one currency pair to another and are determined by the banks. They can be either positive or negative and are charged for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed within the trading platform that WealthTrade FX offers.

Assets

There doesn’t seem to be a full breakdown of the available assets, instead, there is a page detailing forex and a page detailing CFDs, the forex page simply states that most major pairs are available, which doesn’t make it sound like there are any at all. The CFD page states that there are 7 major indices including Nikkei 225, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, FTSE 100, and Dow Jones 30. There are also some commodities which include Oil, Agriculture, and Precious Metals.

It is a shame that there is not a full breakdown as many potential clients will look to see if their preferred instruments are available. Hiding this information can also give the impression that there isn’t actually much on offer.

Spreads

We do not have much to go on in regards to spreads. There aren’t any actual examples, the only information that we have is that the Standard account has slightly better spreads than the Micro accounts, while the Premium account has better than the Standard and that the spreads are variable. That means that they are influenced by the markets, the more volatility, or if there is less liquidity, the spreads will often widen and be seen larger.

Minimum Deposit

There is no minimum deposit requirement to open up an account as the Standard account does not have a minimum requirement. If you want the Micro account you will need to deposit at least $250, or $50,000 for the Premium account. However, the FAQ does state that the minimum amount required is $500 for the Micro account, which is contradictory to what the account page states.

Deposit Methods & Costs

At the moment only Bank Wire Transfer is available to deposit with. The good news is that WealthTrade FX will not add any additional fees or commissions when depositing, you should, however, check with your own bank to see if they will add any outgoing transfer fees of their own. The site does state that more deposit methods are coming soon.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Bank Wire Transfer is the only method available to withdraw with, just like with the deposits there are no added fees from WealthTrade FX, however, some banks can charge for incoming transactions, especially if they are in a different currency, so be sure to check whether your bank does or not.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

WealthTrader FX will aim to process a withdrawal the same day it is received, if not then it will be processed on the next working day. It will then take between 2 to 4 days for the withdrawal to be fully processed, this will depend on the processing speed of your own bank.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not seem to be any bonuses active at the time that we are writing this review. You could always check with the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is no education on the site which is a shame to see, many brokers are now trying to help their clients through education, so it would be good to see WealthTrade FX do something similar. They have information about getting a VPS for your trading platform, however, it is not an offer and instead is just an affiliate link to a VPS provider.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available from 5 pm on Sunday all the way through to 4 pm on Friday (ET). You can contact their support team, trade desk, and deposit/withdrawal department using email, you can also use the direct telephone number or postal address.

Address: WealthTrade FX Ltc, Trident Chambers, Capital City Building, PO Box 1388, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles.
Support Email: [email protected]
Phone: 877 578 2770

Demo Account

A demo account allows you to test out trading conditions and new strategies without any real risk, they are available from WealthTrader FX, you are only able to get a demo account of the Pro account so the trading conditions will mimic the ones of the Pro account. Other details are not known and we do not know if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site, so if you are thinking of signing up we would recommend contacting the customer service team first just to make sure that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

There isn’t a whole lot of information available on the site and the information that is there is very limited and scattered around. We do not know what the difference is between the three accounts apart from them having slightly different ( yet unknown) spreads. The leverage is fixed at 1:100 which is ok, but not as high as we would have hoped, in terms of assets, what they are is unknown, but it doesn’t seem like there are going to be any instruments or assets available to trade. There is also just one method of depositing, this could greatly limit the potential client base that could use the broker, the good news is that there aren’t any fees for depositing or withdrawing.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Sword Capital Review

Sword Capital is a foreign exchange broker based in the Middle East. Sword Capital has the vision to provide the best financial brokerage services, both locally and internationally, as well as to build a long term relationship with its clients. Their values include integrity, leadership, transparency, credibility, creativity, and innovation. Throughout this review, we will be diving deep into the services on offer to see how they perform and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are a lot of different accounts on offer such as a Personal Account, Corporate Account, IB Account, Hedge Fund account, Premium Account, and Family Office Account. The majority of these would not be relevant to us and only the Personal and Premium accounts would be. There isn’t an overview of the accounts, so throughout this review, we will be looking at the different aspects of the account and trading conditions, any differences between them we will outline in each section.

Platforms

There are three different platforms on offer, two of them you would most likely have heard of, the third maybe not, so let’s see what they offer.

MetaTrader 4: MT4 is one of the world’s most used and most loved trading platforms, being used by hundreds and thousands of users. Offering high levels of accessibility, available as a desktop download (PC and Mac), a web trader and as an application for mobile devices. Some of its features include a market watch, multiple order types, thousands of indicators, a huge number of compatible expert advisors, trading history, analysis tools, multiple charts, automated trading and many more.

MetaTrader 5: MT5 is the younger brother of MetaTrader 4, developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MT5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to aid in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless. MetaTrader 5 offers the built-in Market of trading robots, the Freelance database of strategy developers, Copy Trading and the Virtual Hosting service (Forex VPS). Use all these services from one place, and access new trading opportunities. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

TWS: This platform is more intended for professional traders or other brokerage platforms, so it is not something that we would really be using and so don’t go into a lot of details on it.

Leverage

The leverage on forex pairs can go up to 1:200, the site doesn’t specify what the leverage is for other instruments such as commodities. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account, it is unknown if it can be changed on an already open account but you should contact the customer service team should you wish to change it.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from as low as 0.01 lots (known as a micro lot), they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots.

Trading Costs

When using MetaTrader 4 or 5 there are no added commissions for forex when trading on the Personal or Premium account, the use of a spread based system that we will look at later in this review.

There are some added commissions when trading other assets, we have outlined them below:

  • Energy: $5 per lot traded
  • Agriculture: $10 per lot traded
  • Stocks: $30 per 1,000 trades
  • Indices: $5 per lot traded

There is also no mention of swap charges, but we suspect that they will be present and these are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader platforms.

Assets

We have broken down the available assets into a number of categories so you can have a full overview of what is available to trade with Sword Capital.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURTRY, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPTRY, NZDJPY, USDTRY.

Metals: Copper, Silver (tradable against EUR, USD, and GBP), Gold (tradable against EUR, USD, and GBP), Palladium and Platinum.

Indexes: CAC 4, DAX, Dollar Index, Dow Jones, S&P 500, FTSE, Nasdaq Big, Nikkei, Nasdaq Mini, S&P 500 Big and Dow Jones Mini.

Agriculture: Cocoa, Coffee, Corn, Cotton, Orange Juice, Soybean, Sugar and Wheat.

US Shares: Apply, AIG, Amazon, Boeing, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Caterpillar, Cisco, Walt Disney,m Facebook, GEC, Google, Home Depot, Herbalife, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, McDonald’s, 3M Company, Microsoft, Oracle, Pfizer, AT&T, Twitter, Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil and, Yahoo.

Energy Shares: Heating Oil, Natural Gas, Crude Oil, and Gasoline.

Spreads

There are examples of spreads for all assets, however, we are not clear which accounts they are relevant for so we will just give the examples we have, a small selection includes.

  • AUD/CAD: Starting 2 pips, average 4 pips
  • CAD/CHF: Starting 2 pips, average 5 pips
  • EUR/CHF: Starting 2 pips, average 3 pips

As you can see the average spreads vary from instrument to instrument, the spreads are also variable which means they move with the markets, when there is added volatility they will often be seen a lot higher than the starting figures given or even the average stated.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100, this will allow you to open up a Personal account, for the Pro account you will need to make a deposit of at least $100,000 so this will price out the majority of retail traders. It is unknown what the minimum deposit amount is once an account is already open.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sword Capital does not make it easy to work out what methods are available when you select the deposit & withdrawal button it takes you to a login page, we managed to sneak our way around it to get a view of a couple of methods, however, we do not fully know what methods are available.

The ones that we discovered were by Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney, Yandex Money, QIWI Wallet, Cryptocurrencies, and Skrill. They may well be other methods available but we were not able to locate them.

In terms of fees, they are a little complicated, it does not seem like there will be any for depositing but there will be for withdrawing which we will look at below.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

It seems like the same methods are available, but we must note that the information we are getting is from all over the site, as we do not have an account we cannot log in to fully check.

The methods available seem to be Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney, Yandex Money, QIWI Wallet, Cryptocurrencies, and Skrill. We have set out a table below detailing the information we do know (or what we can work out).

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The processing times are unknown to us but we would hope for all withdrawal requests to be fully processed between 1 to 7mworking days from the time the request is made. There is the option to select the Sword prepaid card, which is said to offer fast payment approval, along with a variety of additional perks.

Bonuses & Promotions

The only bonus program that seems to be running is something called Sword Points, when using MetaTrader 4 you can earn points that can then be redeemed and withdrawn. You will earn 1 point for every 3 lots that you trade, there are various physical or financial things you can exchange them for, but the example given is that 10 points will allow you to convert it into $20.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the educational side of the site, there is a training section but this is just a signup form, no real information about the training. There is also some training based on the different platforms but again we did not get to experience any of this. Finally, there are some signals for both MT4 and via SMS, they seem to be showing some growth, but we do not know the full extent of their accuracy or profitability.

There are also some tools available, the firs being an economic calendar detailing any upcoming news events and also indicating what effect they could have on the markets, there is then a new section detailing past news. There are also some charts and daily reports to give a good indication of what could happen next.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available between 10 am and 6 pm GMT over the phone, for better support they recommend using email or the chat feature. There is also an online submission form to fill in.

Middle East Office:
Address: Kuwait Sharq Blk7 Tower44 Floor 19-18
Phone: +965-2246-8817
Email: [email protected]
Opening Times: 9:00AM-7:00PM 6 Days GMT

Asia Office:
Address: Hong Kong – Tower78 Bonham Strand Sheung Wan
Phone: +852-58085069
Email: [email protected]
Opening Times: 9:00AM-4:00PM 5 Days GMT

Africa Office:
Address: Seychelles MahePlaza Eden Suite 208
Phone: +248-4346840
Email: [email protected]
Opening Times: 9:00AM-4:00PM 7 Days GMT

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and are a great way to test out the servers and new strategies without risking any real capital. Demo accounts are available in both MT4 and MT5 and they come with a balance of $10,000. No other details are mentioned and we do not know if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website: “Sword Capital does not offer its services to residents of certain jurisdictions such as the USA, Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Syria, North Korea or any country restricted by FATF.” If you are unsure of your eligibility we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check prior to signing up.

Conclusion

The way the site has been set out doesn’t make it easy to find some of the information we need, in terms of accounts we still don’t truly understand the difference between them apart from a different deposit amount required. There are plenty of assets available to trade which is great and it seems like there are a lot of deposit and withdrawal methods, but it can be confusing as to which ones are actually available, the fees are also a little high. At this time, we would only recommend trading with Sword Capital if you have a reference or know others using the platform, otherwise, we would suggest looking elsewhere.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Welkron Review

Welkron markets itself as a new generation broker, using the latest innovation, they state that their main attractions are a strong financial position, supervision by regulatory bodies, attractive prices and execution of commercial transactions, next-generation trading platforms, 24-hour customer support, innovative trading tools and a wide range of instruments to trade. This review is intending to look at the services being offered to see if they live up to their expectations.

Account Types

Welkron is offering four different account types to their clients, each one having slightly different entry requirements and trading conditions, so let’s look at what is on offer.

Mini Account: The mini account requires a minimum deposit of between $500 and $10,000. It has spreads starting from 2 pips and there is no added commission on the account. It is able to trade all available currency pairs and has leverage up to 1:500, it also has access to the online support team.

Standard Account: The standard account requires a minimum deposit of at least $10,000. It has spread starting from around 1.5 pips and has no added commissions when trading. It has access to all available products and has a maximum leverage of 1:200, it also has access to phone and online support.

Pro Account: The Pro account has a minimum deposit requirement of $25,000. The account has spreads starting as low as 0 pips and due to this has a commission added to its trading dependent on the instrument traded. It has access to all products and the account has a maximum leverage of 1:200, it has access to phone and online support as well as a personal manager available 24/5.

VIP Account: This is the top-level account and requires a minimum deposit of $50,000. It has spreads starting from 0 pips and so has a commission added to trading which is based on the trading volume made. It has access to all products and the account has a maximum leverage of up to 1:100. It has access to phone and online support as well as a personal manager available 24/7. It also comes with a personal support channel and legal protection of interests.

Platforms

Welkron is offering a single trading platform to use, luckily it is the ever-popular MetaTrader 4, so let’s see what this trading platform has to offer.

MT4: MetaTrader 4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. Millions of people use MT4 for its interactive charts, multiple timeframes, one-click trading, trade copying and more. In terms of accessibility, MT4 is second to none, available as a desktop download, an app for Android and iOS devices and as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great trading solution to have.

Leverage

The maximum leverage that you receive depends on the account that you are using, they are as follows:

  • Mini Account: 1:500
  • Standard Account: 1:200
  • Pro Account: 1:200
  • VIP Account: 1:100

The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it on an already open account you can do so by getting in touch with the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots (these are also known as micro-lots) and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. There is no mention of maximum trade size, however, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage. There is also no mention of how many trades you are able to have open at the same time.

Trading Costs

The Mini and Standard accounts do not have any added commission as they use a spread based system which we will look at later in this review. The Pro account has an added commission which is based on the instrument that you are using, the VIP account has a commission added which is based on the volume of your trading. The unfortunate thing is that what the commissions are is unknown, there isn’t a mention of them on the accounts page, product specification or the terms of service, apart from the fact that there are some. It would have been good to know what they are as trading costs can be a major factor in a new client choosing which broker they will use.

Assets

Welkron have all of their assets thrown into a single list which makes it harder to differentiate what is what, however, we have outlined what the instruments are below:

Currency Pairs: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CASCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURDKK, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBOCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSGD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Commodities: Spot Gold, Spot Silver, Natural Gas, Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil.

Indices: ASX 200, CAC 50, HSI 50, Nasdaq 100, Stoxx 50, Dax 30, FTSE 100, Ibex 35, Nikkei 225, S&P 500.

Crypto: BTCUSD (Bitcoin).

Spreads

The spreads that you receive are dependent on the account that you are using, the mini account has spread starting from 2 pips, the standard account has spread starting from around 1.5 pips and the Pro and VIP account have spread as low as 0 pips. The product specification page unfortunately just has all instruments set as a minimum 0 pips so we can not see what they actually might be. What we do know though is that the spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 2 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher, 2.5 pips (numbers are estimated).

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open an account is $500 which gets you the mini account, if you want a commission-based account you will need to deposit at least $25,000. It is unknown if the minimum amount drops after the initial deposit but we will be assuming that it does.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different deposit methods available through the use of a few different payment processors, let’s look at what they are. No deposit fees are a good sign and plenty to choose from, while there are no fees by Welkron, be sure to check with your bank or processor to ensure they do not add any of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Each withdrawal method has a different withdrawal fee, so we have outlined them for you below. It is a shame to see such high commissions added to each withdrawal method, this is something that we would want to see stamped out of future practices.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There doesn’t seem to be any information about how long processing will take, so to be safe we will say the usual 1 to 5 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

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

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side of the site has some basic information on different aspects like trading or analysis, unfortunately, it is only available in Russian, we used a translator to see what it says and it is very basic and not something that will make you an expert trader, you will need to look elsewhere for your educational requirements. There is a basic economic calendar though which details some very basic information on upcoming news events and which markets they will affect.

Customer Service

There isn’t a dedicated customer service page, so we are assuming the main details are available once you sign up, for now, we are left with a basic submission form in the footer of the page, there is also a phone number and email address available in the footer but throughout the website, they are talking about their great support team, you would think there would be more information about it, however, we suspect there is more once you are a client of theirs.

Demo Account

There has been no mention of any demo accounts throughout the site so we do not thin they are currently available, this is a shame as new clients like to sue them to test the servers and trading conditions and existing clients like to sue them to test new strategies without risking their capital, so this is something that Welkron should look at adding to their services.

Countries Accepted

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

Conclusion

Welkron put a lot of expectations on themselves with their aims, however, it seems they may have fallen a little short. The trading conditions initially looked good from the comparison of the accounts, competitive spreads were a big plus, unfortunately when it came to actually seeing the spreads, there was no information available. Same with the commission, we do not know anything about it apart from the fact that it exists, these kinds of things are vital as the cost of trading is one of the major factors a lot of potential clients look at. Plenty of deposit methods is good with no deposit fees, however, quite high withdrawal fees could be painful when withdrawing your funds. From what we have seen, Welkron didn’t quite hit the heights that they were aiming for.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

KB Captials Review

KB Capitals was founded in 2010 and is a forex trading provider and broker which currently hosts thousands of clients. Based in the Czech Republic, they aim for stability and make every effort to provide trouble-free services, safe and simple trading, financial viability, and strict legal compliance. We will be using this review to dive deep down into the services on offer to see how they compare to the competitions and to find out how transparent they are as a broker.

Account Types

There are eight different account types listed but in reality, there are only four as each account type is listed with a EUR and USD version. We have outlined the main features of each account below.

Silver Account: The deposit requirement for this account is between $250 and $2,999. It comes with leverage up to 1:200 and has fixed, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 40 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account cannot be used as an Islamic account.

Gold Account: The deposit requirement for this account is between $3,000 and $24,999. It comes with leverage up to 1:300 and has fixed, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 80 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account can be used as a swap-free account.

Brilliant Account: The account has a minimum deposit requirement of $25,000. It comes with leverage up to 1:400 and has floating, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 150 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account and the account can be used as a swap-free account.

Managed Account: The account has a minimum deposit requirement of $250. It comes with leverage up to 1:400 and has floating, extra-low spreads. It has forex, metals, energies, indices, commodities and CFD shares available to trade and uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform. The account uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 150 lots. The stop-out level is set at 2%, there is no added commission and the account and the account can be used as a swap-free account.

Platforms

The accounts page indicates that MetaTrader 4 is an available trading platform, however the trading platform page only outlines a web trader, so we are assuming (maybe wrong) that the web trader is in fact MetaTrader 4. At any rate, MT4 is one of the world’s most used trading platforms hosting over 1,000,000 traders worldwide. The platform is compatible with hundreds and thousands of indicators and expert advisors and is fully customizable to your trading needs.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available depends on the account you are using, the Silver account has a maximum leverage of 1:200, the Gold account can be leveraged up to 1:300 and the Brilliant and Managed accounts can be leveraged up to 1:400. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by contacting the customer service ream wit your change request.

Trade Sizes

Trades sizes on all accounts start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro-lot. They then go up in increments of 0.01 lots until the maximum trade size is reached. Each account has a different maximum trade size. The Bronze account has a maximum trade size of 40 lots, the Gold account is 80 lots, the Brilliant and Managed accounts have a maximum trade size of 150 lots. We would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade though due to execution and slippage issues.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions on any of the accounts as they all use a spread based structure. There are however swap fees on all accounts, these are fees charged for holding trades overnight and can be both positive and negative and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. The Gold, Brilliant and Managed account can have a swap-free Islamic version should you not be able to pay or receive interest.

Assets

The assets at KB Kapitals have been broken down into a few different categories, we will now look into each category and outline the available instruments within them.

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

Metals and Energies: Silver, Gold, Brent Crude Oil, Light Sweet Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and RBOB Gasoline are available to trade.

Commodities: Cocoa, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton #2, Orange Juice, Palladium, Platinum, Soybeans, Sugar #11, and Wheat.

Indices: CAC 40, DAX 30, Mini Size Dow Jones, FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, Nasdaq 100, E-Mini S&P 500, ASX XPI 200, DJ Euro Stoxx, China H-Shares, Hang Seng, IBEX 35, STSE/JSE Top 40, STSE / MB, CNX NIFTY, Volatility SP500, US Dollar Future, Tel Aviv 25.

Shares: There are plenty of shares available to trade, some of them include Amazon, Disney, Ferrari, IBM, General Motors and Verizon.

Spreads

The accounts use two different spread styles, the Silver and Gold account used fixed spreads that do not change, while the Brilliant and Managed accounts use a floating spread which moves with the markets when there is added volatility they will often be seen higher.

We do not know the differences in spreads as there is only one set of spreads shown on the asset breakdown page. The breakdown indicates that spreads average 1.8 pips for EURUSD, while other pairs have different average spreads with some like EURCHF having an average spread of 2.9 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount is $250, this will allow you to open up either a Silver account or a Managed account. Once an account has been opened, there is no minimum deposit enforced on subsequent deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few ways to get your money into KB Capitals, these are Credit / Debit Card (Visa or MasterCard), Bank Wire Transfer and WebMoney. So the selection isn’t the biggest and we do not know if there are any added fees. You should always check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own. There are some additional images at the bottom of the screen but the terms and deposit pages do not indicate that they are actually usable as deposit methods.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification, these are Credit/Debit Card (Visa or MasterCard), Bank Wire Transfer and WebMoney. You must withdraw money back to the original deposit source. There is no indication of any potential fees but you should check with your own processor and bank for any incoming processing fees they may have.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests can be made at any time. Requests are only processed once we receive all requested or required documentation and verified your account and payment methods. The process usually takes up to four days.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different bonuses available, we will briefly outline a couple of them so you can get an idea of the sort of promotions that KB Capitals offers.

100% First Deposit Bonus: You can receive a 100% deposit bonus up to $1,000 on your first deposit, the site has the following information about the bonus, a trader must make a minimum of 10 trades. It also indicates to look into the bonus policy for more information but there is no information within it in regards to converting the bonus funds into real funds, so we don’t actually know how good the bonus really is.

Protected Trading Account: You can trade risk-free for the first month, this means that any lost trades will be refunded. Again, we do not know the full terms as they aren’t really specified anywhere.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few aspects to the educational side of the site, there are some 1-on-1 forex instructions for people with accounts larger than $1,000, there are also some webinars but we don’t really know how good they are. There is then an economic calendar, this shows you upcoming news events and also indicates which markets the news may affect. Next up is a glossary of trading-related terms, there is a page for video tutorials but the page currently states that it is coming soon. The final section is trading for beginners, but there isn’t much information on it so it isn’t the most helpful page you will come across when trying to educate yourself.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer support team by using the online form, fill it in and get a reply via email. They have also provided their clients with a postal address, phone number, and email address. The phone lines are available between 09:00 and 18:00 GMT+1 each day (except on weekends and bank holidays).

Address: Rybna 716/24, Stare Mesto, 110 00 Praha 1
Phone: +43720817958
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out new strategies and trading conditions without risking any capital, they are an important part of a broker and so it is strange that there is no mention of them anywhere on the site. There may be a way to open a demo account once you have fully signed up, but there is no indication of them on the site.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site and so we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are eligible prior to opening an account.

Conclusion

The available accounts offer a range of trading conditions, while we do not know all of the available spreads, the ones that we do see are around the average in the industry at around 1.8 pips, there is no added commission which is nice but it would be good to see examples of the fixed spreads too. There are plenty of assets available to trade which is a plus. In terms of funding, there is a slightly limited selection of available and this not fully clear if there are any fees added to the deposit or withdrawals.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BullTraders Review

BullTraders is a foreign exchange broker that was founded in 2009 and is located in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They provide the ability to trade over 150 different instruments, offer classic trading with low spreads, offer 3 loyalty programs, offer a news feed and an economic calendar as well as other features. We will be using this review to look deeper to see if those things are actually offered and so see how they compare next to the competition.

Account Types

Should you decide to join up with BullTraders, you will have three different accounts to choose from. We have outlined them along with their requirements as featured below.

Micro Account: This account does not have a deposit requirement and so can be opened without a deposit, the account can be leveraged up to 1:200, it has a fixed spread starting at 2 pips and it uses market execution. There are no added fees or commissions, the account comes with a stop out level of 20% and you are able to have up to 20 orders at any one time, the minimum trade size available for this account is 0.01 lots.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $1,000, the account can be leveraged up to 1:100, it has a fixed spread starting at 2 pips and it uses market execution. There are no added fees or commissions, the account comes with a stop out level of 20% and you are able to have up to 20 orders at any one time, the minimum trade size available for this account is 0.1 lots.

Pro Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $2,000, the account can be leveraged up to 1:200, it has a fixed spread starting at 2 pips and it uses market execution. There are no added fees or commissions, the account comes with a stop out level of 20% and you are able to have up to 20 orders at any one time, the minimum trade size available for this account is 1 lot.

Platforms

BullTrader uses its own trading platform, it is accessible as a desktop download, mobile application and as a web trader to use with your internet browser. The platform seems to take a lot of influence from MetaTrader 4, however not quite offering as much functionality. It has multiple charts and timeframes, there are also multiple indicators available to help with your analysis and trading needs.

Leverage

The maximum leverage seems to be 1:200, however, there are mentions of 1:1000 on the site for example which is a little strange and could cause some confusion. For clarification, the maximum leverage available is 1:200. This can be selected when opening up the account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened, but if you wish to we would suggest contacting the customer service team with a change request.

  • Micro Account: 1:100 , 1:200
  • Standard Account: 1:100
  • Pro Account: 1:50, 1:100, 1:200

Trade Sizes

The trade sizes that you get depend on the account type that you are using, we have outlined the minimum trade sizes below.

  • Micro Account: 0.01 lots minimum / 20 max trades at any one time
  • Standard Account: 0.1 lots minimum / 20 max trades at any one time
  • Pro Account: 1 lot minimum / 20 max trades at any one time

The maximum trade size for all three accounts is 5 lots.

Trading Costs

There are no added fees or commissions when trading as all three accounts use a spread based system that we will look at later in the review. There are also swap charges, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive and negative and can be viewed from within the trading software or from on the BullTraders website.

Assets

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

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURSGD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPSGD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDDKK, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDSGD.

Stocks: Plenty of stocks are available to trade, some of them include the likes of Apple, Amazon, Coca-cola, Cisco, eBay, Intel, Netflix, and Microsoft.

Metals: Just Gold and Silver are available to trade.

Indices / Commodities: Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil, DE30, DX, F40, JP225, UK100, US30, US500, USTEC, MICEX, RTS, Natural Gas, ZC, ZS, KC, SB, CT.

Crypto: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Dogecoin, Dash, EOS, Ethereum Classic, Ethereum, IOTA, Litecoin, Neo, QTUM, Tron, Monero, and Ripple.

Spreads

The spreads on the account page state that they start from 2 pips fixed, however looking at the actual spreads the lowest available is 3 pips which are on the EURUSD pair. The spreads are fixed so they do not change and will always remain the same no matter what is happening on the markets. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while EURUSD has a fixed spread of 3 pips, different pairs such as AUDCHF will have higher spreads, in this case, it is a whopping 10 pips.

Minimum Deposit

There is no minimum deposit requirement to open up an account, the minimum deposit will be dependent on the method you use and your own limits imposed by the payment processor. If you wish to use the Standard or Pro account you will need to deposit at least $1,000 or $2,000 respectively.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only information displayed on the site is that they accept Visa, MasterCard, and Bitcoin, there was no other information that we were able to find. Scouring the internet we were bel to find out what they also accept some eWallets such as OK Pay and WinPay, but we cannot provide a full list. We were also not able to find out if there are any added fees or commissions when depositing.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We had just as little information on withdrawals, so we can only say that Visa, MasterCard, and Bitcoin are displayed on the site so we believe they should be available to withdraw with, once again we also did not find any information on withdrawal fees, but when depositing or withdrawing you should check with your own bank or payment provider to see if they will add any outgoing or incoming processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not have much information on the withdrawal methods we also don’t have a realistic expectation on how long withdrawals should take, we would hope that withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 7 working days or the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a loyalty program available to the clients of BullTrader. The bonus that you get is dependent on the balance of your account.

Standard Level:
Minimum Balance of Equity $1000
For all types of accounts Cashback
1$ per full traded lot
0,5% per month (6% per annum)
Up to 50% bonus to every replenishment

VIP Level:
Minimum Balance of Equity $5000
For Real Standart and Real Pro only
Cashback 5$ per full traded lot
1% per month (12% per annum)
Up to 100% bonus to every replenishment Protection of trading for 1 month

Premium Level:
Minimum Balance of Equity $10000
For Real Pro only
Cashback 10$ per full traded lot
2% per month (24% per annum)
Up to 200% bonus to every replenishment

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few little tools available to use, the first is an economic calendar, this tells you what news events are coming up and the possible impacts that the news events could have on the markets. There is also a section for investment ideas which gives some very basic information on potential trades, finally, there is a news section giving some news about the markets.

Customer Service

The contact us page offers a few different ways to get in touch with them, you can use the postal address that they have provided, there is also a number of different email addresses and a fax number (not a phone number) available to use.

Address: The Jaycees Building, Stoney Ground, Kingstown, P.O. Box 362, VC 0100, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Email: [email protected].
Fax: + 6564915202

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available for the WebTrader versions of the platform and it allows you to test out the markets and conditions without any risk to your own capital. The trading conditions mimic those of the real accounts.,

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present at the bottom of the site: “BT Technologies Ltd does not provide the services to residents of the United States, Japan, Korea, Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan, as well as other areas where these services can not be provided in connection with the existing restrictions of the legislation.“

Conclusion

The three accounts do not offer much different in trading conditions apart from the minimum trade size, the spreads are unfortunately incredibly high, with spreads starting from 3 pips and going to over 10 pips on some pairs it can be incredibly expensive to trade here, there are plenty of assets available though which is a big plus. There is not a lot of information on the deposit and withdrawal methods, so we do not know exactly which methods are available or if there are any added fees for transfers. With those high costs and uncertainty with the funding, we currently find it hard to recommend them as a broker to sue.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BogoFinance Review

BogoFinance is a foreign exchange broker based in Lebanon. It was founded in 2006 and since it was founded they have aimed to redefine the meaning of financial services. Bogofinance tries to see investing from your perspective and make recommendations based on your needs. One of their central goals is to simplify investing for you; along with this they also offer long term values to their customers. Bogo Finance values each and every customer whether they are intending on investing in small or larger amounts. That is what they say about themselves, now we will be looking into the services to see what is actually on offer.

Account Types

There are four different accounts to choose from when signing up with BogoFinance, each one having its own deposit requirement and trading conditions.

Micro Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $100 and has an equity range between $0 and $2,000. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 1.4 pips. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Classic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,000 and has an equity range between $2,000 and $10,000. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 1.2 pips. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Executive Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 and has an equity range between $10,000 and $50,000. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 1 pip. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 and has an equity range of $50,000 or above. The account can be in USD or EUR and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots. There is no added commission on the account and it comes with a spread of 0.8 pips. It has access to forex pairs, commodities, and indices. The margin call level is set at 100% with the stop out being set at 20%. The maximum trade size is 10 lots and hedging is allowed. Swap-free versions of the account are available and it uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Platforms

Developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MetaTrader 5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to aid in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless. MetaTrader 5 offers the built-in Market of trading robots, the Freelance database of strategy developers, Copy Trading and the Virtual Hosting service (Forex VPS). Use all these services from one place, and access new trading opportunities. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

Leverage

Unfortunately, the leverage is the only bit of the trading conditions which are missing from the site, so, unfortunately, we do not know what the available leverage on any of the accounts is.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro-lot, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions on any of the accounts as they all use a spread based system, there are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight. They can be viewed on the website and within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a few different categories which we will look at for you.

Forex:
EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, NZDJPY, GBPNZD, EURDKK, EURNOK, EURSEK, GBPDKK, GBPNOK, GBPSEK, USDDKK, USDNOK, USDSEK.

Metals:
XAUUSD, CAGUSD, CAUEUR, XAGUSD (Gold and Silver).

Indices and Commodities:
DJ 30, SP 500, NAS 100, US Crude Oil, and Brent Crude Oil.

Spreads

The minimum spreads that you get depends on the account that you are using. The Micro account has spread starting from 1.4 pips, the Classic account starts from 1.2 pips, the Executive account 1 pip and the Premium account has a starting spread starting from 0.8 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets when there is more volatility the spreads will normally be higher. Different instruments will also have different spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $100 which allows you to open up a Micro account, we do not know if the minimum amount reduces once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, the isn’t any information surrounding funding methods so we do not know what methods you can use to deposit your funds into BogoFinance, we also do not know if there are any added fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like with the deposits, we also do not know what methods are available to withdraw with or if there are any fees. Both of these sections are vital, not having this information means no one will know how they can get their money in or out or how much it will cost to do so.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know the methods available, we also do not know how long it will take, we would hope that it would take between 1 to 7 days to fully process depending on the methods available but we cannot guarantee that this is the right information.

Bonuses & Promotions

There aren’t any advertised promotions or bonuses on the site so it does not appear that there are many active ones at the time of writing this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

Many brokers are now trying to give some education or trading tools to their client in order to help them improve their trading abilities, it is a shame to see no such thing here and so BogoFinance should try and do a little more for their clients in terms of learning materials.

Customer Service

You can contact BogoFinance with a few different methods, the first being a submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. There Is also a postal address available long with a phone number and email address.

Address: 6th floor – Aya center, Dora Highway, Metn, Lebanon
Phone: +961-1-265 600
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but they are provided by FXJet rather than Bogo Finance. The demo account allows you to test out trading conditions and strategies without any risk to your capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site so we would suggest contacting the customer support team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The BogoFinance website is a little awkward to use, the site randomly loses its scroll bar so you need to reload the page. In terms of accounts, there is a selection of them but there is very little difference between them, the only visible difference being the spreads, we actually don’t know what leverage is available on them either. There are plenty of assets but things quickly go downhill when we look at the deposit and withdrawal methods, or more that we don’t look at them as there is no information on them which is a massive negative. This information is vital and without it, we can not recommend them as a broker to use at this time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

IGTFX Review

***IMPORTANT NOTICE***

The IGTFX website (http://www.igtfx.com) is down at the time of this posting. We will continue to check back and will report if the problem was temporary, or if this Forex broker has closed for business. 

IGTFX which stands for FOREX Central Brokerage Services is a foreign exchange broker focusing on currency pairs. Their mission is to be first in providing their clients with the best advantages and to never spare an effort to create a unique service. We will be using this review to look into the services on offer to see how they compare to the competition and to see what really is on offer.

Account Types

It seems like there could be just the one account available from IGTFX, we will outline some of its features here but as we go through the review, we will outline its conditions in more detail.

IGTFX Account: The account requires a minimum deposit of at least $500, it comes with a no dealing desk execution-style and uses MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform. It has interbank spreads which start from as low as 1 pip. The account can be leveraged up to 1:200 and has a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots. The account has full hedging capabilities and does not have any added commissions when trading.

Platforms

There are two platforms on offer and they are both created by MetaQuotes, let’s have loot at what they are.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): MetaTrader 4 has features such as confidentiality of all trading operations; an unlimited charts quantity, large number of technical indicators and line studies, Experts, Custom Indicators and Scripts, Multi-Language program interface, signals of system and trading actions, getting on-line news from financial markets, internal email system and it is accessible through a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5): Some of its features include level 2 data available for exchange-traded instruments, four types of execution of trading transactions: Market, Instant, Request and Exchange, 21 time-frames, 38 technical indicators, 39 graphical objects, 4 zoom modes, six types of pending orders (Buy Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Limit, Sell Stop, Buy Stop Limit, Sell Stop Limit), trading transactions execution method allowing to perform a flexible trading activity and to set up exact parameters of trading transactions, and automated trading features. Development and usage of the expert advisers, users indicators and scripts are controlled by the integrated MQL5 development framework, which allows users to apply complex advisers and to forecast price movement more accurately.

Leverage

The account can be leveraged up to 1:200 and this can be selected when first opening up an account. Should you wish to change it you will need to send a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.1 lots (known as a mini-lot), unfortunately, we do not know what the trade increments are, what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions on the account when treading as it uses a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are however swap charges which are fees either charged or received for holding trades overnight. These swap fees can be viewed within the trading platform that you are using.

Assets

It seems that only forex pairs are available and the ones available to you depend on the level of your account.

If you are a private investor (most clients): EURUSD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, GBPUSD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, CHEJPY, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, NZDJPY, CADJPY, AUDCAD.

If you are an institutional client: AUDUSD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADJPY, CADSGD, CHFJPY, CHFSGD, CHFPLN, EURCAD, EURCHF, ERUDKK, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURSUD, GBPSGD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, JPYSGD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDNO, USDZAR.

Spreads

Spreads on the account start as low as 1 pip, the spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets, the more volatility or the lower the amount of liquidity will cause the spreads to get bigger, while they start at 1 pip they will often be seen higher and different instruments will have different minimum spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required for a first deposit is $500, once an account has been opened this amount reduces and there does not seem to be a lower limit for top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are two different methods available to deposit with, these are Bank wire Transfer and PayPal. When depositing with Bank Wire Transfer there is an added fee of between $15 and $25 for incoming transfers. When using PayPal to deposit there is an added fee of 2.9% + $0.30 (Canadian: 3.9% + $0.30) for each deposit. It is always strange to see deposit fees as usually a broker will try and entice people to deposit by paying for any fees themselves.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Only Bank Wire Transfer is available to withdraw with, as IGTFX does not allow withdrawals using PayPal. There aren’t any stated fees for withdrawals but we would expect a similar fee of between $15 and $25 would be present for withdrawals just like they were for deposits.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

While this is not stated, we would expect withdrawals placed by Bank Wire Transfer to take between 1 to 5 days to fully process, this will, however, depend on both the processing speed ofIGTFX and the processing speed of your own banking institution.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t appear to be any active promotions or bonuses at the time that we are writing this review. You could contact the customer service team to see if there are coming up that you could take part in if you are interested in potential bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

Sadly there doesn’t seem to be any educational material on the site. Many modern brokers are now looking for ways to help their clients improve their trading abilities so it would be nice to see IGTFX do something similar.

Customer Service

You can contact a number of different departments using email these include the accounting department, sales department, customer support, finance department, complaints department, information desk, institutional sales and introducing brokers. You can also use the available live chat or skype username.

Support Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, in order to open one you will need to download the trading platform. We do not know what the trading conditions are but would expect them to be similar to the live account and we also do not know if there is an expiration time on the demo accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site and so we would recommend sending a query to the customer service team if you are thinking of signing up just to confirm if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The trading conditions on paper seem competitive but we did not have any specific examples of the available spreads. There is also a limited number of assets to trade as it is limited to just forex currency pairs. A lot of things with the broker are limited as there is also a limited number of ways to deposit and withdraw, with the added fees for depositing as well as withdrawing it can be quite expensive to trade with IGTFX and we would probably recommend looking for a slightly cheaper broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

TP Global FX Review

TP Global FX is a foreign exchange broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They claim that some of their main benefits include their excellent trading conditions, variety of markets, they are technology-driven and they offer the best in the class support team. Always looking to improve and innovate, we will be looking at the service they offer to see how they compare to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are four different account types available, we will briefly overview some of their features below, as we go through the review we will look into each section in a little more detail.

Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $100, it comes with spreads starting from 1.3 pips and there are no added commissions when trading. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, the account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and it uses a market execution-style.

Pro Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200, it comes with spreads starting from 0.1 pips and there is an added commission of $8 per round lot when trading. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, the account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and it uses a market execution-style.

Swap-Free Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $2,000, it comes with spreads starting from 2.3 pips and there are no added commissions on the account. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, the account can be leveraged up to 1:200 and it uses a market execution-style.

Institutional Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500,000, it comes with spreads starting from 0.1 pips and there is an added commission of $2 per round lot when trading. Trade sizes start from 1 lot, the account can be leveraged up to 1:100 and it uses a market execution-style.

Platforms

TP Global FX uses MetaTrader 4 as their trading platform which is available as a desktop download, mobile application or web trader. It is one of the world’s most used trading platforms hosting the trades of over 1,000,000 traders worldwide. Some of its many features include that it is available in 30+ languages, allows the use of EA’s & Robots for trade automation, has options to choose from instruments such as Commodities, Indices, and Forex, has requirement based customization with multiple charting as well as analysis, it also offers daily statement for an account, has the availability of analytical tools those are pre-programmed and had real-time account summary for clients which includes floating profit/loss and account equity, etc.

Leverage

The leverage that you get depends on the account that you are using, if you are using the Standard or Pro account then the account can be leveraged up to 1:500, if you are using the Swap-Free account then you can get leverage up to 1:200 and the Institutional account can be leveraged up to 1:100.

Leverage can be selected when first opening up an account and should you need to change it, you can do so by sending a change request to the customer service department.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on the Standard, Pro and Swap-Free accounts start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size for these accounts is set at 50 lots which is at a reasonable level. The Institutional account has trade sizes starting from 1 lot, we do not know the trade increments or maximum trade size for this account type. We also do not know how many open trades or orders you can have at any one time for any of the available account types.

Trading Costs

The Pro account has an added commission of $8 per lot traded while the Institutional accounts has an added commission of $2 per lot traded. The industry average seems to be around $6 per lot traded, so the Pro account is just slightly higher than the average. The Standard and Swap-Free account uses a spread based system that we will look at later in the review.

There are also swap charges for the Standard, Pro, and Institutional accounts, these are fees that are either charged or received for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed within the trading platform you are using. The Swap-Free account does not have these charges and instead has a slightly higher spread added to the account.

Assets

The assets at TP Global FX have been broken down into various categories, we have outlined them below along with the available instruments within them.

Forex Majors: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NXDUSD

Forex Minors: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCADD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NXDJPY, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, USDDKK, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Metals: Gold (against EUR and USD) and Silver (against USD).

Indices: AUD 200, CHNIND, US 30, EUR 50, FRA 40, GER 30, HKIND, ITA 40, JAP 225, US 100, US 50, SGXSING, SWE 30, SUI 20, SGXTAI, TECH 30, UK 100, US 2000.

Spreads

The spreads that you get depends on the accounts that you are using, we have outlined the different spreads in a list below.

  • Standard Account: Spreads starting from 1.3 pips
  • Pro Account: Spreads starting from 0.1 pips
  • Swap-Free Account: Spreads starting from 2.3 pips
  • Institutional Account: Spreads starting from 0.1 pips

The spreads are variable (or floating), this means that they are influenced by the markets, at a time of higher volatility or lower liquidity the spreads will often widen and be seen higher than the starting figures. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so EURUSD will always have a different spread to GBPJPY as an example.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to pen up ana account is $100 which will allow you to use the Standard account, the other accounts all have different requirements that we have listed below.

  • Standard Account: $100 minimum
  • Pro Account: $200 minimum
  • Swap-Free Account: $2,000 minimum
  • Institutional Account: $500,000 minimum

Once an account has been opened the minimum amount required for future top-up deposits is reduced down to $5.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are just two different methods available to deposit with, these are Bank Wire Transfer and Debit/Credit Card. The good news is that there are no added fees from TP Global FX, however, you should check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they are charging any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same two methods are available to withdraw with, so those are Credit/Debit Card and Bank Wire Transfer. You can only withdraw as much as you have deposited when using a Card, you will then need to withdraw any extra via Bank Wire. There are also no fees for withdrawals, but again, be sure to check with your own bank for any potential processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

TP Global FX will process any withdrawal request the same day they are made, however, if not then it will be processed the next working day. It will then take between 1 to 5 days for the money to become available to you depending on the processing speed of your bank or card issuer.

Bonuses & Promotions

We didn’t see any signs of a promotion or bonus so it does not appear that there are any active at this time, this does not mean that there won’t be so if you are thinking of joining and like bonuses, you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few small tools available to use, the first is a set of calculators including pip, margin, Fibonacci, Pivot and Profit calculators. There is also an economic calendar that details upcoming news events and also the markets and currencies that the news could affect. The final section is a glossary detailing different trading-related terms and their meanings.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available to be contacted with a variety of methods, the first is the usual online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. You can then also use the available postal address, email address or phone number.

Address: 305 Griffith Corporate Park, Beachmont Kingston, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 7754366970

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out the trading conditions as well as trading strategies without any real risk. When opening up an account you can select leverage between 1:100 and 1:500 and a balance between 1,000 and 1,000,000. We do not know if there is an expiration on these accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not stated on the site so if you are thinking of signing up, we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to ensure that you are eligible to sign up.

Conclusion

The trading conditions offered by TP Global FX give you a variety of trading conditions to trade with. The spreads are ok, and the commissions are slightly higher than the industry average but it isn’t anything that would really stand out There are plenty of assets and instruments available to trade. When we look at the funding options they are a little limited with just the two methods being available, the good news is that there are no additional fees attached to them. If you use one of the two available funding methods then TP Global FX could be a decent broker to use.

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Forex Forex Brokers

WesternFX Review

WesternFX is a forex broker serving both individual and corporate client around the world, offering their customers a comprehensive range of options and features such as fast deposit and withdrawals, up to $2000 new account bonus, experienced forex traders available to answer your market questions, industry-leading MetaTrader 5 platform and, convenient funding by credit card, bank wire, online payment gateway and off course by local support via well-trained representatives. In this review, we will be looking into the services being offered to see if they are of the standard stated and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are 5 different accounts available, each one offering their own entry requirements as well as features and trading conditions. Let’s see what they are.

Standard: An entry requirement of $25 makes this account very accessible. It comes with variable spreads starting at 1.4 pips and has leverage up to 1:500 available. It uses the MetaTrader 5 trading platform and the account currency must be in USD. It has bonuses available and uses market execution as its execution method. Minimum trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and the stop out level is set at 10%. There are no commissions and no swap charges on this account.

Prime: The Prime account increases the minimum deposit up to $10,000. The account has variable spreads starting at 1.4 pips and has no added commission. Leverage is available up to 1:500 and it uses the MetaTrader 5 trading platform. You get a dedicated account manager as well as bonus offerings. The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots, uses market executions and the stop out level is set at 10%, the account must be in USD and does not receive any swap charges.

VIP: The VIP account increases the deposit requirement further up to $20,000. The account comes with spreads starting from 0.9 pips and has an added commission. Leverage can be up to 1:100 and it uses the MetaTrader 5 trading platform. It has a dedicated account manager, the base currency must be in USD and it does not have access to any bonuses. It uses market execution with the minimum trade size being 0.01 lots with the stop out level being set at 20%, there are swap charges charged on this account for holding trades overnight.

ECN: The ECN account has a minimum deposit requirement of $250, it has spread starting from 0.2 pips and has an added commission to compensate for this. Leverage can be up to 1:100 and it uses MetaTrader 5 as its trading platform. There is a dedicated account manager available and the currency must be in USD, it is not eligible for bonuses and uses market execution as its execution method. Minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots, there are swap charges applied and the stop out level is set at 20%.

Zero Spread: The Zero Spread account starts from $500, it has a variable spread starting from 0.1 pips, it’s leverage is 1:100 and it uses the MetaTrader 5 platform. It has added commissions and swap charges for holding trades overnight. It comes with a dedicated account manager and must be in USD as a base currency. It uses market execution and has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots with a stop out level set at 20%.

Platforms

WesternFX is offering MetaTrader 5 as their sole trading platform, so let’s see what the platform actually offers.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5): MetaTrader 5 was developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2010, MT5 is used by millions and for good reason. Offering plenty of trading and analysis features to ain in your trading. Additional services expand the functionality of the platform making its capabilities almost limitless. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available depends on the account type that you are using, they are as follows:

1:500 – Standard, Prime
1:100 – VIP, ECN, Zero Spreads

The leverage can be selected when opening up an account, should you wish to change it on an already open account then you can do so by getting in touch with the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all accounts start from 0.01 lots which are known as a micro lot, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is unknown to us, however, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage. It is also unknown how many open trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

The Standard and Prime accounts do not have any added commissions as they use a spread based system that we will look into later in this review. The VIP, ECN and Zero Spread accounts have an added commission for each trade. Unfortunately, what the commission amount is is not known to us, we looked through the site and the terms of service but could not see any concrete information on how much they are, just that they exist.

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

Assets

WesternFX has broken down their assets into a number of different categories, we have outlined them for you below.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURUAD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNZD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPUSD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, SGDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDHKD, USDJPY, USDPLN, USDSGD, USDZAR.

Metals and Energies: Gold Spot, Silver Spot, Natural Gas.

CFDs: Crude Oil (WTI), Crude Oil (Brent).

Indices: Australia 200, France 40, Germany 30, Nikkei, Nasdaq 100, UK 100.

Shares: Apple, Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Tesco, MasterCard, McDonald’s, Bank of America.

Spreads

The starting spread you get depends on the account you are using and are as follows.

  • Standard: From 1.4 pips
  • Prime: From 1.4 pips
  • VIP: From 0.9 pips
  • ECN: From 0.2 pips
  • Zero Spread: From 0.1 pips

The spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 1.4 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is $25 which gets you the Standard account, if you want a different account the next requirement is for the ECN account which is $250.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available for a deposit.

Wire Transfer: Bank Wire Transfer, MegaTransfer

Credit Cards: Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit / Debit, UnionPay

Online Payment: Neteller, Perfect Money, fasapay, Payza.

There are no added fees for deposits from WesternFX, however, you should check with the bank or processor that you are using to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawal, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, MegaTransfer, Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit / Debit, UnionPay, Neteller, Perfect Money, fasapay and Payza.

It states that there are specific fees applied for withdrawals but it does not say what they are, so we know there are fees, just not how much, you should also check with the bank or processor that you are using to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal time will take between 2 to 7 working days for your withdrawals to be fully processed, this included both WesterFXs own processing and the processing of the method used such as your bank’s processing for Bank Wire Transfers.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a number of different promotions taking place when we looked at the site, while some may not still be available, it will give an idea of the sort of promotions that take place.

Rescue Bonus: This WesternFX Bonus Program is intended to protect accounts from drawdown periods. The Bonus can be lost with no limitations and also used as margin. Under this policy, the Bonus can not be withdrawn.

Benefits:

a. It can be used for increased Leverage.
b. It can be lost so it can actually protect accounts from Margin Calls and Stop Outs during drawdown periods.
c. Effectively makes the stop out level on original balance as zero.

4th Year Celebration Bonus: This WesternFX 4th-year anniversary Bonus Program is intended to protect accounts from drawdown periods. The Bonus can be lost with no limitations and also used as margin. The 30% Withdrawal Bonus will run for a limited time, so deposit as soon as possible in order to take advantage of this exceptional promotion! Under this policy, the Bonus can be withdrawn only after the targeted lots completed.

Benefits:

a. It can be used for increased Leverage.
b. It can be lost so it can actually protect accounts from Margin Calls and Stop Outs during drawdown periods.
c. Effectively makes the stop out level on original balance as zero.

To withdraw the Forex Bonus from your account you need to make a transaction (number of lots) in the amount of X 10% = EXAMPLE: You deposit $1000 and receive a $300 bonus, so the total account balance becomes $1300. To withdraw the received bonus ($300), you need to make a transaction of $1300X10% = 130 lots (only closed deals are taken into account) 12. In the

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few analysis and information sections of the site, however, these have not been updated since 2014 so it appears that they are no longer active in their analysis, there are also a couple of calculators to help you work out trade sizes.

Customer Service

If you want to get in contact with WesternFX you can do so by using the online submission form, simply fill in your query and you should get a reply via email. There is also a phone number available as well as individual email addresses for General Informal, Customer Support, Deposit/Withdrawal and also a contact name for Skype. The support team is open 24/5 and is closed at the same time as the markets over the weekend and on bank holidays.

Demo Account

Demo accounts can be accessed by filling in a form, you can select the deposit amount on this initial form. The trading conditions of the demo account are not stated so it is not clear which account they mimic, there may be a choice of this later in the signup process. There is also no mention of any expiration times so hopefully, they last indefinitely.

Countries Accepted

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

Conclusion

There are a lot of choices when it comes to WesternFX, lots of different accounts with varying trading conditions, spreads are reasonable however we do not know what the commission charged actually is. In terms of tradable assets, there is a good selection, looking at the deposit and withdrawal methods, lots of options but there are additional fees for some methods which are unfortunately not stated, it is important for clients to know the charges but that information is not readily available. Plenty of ways to get in contact with the customer service team, WesternFX could be a decent broker to use as long as the commissions and withdrawal fees are in line with the industry standards.

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Forex Forex Brokers

ZX Markets Review

ZX Markets is a forex broker located in the United Kingdom and Seychelles. They claim to be one of the finest and most secure trading companies around which is a big claim to make. Their mission is to work with clients all the way from the start to becoming a profitable trader, offering high-quality support and innovation. We will be using this review to look into the services on offer to see if they manage to achieve this or if they fall short.

Account Types

There are three different accounts you can choose from when trading with ZX Markets, we have outlined some of their features below.

X-Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $200 in order to open, it has standard spreads and a leverage of 1:200. It only has Forex pairs available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform. There is a free demo account that lasts for 2 weeks and there is limited personal training. You can have a maximum of 25 open trades or orders and there is limited access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Premium Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $2,000. It comes with premium spreads and leverages up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs and metals available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that lasts for 1 month and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 75 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

X-Pro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $5,000. It comes with premium spreads and can be leveraged up to 1:400. It has Forex pairs, metals and commodities available to trade and uses the X-Web trading platform along with mobile apps. There is a free demo account that is unlimited and there is complete access to personal training. You can have a maximum of 200 open trades or orders and there is access to online chat support and a personal account manager.

Platforms

Just the one platform available which is X-Web, the platform is easy to use and does not require any installation or download it can be accessed by clients through a PC or Laptop from anywhere in the world. A few of its many features are its customization, chart analysis, and trading, news and analysis, one-click trading, built-in the economic calendar, and automated trading. It also comes as a mobile application that offers the ability to trade on the move, it’s easy to use and is optimized for mobile devices.

Leverage

The leverage available depends on the account that you are using, the Standard account can be leveraged up to 1:300 and the Premium and Pro accounts can be leveraged up to 1:400. Leverage can be selected when opening up a new account and can be changed on an open account by contacting the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sixes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is but we know that the Standard account can have 25 open trades at once, the Premium account can have 75 open trades and the Pro account can have up to 200 trades/orders at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no mentions of commissions around the site so we do not believe that there are any. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight. These can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform being used.

Assets

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a breakdown or specification of the available assets, we know that there are currency pairs, metals, and commodities available but not which ones. This is a shame as a lot of potential clients may be looking for their preferred instrument, not knowing if it is here could put them off and they will go and look elsewhere.

Spreads

We do not have any examples of the spreads, just the fact that there are Standard spreads, Premium spreads and Pro spreads, what these mean we do not know. The spreads are fixed though which means they do not move no matter what is happening in the markets, they will always remain the same. Different instruments will also have different fixed spreads with some naturally being higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $200 which will open up the Standard Account. We do not know if this minimum reduces once an account is already open.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The methods mentioned on the site are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit / Debit Cards and Neteller. There was no mention of any potential fees however you should check with your own bank or processor to see if there are any transfer fees added by them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same three methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Cards and Neteller. When using Bank Wire Transfer there may be an added fee of 20 USD depending on the country the bank is located in. Otherwise check with your own bank or card issuer to see if there are any incoming transfer fees or processing fees added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

ZX Markets will aim to process any withdrawal requests within 7 days of receiving the request. We believe that this is the total time rather than just the time it takes for them to process the initial request, so after 7 days the funds should be available for you to use.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different promotions, however, the majority are based around referring people so we are not really interested in those types of promotions. There is one other type of bonus that is related to getting a 50% bonus on your first deposit up to $500. We, unfortunately, do not have knowledge of the terms of promotions such as how to convert the bonus funds into real funds.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a forex school section of the site, this contains information regarding different aspects of trading such as Forex Basics and Fundamental Analysis, it is good for new traders but those that have traded before will most likely know everything that is mentioned. There is also an economic calendar that details different upcoming news events and also which currencies or markets the news events may affect.

Customer Service

There are plenty of ways to contact ZX Markets, you can use the online submission form and then get a reply via email, or you can email them directly with the address provided. There is also a Skype address, phone number and postal address available to use.

Head Office: Global Investment House Limited. Kemp House, 160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. The United Kingdom.
Address: Global Investment House Limited, Suite 3 Jivan’s complex, Mont Fleuri Mahe, Seychelles.
Phone: +442032899941
Email: [email protected]
Skype: ZX.Support, ZXMarkets

Demo Account

A demo account allows you to test out new strategies or the conditions without risking real capital, so it is good to see them available here. The demo accounts have different expiration times depending on the account used, the Standard account has a 2-week limit, the Premium account has a 1-month limit and the Pro account is unlimited. The trading conditions will mimic the account they are using.

Countries Accepted

We could not locate this information on the site, if you are thinking of signing up then we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out your eligibility prior to signing up.

Conclusion

ZX Markets offers a range of accounts each with their own conditions so you should be able to find one that suits your needs, their trading platform is not the usual but offers a whole host of helpful features. Leverage is at a good level and there are no commissions which is good. We, unfortunately, do not know what the spreads are or what assets are available. There is also a limited number of ways to deposit and withdraw and there was no indication of any potential fees so that information needs to be added. The decision to use them is up to you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

CapitalXP Review

CapitalXP is an online foreign exchange broker that is based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. While they do not give a lot of information about themselves away, they do state that they pride themselves in their transparency, the fact that they offer great support, provide insightful education, they are secure, user-friendly and offer an innovative service. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the different aspects being offered to see if they manage to live up to those things and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you to use.

Account Types

CapitalXP does not indicate whether they have more than one account type or not, so as we go through this review we will outline any potential differences in each section, otherwise, everything that we write will be relevant to the single available account.

CapitalXP does have a selection of VIP accounts available though, these different accounts offer different benefits but they do not seem to change the trading conditions offered.

Basic: This account comes with a platform introduction, a dedicated account manager, access to educational webinars, and you get a financial market introduction.

Silver: The Silver account comes with all the benefits of the Basic account as well as sentimental analysis, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, a one on one tutorial, access to long and short strategies, risk management, a personal skype service, and a bonus.

Gold: This account comes with all the features of the Basic and Silver account as well access to advanced trading strategies, better spreads, trading signals, a one on one MT4 session, and access to a senior account manager.

Platinum: This account comes with all the features of the Basic, Silver, and Gold accounts, as a daily market brief, access to VIP webinars, a private webinar with an expert, and access to live trading with an expert.

Diamond: You will need to contact an account manager in order to find out what benefits you would get by using this account.

Platforms

CapitalXP uses MetaTrader 4 as its sole trading platform which is good news as it is one of the world’s most used trading platforms. Some of its main features include the fact that it is available as a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader, it also gives you access to over 100 instruments when trading with CapitalXP. It supplies over 50 indicators, trading signals, charting capabilities and customizable EA features, trades are highly protected and secure as the platform is encrypted by 128-bit keys, it also gives you access to Real-Time News and benefits of instant trade executions.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available seems to be 1:100, this can be selected when you first open up ana account and should you wish to change it, we would recommend contacting the customer service team with the change request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.,01 lots which are known as a micro lot and are equal to 1,000 base units of currency. The trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

CapitalXP is not providing any information surrounding their commissions so it is not known whether or not they add commissions to their trades. What we do know is that swap charges are present, these will be charged when holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative, they can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a number of different categories that we have outlined for you below.

Forex: Unfortunately, the only currency pair that is mentioned is EURUSD, there are of course far more available to trade, but no further examples are given on the forex page.

Indices: The Indices page has a few more examples given and they are Nikkei, Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, FTSE 100, CAC 40 and the DAX 30, there may be more available but those are the only ones mentioned.

Commodities: Once again there isn’t a full list available, the commodities mentioned dare Cattle, Cocoa, Sugar, Coffee, Corn, Orange Juice, Wheat, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Copper, Brent Crude Oil, US Crude Oil, and Natural Gas.

Stocks: There aren’t any actual examples of the available stocks, just a page to indicate that they are available to trade.

Spreads

We had to use the demo account to work out the spreads, they seem to be sitting around 1 pip at their lowest point when trading EURUSD, the spreads were variable which means they moved with the markets, the more volatility, the higher they will be. Different instruments also had different spreads, so while EURUSD was sitting at around 1 pip, other instruments like AUDUSD were sitting slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

We are not sure what the minimum deposit is, so we do not know how much you will need to deposit in order to open up an account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We could not locate any information surrounding the available deposit methods, we also could not locate any information on potential fees and commissions. This information needs to be added as potential clients need to be able to know how they can deposit and also what it will cost them to do it.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like the deposit methods, there is no information on the withdrawal methods, so clients do not know how they can get their money out or if it will cost them to do it, this is not good as someone may deposit with a method that is not available for withdrawals, they would then struggle to get their money out, you also do not want to deposit only to find out it will cost a lot of getting it back out.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know the methods or processing times we cannot give an accurate prediction, we would hope that any requests would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

On the VIP account page, there is a mention of a bonus however we do not know what the terms of this bonus are, it could well be a deposit bonus, but again we do not know for sure. If you are after bonuses, then connecting the customer service team could be the best bet to get more information and to see if there are any other upcoming promotions or bonuses that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects of the educational side of the CapitalXP site. There is a video course, which has a number of different videos going over various subjects such as forex trading, market analysis, trading strategies and more. There is also a webinar page, however, the calendar shows that there aren’t any coming up so we do not know if this part of the site is still active. You are able to download a number of ebooks which include subjects like “succeeding with Forex trading”, and “ Trading cryptocurrencies: the basics”. There is also a glossary of trading terms which you can refer back to if you come across something that you do not know the meaning of.

There are also a number of tools available, the first being an economic calendar, this will outline different upcoming news events as well as the potential impacts that they could have on the markets. There is some market news which is being updated daily, there is also some market reviews each week along with a watch on Bonds, Commodities, Stocks, and Currencies as well as an outlook of them all.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and is closed over the weekend at the same time that the markets are.

When you want to contact them, you can use the online submission form, they have also provided a postal address to send physical mail to and an email address. The only thing that seems to be missing is a phone number in order to speak to someone directly.

Address: Hames Street, Kingstown, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out the trading conditions and also new strategies without any risk to your own capital. They are available with CapitalXP and we tested them out, the servers seemed stable and the trading conditions were the same that we mentioned throughout the review (in fact we got some of the information fro the demo accounts). We do not know if there is an expiration on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the website: “CapitalXP does not offer Contracts for Difference to residents of certain jurisdictions such as the USA, Belgium, France, Iran, Canada, and North Korea.” If you are still not sure of your eligibility, the customer service team will be able to let you know if you are eligible for an account, so we would suggest getting in contact with them.

Conclusion

CapitalXP is not very forthcoming when it comes to their trading conditions, we had to use the demo account to find some of them out and we still do not fully know what they are. The spreads seem to be starting at an acceptable level of 1 pip, we do not fully understand if there are any commissions, there also isn’t a full list of the available assets. The main concern that we have is the complete lack of information on funding, both deposit and withdrawal methods are not clear and so we do not know if it will cost us to deposit or withdraw or even how we can do it. Without that information and with the other bits not being fully understood, we would have to recommend looking for a slightly more transparent broker.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GWFX Global Review

GWFX is an online foreign exchange broker that caters to forex, crypto, and CFD traders. Some of the main features that they state about themselves are that they offer a customer service centre, offer a professional service, they are transparent, offer safety of funds and take pride in their reputation. We will be looking into the services on offer to see how GWFX matches up to the competition and so you can use the information provided to see if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There isn’t an account comparison page or information surrounding the available accounts, so as we go through this review, we will outline any potential differences between any accounts within each section of the review, if there are no differences noted then there may just be the one account available to use.

Platforms

GWFX offers a couple of different trading platforms, the first is their own trading platform which comes with a number of different features.

  • Tiered Margining: Tiered Margin required based on the number of open positions. Effectively avoid substantial risks in trading.
  • Multi-tiered Market Depth: Connect with high liquidity global financial markets ensures the real-time quotes can always be optimal.
  • Comprehensive order functions: Take-profit and stop-loss orders setting and Lock Positions are available. Sophisticated DOM quick operation is also available.
  • Powerful charting and analysis tools: Provide various professional technical indicators and charting tools to meet the needs of investors in technical analysis.
  • Hassle-free registration: Register by simply using email addresses or mobile phone numbers. Just a few steps needed for opening trading accounts.
  • Risk-free Demo Account: Provide US$10,000 viral fund to you for experiencing the benefits of trading and testing trading strategies without any risks.
  • Trade with Higher flexibility, minimum trading lot size from 0.1 lots, Initial margin as low as USD 20.
  • 99% of orders can be executed within 0.03 of a second, enabling you to hold the opportunities all the time.

They are also offering MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform, they do not give much information about the platform away but we know that MT4 is one of the worlds most used trading platforms and offers high levels of accessibility, customization and has access to signals, expert advisors and indicators to help with both your trading and analysis.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:500, you are able to select the leverage that you want on the account when first opening one up. You can also request a change of leverage on an already created account by contacting the customer service team. The leverage is slightly different for different asset types.

  • Forex: Up to 1:500
  • Metals: Up to 1:100
  • Energies: Up to 1:100
  • Indices: Up to 1:100
  • Crypto: Up to 1:5

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots for all products including Forex, Indices, and Commodities. We do not know what the trade increments are or what the maximum trade size is, it is also not clear to us how many trades or orders you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is no extra commission when trading as the account uses a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are, however, swap charges when you hold a trade overnight this interest charge is added to the account, it can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform that you are using.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, they have also listed all the assets that they have available, and if this is all that is available then there isn’t much available to trade at all.

Forex: USDJPY, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, AUDUSD,CADUSD, USDCHF, AUDJPY, NZDUSD, NZDJPY,USDCNH, EURJPY, AUDNZD, GBPCHF, GBPAUD,EURAUD, EURCHF, EURGBP

Metals: Gold and Silver.

Energies: US Oil, UK Oil, Natural Gas

Indices: FRA 40, JPN 225, TECH 100, HK 50, DJ 30,SP 500, UK 100, GER 30. CHINA 300

Cryptocurrencies: ETHUSD, BCHUSD, BTCUSD, LTCUSD

Spreads

The spreads seem to start from 1.2 pips when looking at EURUSD or 1.3 pips when looking at AUDUSD. There is mention of a VIP account having spreads as low as 0 pips but no further information. The spreads available are variable which means they are influenced by the markets, the more volatility the higher the spreads will be.

Minimum Deposit

We actually did not find any information regarding the amount needed to open up an account so we cannot comment on the minimum deposit requirements.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are Credit/Debit Card, Help2Pay, Skrill, PayPal, and Bank Wire Transfer. GWFX states that there are no added commissions on the deposits, you should, however, check with the method that you are using just in case they add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

There are only three methods available to withdraw with, these are Help2Pay, Skrill and Bank Wire Transfer. Just like with the deposits, GWFX has not added any commissions on to the withdrawals, however, your own bank or processor may charge for processing incoming transactions, so be sure to check with them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The different available methods have slightly different withdrawal times, we have listed them below.

Help2Pay: 2-3 Days
Skrill: 2-3 Days
Bank Wire Transfer: 5-7 Days

Bonuses & Promotions

There was no information on the site mentioning bonuses or promotions, so it does not appear that there are any active at the time of writing this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is not an educational side to the site which is a shame as many brokers are now looking to help their clients improve on their trading abilities so it would be nice to see GWFX do something similar.

Customer Service

There aren’t too many ways to get in touch, the first most prominent method is the online chat feature where you can speak to someone directly. There is also a WhatsApp phone number available and an email address to email them directly.

WhatsApp: +886 989029990
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

There aren’t any details regarding a demo account that we could see, which is a shame as demo accounts allow clients to test out the markets as well as new strategies without any real risk, so this is an aspect that GWFX should add to their arsenal if they are in fact not available.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the GWFX website: “We do not provide financial services to residents of the USA, United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong, China.”

Conclusion

There isn’t a whole lot of information available, while we can see some of the basics in regards to trading conditions we do not know the full trading costs as there aren’t any live examples of the spreads, just what the broker mentions (which are always a little lower than they actually are). We do not know what the minimum deposit amount is but we do know the methods available, there are enough to cater for most clients with no added fees for depositing or withdrawing either. There are not a lot of assets to trade so there may be some downtime which is a shame. You now have the information to tell if they would be the right broker for you or not.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

IC Finance Review

IC Finance is an international forex broker based out of Vanuatu. They aim to provide a trading platform that gives you access to a wide range of tools and services. Offering over 200 trading tools indicators and charts. They don’t offer much more information about themselves so we will use this review to find out more info and to see what services really are on offer and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available that are based around the type of instrument that you wish to trade.

Standard Account: The standard account requires a deposit of at least $250, it comes with a floating spreads starting at 0.3 points and has no added commission. The leverage on the account goes up to 1:500 and the base currency must be in USD, EUR or GBP. The account also has negative balance protection as well as using market execution. The minimum trade size for this account is 0.01 lots.

Gold Account: This account also requires $250 as a minimum first deposit, it comes with spreads starting from 0.3 pions and they are variable spreads. There is no commission on this account and the base currency must be in XAU (Gold). The account comes with negative balance protection and uses market execution as its execution type. Leverage on the account can go as high as 1:500.

Bitcoin Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of 0.01 BTC, and so the base currency must be in BTC. The account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and it comes with no commission and a spread starting from 0.03 pips which is a floating spread. It uses market execution and has negative balance protection.

Platforms

It is hard to tell what platform they are offering, a lot the information makes us think it is either MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 however we are not entirely sure as it is not stated anywhere, the information that we do know is that the platform comes with over 200 trading tools, 70 trading indicators and, 130 tools for working with charts. It is accessible as a desktop download, a mobile application or as a web trader. It sounds very much like one of the MetaQuotes software, but as we said, we cannot be 100% sure.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available on the accounts is 1:500 which is applicable to all accounts. The product specification states 1:1000 but we will stick to the 1:500 suggested by the accounts themselves. Leverage can be selected when opening up a new account and the customer service team will need to be contacted should you wish to change it on an already open account.

Different instruments also have different maximum leverages, we have outlined them below:

  • Forex: 1:500
  • Metals: 1:500
  • Stocks: 1:50
  • Commodities: 1:100
  • Indices: 1:100
  • ETFs: 1:50
  • Crypto: 1:2

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start as low as 0.01 lots and go all the way up to 1000 lots in increments of 0.01 lots. 1000 lots is far too high and we would recommend not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to execution times and slippage. Different instruments have different minimum and maximum trade sizes so we have listed them below for easy understanding.

  • Forex: 0.01 lots / 1000 lots
  • Metals: 0.1 lots / 1000 lots
  • Stocks: 1 lots / 10,000 lots
  • Commodities: 1 lot / 10,000 lots
  • Indices: 1 lot / 10,000 lots
  • ETFs: 1 lot / 10,000 lots
  • Crypto: 1 lot / 100 lots

Trading Costs

There is no added commission on any of the accounts available from IN finance, instead, they all use a spread bases structure that we will look at later in this review. It seems like there are swap charges, these are an interest fee for holding trades overnight. They can be both positive or negative and are normally viewable within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

IC Finance has broken down its assets into a number of categories which we will now look at.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCHF, GBP CAD, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPUSD, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZSUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY and, USDZAR.

Metals: Gold is available to trade against USD.

Stocks: Plenty of stocks available including Barclays, Adidas, BMW, Peugeot, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook.

Commodities: Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil and Natural Gas.

Indices: CAC 40, DAX 30, FTSE 100, DJI 30, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, Nikkei 225, MICES and, RTS.

EFTs: iPatd S&P 500 and, Samsung.

Cryptocurrencies: BTCUSD, XRPUSD, LTCUSD, BCHUSD, ZECUSD, XMRUSD and, ETHUSD.

Spreads

All three accounts state that their spreads are starting from 0.3 pips which is very low for a commission-based account, unfortunately, actual examples of them are not present on the site. As the spreads are variable (which means they move with the marketS) we would expect them all to be a little higher than 0.3 pips. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so the spread for EUR/USD will be different from that of USDZAR.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250, if you want to deposit via Bitcoin then the minimum deposit requirement is 0.01 BTC. It is unknown if the minimum deposit amount reduces for any further top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, there isn’t any information on deposit methods which is a real shame as it is very important for potential clients to know how they can get their money into the broker and how much it will cost them. We understand that Bitcoin will be an option due to one of the accounts being a Bitcoin account, but nothing else is known.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like with the deposits, there is no relevant information for withdrawals, again this is vital information, not knowing how you can get your money back or if it will cost you to do so is not a good way to build trust with potential new clients, this information needs to be added as soon as possible.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As you may have guessed there is no information regarding this either, we would hope that any requests would be fully processed between 1 to 7 business days from the request being made depending on the methods that are available.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not look like there are any active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, if you are interested in them, we would suggest contacting the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The website states that there are lots of trading tools available, however, we believe that this is just referring to the tools that come with the trading platform, there doesn’t appear to be any additional education or trading tools on the site. Many modern brokers are looking to help their clients improve their trading with education, so it would be good to see IC Finance do something similar.

Customer Service

The customer support team is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, they are closed over the weekends and on bank holidays. You can get in contact using the online submission form, the other option is to use the available email. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any further ways to get in contact with them such as telephone.

Demo Account

We could not locate any information about demo accounts so unless we just missed them they do not seem to be available, this is a shame as demo accounts allow potential new clients to test out the markets and trading conditions while allowing existing clients to test new strategies without risking any of their capital.

Countries Accepted

There is not a list of accepted countries, so if you are thinking of signing up for an account, get in contact with the customer service team prior to signing up, just to be sure you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

The trading conditions on offer form IC Finance seem very good on paper, however, the spreads are not stated on the site, they simply say that they start from 0.3 pips, however, we believe they will be a lot higher than this. There are plenty of assets and instruments to trade and the trading platform, while we do not know which one it is, seems accessible. There is a distinct lack of ways to contact the customer service team which can be a little concerning, what is even more concerning though is the complete lack of information surrounding deposits and withdrawals.

Not knowing how you can get your money in or out and how much it will cost you will instantly make it impossible to build trust with new clients, so simply for not having that information available we find it hard to recommend IC FInance as a broker to sue at this present time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GoldFX Review

Gold FX is a Cambodia based forex broker regulated by the Kingdom of Cambodia. Gold FX offers a secure network, trader academy, online customer support, company events, and more to their clients. They are aiming to be the leading financial service in Cambodia, throughout this review we will be delving deep into the services on offer to see if they can achieve this and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

If you decide to join Gold FX you will have to choose from one of the two available accounts, they each have a different entry requirement and trading conditions so let’s look at what they are.

Customer Account: The customer account has a deposit requirement of $100 and must be in the USD currency. It comes with a leverage of up to 1:100 and the account has a maximum balance of $50,000. There is no commission added to the trading on this account and the margin call level is set at 100% while the stop out level is set at 50%. You can have an unlimited amount of positions open at any one time.

VIP Account: The VIP account increases the minimum deposit up to $10,000 and once again must be in USD. It comes with a leverage of up to 1:100 and the account has a maximum balance of $50,000. There is no commission added to the trading on this account and the margin call level is set at 100% while the stop out level is set at 50%. You can have an unlimited amount of positions open at any one time.

Platforms

The use of MetaTrader 4 is available with Gold FX and for good reason, it is one of the most accessible platforms with a desktop download available as well as mobile applications and a web trader. Some of its other features include it being user-friendly, it has multiple languages, its equipped with advanced communication tools, provides personal information such as account balances, trade history, it works with all kind of currency, has advanced real-time charts, provides indicator, technical analysis, order management tools and customizable high tech chart, its a highly secure platform, and has the use of thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help with your trading and analytical needs.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available to both accounts is 1:100, this can be selected when first opening up an account, should you wish to change it on an active account, you should contact the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size available is 0.01 lots which is known as a micro-lot, the trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots until they reach the maximum trade size of 1 lot. This is a little on the low side as many traders may look to make trades larger than this. It is not known to us what the maximum number of open trades or orders you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We know that the account uses a spread based system and there doesn’t seem to be any mentions of any potential commissions on the accounts. There are however swap fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and these can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown or product specification available, this is a shame as a lot of potential customers will be looking to see if a broker has their preferred trading instruments, so not having a list available can cause those traders to look elsewhere for a broker that does.

Spreads

We know that the accounts use a variable spread system, but unfortunately, we do not know what the spreads are or what the starting figures are for them. Variable spreads mean that they move with the markets, the more volatility in the markets the higher the spreads will be.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $100 which will allow you to open up a Standard account, should you wish to use the VIP account you will need to deposit at least $10,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

It appears that only Bank Wire is available as a deposit method. Looking through the site there is no mention of any deposit fees being added by Gold FX, but you should check with your own bank to see if they will add any of their own. All deposits must be in USD.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Similarly to the deposit methods, all withdrawals must be in USD and there is only Bank Wire transfer available as a withdrawal method. Again, there doesn’t seem to be any mentions of potential withdrawal fees but contact your bank to see if they will charge for any incoming transfers.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know what the processing times are, but as the only available method is Bank Wire Transfer we would expect a request to be fully processed within 2 to 5 working days from the withdrawal request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

The promotion page does indicate some promotions however they may have expired because the links no longer lead anywhere except for a deleted Facebook post. So it does appear that bonuses and promotions are taking place if you are after any you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any promotions coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different aspects to the education and trading tools side of the site. The first section is some videos based on different strategies and how to trade them. There is also a section detailing a few different trading strategies. There is some research and analysis information, but this is pretty irrelevant as it has not been updated for 2 years now. Finally, there is an economic calendar, this details upcoming news events and also shows which markets they may affect.

Customer Service

You can contact Gold FX in a few different ways, the first being a postal address, there is also a phone number and email address available should you wish to get in contact that way. We do not know what opening times of the support team are but we suspect that they will be closed over the weekends like the markets are.

Address: GoldFX Investment Co, Ltd, Sun City Building, 2nd Floor, #255, St.51 Corner St. 370, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 1, Khan Chamkamon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Phone: (+855) (0) 23 213 686
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you can open one up by downloading the Gold FX MetaTrader 4 trading platform and then creating a demo account from within the platform. The conditions should match the trading conditions mentioned above and there does not seem to be an expiration time on them. The demo accounts can be used to test out the markets and strategies without any added risk to your capital.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “While we welcome clients from all over the globe, governmental restrictions along with our company policies prohibit GoldFX from opening accounts originated from the following restricted and/or OFAC sanctioned countries: Afghanistan, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Iraq, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya Mali, Niger, North Korea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, The Democratic Republic of Congo The former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylo, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.”

Conclusion

It was hard for us to find any information about some of the trading conditions over at Gold FX and unfortunately, we still managed to not find some. We do not know the full extent of the costs of trading there, the spreads and potential commissions are unknown along with a lack of information on the tradable assets. This information is important to know, as you don’t want to join a broker and then find it’s expensive to trade. The deposit methods are also limited to bank transfers which can limit a lot of people who prefer to use other methods, the fees were also not clear. With all this information missing it is hard for us to recommend Gold FCX as a broker to use at this point in time,

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BTC Global FX

BTC Globe FX is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadine based foreign exchange broker that claims to be one of the most accessible ways to become richer, a bold claim and also one that could mislead. We have seen the layout and features of the site before as they are using a white label setup. They aim to provide outstanding customer service, offer a multi-product bouquet, provide advanced trading platforms, to give tight spreads and to be run by an experienced founding team. We will use this review to look into the services offered to see how they compare to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are four different account types, they do not go over the trading conditions, instead, they are outlining additional features that come with each., so let’s look at what they are.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $250, the account does not come with any additional features.

Classic Account: The Classic account requires a minimum deposit of at least $2,500, it comes with online chat and access to all platform features.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $20,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager and an individual telephone line.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $50,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager, an individual telephone line, special promotions on one on one trading and personal reports on the stock markets.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4 is the sole platforms offered by BTC Globe FX and it is one of the worlds most used trading platforms and for good reasons, a few of its many features include multiple order types, Market watch window, a navigator window, lots of pre-installed indicators and analysis tools, multiple chart setups, the ability for automated trading and order execution capabilities. The platform is also highly accessible, as you can use it as a web trader in your internet browser, a mobile application or as a desktop download.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:200, we believe that all accounts use the same leverage so they all have access to this amount. It can be selected when opening up an account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes at BTC Globe FX start from 0.01 lots on all accounts and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We did not see any mentions of commissions for any of the accounts so it appears that there aren’t any, especially with the spread (later in this review) starting so high. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight and these can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There, unfortunately, isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets, this means we do not know what is available to trade. This can be quite off-putting to potential new clients who will often look to see if a broker has their favorite instruments to trade, not knowing will make them look elsewhere. We do not even know how many potential assets there are.

Spreads

The only spread that we have to go on is what is mentioned on the homepage of the site. It states that the spread for EUR/USD is 1.6 pips. This is the starting spread as they are variable which means they will move with the markets, more volatility or less lucidity will make them grow larger, different instruments will also have different starting spreads, 1.6 pips is the smallest they will be.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250 which will allow you to use the Standard account, if you want a higher tier account then you will need to deposit at least $2,500. We do not know if the minimum amount reduces after an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There is not a dedicated page for funding, the only information we have is some images at the bottom of the website, they indicate that Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, and AstroPay are available to use, but we have no confirmation of this, we also do not know if there are any added fees when depositing but you should check with whatever method you are using to see if any are added by them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We also do not know much about withdrawals such as the methods available (although Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, and AstroPay are most likely available), or any additional fees for withdrawing. If you are using BTC Globe FX, then we would suggest checking with whatever method you use to see if they have any incoming transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know the exact processing time from BTC Globe FX, however, we would expect any withdrawal requests to be processed within 1 to 5 working days from the date the request is made, this will depend on the methods available to use.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a 30% bonus available, the only details about the promotion are on the account sign up page which states that you can get a 30% bonus on your first deposit. There is no more information surrounding it such as how to convert the bonus into real funds or what the maximum bonus available is.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a news section of the site which details news from around the world which could be affecting the markets. Autochartist is a tool that is also available, this offers features to help with your trading, it can identify and react to market movements, check the quality and competitiveness of your broker’s pricing, manage your cash exposure, optimize your stop loss and take profits, capitalize on known outcomes of news events and identify and react to market movements that are not typical.

Customer Service

The customer service team can be contacted in a number of ways, there is the online submission form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. There is also a phone number, email address, postal address and Skype username available to sue.

Address: Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, P.O. Box 1510, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Phone: +442080788663
Email: [email protected]
Skype: btcglobefx.com

Demo Account

We did not see any information surrounding demo accounts, so we are not entirely sure if they are available, if they are not then it is a shame as demo accounts allow you to test out the markets and strategies without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

This information was not located on the site, however, if you are thinking of signing up, we would suggest that you contact the customer service team first just to check that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

The information provided by BTC Globe is scattered around the site and does not give the whole picture about what is offered. All four accounts seem to use the same trading conditions which use a spread based system, the spreads start from 1.6 pips so they aren’t incredibly high, but also not ultra-competitive. We do not know what assets are available or concrete information on what deposit and withdrawal methods are available. Not having those bits of information can make it hard for us to recommend them to trade, as it is vital to know how you can get your money in and out and also how much it will cost you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

MagnumFX Review

MagnumFX is an online Forex and CFD broker that is based in Cyprus and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (the “CySEC”). MAgnumFX have set out their core values around their clients, aiming to offer integrity, opportunity and to build and maintain their positive reputation. We will be using this review to look through their rather limited site to see what information we can find on their trading conditions and so you can decide if they are the right broker to suit your trading needs.

Account Types

There isn’t an account information page or any information on the trading accounts at all, so because of this, as we go through this review we will outline any information that we find, if there is multiple information pertaining to multiple account types we will outline them in each section, otherwise, everything in this review will be relevant to the available account.,

Platforms

MagnumFX is currently offering just the one trading platform which is MetaTrader 4, the platform is used all over the world by millions of traders and comes with a whole host of helpful features. It can be used anywhere as a desktop download at home, a mobile application on the move or as a web trader on any device. It also has access to a database of thousands of indicators and expert advisors which allows for advanced analysis and automated trading, the platform also offers features such as one-click trading, multiple charts, multiple timeframes and can be used in multiple languages.

Leverage

MagnumFX is following the guidelines of the ESMA which means thair leverage is rather limited, the recommendations state the following:

Leverage limits on the opening of a position by a retail client from 30:1 to 2:1, which vary according to the volatility of the underlying:

30:1 for major currency pairs

20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices

10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices

5:1 for individual equities and other reference values

2:1 for cryptocurrencies

Being limited to 1:30 can restrict not only risk management strategies but also the profit potential of an account.

Trade Sizes

Minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. There is no information on the site regarding a maximum trade size or how many trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There isn’t any information on the site regarding trading costs, this goes for both commissions or swap charges. We would expect there to be some swap charges present as it is the norm, they are charged when you hold a trade overnight and will be visible within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There is not a full breakdown or product specification available from MagnumFX which is a shame, many potential clients should be looking to see if their preferred asset and instrument is available to trade, not knowing could cause them to look elsewhere. A product specification can also give a lot of information about the trading conditions such as spreads and commissions, so not that being available is a shame.

Spreads

The spreads are another entity that we are not sure of, there are no examples or mentions of spreads, so their starting values are not known, we do know that the spreads will be variable which means they can be influenced by the markets, the more volatility in the markets the higher the spreads will go, different instruments will also have different natural spreads.

Minimum Deposit

There isn’t any financial information available on the site, this includes what the minimum deposit value may be.

Deposit Methods & Costs

As there isn’t any financial information available we do not know which methods are available to deposit with, we also do not know if there are any added fees. This is vital information as clients need to know how they can get their money into the broker, they do not want to sign up only to find that they cannot deposit as they do not use the available methods.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like with the deposit methods there is also no information surrounding the available deposit methods or any potential fees and commissions for withdrawing. Once again it is important for potential clients to know how they can get their money back and if it will cost them to do so.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As we do not know what methods are available to withdraw, we also do not know how long it will take, MagnumFX also does not state what their aim for processing times are, we would hope that any requests would be fully processed within 7 days of the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no active bonuses or promotions from MangumFX at the time of writing this review, this does not mean that there won’t be any in the future though, so if you are interested in bonuses you could always contact the support department to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

This is another aspect of the broker that is lacking, there is no information on the site in regards to education or tools. Many modern brokers are now trying to help their clients improve through the use of analysis or education, so it would be good to see MagnumFX do something similar.

Customer Service

There are a few little ways to get in contact with the MagnumFX customer service department, they haven’t stated what their opening times are but you are able to get in contact using the postal address provided, as well as the available phone number and email address.

Address: KPMG Center, 1 Agias Fylaxeos Street, 2nd Floor, Office 1, 3025 Limassol, Cyprus.
Phone: + 357 25 053547
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

There isn’t any information on the site that indicates that there are demo accounts, you would be able to open one up through MetaTrader 4 but not directly through the site so the trading conditions within those demo account would be unknown. Demo accounts are important for a broker as they allow you to test out new strategies as well as the trading conditions without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available anywhere on the website, so if you are wanting to get more info on your eligibility we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

There isn’t a lot of information available on the website, we have an understanding of the trading platform available and the amount of leverage that is being offered. Apart from those aspects, there is not a lot of information around the trading costs, available assets or funding methods. Without any of that information being available, we would have to recommend looking elsewhere for a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Circle Markets Review

Circle Markets is an online foreign exchange broker based in New Zealand. Founded in 2008, Circle Markets allows you to trade on any one of 140 currency pairs. Traders can also choose from 7 different commodity markets and any one of 14 leading world stock market indices. Foreign exchange trading is complicated. Circle Markets aims to simplify the process. Whether you’re a professional trader, account manager or investor, Circle Markets makes it easy to do what you need to do. That is the claim from Circle Markets themselves, we will be using this review to see if they really do achieve this and to see how they compare next to the competition.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available to use, they each have their own conditions and features. The account comparison page doesn’t give a whole bunch of information so we will expand on the differences as we go through the review, we have outlined the information we do know below.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of $50 to open, it can be leveraged up to 1:500. The account has institutional grade spreads with no added commissions. The account can be in a currency of EUR, USD, GPB, JPY, ETH, BTC or USDT with a stop out level being set at 40%.

Swap-Free Account: Swap-free accounts do not pay or earn swap or interest on any trades for Currencies, Metals & Indices, only an Administration fee is applicable on any overnight trades. The account requires a deposit of $50 to open, it can be leveraged up to 1:500. The account has STP spreads with no added commissions. The account can be in a currency of EUR, USD, GPB, JPY, ETH, BTC or USDT with a stop out level being set at 40%.

ECN Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $2,000 to open and can use EUR, USD, GPB, JPY, ETH, BTC or USDT as a base currency. The account can be leveraged up to 1:500, it comes with spreads on EURUSD averaging from 0 pips to 0.3 pips and due to the low spreads, there is an added commission of $3 per side or $6 per round lot traded, the stop out level for the account is set at 40%.

Platforms

Just the one main platform available from Circle Markets, MT4 is an all-in-one trading platform with a user-friendly interface and easy to use functionalities allowing traders to analyze the markets, place orders and manage their own risk all with a single click; traders can also manage several trading accounts simultaneously, not to mention its cutting edge technology which includes a web-based solution enabling traders to trade at any time from any device and from anywhere in the world. Thousands of free and paid signals with various profitability and risk levels working on a demo and real accounts are at your fingertips. MetaTrader 4 provides the full-fledged environment for the development, testing and optimizing algorithmic/automated trading programs.

Leverage

The leverage on all three accounts can go as high as 1:500, the leverage can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by sending a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trading sizes on all three accounts start from 0.01 lots (this is also known as a micro-lot) and go up in increments of 0.01 lots, so that would mean that the next available trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We, unfortunately, do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time. CFDs have a minimum trade size of 1 lot and a maximum trade size of 100 lots.

Trading Costs

The ECN account has an added commission of $3 per side, which equates to $6 per lot traded which is in line with the average that we see around the industry. The Standard and Swap-Free accounts do not have any added commissions as they use a spread based system.

There are swap charges on the ECN and Standard accounts, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed either on the site or within the MT4 trading platform. The Swap-Free account does not have this fee, however, it has an additional administration fee instead.

Assets

The assets have been divided up into various groups that we will now outline them below along with the instruments found within them.

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

Crypto: BTCUSD, BTCEUR, and ETHUSD (Bitcoin and Ethereum).

Indices: Australia 200, EU Stocks 50, France 40, Germany 30, Japan 225, UK 100, US 30, US 100, US 400, Spain 35.

Commodities:
XAUUSD (Gold), XAGUSD (Silver), US Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Natural Gas.

Spreads

The Standard account states that it has Institutional grade spreads, looking at the spread page, it seems that EURUSd is starting at around 0.7 pips. The Swap-Free account uses STP spreads, but we believe they will be around the same value. The ECN account has spreads starting from between 0.0 pips and 0.3 pips.

The spreads are variable which means they will be influenced and move with the markets, the more volatility will cause them to grow larger, as will a lack of liquidity in the markets. Different instruments will also have different spreads, so while EURUSD has a starting spread of 0.7 pips, GBPUSd has a starting spread of 1.9 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit requirement to open up an account is $50, this will allow you to use the Standard account or Swap-Free account, if you want to use the ECN account then you will need to deposit at least $2,000. Once an account has been opened the minimum deposit amount reduces down to $10 depending on the method you use to deposit with.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are Credit/Debit Card, Local Bank Transfer, SEPA Bank Transfer, Payeer, FasaPay, Bank Wire Transfer. There are no added fees for depositing into Circle Markets, however, you should check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any outgoing transfer fees of their own. It should be noted that the 0% deposit fees for Credit/Debit cards are for deposits under $2,000, for deposits over you should contact the customer service team to find out what the cost will be.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, however, they each now have their own fees and conditions.

  • Credit/Debit Card – There is an added fee of 2.5% when withdrawing, you can only withdraw the same amount that you deposited, any additional withdrawals will need to use another available method.
  • Local Bank Transfers – There is an added fee of 2.5% for withdrawals.
  • Euro Transfer – There are no added withdrawal fees.
  • Payeer – There are no added withdrawal fees.
  • FasaPay – There are no added withdrawal fees.
  • Bank Transfer – A fee of $20 is added to the withdrawal request.

As always, you should check with your own bank or processor to see if they will add any fees for incoming transfers and processing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Circle Markets will start the withdrawal process within 1 hour of your request, and it takes 1 working day by us before you are credited with your funds via the same payment method you used in order to deposit. Neteller and Skrill are the fastest systems for withdrawal, overseas wire transfers are often very fast reaching European banks the next day, some intermediaries can cause delays of up to 7 days for clients in certain countries.

Bonuses & Promotions

When looking through the site we did not come across any information on promotions or bonuses so it does not appear that there are any active ones at the time of writing this review. This does not mean that there won’t be any so if you are after a bonus, you could always contact the customer service team to see if any are coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few small aspects available on the site, the first is a forex compounding calculator allowing you to see how the compounding of your account will work, there is also a currency converter available. The next section is an economic calendar, this details different upcoming news events and also indicates any potential effect the news could have on the markets. There is also a guide to CFDs and even a few small guides based on how to use the trading platforms.

Circle Markets offers VPS hosting, however the plans that they have all cost around $20 a month minimum, this is a shame as a lot of brokers are now offering a free VPS to their clients as long as they have a certain balance or, maintain a certain trading volume.

Customer Service

The Circle Markets support team is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week so they are always reachable. You can contact Circle Markets using the available submission form, simply fill it in and you should then get a reply via email. They also provide you with a postal address, email address and a phone number for a choice of contact methods.

Address: 1 Bank St, Warkworth, New Zealand
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (+64) 9889 1223

Demo Account

In order to open up a demo account, you will need to sign up for an account, due to this we do not know what the trading conditions of the demo account are or if there is an expiration time on it. The demo account will allow you to test out new strategies or trading conditions without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “Circle Markets Ltd does not provide services for citizens/residents of certain regions, such as Canada, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, The United States. We Only accept New Zealand clients who are defined as ‘Wholesale Investor’ or ‘Eligible Investor’ as per New Zealand law for Financial Services Providers Act FSPA 2008.“

Conclusion

Circle Markets offers a small choice in trading conditions through their various accounts, the leverage is good up at 1:500, the spreads are also reasonable, combined with the industry average of $6 per lot traded on the ECN account, the trading costs are competitive. There are enough assets to keep you busy and when it comes to funding methods there is a choice available, however, they are slightly limited, there are also fees when withdrawing depending on the method used. There is a little bit of education but nothing that will make you an expert and the customer service team is available 24/7 which is good to see.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

DaxBase Review

DaxBase is a broker based in the Marshall Islands and focuses on a number of key features which are its fast withdrawal times, non-stop trading (even over weekends), a wide range of deposit and withdrawal methods, 100% secure trading, 24/7 support and they have over 10,000 transactions processed every day. We will be using this review to look into what is on offer and to see how they compete with the competition.

Account Types

There are three different account types available, they do not outline the trading conditions however they each have their own features, this is what we know so far.

Bronze Account: This account requites at least a deposit of $250 to open, it comes with 24/7 live video chat support, withdrawals are within one hour and there is a demo account available.

Silver Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $1,000, it comes with 24/7 live video chat support, withdrawals are within one hour, there is a demo account available and you get access to a master class web session.

Gold Account: The Gold account requires a deposit of at least $3,000. It comes with 24/7 live video chat support, withdrawals are within one hour, there is a demo account available, access to a master class web session and a personal success manager.

Platforms

DaxBase uses its own trading platform, unfortunately, there was not much information provided about it so there isn’t too much we can say in this section of the review.

Leverage

Leverage on all accounts can go up to 1:100, leverage can be selected when opening up an account, we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has been opened though.

Trade Sizes

DaxBase does not use the traditional lot system, instead, they trade using dollar amounts. The minimum trade size is $1, we do not know what the maximum trade size is though.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there is any commission on the trading accounts, there is no mention of it anywhere on the site so we will assume that there aren’t any.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown of the viable assets. This is a shame as a lot of potential clients will ook to ensure that the instrument or currency pair that they prefer to trade is available, not having this information present could cause them to look elsewhere. Dax Base does have several cryptocurrencies shown on their home page, so we have included those for you below.

Spreads

We, unfortunately, we do not have any information about the spreads on the accounts or due to the nature of the broker if there are any at all.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $250 which will get you access to the Bronze account, if you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $1,000. We do not know if the minimum deposit amount reduces once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We have outlined the available deposit methods below along with any potential fees.

  • Visa / MasterCard – 5% fee
  • Bitcoin – No added fee
  • Ethereum – No added fee
  • Altcoins – No added fee
  • Perfect Money – No added fee

While DaxBase does not add fees to the majority of the methods using some method such as crypto coins will incur a network fee that you will be responsible for paying.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with and we have outlined the same withdrawal fees below.

  • Visa / MasterCard – 5% fee
  • Bitcoin – No added fee
  • Ethereum – No added fee
  • Altcoins – No added fee
  • Perfect Money – No added fee

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The processing time for the withdrawals should happen within 1 hour from the request being made. The amount of time it takes after that will depend on the method used but should be available to use within 1 business day.

Bonuses & Promotions

You can receive a bonus up to 100% of your deposit, we, unfortunately, do not know the terms of the bonus such as what you need to do to make it withdrawable or if there is an expiration time. The available bonus is based on your deposit amount.

There is also a contest with up to $20,000 in prizes, the contest is based on the number of trades that you make within a week. Again, the terms of the bonus are not available or exactly what sort of trade counts for the competition.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t seem to be any educational material or tools on the site which is a shame as a lot of brokers are now trying to help their clients improve so it would be nice to see something similar here.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can contact them using an online submission form, you send it off and should get a reply via email. There are also phone numbers in English, Russian, Chinese, Thai, Singapore, and Australia.

English Phone: +1-829-9476391

Demo Account

You can sign up for a demo account through a link on the site, you can select the account currency but that is the only option available, the rest of the trading conditions re the same as what is written above in this review, we are not sure of any expiration times on the account. The demo account allows you to test out the platform and conditions without risking any real capital.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “Daxbase nor its agents or partners are not registered and do not provide any services on the USA territory.” You can also check with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account just in case you are still not sure.

Conclusion

DaxBase works a little different to a normal broker, their three accounts do not really offer much different apart from a little bit of extra support. The trades start low at just $1 and the minimum deposit is just $250 making them quite accessible. Lots of methods available to deposit and withdraw with including cryptocurrencies which are good to see, there are also not many fees for moving your money around. While the conditions seem good, if you are looking for a traditional trading experience you will need to look elsewhere for a more traditional broker.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BMFN Review

BMFN is a foreign exchange broker based in Vanuatu and is under the provision of the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission. They state that they have been in the markets since 1988 and have 14 offices worldwide, offer segregates client trust accounts and have over 12 deposit methods along with an immediate withdrawal system. We will be delving into the deepest parts of the site to find out exactly what services are offered and to help you decide if they are the right broker for you to use.

Account Types

There doesn’t seem to be a breakdown of available accounts or any sort of comparison so we are not able to list any features here. Throughout the review, we will be looking at different aspects of the brokers if there are any indications of differences or multiple accounts we will outline any differences within those individual sections.

Platforms

BMFN use MetaTrader 4 as their trading platform of choice, MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help make your trading more straight forward. It also offers high levels of customization and flexibility, impressive analytical tools and is accessible via a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader. There is a reason why it is one of the most used platforms and trusted by millions of traders all around the world.

They also have a platform called UniTrasder, which is designed for both novice and professional traders looking for an edge. The logical interface, comprehensive reporting, and position keeping windows make UniTrader the best choice for people who want to trade various financial products at once. Trailing Stop and Take Profit functionality are implemented server-side. You can be sure that your positions will be closed at the best price, even if you are not near your computer.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available for all accounts is 1:400, this can be selected when you first open up an account and you will need to contact the customer service team if you wish to change it on an already active account.

Trade Sizes

A lot on BMFX equals 10,000 units instead of the usual 100,000. The minimum trade size is 0.1 lots which are the same as a 0.01 lot on a normal trading account. Trades then go up in increments of 0.1 lot. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there are any added commissions on the trading accounts however the front page does seem to indicate that there are no added charges, what we do know is that there are swap charges, these are fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader trading platform.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories, we will now outline the instruments within each one.

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

Commodities:
US Crude Oil, Silver, Gold, Platinum.

Indices:
Europe 50, US SP 500, US JJ 30, France 40, Germany 30, Nasdaq 100, FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, USD Index.

Equities:
There are plenty of shares available from the likes of Yahoo, Verizon, Target, Intel, and IBM.

Spreads

There isn’t too much information on spreads, the front page of the site states that they aim for a target spread of 1.4 pips on most major forex pairs, however no indication for any others. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets when there is added volatility they will be higher.

Minimum Deposit

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

Deposit Methods & Costs

The front page of the site indicates that there are over 12 different methods for depositing, however, the deposit method only indicates Skrill and Credit/Debit card. The FAQ also mentions Bank wire Transfer as a method. BMFN does not charge any fees for deposits. The only fees that are charged are the bank fees (third party fees) which depend on every bank policy.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods should be available but as we do not know them all we only know that Bank Wire Transfer and Skrill are available to sue, as you cannot withdraw using Credit / Debit card. There are no fees added for withdrawals but when using Bank Wire Transfer there may be a fee of $50 added by the bank.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals/Deposits are processed within the first 24 hours after receiving the request. It takes between 3 to 5 working days for a Bank Wire to be received in general. It depends on the bank, the corresponding bank, etc.

Bonuses & Promotions

The FAQ indicates that there is a bonus available on deposits, however, the link provided takes you to a page that has no information about a bonus. So you may need to contact the customer service team to see if any are available and to find out what the terms of the bonuses are.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few tools available, the first being an economic calendar that details upcoming news and the markets that they may affect. There is also an education center that has a number of things like beginner courses, trading tools, trading strategies, MetaTrader tutorials and ebook available.

Autochartist is also available this tool offers traders automated market-scanning tools that highlight trade opportunities based on support and resistance levels. Autochartist products include chart pattern formations such as Triangles, Wedges, Head-and-Shoulders and Channels, Fibonacci Retracements, Extensions, ABCD, Gartley and Butterfly patterns, key Levels – the technical analysis of horizontal support and resistance levels, autochartist provides a list of currently active trading opportunities that have had a high probability of success over the past 6 months, performance statistics provide insight as to which patterns have reached their forecast levels over the last 6 months, e-mail subscriptions provide one with a technical outlook of the markets for the next 24 – 48 hours and event Impact Analysis provides a view on how the major currency pairs’ prices moved during major financial news releases.

Customer Service

The customer support team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week, they close over the weekends just like the markets do. Their contact form is very limiting, it only offers an online form to fill in with your name, email, phone and comment. The front page says that they have locations in 14 countries including Australia, the UK, UAE, Egypt and more, and it also states that the customer service team can speak any language as there are 2,5000 assistants worldwide. However, they don’t really offer a way to contact them.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available but you need to have a full account in order to create one and so we do not know what the trading conditions or potential expiration of the demo accounts are.

Countries Accepted

When opening up the site, the following statement was presented: ”Please be advised, the services and products described on this website are not offered to citizens of E.U. member states, The United States, Canada, Japan, Turkey, and Australia. BMFN Limited and its products and services offered on the site www.bmfn.com NOT registered or regulated by any U.S. or Canadian regulator and not regulated by FINRA, SEC, NFA or CFTC..”

If you are still not sure you can check your eligibility with the customer service team prior to signing up.

Conclusion

We do not know too much about the specific trading conditions offered, we know what is mentioned on the front page of the site but nothing else, if we go only by those stated figures then the trading conditions seem quite competitive. There is an ok selection of assets and when we look at the deposit and withdrawal methods we are left a little empty, there is not much information about them, it says there are over 12 ways to deposit but we only saw a specific mention of 3 of them, no fees (apart from Bank Wire) is good though.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Xtream Forex Review

Xtream Forex is a forex broker that is regulated and registers in the Marshall Islands. They state that their main advantages are their deep liquidity, competitive prices, the superior quality of order execution, tight limit/stop levels, the security of funds, fastest deposits and withdrawals, exceptional customer service and the list continues. In this review, we will be looking into the services actually being offered to see if they live up to the expectations they have put on themselves.

Account Types

Should you decide to sign up with Xtream Forex, you will have the choice of 5 different accounts each with their own features and requirements, here is an overview of each one.

Micro Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of just $5 which makes it very accessible. It has spread starting from 1 pip and has no additional commission. The margin call level is set at 50 % and the stop out level at 20%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:1000. This account can be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with a maximum number of 250 trades open at any one time. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 5 lots and it is eligible for bonuses.

Standard Account: The Standard account has an entry requirement of $250. It has spread starting from 1 pip and has no additional commission. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:400. This account can be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with a maximum number of 500 trades open at any one time. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 50 lots and it is eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

ECN Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $250 to open. It has spread starting from 0 pips and due to the low spreads has an added commission of $7 per lot traded. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:400. This account can be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with a maximum number of 500 trades open at any one time. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 50 lots and it is eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

ECN Pro Account: This account increases the minimum deposit of up to $5,000. It has spread starting from 0 pips and due to the low spreads has an added commission of $5 per lot traded. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:200. This account can not be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots with a maximum number of trades open at any one time is unlimited. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is 100 lots and it is not eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

VIP Account: This account increases the minimum deposit of up to $20,000 and is the top-tier account. It has spread starting from 0 pips and due to the low spreads has an added commission of $1 per lot traded. The margin call level is set at 60 % and the stop out level at 30%. It uses market execution and has a maximum leverage of up to 1:200. This account can not be used as an Islamic account and the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots with a maximum number of trades open at any one time is unlimited. It can use expert advisors and scalping, as well as hedging. The maximum trade size is unlimited and it is not eligible for bonuses, it also has access to an account manager.

Platforms

Xtreme Forex uses MetaTrader 4 as its only trading platform, which is of course perfectly fine. Millions of FX traders choose to use Meta Trader 4. Not only is the platform used for its unique features and flexible trading system, but also for its advanced charting & technical analysis tools, expert advisor functionality, and various technical indicators.

Leverage

The maximum leverage that you can use depends on the account that you are using, we have outlined them below.

  • Micro: 1:1000
  • Standard: 1:400
  • ECN: 1:400
  • ECN Pro: 1:200
  • VIP: 1:200

The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it on an already open account you can do so by getting in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

The minimum and maximum trade sizes are based on your account type and are as follows.

  • Micro: 0.01 min / 5 max
  • Standard: 0.01 min / 50 max
  • ECN: 0.01 min / 50 max
  • ECN Pro: 0.1 min / 100 max
  • VIP: 0.1 min / Unlimited

We would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The Micro and Standard account use a spread based system and so have no added commissions. The ECN account has an added commission of $7 per lot treaded, the ECN Pro account $5 per lot traded and the VIP account ahs an added commission of $1 per lot traded. The standard at the moment seems to be $6 per lot traded so the values offered are in line or better than this.

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

Assets

There are plenty of assets available, Xtream Forex has broken them down into a number of different categories, we will outline some examples of the instruments available within each category.

Forex: AUDCAD, CADCHF, EURCZK, EURGBP, EURUSD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, USDCAD, USDDKK, USDSGD, USDZAR. There are more available, this was just a small selection.

Commodities: Natural Gas, WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Gold and, Silver.

Indices: AUD 200, ESP 35, EUSTX 50, FRA 40, UK 100, GER 30, JPN 225, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, US 30, HKG 50, Copper and Dollar.

Stocks: Loads of stocks, too many to list, but a few include the likes of Amazon, Apple Tesla, Google, Netflix and, Ferrari.

Cryptocurrencies: There are a lot of tradable pairs each crypto is tradable against multiple assets such as Bitcoin against USD, GBPO, JPY and, EUR. Coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Eidoo and many more are available to trade.

Spreads

The spreads that you get also depend on the account you are using, the Micro and Standard accounts have spread starting from 1 pip, the ECN, ECN Pro and VIP accounts have spread starting from as low as 0 pips due to their added commissions.

The spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads, so while AUDCAD may start at 2.3 pips, other assets like GBPCHF may start slightly higher, in this case, 3.1 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open an account is $5, this gets you the Micro account. If you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $250.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are stated as being accepted: Neteller, Skrill, Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit/Debit, QIWI Wallet, Bitcoin, Bank Wire Transfer, Jeton and WebMoney. There are no added fees for depositing your funds, but be sure to check with your bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

It seems that the same methods are available to withdraw with, these are Neteller, Skrill, Visa Credit/Debit, MasterCard Credit/Debit, QIWI Wallet, Bitcoin, Bank Wire Transfer, Jeton and WebMoney. Once again there are no added fees for withdrawing but check with your bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We could not locate this information on the site so we cannot say how quickly Xtreme Forex will process your request, depending on the method used it can take between 1 to 5 business days for the money to process once Xtream Forex has processed the initial request.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different bonuses currently available.

100% Credit Bonus: Receive up to $20,000 credit per account, this bonus is for trading purposes and is not withdrawable, if you withdraw funds then you will lose a proportion of the bonus too. Original deposit and any profits are withdrawable, however, each withdrawal will reduce the bonus amount equal to what is being withdrawn.

30% Tradable Bonus: Receive up to 30% as a tradable bonus, the more you deposit the more you will get. The bonus is withdrawable once a trading volume has been met, 10% of the bonus must be traded in lots, so a bonus of $200 will need 20 lots to be traded for it to be withdrawable.

The other promotion is for Introducing Brokers so we will not get into that at it is not relevant to us.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different educational aspects to the website, the first is a trading tools section which has a number of different calculators including a position size calculator and a pip calculator. There is also an economic calendar that details upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. There is also an e-course, which his a very basic course on trading, giving a base understanding of what things are and how they work, ok for beginners but for those that have traded before t is nothing you won’t have already seen. Finally, there is a news section, which you can probably guess is just market news.

Customer Service

The customer support team is available 24/5 and is closed over the weekends and on bank holidays just like the markets are. We didn’t locate a dedicated contact us page, instead of needed to go to the bottom of the site to find some details. There is a live chat feature to speak to someone quickly, there is also a phone number should you wish to contact someone over the phone and finally there is an email address in case you prefer communicating that way.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available to sue by signing up and filling out a short form, unfortunately, information like the trading conditions or if there is an expiration on the account is not available. Demo accounts allow potential new clients to test out the trading conditions and servers while it allows current clients to test out new strategies without risking any of their capital.

Countries Accepted

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

Conclusion

Trading conditions offered by Xtream Forex seem pretty competitive, the spreads are ok for all account types and those with a commission are either in line with the industry standard of $6 or under. Plenty of assets to trade is positive along with plenty of deposit and withdrawal methods. There was a little information surrounding the deposit and withdrawals missing, such as processing time, however, the majority of the information is present, they just need to add a few of the finer details.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Forexite Review

Forexite is a foreign exchange broken that started trading in 1998, Forexite is licensed and regulated by the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC). Some of their standout features according to themselves are heir really nice customer support, safe platform, unique trading platform, variety of instruments including cryptocurrencies, their regulation, confidentiality, and their honesty with no ads, bonuses or contests. We will be looking into the services being offered to see if they really do offer all of these things.

Account Types

There seems to be just the one account type on offer, as we go through the review we will outline some of its features in a little more detail, but some of its basic features are as follows.

Account Information:
The minimum deposit required is $1, the minimum trade amount is also $1 with a maximum trade size of $5,000,000. The account has access to the singular trading platform and can use stop and limit order types.

Platforms

Forexite uses Traderoom as their trading platform, there is a whole PDf going over its features which is too much for us to go through, instead, we have listed below the key features that it offers.

1) A possibility to trade with low risk – a safety Forex trading.
2) No slippage at the order execution (in normal market conditions).
3) The trading terms on both real and virtual accounts completely coincide.
4) A public quotation.
5) Confidentiality.
6) No restrictions on the minimum deposit.
7) A daily accrual of interest.
8) Any amount of deals.
9) Virtual (demo) trading without restrictions.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:100, we are not actually sure if there are any other leverage options available, as the only number stated is 1:100.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots. In addition, there are minimum and maximum dollar amounts, as shown below.

Trading Costs

In terms of trading commissions there don’t seem to be any included as the account uses a spread based system, there are however swap charges which are fees charged when holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform that is offered as well as directly on the website.

Assets

Forexite has a few different instruments available to trade, we have outlined them below so you can get an idea of what is on offer.

Forex:
EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, USDJPY, EURGBP, EURCHF, EURJPY, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, CHFJPY, USDCAD, USDCAD, EURCAD, AUDUSD, AUDJPY, NZDUSD, NZDJPY, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDDKK, USDCZK, USDHUF, USDPLN, USDSGD, USDZAR, USDRUB, EURRUB, USDUAH, EURUAH, USDHKD, EURHKD, USDCNH, EURCNH, USDILS, EURILS, USDMXN, EURMXN, USDTRY, EURTRY, EURNOK, EURSEK, EURDKK, EURCZK, EURHUF, EURPLN, EURSGD, EURZAR, GBPCAD, GBPAUD, GBPNZD, AUDCHF, AUDCAD, AUDNZD, NZDCHF, NZDCAD, CADCHF, CADJPT.

Metals:
Gold and Silver.

Crypto:
BTCUSD, BTCEUR, ETHUSD, ETHEUR, LTCUSD, LTCEUR.

Indices:
Nasdaq, S&P 500, DJI, USX

Commodities:
WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil

Spreads

Spreads start from around 3 pips, it is not completely clear to us whether the spreads are variable or fixed so we cannot say for sure. Different instruments do have different spreads, so while EURUSD has a spread of 3 pips, GBPJPY has a spread of 7 pips stated.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $1, this is also the amount that you need to maintain in order to be able to trade on the account, this low limit can make Forexite a very accessible broker for those with fewer funds, however, the recommended deposit amount is $500 and due to the spreads being so high we would not recommend depositing under this $500.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few methods available to deposit with, these are Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney and Credit and Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard). When depositing these are no additional fees added by Forexite, however, you should always check with your own bank or payment provider to see if they will add any outgoing transfer processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same three methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification those are Bank Wire Transfer, WebMoney and Credit and Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard), there is also the addition of Cryptocurrencies. There are some additional fees when withdrawing through these methods, we have outlined them below for ease of understanding.

Bank Wire Transfer – No fee on the broker side
Credit and Debit Card – 3% fee, min 5 USD
WebMoney – 1% fee, min 1 USD
Cryptocurrency – 1% fee, min 5 USD

With cryptocurrencies being available for withdrawal it is strange that they are also not stated as a deposit method.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Forexite will try to process withdrawal requests as quickly as possible, it will most likely take between 1 to 5 working days for your withdrawal request to fully process and be available in your account, this will depend on the method used and that methods own processing time.

Bonuses & Promotions

Forexite has made it clear that they do not offer any sorts of bonuses or contests, so if you are looking for a bonus you will be out of luck and would need to look towards a different broker.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t appear to be any available educational material or trading tools to help with your trading. This is a shame as many brokers are now aiming to help their clients improve on their trading skills, so it would be nice to see Forexite do something similar for their clients too.

Customer Service

The customer service page doesn’t state what the team’s opening times or availabilities are. They have provided their clients with a postal address as well as a legal address, there is then also an email address and phone number available to use.

Address: Forexite Ltd., Drake Chambers, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Phone: +1 718 663 0013
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

We didn’t notice any information about demo accounts, this does not mean that they are not available, just that we did not see them mentioned anywhere. Demo accounts allow you to test out the servers and also new strategies without any real risk to your capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site so if you are thinking of signing up then we would recommend contacting the customer service team to make sure you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

Forexite has tried to make things simple by offering just the one account type and also just the one trading platform. The issues come when we start looking at the trading conditions, with just the one account type available there is no way to reduce the initial spreads, they are starting at 4 pips which is incredibly high, and if there are variable they could go even higher. There is a limited amount of ways to deposit and withdraw which could limit some people who prefer to use other methods. The good news is that there are plenty of assets available to trade.

Hopefully, you should now have enough information to decide if they re the right broker for you to use. If not then be sure to check out some of the other reviews to find the broker that is right for you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Capital BTC FX Review

Capital BTC Fx is a foreign exchange broker that was founded in 2013 and is located in the United Kingdom. Capital BTC Fx aims to offer outstanding customer support, a multi-product bouquet, advanced trading platforms, tight spreads and to offer an experienced founding team. We will be using this review to look at the services being offered and to see if they achieve these and also so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available to sue with Capital BTC Fx, each having its own features and requirements, so let’s briefly outline what they are.

Standard Account: This account requires a deposit of at least $500, the account does not come with any additional features.

Classic Account: The Classic account requires a minimum deposit of at least $5,000, it comes with online chat and access to all platform features.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $50,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager and an individual telephone line.

Premium Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $150,000, it comes with online chat, access to all platform features, has access to Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager, an individual telephone line, special promotions on one on one trading and personal reports on the stock markets.

Platforms

The only platform available to trade with at Capital BTC Fx is MetaTrader 4, this platform offers robust functionality for active trading and advanced market analytics. Its software package provides numerous unique order options, tools for technical analysis, custom indicators and trade automation.

Through the development and implementation of cutting-edge technologies, MT4 is able to provide a sophisticated suite of features. It is highly accessible as it can be used as a desktop download, mobile application or as a web trader within your internet browser.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:200, it is not clear which accounts this is relevant to but the homepage simply states that the max is 1:200. This can be selected when opening up a new account.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade sizes start at 0.,01 lots and go up in increments of 0.02 lots so the next available trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is not known but whatever it is we would suggest not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to execution speed and slippage. It is also not known to us what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

There has been no mention of any additional commissions added to the account so as far as we understand there aren’t any. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There, unfortunately, isn’t a full breakdown of the available assets, this means we do not know what is available to trade. This can be quite off-putting to potential new clients who will often look to see if a broker has their favorite instruments to trade, not knowing will make them look elsewhere.

Spreads

We do not have a full breakdown of the available assets so we also do not have a full breakdown of the available spreads. The only spread mentioned is on the home page which says that the spread on EUR/USD is around 1.6 pips, we would be assuming that this is the starting figure and would be relevant to the top tier account. Lower tier accounts will most likely have higher starting spreads. The spreads are variable though, which means they move with the markets when there is added volatility they will be seen higher and different instruments will have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

Unfortunately, we do not know what the minimum deposit amount is or the deposit requirements for opening up any of the available accounts.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a dedicated funding page detailing deposit methods, instead, we can only go with the information provided which is an image of Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller and AstroPay at the bottom of the site. There are no added fees for depositing and we would always suggest contacting your bank or processor to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As there was no information for deposits you would be right if you assumed there wouldn’t be any for withdrawals either. The same images are present which are Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, and AstroPay so we would expect those methods to be available for withdrawing to. Unlike with deposits, there is no information about any potential withdrawal fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know how long it will take for Capital BTC Fx to process withdrawals but we would hope for any requests to be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days from the time the request is made.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is a 30% bonus available, the only details about the promotion are on the account sign up page which states that you can get a 30% bonus on your first deposit. There is no more information surrounding it such as how to convert the bonus into real funds or what the maximum bonus available is.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t seem to be any educational stuff on the site apart from the account page indicating some one on one training and reports, the one thing it does mention is that Autochartist is also available, this offers features to help with your trading, it can identify and react to market movements, check the quality and competitiveness of your broker’s pricing, manage your cash exposure, optimize your stop loss and take profits, capitalize on known outcomes of news events and identify and react to market movements that are not typical.

Customer Service

Should you wish to contact the customer service team you can do so 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can use the online submission form to fill in your query and then get a reply back via email, or you can use the provided phone number, email address or skype username.

Address: 5 North Colonnade, London, E14 4BB, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +39 0282947312
Skype: capitalbtcfx.com

Demo Account

We did not see any mention of a demo account so this leads us to believe there isn’t one unless you can sign up for one once an account has been opened. Demo accounts can offer potential clients a way to test out the trading conditions and also for current clients to test new strategies without any risk, so if they are not available Capital BTC Fx should look at adding them to their service.

Countries Accepted

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

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the Capital BTC Fx website, things like tradable assets, spread, deposit and withdrawal methods are all vital bits of information that just aren’t there. Without it, it is impossible to get a real picture of the trading conditions or costs of using Capital BTC fx as a broker, it is enough to put us off and any potential clients off from signing up. Due to those reasons, we cannot currently recommend them as a broker to use at this point in time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

BNFX Review

BNFX does not give a lot of information about themselves away, but it appears that they are a foreign exchange broker that is looking to provide the most transparent, stable and neutral trading environment to their clients. They pride themselves in their safety of funds and advanced technology. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the services being offered so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different accounts on offer, each one having different trading conditions and requirements, so let’s briefly look at what is on offer.

STP – Mini Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50 and can be in either EUR or USD. It comes with leverage up to 1:100 and the typical spreads are between 1.5 pips to 3.0 pips on major pairs. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and it uses MetaTrader xStation as its trading platform. Mobile trading is also available as is market data, there is also no software fees or inactivity fees. There is no added commission on this account.

STP – Standard Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500 and can be in either EUR or USD. It comes with leverage up to 1:100 and the typical spreads are between 0.9 pips to 1.8 pips on major pairs. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and it uses MetaTrader xStation as its trading platform. Mobile trading is also available as is market data, there is also no software fees or inactivity fees. There is no added commission on this account.

True ECN Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000 and can be in either EUR or USD. It comes with leverage up to 1:100 and the typical spreads are between 0 pips to 0.4 pips on major pairs. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and it uses MetaTrader xStation as its trading platform. Mobile trading is also available as is market data, there is also no software fees or inactivity fees. There is an added commission of $0.04 per 1000 traded (0.01 lot) so $4 per lot traded.

Platforms

There are two different platforms available to trade with, one is the highly popular MetaTrader 4, the other is something called the BNFX xStation, so let’s see what they offer.

MetaTrader 4: MT4 has quickly become the world’s most used trading platform hosting millions of traders. Accessible as a mobile application, desktop download or web trader, it is accessible from anywhere in the world. It’s compatible with hundreds and thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help with your trading needs.

BNFX xStation: BNFX X Station was designed for advanced currency traders who prefer more control, flexibility, customizations, and speed than traditional retail trading software packages. It provides true one-click trading on Level 2 market depth/order book views, built-in trading calculator, in-platform economic calendar, customizable layouts saved in the cloud, and a direct connection to the BNFX liquidity infrastructure. It was designed from the ground up as an ECN/STP platform

Leverage

All three accounts come with a maximum leverage of 1:L100, the leverage can be selected when you open up a new account and should you need to change it on an already open account you will need to send your request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots (also known as micro-lots) on all three accounts, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. It is not known what the maximum trade size is but we would not recommend trading under 50 lots due to execution and slippage issues. We are also not clear on what the maximum number of open trades that you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

There is only one account that has any added commission and that is the True ECN account, it has a $0.04 commission per 1000 traded (0.01 lot), so $4 per round lot traded which is below the industry average of $6 per lot traded. The STP Mini and STP Standard accounts have noa added commissions as they use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review.

There are also swap fees which are charged for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown or product specification available, this means that we are not able to see exactly what assets and instruments are available to trade. This information is always good to have especially as many potential clients will look to see if their favorite assets are available before signing up. Not having this available makes it appear like there may not be a huge selection of instruments available to trade.

Spreads

The three different accounts have different starting spreads, we have outlined the ranges of them below.

  • STP – Mini: Variable, starting between 1.5 pips to 3 pips for major pairs.
  • STP – Standard: Variable, starting between 0.9 pips to 1.8 pips for major pairs.
  • True ECN: Variable, starting between 0 pips to 0.4 pips for major pairs.

The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, when there is added volatility they will often be seen higher and, as shown above, different instruments will have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $50 which allows you to open up an STP Mini account, should you want to use the ECN account then you will need to deposit at least $1,000. It is unknown if the minimum deposit requirement reduces for further deposits to top up an account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sadly there isn’t any information on the site regarding deposit methods or anything to do with them except for two little images of Visa and MasterCard, so we will be confident to say that they will be available, but we cannot say about any other methods. We also cannot comment on whether there are any added fees for depositing by BNFX.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As there is no information about deposits you would be right to assume that there is none about the withdrawals either, we could not find anything apart from the two images of Visa and MasterCard mentioned before. Just like the deposits, there is also no mention of any potential fees for withdrawing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Sadly we also do not have any information on this topic, we would hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days after the request is made depending on what methods are available to withdraw with.

Bonuses & Promotions

From what we can see there are no active promotions or bonuses at the time of writing this review, however, if you are interested in bonuses, you could contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming promotions you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t seem to be any educational content on the site which is a shame as a lot of modern brokers are looking to help their clients improve through education or tools, so it would be nice to see BNFX do something too.

Customer Service

If you want to get in contact with BNFX it is unfortunate that there is only one way to do it, and that is via an online submission form. When filling out the form you can select the department between General Questions, Compliance Department, Media Relations and Technical Support. There is no access to a phone number or direct email address which is a little concerning.

Demo Account

There is an open demo account button, unfortunately clicking it brings up a page that doesn’t want to load properly, so it is currently impossible for us to open up a demo account. In regards to the demo account, there is no information about the trading conditions that they use or if there is an expiration time, however, this may have been present on the page that is not loading for us.

Countries Accepted

The only statement about accepted countries is the following “THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO SOLICIT RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” So if you are not sure of your eligibility we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

It is nice to have a choice between different types of accounts, in this case, STP and ECN, the trading costs of the ECN and STP Standard accounts seem reasonable and having a choice of trading platforms are good to have. Unfortunately, we do not know what assets are available as there is not a breakdown or specification and even more worryingly is the lack of information on funding. Not knowing how to deposit or withdraw and even how much it will cost you is a real concern. This coupled with the fact that there is only one way to contact the customer service team which can be quite limiting is enough for us to recommend looking elsewhere for your trading needs.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Henordy Review

Henordy is a foreign exchange broker situated in the United Kingdom. They state that they are dedicated to developing new products, providing excellent customer service and an EA intelligence trading system. In this review, we will be looking into what is actually being offered so you can decide if Henordy is the right broker for you.

Account Types

Information regarding different accounts is not readily available on the website. From looking over the website it seems that there is only 1 type of account, the standard account. This account requires a minimum deposit of $100, has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and maximum leverage of 1:100. It has an average spread of around 3.3 pips and it used MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Platforms

Henordy only offers a singular trading platform which is MetaTrader 4, let’s take a look at what MetaTrader 4 offers. In terms of accessibility, MT4 is second to none, available as a desktop download, an app for Android and iOS devices and as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great trading solution to have. There is however also a copy trading service where you can copy a number of different accounts, we, unfortunately, can not say how profitable or safe these accounts are.

Leverage

The maximum leverage provided is 1:100 which is low when comparing it to the competition, although 1:100 can still provide good profit opportunities. Leverage can be selected when opening up an account, you will need to get in contact with the customer service team should you wish to change the accounts leverage once it is already open.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots which are also known as a micro lot. They then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We did not see any information regarding the maximum trade size, but no matter what it is we would not recommend trading trades larger than 50 lots as the bigger the trade becomes the harder it is for the markets and liquidity providers to execute the trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The account information that we found shows that the account uses a spread based payment structure and so there is no additional commission added to the trades or account.

There are swap charges though, which are either negative or positive and are paid when holding trades overnight, these swap fees can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Henordy has broken down its assets into three categories, Forex, Metals, and CFDs. In terms of forex pairs, there is not a full breakdown or even a stated amount of how many there are so this is a complete unknown to us. In terms of metals, there are the usual 2 which are Gold and Silver, when it comes to CFDs there is a small selection including US 30, SPX 500, NAS 100, UK 100, ESP 35, FRA 40, HIKG 33, JPN 225, AUS 200, US Oil and UK Oil.

Spreads

Unfortunately, there is not a full breakdown of what spreads are available, they seem to be averaging around 3.3 pips though for EURUSD which is relatively high. The spreads are also variable which means they move with the markets, when the markets are being volatile the spreads often widen and get bigger and can be seen higher than 3.3 pips or lower too. You should also keep in mind that different instruments will have different spreads, so while EURUSD may average around 3.3 pips, different pairs such as AUDNZD will average at a higher spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit when opening up an account is $100, this is also the minimum deposit amount for any further top-up deposits made to an already opened account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Henordy does not actively state which methods of deposit they use, however looking through the site there is an image of UnionPay on the homepage which would indicate that they are usable on the site. There is also mention of Bank Wire Transfers when looking through the help section of the site so we can safely assume that Bank Wire Transfer is also available. There does not seem to be any further information and there is also no information in regards to any fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like the deposit method information, there is not any present on the website, so we can only assume that the same UnionPay and Bank Wire Transfers are available to use. Just like deposits there is no information on fees either, be sure to check with whatever processor or bank you use to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

This information is currently not present, as Bank Wire Transfers are one of the withdrawal methods we would expect withdrawals to take at least 2 to 5 working (business) days to become available in your account.

Bonuses & Promotions

From looking through the site it does not appear that there are any active promotions or bonuses if this is something that you are after then we would suggest checking back regularly tor getting in touch with the customer service team.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a learning center on the website, this comprises some very basic information on trading systems, risk management and teaching you how to use MetaTrader 4. This information is very basic and if you have traded at all before, it will not be the most helpful so we would suggest looking elsewhere for your learning needs.

Customer Service

The customer service page is as basic as most of the other things on the site, there is a physical address posted as well as a singular email address. There is also a web submission form, where you can fill in your query and you should then get a reply via email. No mention of opening times but we will expect them to be closed over the weekends at the same time as the markets are closed.

Demo Account

We could not locate any information regarding demo accounts so it does not appear that they are currently available with Henordy. This is a shame as potential clients often like to use them to test out the trading conditions and servers, while current clients often like to use them to test out new strategies without risking any of their own capital. Henordy should really look to add demo accounts to their arsenal.

Countries Accepted

Henordy does not specify which countries are eligible or not, so if you wish to sign up we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are able to have an account with them.

Conclusion

Henordy aimed to be innovative and different, however they fell short of this expectation, there is so much information missing from the website, a full breakdown of tradable assets is always good but it is not present here, along with a complete lack of information regarding the accounts that can be used. The accounting side doesn’t get much better with little information about deposit and withdrawal methods and even more so about any potential fees, considering Henordy is going to be holding our money, this information should have been a basic requirement. Pretty much the only information available is what trading platform is available, due to all this, we find it hard to recommend Henordy as a broker to use at this time.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

FXLatam Review

FXLatam is an online foreign exchange broker that is based out of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, they don’t actually provide a lot of information about themselves, so a few of their main selling points include instant withdrawals, live chat, an industry-leading platform, forex and crypto in one account. We will be using this review to see if they really do offer those services and to find out any additional information about them that we can.

Account Types

There are 5 different account types available to use, they do not seem to have any different trading conditions, and the account comparison page doesn’t actually indicate any differences within the accounts, just the required amounts and trading volume needed. We outlined the requirements below.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $500 and a minimum trading volume of $2,500.

Platinum Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $1,000 and a minimum trading volume of $10,000.

Diamond Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $5,000 and a minimum trading volume of $50,000.

Emerald Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 and a minimum trading volume of $100,000.

Crown Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000, the minimum trading volume is not known and simply states to call them for more information.

Platforms

FXLatam uses its own trading platform rather than one of the more established platforms like MetaTrader 4. The platform is relatively basic, it doesn’t have many of the features that many traders will not be used to.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available from FXLatam is 1:200, this is applicable for all account types, this leverage can be selected when first opop[enign up an account. We are not sure if you are able to change it once an account is set up, if you need to change it we would suggest sending a change request to the customer service department. You can buy and sell and select the size of your trades, there is very limited graph information and functions available. The platform looks more like it would be at home at a Binary Options broker rather than this forex broker.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 1,000 units which are the same as 0.01 lots. Trades then go up in increments of 100 units which is 0.001 lots, so the second available trade is 0.011 lots and then 0.012 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is, or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is no mention of any commissions, and when using the demo platform there was no indication of any commissions, and this is good due to the spreads being so high (we look at these in a later section of the review). There is also no information about potential swap charges, the majority of brokers have them so we expect that FXLatam will as well, but we cannot say for sure.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a number of different categories, there wasn’t a list available on the site which is a shame as many potential clients won’t want to open up a demo account just to see what is available, but that is exactly what we did, we have outlined the available instruments below.

Forex: AUDUSD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDHKD, AUDFJPY, AUDNZD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, CHFNOK, DKKSEK, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURDKK, ERUHUF, EURILS,. EURMXN, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURRUB, EURSEK, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCNH, GBPNZD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDILS, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Indices: AEX25, Australia 200, CAC 40, China A50, CNX Nifty, DAX 30, Dow Jones, Euro Stoxx 50, FTSE 100, Hang Seng, IBEX 35, Nasdaq 100, Nikkei 225, Russell 2000, Swiss Market, S&P 500, US Dollar Index.

Crypto: ADA, BTC, BTG, DASH, EOS, ETC, ETH, IOT, LTC, NEO, QTUM, TRX, XLM, XMR, XRP, ZEC.

Commodities: Coca, Coffee, Corn, Cotton #2, Orange Juice, Soybean, Sugar #11, Wheat, Brent Crude Oil, Gas Oil, Heating Oil, Natural Gas, RBOB Gasoline, WTI Crude Oil, Copper, Gold, Palladium, Platinum, Silver.

Stocks: There are stocks from countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the dUnite States.

There are also plenty of EFTs and Bonds available to trade.

Spreads

There isn’t a list or set of examples of the spreads available on the site, instead, we had to scour the internet, for example, a few different sites seem to indicate the same starting spreads which lead us to believe they should be accurate. The spreads for EUR/USD seem to be around 3,.5 pips and are fixed, this means that they do not move no matter what is going on within the markets. 3.5 pips are very high and indicate that the trading is quite expensive here, different instruments will also have different spreads, so 3.5 pips will be the lowest, higher spreads will also be present.

Minimum Deposit

There is some contradictory information on the site regarding the minimum deposits. The accounts page indicates that the minimum amount required to open up an account is $500, while the FAQm states that it is $250, so we believe that the figure has changed at some point, but we are not clear on which one is the actual amount, just to be safe, we will say that it is $500 as this covers both scenarios.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a lot of images displayed at the bottom of the site, however very little information to go with them, there are in fact so many pictures it can make it a little hard to work out which are payment methods and which are assets or banks. So the ones that we can work out are QIWI Wallet, WebMoney, Visa, MasterCard, Yandex, WebPay, and Bitcoin.

There isn’t any information surrounding any possible fees, this does not mean that there aren’t any, it just means they aren’t stated on the site, we would also suggest contacting the payment provider that you will be using to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Once again, there isn’t any information on the site regarding withdrawal methods, we only have the same pictures at the bottom of the screen which are QIWI Wallet, WebMoney, Visa, MasterCard, Yandex, WebPay, and Bitcoin. There is only some information stating about Card and Bank withdrawals within the funding terms and conditions.

Similarly to the deposits, there isn’t any information surrounding any fees when withdrawing, again, this does mean that there won’t be any, it just means they aren’t stated on the site, we would also suggest contacting the payment provider that you will be using to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal times are not stated on the site which is a shame, due to this we would expect any withdrawals to be fully processed between 1 to 7 days from the request it is made, this will depend on the processing times of FXLatam and the processing times of the method that you have used to withdraw with.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is the usual affiliate scheme, refer people to the broker and earn, there is also an initial deposit bonus. You can receive up to a 100% bonus, this sounds good in principle, but it is buried in so many terms that it really isn’t worth it. As we went through the bonus conditions it became more and more apparent that this is something to avoid, some of the terms state that in order to withdraw, you would need to make further deposits, you would also need to trade 25 times the value of your deposits (all deposits) and the bonus funds, any withdrawals will remove the bonus completely so your funds will be locked in. This is a bonus that you should probably avoid.

Educational & Trading Tools

There isn’t much when it comes to education being provided by FXLatam. The only things that are available seem to be on the homepage, which is a news section consisting of a list of top trades, popular trends and financial news (however that is currently giving an error). There isn’t anything that will actually educate you or to help your analysis, which is a shame as a lot of modern brokers are trying to help their clients improve on their trading technique and knowledge, so it would be nice to see FXLatam do something similar.

Customer Service

FXLatam is offering a number of different ways to get in contact with them, they do not state what their opening times are though. You are able to use the online submission form, fill it in and you should then get a reply via email, you can also use one of the many phone numbers which are available in countries such as Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru, UK, and Colombia. There is also a postal address available and an email address, so plenty of ways to contact them.

Address: Get Financial LTD Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Center P.O Box 1510 Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
UK Phone: +442031502952
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

A demo account is available to use, the account uses the same trading conditions that we have stated throughout this review. The demo account allows you to test out the platform without having to risk any of your own capital.

Countries Accepted

This information does not seem to be available on the site, so we would recommend contacting the customer service team to check whether you are eligible for an account or not, prior to signing up for one.

Conclusion

FXLatam offers plenty of account types but they don’t seem to have any differences, at least not any differences that are noted on the site. The actual trading conditions are a little expensive, the leverage available is 1:200 which is fine, but the spreads are starting from 3.5 pips which can make things very expensive to trade, the good news is that there are plenty of assets to trade. There is also a bit of confusion with the funding, mainly just images at the bottom of the screen and no real information on the methods or costs. Due to these things, at this point in time, we would recommend looking elsewhere for a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GMI Edge Review

GMI Edge is a forex broker that is registered and regulated in Vanuatu, there isn’t much information on their website about them, no about ‘About Us’ page or outline of their goals. So we will be going into this review blind, looking at all aspects of their service and site to see if they stand up to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available to choose from, each with its own features, so let’s outline what they are.

Standard Account:
This account has a deposit requirement of $25 and must be in USD. The contract size is 100,000 units and leverage can go as high as 1:2000. Expert advisors are allowed as is hedging. There are no added commissions on the account which has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, a maximum of 50 lots and can have 200 orders open at any one time. Swap-free versions are available and the margin call level is set at 60% with the stop out level at 30%. It has a variable spread and has affiliate rewards available.

Standard (Bonus) Account:
This account has a deposit requirement of $25 and must be in USD. The contract size is 100,000 units and leverage can go as high as 1:2000. Expert advisors are allowed as is hedging. There are no added commissions on the account which has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, a maximum of 50 lots and can have 200 orders open at any one time. Swap-free versions are available and the margin call level is set at 60% with the stop out level at 30%. It has a variable spread and has affiliate rewards available.

Cent Account:
This account has a deposit requirement of $2.50 and must be in USD. The contract size is 1,000 units and leverage can go as high as 1:1000. Expert advisors are allowed as is hedging. There are no added commissions on the account which has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, a maximum of 150 lots and can have 200 orders open at any one time. Swap-free versions are available and the margin call level is set at 60% with the stop out level at 30%. It has a variable spread and has affiliate rewards available.

ECN Account:
This account has a deposit requirement of $100 and must be in USD. The contract size is 100,000 units and leverage can go as high as 1:5000. Expert advisors are allowed as is hedging. There is an added commission of $4 per lot on the account which has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, a maximum of 50 lots and can have 200 orders open at any one time. Swap-free versions are available and the margin call level is set at 60% with the stop out level at 30%. It has a variable spread and has affiliate rewards available.

Platforms

The only platform on offer is MetaTrader 4 which is one of the most used and secure platforms for trading Forex, allowing you to analyze the financial markets, use Expert Advisors (EA) and use a whole host of indicators and scripts to analyze your next move and transaction. Millions of traders with a wide range of needs choose MetaTrader 4 to trade in the market. Usable and accessible by all, MT4 is available as a mobile application, web trader and as a download for your desktop or laptop.

Leverage

The leverage that you get depends on the account you use and the balance you have. We have outlined the differences in available leverage below.

Standard Account:
$25 – $10,000 = 1:2000 max
$10,001 – $30,000 = 1:1000 max
$30,001 – $100,000 = 1:300 max
$100,001 and above = 1:100 max

Standard (Bonus) Account:
$25 – $1,000 = 1:2000 max
$1,001 – $5,000 = 1:1000 max
$5,001 – $20,000 = 1:500 max
$20,001 – $100,000 = 1:200 max
$100,001 and above = 1:100 max

Cent Account:
$2.50 – $1,000 = 1:1000 max
$1,001 – $2,000 = 1:500 max
$2,001 and above = 1:100 max

ECN Account:
$100 – $20,000 = 1:500 max
$20,001 – $100,000 = 1:300 max
$100,001 and above = 1P:100 max

The leverage is fixed and selected when opening up an account.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all accounts start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The Standard, Standard (bonus) and ECN accounts have a max trade size of 50 lots and the Cent account has a maximum of 150 lots. You can also have a maximum of 200 orders at any one time.

Trading Costs

The ECN account is the only account that has an added commission, the commission of $4 per lot traded. The other accounts use a spread based system that we will look at later. There are also spread charges which are charged for holding trades overnight. Islamic swap-free versions of each account are also available.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into a few different categories. We have outlined them below including the instruments within them.

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

Metals: Gold and Silver.

Energy: US Crude Oil and UK Crude Oil.

Indices: These are not yet available and the site states that it is coming soon.

Spreads

The different accounts have different spreads if we look at EURUSD, the Standard and ent accounts have an average spread of 1.6 pips, the ECN account has an average spread of 0.2 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets when there is added volatility they will be seen higher. Different instruments also have different spreads so while EURUSD has an average of 1.6 pips, GBPJPY has an average of 2.8 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount is $2.50 which will allow you to open up a cent account if you want a standard account the minimum deposit required is $25.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different ways to deposit, these are Local Bank Transfer, Neteller, Skrill, Perfect Money, DragonPay and FasaPay. The site states that there are no added fees from GMI Edge, however, there is an added fee of 3.95% on all deposits from Neteller, Skrill, Perfect Money, DragonPay and FasaPay. So there is, in fact, an added fee.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Local Bank Transfer, Neteller, Skrill, Perfect Money, DragonPay and FasaPay. There are no added fees for withdrawals but be sure to check with your own bank to see if they will add any incoming transaction fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

GMI Edge will aim to process any withdrawals within 24 hours of the request. All methods are then transferred instantly apart from Local Bank Transfer which will be available the next working day.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are two different promotions on offer.

30% Bonus: You can receive a 30% bonus up to $500 on your first deposit. This bonus is automatically available for all clients who deposit into their trading accounts with the maximum bonus amount of $500. Your bonus can be used to open positions as well as cover losses in floating positions. Any profits generated can be withdrawn at any point in time, however, any withdrawal of funds will result in the full removal of your trading bonus.

15% Bonus: You can receive a 15% bonus of up to $5,000. This bonus is automatically available for all clients who have used the 30% Deposit Bonus and continue to make deposits into their trading accounts. You will continue to receive the 15% bonus until you reach the maximum total bonus amount of $5000. Your bonus can be used to open positions as well as cover losses in floating positions. Any profits generated can be withdrawn at any point in time, however, any withdrawal of funds will result in the full removal of your trading bonus.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t seem to be any educational material available, many brokers are now looking to help their clients improve their trading so it would be good to see GMI Edge follow this route and add some educational material.

Customer Service

Should you need to contact GMI Edge, you can do so by using the online submission form to fill in your query and get a reply via email You can also use the available email address and phone number. There is also a live chat feature available.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 1800 282260

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out the trading conditions and strategies with no risk. We do not know the details of the account such as what account it mimics or any potential expiration times.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site so if you are interested in joining, get in touch with the customer service team first to see if you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

GMI Edge is offering a few different accounts, each having its own conditions, they cater to everyone with both Cent accounts and Standard lot size accounts. The spreads and commissions are ok, the commission is below the industry average but the spreads are a little higher. There is also a small lack of tradable assets with indices coming soon it will help to improve this issue. Looking at deposits and withdrawals, there are enough options available and withdrawals are fee-free, there are some fees for depositing which could be a little expensive at just under 4%. Whether they are the right broker to sue is up to you.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Blue Bull Capital Review

Blue Bull Capital is a Forex and CFD broker located in the United Kingdom. They were founded with one objective, to provide traders with safe, easy and low-cost access to the foreign exchange markets. They aim to become one of the leading providers of this service, in this review we will be looking into the services being offered to see if they achieve their mission and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

It seems that there are two accounts on offer from Bue Bull Capital, both having different requirements and trading conditions.

Standard Account: The standard account requires a minimum deposit of $500, this account can be in a base currency of USD, EUR, GBP, PLN or AED. It comes with leverage up to 1:500 and the spreads are variable. There is no added commission and it used a market execution model. Micro lots (0.01 lots) are allowed and it uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. It has the availability to trade forex, indices, commodities, softs, stocks, and cryptos, the account also has swap charges for holding trades overnight.

Pro Account: The pro account requires an increased minimum deposit of $20,000. The account can be in USD, EUR, GBP, PLN or AED. It comes with leverage up to 1:500 and the spreads are always 0.5 pips better than the starter account spreads. There is no added commission and it used a market execution model. Micro lots (0.01 lots) are allowed and it uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. It has the availability to trade forex, indices, commodities, softs, stocks, and cryptos, the account also has swap charges for holding trades overnight.

Platforms

Blue Bull Capital has chosen MetaTrader 4 as their only trading platform, so let’s see what it offers. MetaTrader 4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. MT4 is second to none, available as a desktop download, an app for Android and iOS devices and as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser. MetaTrader 4 is a great trading solution to have.

Leverage

The maximum leverage for both account types is 1:500 which is what a lot of brokers are now aiming for. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it on an already open account, you should get in contact with the customer service team with this request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots (known as a micro lot), they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots, so the 0.02 would be the next available trade followed by 0.03 lots. There isn’t a mention of the maximum trade size, however, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

There are no additional commissions added to either of the accounts as they use a spread based structure that we will look at later in this review. Swap charges are present which is a charge, either positive or negative incurred from holding a trade overnight, these fees can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

The assets available from Blue Bull Capital have been broken down into 6 different categories, we will briefly look at each to see some examples of what is available to trade.

Currency Pairs: There are 49 different currency pairs available which include forex majors and forex minors. Some examples of the pairs available are AUDCAD, CHFJPY, EURUSD, USDCNH, and USDZAR.

Metals: Three metals on offer including the regular Gold and Silver which are then joined by Platinum.

Indices: For Indices, there are 11 in total, these include GBP 100, AUD 200, JPY 225, GER 30, SPA 35, HKD 33 and NASDAQ 100.

Commodities: Just three commodities are available to trade with Blue Bull Capital which are Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil, and Natural Gas.

Futures: Two futures are also available which are Coffee Arabica and Coffee Robusta.

Shares: There are 193 different shares available which are lower than we would have expected, a range of these include the major shares such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, and many more.

Spreads

Spreads seem to be the same for both accounts and start at around 2.4 pips, we say to start as the yare variable (floating) which means they move with the markets, when the markets are being volatile then they will often be seen higher. Different instruments also have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 2.4 pips, other pairs such as GBP/CAD may start at 8.3 pips (numbers were taken from the instrument page of the website).

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is $500 which gets you the Standard account, if you want the Pro account you will need to deposit $20,000. Once an account is open, further top-ups are as low as $5 depending on the method used.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different methods available, each one has the ability to deposit in USD or EUR and the good news is that there are no fees added by Blue Bull Capital and they even cover all costs from certain electronic methods.

Methods available:
Bank Wire Transfer, MasterCard Credit/Debit Card, Visa Credit/Debit Card, MegaTransfer, NganLuyng, Skrill and Neteller.

When using Bank Wire Transfer, be sure to check with your bank to make sure they do not add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification, these are Bank Wire Transfer, MasterCard Credit/Debit Card, Visa Credit/Debit Card, MegaTransfer, NganLuyng, Skrill and Neteller.

All fees are covered by Blue Bull Capital except for NganLuyng which has a 0.5% fee, also be sure to check with your bank when using Bank Wire Transfer to see if they add any of their own fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

PRocessing is done the same working day as the request is made, if made after closing hours then it will be processed on the next working day. The following times are advised by Blue Bull Capital.

24 Hours:
MasterCard Credit / Debit Card, Visa Credit / Debit Card, MegaTransfer, NganLuyng, Skrill and, Neteller.

2 – 5 Days:
Bank Wire Transfer

Bonuses & Promotions

There is apparently a bonus available, however, the promotions page simply states: “Special & Flexible bonus for your trading to benefit your investment!”. There isn’t any more context or information around it. However, we managed to find a PDF on the bonus which contains its features and terms. The bonus is a 100% deposit bonus and can be used once. There does not appear to be a limit to the amount. It states that the bonus period is 6 months but there is no indication how to change the bonus funds into real funds if that is possible at all, so it may be a bonus just to add extra margin rather than to eventually withdraw.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is an Academy section of the website but it is not actually an academy, in fact, there is very little to it at all. There are some very basic guides on how to do the bare minimum when it comes to trading such as opening a trade, a trading glossary and how to use the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. The glossary is the only thing that is potentially helpful as it tells you what different terms mean.

Customer Service

The contact us page consists of an online submission to fill in and that’s it, you can fill this in and you should then get a reply via email. It was really disappointing to see that there was no other way to get in touch, but luckily in the website footer, there is an email address available as well as a phone number to call.

Demo Account

You can sign up for a demo account using the demo account button. There doesn’t seem to be much more information regarding this. The trading conditions will mimic the real accounts however there is no indication as to how long the accounts remain open for, as some brokers impose a time limit such as 30 days and others do not, so this would be good to know.

Countries Accepted

Blue Bull Capital simply states that its services may be prohibited in certain countries but do not state which ones and that it is your responsibility to know. This is a little unfair as clients will not automatically know, so if you are interested in an account you may need to get in contact with the customer service team to find out if you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

Blue Bull Capital makes a positive start with plenty of information available, the main lack of information comes on the accounts pages as it does not display much information about trading conditions and instead we needed to go through the site to find any of it. Plenty of assets available to trade along with good information on spreads, which are a little on the high side but nothing out of the ordinary. Blue Bull Capital is let down a little with the lack of information on their customer service pages, but more ways to get in contact can be found around the site.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Super Forex Review

Super Forex is an online foreign exchange broker based in Belize and claims that their clients earn over $100,000 profit each day. There is a wide range of assets and accounts for their clients to choose from and their goal is to exceed their customer’s expectations with innovation and customizable services 24/7. With their values of trust, quality, professionalism, and leadership, we will be looking into the services on offer to see if they manage to keep these values and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you to use.

Account Types

There are a lot of accounts, we will briefly outline them below, but won’t go into too much detail at this point of the review.

Standard Account:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1, it can have a currency of USD, EUR, GBP, RUB, ZAR, NGN, CNY, BDT, INR or THB. The accounts lot size is 10,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account has swap charges and comes with fixed spreads and access to the forex copy scheme and bonuses.

Swap-Free Account:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1, it can have a currency of USD, EUR, GBP, RUB, ZAR, NGN, CNY, BDT, INR or THB. The accounts lot size is 10,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account does not have any swap fees and comes with fixed spreads and access to the forex copy scheme and bonuses.

No Spread Account:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1,000, it can have a currency of USD, EUR or GBP. The accounts lot size is 100,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account does not have any swap fees and also has 0 spreads. This account does not have access to the copy scheme and has the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses available.

Micro Cent Account:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1 with a maximum deposit of $3,000, it can have a currency of USD or EUR. The accounts lot size is 10,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account has swap charges and comes with fixed spreads and access to the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses.

Profi STP Account:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1,000, it can have a currency of USD only. The accounts lot size is 100,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:200. The account has swap charges and also has 0 spreads. This account does not have access to the copy scheme and has the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses available.

Crypto Account:
This account requires a minimum deposit of $100, its base currency is USD but it is then converted into Bitcoin. The account’s trade size is 10 BTC and can be leveraged up to 1:10. The account does not have swap charges and comes with a fixed spread. The account has access to the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses.

ECN Standard:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1, it can have a currency of USD, EUR or GBP. The accounts lot size is 100,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account has swap charges and comes with floating spreads. The account has access to the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses.

ECN Standard Mini:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1, it can have a currency of USD, EUR or GBP. The accounts lot size is 10,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account has swap charges and comes with floating spreads. The account has access to the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses.

ECN Swap-Free:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1, it can have a currency of USD, EUR or GBP. The accounts lot size is 100,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account does not have any swap fees and comes with floating spreads. The account has access to the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses.

ECN Swap-Free Mini:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1, it can have a currency of USD, EUR or GBP. The accounts lot size is 10,000 units and can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The account does not have any swap fees and comes with floating spreads. The account has access to the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses.

ECN Crypto:
This account requires a minimum deposit of $100, its base currency is USD but it is then converted into Bitcoin. The account’s trade size is 10 BTC and can be leveraged up to 1:10. The account does not have swap charges and comes with a floating spread. The account has access to the welcome, energy, and hot dynamic bonuses.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4 is the only platform on offer from Super Forex and it is a good option to have. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of expert advisors and indicators to help make your trading more straight forward. It also offers high levels of customization and flexibility, impressive analytical tools and is accessible via a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader. There is a reason why it is one of the most used platforms and trusted by millions of traders all around the world.

Leverage

The leverage available depends on the account you use, we have outlined them below.

1:1000: STP Standard, STP Swap Free, STP No Spread, STP Micro Cent, ECN Standard, ECN Standard Mini, ECN Swap Free, ECN Swap-Free Mini

1:200: Profi STP

1:10: STP Crypto, ECN Crypto

Leverage can be selected when first opening up an account and you can get it changed by contacting the customer service team with the request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

The majority of accounts do not have any added trading commissions, the STP No Spread account has an added commission of 0.038 and 0.062 depending on the instrument. The rest of the accounts do not seem to have any according to the product specifications.

The majority of accounts also have swap fees, these are charged for holding accounts overnight. Some accounts do not have them, please refer to the account type section of the review for specific accounts.

Assets

There are over 300 different instruments placed into various categories. Too many for us to write them all down but we have outlined some of them below. They have also not been categorized into different sections, instead, they are placed in lists based on the accounts.

Forex:
USDCHF, EURCHF, EURJPY, AUDUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, NZDCAD, NZDJPY, NZDCHF, EURAUD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, AUDNZD, EURCAD, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPNZD, USDDKK, USDSEK, USDNOK, USDZAR, EURRUB, USDRUB, AUDSGD, CHFSGD, EURDKK, EURNOK, EURSEK, EURSGD, GBPSGD, HKDJPY, NZDSGD, SGDJPY, USDHKD, USDMXN, USDPLN, AUDCZK, USDSGD, AUDDKK, AUDHKD, AUDHUF, AUDMXN, AUDNOK, AUDPLN, AUDSEK, CADCZK, CADDKK, CADHKD, CADHUF, CADMXN, CADNOK, CADPLN, CADSEK, CADSGD, CHFCZK, CHFDKK, CHFHKD, CHFHUF, CHFNOK, CHFPLN, CHFSEK, CHFZAR, EURCZK, EURHKD, EURHUF, EURMXN, EURPLN, EURZAR, EURTRY, GBPCZK, GBPDKK, GBPHKD, GBPHUF, GBPMXN, GBPNOK, GBPPLN, GBPSEK, GBPZAR, NZDCZK, NZDDKK, NZDHKS, NZDHUF, NZDMXN, NZDNOK, NZDPLN, NZDSEK, NZDZAR, USDCZK, USDHUF, CZKJPY, DKKJPY, HUFJPY, MXNJPY, NOKJPY, SEKJPY, USDTRY, USDCNH.

Metals:
Gold, Silver, Zinc, Platinum, Palladium, and Aluminum.

Stocks:
Plenty of stocks including Apple, Microsoft, IM, and Tesla.

Commodities:
Plenty available including Corn, Wheat, Cotton, Sugar, Cattle and more.

Indices:
Plenty of these are also available including AUS 200, FTSE 100, Nasdaq, Dow Jones and more.

Spreads

The starting spreads depend on the account you are using, we have outlined them below.

  • STP Standard: Starting from 2 pips fixed spread
  • STP Swap-Free: Starting from 2 pips fixed spread
  • STP No Spread: Starting from 0 pips fixed spread
  • STP Micro Cent: Starting from 2 pips fixed spread
  • Profi STP: Starting from 0 pips fixed spread
  • STP Crypto: Starting from 10 pips fixed spread
  • ECN Standard: Starting from 0 pips variable spread
  • ECN Mini: Starting from 0 pips variable spread
  • ECN Swap-Free: Starting from 0 pips variable spread
  • ECN Mini: Starting from 0 pips variable spread
  • ECN Crypto: Starting from 0 pips variable spread

We find it hard to believe that the spreads and commission for the ECN accounts are both at 0, but that is what is stated. Fixed spreads mean they do not change, which variable spreads will move up and down depending on the amount of volatility in the markets.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account with Super Forex is just $1.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are plenty of ways to deposit, the good news is that there are no added fees, however, you should contact your own bank or processor to see if they will add any fees of their own. Bank Wire Transfer, Visa/MasterCard, China UnionPay, Skrill, Sticpay, Neteller, PayCo, Triv, FasaPay, Perfect Money, Payeer, OnlineNaira, iPay, FlutterWave, Cryptocurrencies, and local payments are all available to use.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, however, now there are added fees that we have outlined below.

  • Bank Wire Transfer: 3% + 35 USD
  • Visa/MasterCard: 3% + 7 USD or 3% + 7 EUR for USD / EUR card, 3% + 50 RUB for RUB card, Minimum amount for withdrawal through card: 20 USD or 20 EUR, 3% + $10 on less than $100 withdrawal
  • China UnionPay: 2%
  • Skrill: 1 USD if amount < 50 USD, 1.5% if amount > 50 USD
  • Sticpay: 2.5% + $0.3
  • Neteller: 1 USD if amount < 50 USD, 2% if amount > 50 USD
  • PayCo: 0.1%
  • Triv: 0.5% for Withdrawal
  • FasaPay: 0.5% for Withdrawal
  • Perfect Money: 0.5%
  • Payeer: 1%
  • OnlineNaira: 2%
  • iPay: 2%
  • FlutterWave: 1.4% – 3.8%
  • Cryptocurrencies: 0.9%
  • Local Payments: Local Bank wire fee

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Different methods have different processing times, we have categorized them for you.

2 to 4 Business Days: Bank Wire Transfer, Sticpay, OnlineNaira, iPay, FlutterWave.

1 to 3 Business Days: Visa/MasterCard, China UnionPay, Skrill, PayCo, Triv, FasaPay, Perfect Money, Payeer, Cryptocurrencies, Local Payments.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are plenty of different bonuses available, we have outlined some of the features below so you can get an understanding of the sorts of bonuses that Super Forex offer.

No Deposit:
This gets you an account with a $50 balance to trade without having to deposit. Profit acquired from trading on the No Deposit Bonus can be withdrawn. The amount free for withdrawal is determined by your trading volume according to the formula: 1 lot = $1. In other words, to withdraw $50 you must have traded at least 50 lots.

Easy Deposit:
Super Forex always tries to take care of the company’s customers. And especially for You, we`ve developed an “Easy Deposit Bonus”. This bonus amounts to the shocking 1000% of the deposit you choose to make. With an insignificant deposit sum such as $10, you can get a full $100 to trade with, allowing you to operate with a much greater volume than your deposit would normally allow.

Welcome+:
For an unlimited period, all new clients have the chance to receive our Welcome+ Bonus on each initial deposit. This aims to enable customers to trade with a bigger volume, thus helping traders earn more from deals. Typically, the Welcome Bonus gives you 40% extra funds on your deposit. However, our “plus” addition to the bonus adds a dynamic dimension whereby you can get 45% on your second deposit and 50% on the third one if the following criteria are met: This means that through your first, second, and third deposit you can get up to 50% extra funds thanks to the Welcome+ Bonus. After the third replenishment, each consecutive deposit will only be awarded 40% additional funds.

60% Energy:
After you open the trading account, go to your personal cabinet. Click the “Bonuses” tab on the left side of the screen. Choose “60% Energy Bonus“ from the list, and then click the “Get the 60% Energy Bonus” button. You will automatically receive an additional 60% of the amount of your deposit after the money is credited to your account.

120% Hot:
Make a deposit and receive a 120% bonus. The bonus will automatically be credited to your account after you make your first deposit. The bonus can be withdrawn when you’ve completed the requirements.

Dynamic:
This bonus operates on the principle of communicating vessels – the amount you trade and the amount you can withdraw work together. In practice, the more you trade, the more you will unlock for withdrawal from the bonus. One traded lot unlocks $1 in withdrawable funds.1 Lot = $1 of the amount of the bonus to be withdrawn without restrictions.

Educational & Trading Tools

The site has a few different educational materials, and all the courses are completely free. There are training centers to attend for seminars in various different countries, there are some economic news and analytics to help with your own analysis, there is also a forex glossary which details the meaning of different trading terms. There are also some courses covering aspects such as technical and fundamental analysis, news analysis, mathematical analysis and more to help with your trading.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer service team in a whole bunch of ways, there is a callback service, fill in your name and number and someone will give you a call, you can also use the phone number directly. There are also email addresses and skype usernames as well as some other social media available for the Customer Support Department and Partnership Department.

Phone: +65-3-1590282
Email: [email protected]
Skype: client-support.superforex

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out the market and strategies without risking any of your own capital, so it is good that they are available here at Super forex. The demo account come s with a minimum deposit value of $100 or a maximum of $50,000, it can be in USD, EUR or GBP, does not have the bonuses, trade sizes start from 0.1 lots and go up to 100 lots. The maximum leverage is 1:10 and the spread is fixed.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is available to view on the site: “The services listed on this website are not available to residents of the USA.”

Conclusion

There are a lot of choices when it comes to Super Forex, possibly too much as it can be quite confusing and hard to work out what the differences between each of the accounts actually are. We also still have no idea about the commissions as we find it hard to believe that there are no added commissions on an account with 0 spreads. Apart from that there are plenty of tradable assets and funding methods, free to get money in but can be expensive to get it back out is a trick used by a few brokers we have looked at and is not a nice practice to see.

Loads of bonuses with various features and the education seem to be quite in-depth which is nice. So if you are able to get over the confusing market conditions and the expensive withdrawals then Super Forex could be a good potential broker, but you could also find slightly cheaper brokers out there too.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

GCM Asia Review

GSM Asia does not give a lot of information about itself, we can see that they are part of the Fortrade Ltd group and follow the guidelines of the ESMA. They state that some of their main features are that they are safe and reliable, offer accessible trading, offer professional trading environments and give you a wide choice of trading instruments. Throughout this review, we will look into the services on offer to see what they really offer and how they compare to the competition.

Account Types

It seems like there may only be one account as there aren’t any options when signing up or information about account comparisons on the site. As we go through each section we will outline any potential differences, if there are none then each section will be related to the single account on offer.

Platforms

There are three different platforms available to use, we have outlined some of the key features of each platform below.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): Some of the main features of MT4 include one-click trading, personalized settings in 38 languages, the ability to trade using your desktop, laptop, mobile device or web browser, compatibility with trading robots and expert advisors, as well as thousands of compatible indicators for analysis. There are over 300 instruments available and you can manage your positions using take profits, stop losses, trailing stops and more.

GCMAsia Pro Trader: GCMAsia Pro combines powerful investment tools, real-time stock prices and updates into an easy-to-use interface. Some of this platform’s features include a user-friendly interface, demo accounts, over 300 tradable products, the use of advanced order types, accessible through a desktop download, mobile application or internet browser, you can get notifications of price changes and many more features are available.

Sirix: Sirix is ​​written in HTML5 and is compatible with most major browsers. The Sirix platform has an advanced built-in indicator and chart options, including Bollinger Bands, MACD, Ichimoku Clouds, and Parabolic SAR. In Sirix’s “Social Stream”, you can see real-time transactions and pending orders from other traders. You can find traders who meet your requirements, follow and copy their trades. Sirix is ​​available in 18 languages. Users can change their preferred language on the platform in real-time.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:30 which is relatively low, the different instruments have different available leverage. Looking through the specification it seems like GCM Asia are following the same guidelines that were set out by the ESMA and are as follows:

-30:1 for major currency pairs
-20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices
-10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices
-5:1 for individual equities and other reference values
-2:1 for cryptocurrencies

Trade Sizes

When trading forex pairs a lot is equal to 100,000 units, the minimum trade size starts at 0.01 lots and then goes up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots.

Trading Costs

We did not notice any information about commissions however some of the website was not successfully translated so we may have missed it, but as there appears to spread, commissions may not be added. There are swap charges which are charged for holding trades overnight and over the weekends, these can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

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

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

Commodities: Corn, Cotton #2, Soybean, Sugar, Wheat, Brent Oil, Crude Oil, Gasoline, Heating Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, Gold, Palladium, Platinum, Silver, GAUTRY, GAUUSD, GOLD/TRY, XAUEUR, XAUGBP.

Indices: Australia 200, China 50, Dollar Index, Europe 50, France 40, Germany 30, Hong Kong 50, Italy 40, Japan 225, Netherlands 25, Spain 35, Switzerland 20, UK 100, USA 100, USA 2000, USA 30, USA 500.

Stocks: There are stocks from all over the world including Bank of America, Apple, AT&T, Google, Admiral Group, Aviva, HSBC, and many more.

Bonds: 5 YR US T-Notes, 10 YR US T-Notes, and 30 YR US T-Notes.

EFTs: UltraPro QQQ, UltraPro Short QQQ, and Oil Fund.

Crypto: Bitcoin, DASH, Ethereum, and LiteCoin.

Spreads

We cannot comment properly on the spreads, as the product specification is not in English it is hard for us to fully understand them, the bit that we believe indicates the spreads is showing them starting from around 0.3 pips with others higher at 1.5 pips or more. Again, as we cannot fully understand what is written we do not want to give out information that may not be correct.

Minimum Deposit

We don’t actually know what the minimum deposit requirement is, so we cannot really answer this section of the review.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sadly, we do not have any information on deposit methods so we are not able to list them here, we also do not know if there are any additional fees added to deposits.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As we do not know what the deposit methods are we also do not know what the withdrawal methods are. Just like with the deposits, we also have no understanding as to whether there are any additional withdrawal fees added by FCM Asia.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It should take between 1 to 7 days for your withdrawal request to complete, but we do not know the exact processing time for GCM Asia itself or what methods are available so it cannot be any more accurate with the prediction.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t appear to be any active promotions or bonuses. This does not mean that there won’t be and so you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is something called Trading Central, however, without an account, we were not able to access it. It is designed to help traders choose the best trades and times and offers advice from professional traders. There is also a financial calendar available that shows upcoming news events and the markets that they could affect. Finally, there is also some daily, weekly and monthly analysis available which can give you some trading ideas.

Customer Service

The contact us page is pretty basic, it is a single online submission form to fill in and an email written above it. At the top of the page, there is the addition of a phone number too.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 400-120-0257

Demo Account

A demo account is available and allows you to test out the markets, GCM Asia actively encourages you to open up a demo account in order to get an idea of the trading conditions available, there is no expiration time on the demo accounts and they are a great way to test new strategies without risking any real capital.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “The information on this website is not intended for residents of the United States, Hong Kong, or the European Union. It is not intended to publish or use information that may violate local laws or regulations to any person or country. IFX Asia does not accept deposits from these countries.”

Conclusion

It was a little harder than usual to get the inflation we needed as the website was not in English. The trading conditions are still a little unknown to us, the leverage is kept low due to the recommendations of the ESMA and the spreads and commissions are not entirely known, so the cost of trading is hard to gauge. There are plenty of assets to trade, unfortunately, we do not know what the deposit or withdrawal methods are or if there are any added fees, so without that information, it is hard for us to recommend them as a broker to use.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Schatz Markets Review

Schatz Markets is a foreign exchange broker that was founded in 2016, they have a number of different goals which includes the desire to amaze their clients with an intense service, be devout and resolute, to manage colleagues and clients with respect, to consider customer opinion, to construct an optimistic crew, to always be responsible and efficient, to operate and adapt innovation and to accept responsibility to their behavior. This is all stuff that sounds great on paper, but we will be using this review to see if they also do these things in reality.

Account Types

Should you decide to sign up there are four different accounts available, each having their own entry requirements and trading conditions, we have outlined them for you below.

Schatz Lite: The minimum deposit requirement for this account is $1,000, it comes with spreads starting from 0.8 pips and has an added commission of $10 per lot traded, The account can be leveraged up to 1:100 and it has currencies, bullions, and indices available to trade. The stop out level for the account is set between 15 – 25%.

Schatz Pro: The minimum deposit requirement for this account is $1,000, it comes with spreads starting from 0.4 pips and has an added commission of $80 per lot traded, The account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and it has currencies, bullions, and indices available to trade. The stop out level for the account is set between 15 – 25%.

Schatz Premium: The minimum deposit requirement for this account is $2,000, it comes with spreads starting from 0.2 pips and has an added commission of $6 per lot traded, The account can be leveraged up to 1:100 and it has currencies, bullions, and indices available to trade. The stop out level for the account is set between 15 – 25%.

Schatz Islamic: The minimum deposit requirement for this account is $1,000, it comes with spreads starting from 0.8 pips and has an added commission of $8 per lot traded, The account can be leveraged up to 1:100 and it has currencies, bullions, and indices available to trade. The stop out level for the account is set between 15 – 25%. This account does not have any swap fees for holding trades overnight.

Platforms

Schatz Markets offers you the desktop, mobile, and web trader versions of MetaTrader 4, the platform comes with a whole host of features that makes it one of the most popular available They include things like live news feeds, ease of use through its user-friendly interface, available advisors make your trading easy, multilingual platform, daily account statement, trailing stop loss facility, configurable charts, and real-time quotes, view all trading activity, the ability to trade directly from the charts and many more features to help with both your trading and analysis.

Leverage

The maximum leverage that you get depends on the account you are using, the Lite, Premium and Islamic accounts all have maximum leverage for 1:100 while the Pro account can be leveraged up to 1:500. The leverage is selected when first opening up an account and should you need to change it, you will need to contact the customer service team with the request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all accounts start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size available is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is an added commission on each account, we have detailed them below for you.

  • Lite Account: $10 per lot traded
  • Pro Account: $8 per lot traded
  • Premium account: $6 per lot traded
  • Islamic Account: $8 per lot traded

Apart from the Premium account, all the commissions charged are above the industry average of $6 per lot traded with the Lite account being quite expensive.

There are also swap charges on all accounts apart from the Islamic account, these are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Sadly, there isn’t a full breakdown of tradable assets, there is a small selection shown but that it is. They have broken their instrument into a number of categories, the first being Forex where there are 60+ currency pairs available including EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD, and USDCAD. There are also metals and energies, for metals, there is just Gold and Silver but for energies, there are not any examples of what is on offer but we would expect oils and Natural Gas as a minimum. The final group is indices, but again, no examples are given so we cannot comment on what is available at this time.

Spreads

Each account type has a different initial starting spread, they are as follows.

  • Lite Account: Starting from 0.8 pips
  • Pro Account: Starting from 0.4 pips
  • Premium account: Starting from 0.2 pips
  • Islamic Account: Starting from 0.4 pips

The spreads are variable which means they will be constantly moving with the markets and different instruments will also have different starting spreads so some will naturally be higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $1,000 which will allow you to open either the Lite, Pro or Islamic account. We do not know if this amount reduces for further deposits to top up the account but we suspect that it would.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are over 9 different financing methods available, unfortunately, the page showing what they are and any details about them are giving a little error. At the bottom of the home page, there is an image of Visa/MasterCard, FasaPay, Neteller, and Skrill so we would assume that those methods are some of the ones available and then we would also expect Bank Wire Transfer to be there too. In terms of fees, we do not know as the page is not loading, but be sure to check with your own bank to see if they will add any transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As the funding page is not loading properly we do not know for sure what is available but suspect that Bank wire Transfer, Visa/MasterCard, FasaPay, Neteller, and Skrill will all be available to withdraw with. Just like with deposits we do not know of any fees, but you should check with your bank or card issuer to see if they add any processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Schultz Markets will aim to process any requests within 24 hours of it being made (more time over weekends and bank holidays). The amount of time after this will depend on the method used but we would expect any requests to be fully processed within 1 to 5 days from it being processed by Schatz Markets.

Bonuses & Promotions

We did not notice any mentions of a bonus or promotions so it seems like there are none running at present, you could, however, contact the customer service team to see if any are coming up as sometimes they are happy to provide a small bonus to potential clients.

Educational & Trading Tools

There isn’t any fixed or dedicated education available, there are just a few small tools or information. There is a new section simply outlining what has happened around the markets and there is a live quotes section showing what the current prices of the markets are, that is about it. It would be good to see Schatz Markets add a few educational tools to help their clients improve on their trading in the future.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available to help and is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week. You can use the online submission form to fill in your query and then get a reply via email, there is also a postal address available as well as an email address so you can choose to contact in one of those ways too. It is a shame that there is no phone number but the methods provided will suffice.

Address: 20-22, Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

You can open up a demo account by selecting demo instead of live when opening up an account, demo accounts allow you to test out the trading conditions and anew strategies without risking any of your own capital The trading conditions are not shown on the initial signup page so we do not know which of the accounts you can mimic the trading conditions of or if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not provided on the site so we would recommend contacting the customer service team prior to signing up for an account to ensure that you are eligible for one.

Conclusion

Schatz Markets offers a range of accounts each with their distinct trading conditions, they make things a little more straight forward with just the one platform choice. The spreads are starting low which is good, but they are coupled with a rather steep commission, considering the Lite account has a commission of $10 per lot we would expect the spreads to be a bit lower than 0.8 pips, these combined can make trading very expensive, the other accounts are slightly better but still a little too high compared to the competition.

There isn’t a full breakdown of assets available and the funding page seems to be broken so we do not have any concrete evidence of which methods are available or if there are any fees. With the broker being so expensive and some information missing we would suggest looking for a cheaper broker.

Categories
Forex Forex Brokers

Trade Real Capital Group Review

Trade Real is an online foreign exchange broker, they do not give much about themselves away, they start by stating their mission and that is how we will open this review, with the intention to look into the services on offer to see if they manage to stick to their mission plan.

“TRADE REAL is no stranger to providing live-streaming prices and timely news updates, by constantly monitoring, maintaining and planning real-time solutions. With our team’s unrelenting perseverance, TRADE REAL has formed tighter bonds with some key liquidity providers in the market, so as to keep liquidity at optimal levels. We excel in market research and information mining and take pride in offering the tightest spreads and most transparent pricing. Furthermore, we execute all client orders at the fastest pace possible, a key requirement for a reliable trading platform.”

Account Types

There isn’t an account comparison page, so as we go through the site we will outline any potential differences in accounts, if there are no differences then it will mean that there is just the one account type available.

Platforms

MetaTrader 4 is the available trading platform, released by MetaQuotes in 2005, MT4
has become one of the world’s most popular trading platforms. It is full of features to help with your trading and analysis like the built-in technical indicators allow you to analyze securities’ quotes, whilst the MQL4 network enables the development and usage of automated trading strategies.

It is highly accessible and can be used as a web trader, mobile application or as a desktop download. Hosting an easy to use user interface, compatibility with expert advisors and indicators and a huge amount of customization, MT4 should be perfect for your trading needs.

Leverage

We do not actually know what the available leverage is, the site simply states that it offers “high leverage”. What that actually means we do not know. We do know that you can change your leverage by sending a request to the customer service team, but that isn’t very helpful when you don’t know what leverages are available.

Trade Sizes

The trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots, we do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

The FAQ section of the site has questions such as, “Do you charge any commission for spreads?”, or the answer to this question is “Do you charge any commission for spreads?”, so not the most helpful information for those seeking information about the broker itself. We do not know if there are any added commissions when trading. There are, however, swap charges which can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There isn’t a full specification of the available assets, instead, there are some pages detailing a little information about each one. The first group is Forex, there are over 40 different instruments on offer including currencies such as the Australian Dollar, Swiss Franc, Euro, Great British Pound, Japanese Yen and US Dollar. In terms of commodities, it looks like just US Crude Oil and Brent Crude Oil are available to trade. For Precious Metals, there is only Gold and Silver tradable against USD. The final section is the Index instruments, they are AXCAUD, EXCEUR, GRCEUR, GECEUR, UKCGBP, JPCJPY, CHCUSD, HSCHKD, HKCHKD, SGDSGD, DJCUSD, NACUSD, SPCUSD.

Spreads

The spreads are not known, the advantages page states that they are tight spreads, but no more information, we do know that they are variable spreads. This means that they are influenced by the markets and will move up and down depending on the amount of volatility or liquidity in the markets.

Minimum Deposit

Sadly we do not know what the minimum deposit requirement is or what is needed to open up an account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are UnionPay, Visa/MasterCard, Skrill, Neteller, ePayments and Bank Wire Transfer. There are no additional charges added by Trade Real however, you should check with your own bank or card issuer to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, we have outlined them below along with their minimum withdrawal amounts and any added fees.

  • UnionPay – Min withdrawal is $25 – $25 added fee
  • Visa/MasterCard – You can not withdraw using this method
  • Skrill – Min withdrawal is $50 – 1% added fee
  • Neteller – Min withdrawal is $50 – 2% (max $30) added fee
  • ePayments – Min withdrawal is $50 – No added fee
  • Bank Wire Transfer – Min withdrawal is $200 – $40 added fee

You should also check with the method you are using just in case they add any incoming processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will be processed within 3 days of the request being made, it will then take an additional 1 to 5 working days for the withdrawal to be fully processed depending on the method used and the method’s own processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not appear to be any bonuses or promotions active at the time of writing this review, you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The education that is provided is as basic as it can get. They offer a forex glossary which simply tells you what different terms mean, ok to refer back to if you come across something you do not know the meaning of. There is then a guide for using MT$ on Mac and PC, that is all that is on offer, so nothing that will help you become an expert trader, you will need to look elsewhere for that.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available Monday to Friday. Sadly, the only way to get in contact with them is using the online submission form, you will need to fill it in with your question or query and you should then get a reply within 24 hours. This is a really personal approach and it would be good to see additional methods of contact added such as a phone or live chat feature.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out the trading conditions and strategies without any real risk, we do not know what the trading counterions are or if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

Demo account registration form.

Countries Accepted

This information is not available on the site so we would recommend contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible before you sign up.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing, we do not know much about the accounts or their trading conditions so we cannot comment on how expensive it is to trade here. The only real information is on the funding methods which are plentiful but there are withdrawal fees. Very limited ways to contact the customer service team and all the missing information makes this a broker to avoid.