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DAX100Fx claims that they are Europe’s Main Trading Center, offering a variety of financial assets to trade using six different accounts. When it comes to regulation, the information provided on the Dax100Fx website is confusing, to say the least. The brokerage seems to be registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, but, under the name Veneda Partners Ltd. Those of you who have been trading for a while, probably know that this address is one of the most commonly used among unregulated brokers.

The information gets confusing as one can see another company name mentioned on the website which is ZEUS Partnership OU which is claiming to be registered in Estonia and on the Terms and Conditions page the broker claims to follow the laws of Bulgaria, a member of the European Union, but apart from here, we find no other mention of a Bulgarian company or license. Although all this information suggests that this broker might not be the most reliable out there, they do use the most popular platform available, the MT5. If you want to find out more about this broker, keep reading this review as we will share with you all that we found regarding DAX100Fx.

Account Types

This broker offers its clients a choice of 6 different accounts namely; Basic, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Black. Unfortunately, the information provided by the broker leaves many questions unanswered. Apart from claiming that all accounts receive 24/5 support, daily market reviews, pro webinars and price alerts, the only other information given is the minimum deposit required which ranges from $250 for the basic account, to a whopping $100,000 for the Black account. The Gold, Platinum and Black accounts also receive an expert intro session, Strategic analysis, private session and a number of live webinars.

The Black account also enjoys an exclusive access position. The broker does not go into detail about these benefits. As a result of the lack of information provided, we cannot comment on leverage, available currencies, maximum order size, margin calls or stop out levels. Needless to say, the lack of information does seem a bit fishy. 4 of the available 6 accounts do have a welcome bonus but we will go into detail about this in the Promotions and Bonuses section of this review.

Platforms

DAX100Fx appear to have their own trading platform that is the product of years of investment expertise as well as technological experience. This broker states that its platform combines simplicity in a user-friendly format with a variety of tools and features that guarantee a professional trading practice. The platform enables real-time trading with asset prices updated second-by-second, checking of account balance and transfer funds in and out of trading accounts easily and clients can also access their trading history and analyze their personal performance.

It is interesting to note, that although this broker claims to be using their own platform, we realized they are actually making use of the Meta Trader platform. We are unsure why they would do this, as most brokers would be more than happy to use the MetaTrader as it is by far the most trusted, and most popular platform available at the moment.

Leverage

Although there is no clear information on their Accounts page regarding leverages offered, we did find a brief mention of it on their FAQ page, where this broker stated that they provide leverage up to 1:400 on selected assets, but these selected assets were not named.

Trade Sizes

We cannot offer any information about trade sizes as we could not find any on DAX100Fx website. If you are interested, you can try and get in touch with the broker through their contact us page.

Trading Costs

On their FAQ page, DAX100Fx claims to have completely eliminated brokerage fees, stamp taxes, and other handling charges. They also go further to guarantee that when using this broker, there are no hidden fees, service charges, commissions or administrative costs. This is quite contradictory to some information we found regarding withdrawing funds and idle accounts, but we will go through this later on in the review.

Like many other aspects of this broker’s website, we failed to locate any info regarding spreads or commissions that clients may encounter when dealing with DAX100Fx apart from on their main page where we did find information claiming that they offer spreads as low as 2 Pips and low overnight fees, but again we cannot comment any further on this.

Assets

DAC100Fx offer over 300 of the world’s most popular financial assets to their clients. We did find some information about these assets on their Charts Page. There are 6 currency pairs available namely; EUR/USD, BPG/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, and USD/CAD. We are unsure if this is the full list of currency pairs available or just a sample. One can find similar lists for Indicies, Commodities, and Bonds available through this broker.

Spreads

As we mentioned before, not much information is given regarding spreads, apart from a bullet point on their main page stating that this broker offers spreads as low as 2 Pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required for the six accounts available through DAX100Fx are all different. The cheapest deposit is available for the Basic account at $250. This increases to $1000 for the Bronze account, £5000 for the Silver, $10,000 for the Gold, $50,000 for Platinum and $100,000 for the Black account. The numbers are quite high especially when considering that some brokers offer minimum deposits of under $10 in some cases.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Clients may deposit their funds via Visa, MasterCard, wire transfer and ecoPayz. On their Terms and Conditions page, one can find information about which fees apply for depositing your money. For credit card deposits, when a client chooses an account in a different currency than USD, the credit card will be debited properly in accordance with the amount deposited and the applicable exchange rates.

Additional credit card fees may apply, if this occurs, the client may notice discrepancies between the sum deposited and the sum charged onto his/her credit card. The broker also mentions that only the equal amount (or less) of money deposited per card may be withdrawn from the same card. We advise you to contact the broker for a more detailed explanation of what charges/fees you might expect when dealing with DAX100Fx.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

An area that we think it quite troubling with this broker is the withdrawal fees. There is a dormant account fee of 10% per month, as well as a withdrawal fee, minimum withdrawal amount and a turnover requirement. If your red flags are flashing, we don’t blame you. Expect to pay $50 or equivalent for wire transfers, $25 or equivalent for credit card withdrawals plus an additional processing fee of $10, £5 or 7Eur and $25 or equivalent for ePayments. Definitely not the cheapest withdrawal fees we’ve encountered.

Apart from this, clients will have to pay 10% of the withdrawal amount to any withdrawal from accounts that have not executed more than 200 turnover and/or from accounts that have not been verified. We hope that clients are very aware of these charges before dealing with this broker, as they may have a detrimental effect on their funds.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

In order to withdraw funds from your trading account with DAX100Fx, you are required to fill out a ‘Withdrawal Form’ and submit it accordingly. On their FAQ page, this broker states that you should allow 3-5 business days for the funds to be fully credited to your banking account, whilst on their main page the broker claims that withdrawal requests are processed within 48 hours. On their FAQ page, we also found out that clients have exactly 24 hours to cancel a withdrawal request.

Bonuses & Promotions

Four of the 6 accounts offered by DAX100Fx have bonuses allocated to them namely; 10% Welcome bonus for the Silver account, 20% Welcome bonus for the Gold account, 30% Welcome bonus for Platinum and 30% for the Black account. We did ask for more information via email, but after 48hours we were not given any more info regarding these bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

Although this broker has an Academy page on their website, it is completely empty. We aren’t sure whether there was an issue with the site whilst we were going through it, or whether this section is lacking any kind of useful information for potential clients.
As for trading tools, this broker does offer one calculator which is a Pip Calculator and on their website, you can also find charts for Indices, Commodities, Bonds, and FX.

Customer Service

If you want to get in touch with DAX100Fx, you have 3 methods at your disposal. You can either fill out a contact form, send them an e-mail or call their landline. We did, in fact, try to contact them via e-mail, but even though this broker claims to offer 24/5 customer response, we were left without any answers to our questions.

Unfortunately, DAX100Fx does not offer a live chat option which is generally a very quick and efficient way to contact many brokers. We also found another piece of puzzling information on their contact page as there seems to be an Azerbaijan address. We are unsure how this ties in with their registration in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Estonia that we mentioned earlier on in this review. Here is their contact info;

Address: Partner for Reception of Payments
MasterPay LTD. 60/89 Mr Jalal Str.
Baku, Azerbaijan
Support Email: [email protected]
Compliance Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44207862469

Demo Account

There seems to be no Demo account available for potential clients to test what it’s really like to trade using DAX100Fx.

Countries Accepted

This broker does not state whether it has any restrictions regarding the opening of accounts from certain countries. When we were scrolling through their available countries on their open account page, we did not pinpoint any missing countries, so this broker might accept clients from all over the globe. If you cannot find your country in the list, try contacting the broker directly for more information.

Conclusion

When comparing the pros and cons of DAX100Fx, it is quite evident that we have encountered more cons than pros. The website is quite bland and lacking a lot of essential information that clients definitely look for when choosing a broker. Apart from the incomplete information, we also found a lot of contradicting statements that make us wonder whether this broker is in fact trustworthy.

This broker also offers no educational content or current news articles for clients to expand their trading knowledge. On the plus side, even though we’re not 100% sure, this broker seems to offer competitive spreads starting at 2Pips and it does support the popular MetaTrader platform.

The trading conditions, numerous extra fees and limited asset portfolio along with inconsistent information make this broker one to be wary of. If you’d still like to discover more about DAX100Fx you can head on to their website to decide for yourself whether this broker is the right one for you.

AlainFX is a UK-based broker that has been established since 2015 and seems to be a big hit in India. AlainFX offers online trading for a wide range of financial assets, including shares, indices, foreign exchange, and commodities. It is unregulated and the footer on their site indicates that they are incorporated in Saint Vincents, a location used by many unregulated brokers.

As one can see from their ‘About Us’ page, AlainFX claims to have a successful history full of high achievements, long-term relationships with their clients and even technological breakthroughs. Contrary to these claims, we found quite a large number of negative feedback about this broker on online reviews, so keep reading to discover what we’ve found out about AlainFx and determine whether they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

If you decide to trade using AlainFx you will have a choice of three different account types, namely; Basic, Economy, and Classic. All three accounts are similar when it comes to minimum trade size, which is 1 micro lot and all three are fee-free. The minimum deposit required changes according to which account you opt for, and these range from $100 for a basic account to $10,000 for a Classic account, which means this broker has an account suitable for beginners as well as more advanced clients.

The stop levels for the Basic and the Economic accounts are at 50% but this increases to 70% for the Classic account. When it comes to leverage this broker offers a maximum of 1:400 for the Basic account (remember to always be cautious of such high leverages as these can result in major losses), 1:200 for the Economic account and leverage is decreased further to 1:100 for the Classic account.

We have noticed that this broker’s average spreads are quite high when compared to other brokers, as they amount to around 2.5pip for the Basic account and decrease to 0.7pips for the classic account, so this would mean that in order to get decent spreads when using AlainFx, you would have to open a classic account, which is not affordable to everyone as it has a minimum deposit of $10,000.

On their website, you can find a clear account breakdown that can help guide you towards the ideal account for you. We have also listed the main conditions for all three accounts listed below.

Basic Account
Minimum Deposit: $100 – $1000
Leverage: 1.1 – 1:400
Spreads: 2.5 Pips
Commissions – None

Economic Account
Minimum Deposit: $500 – $5000
Leverage: 1:1 – 1:200
Spreads: 1.7Pips
Commissions – None

Classic Account
Minimum Deposit: $10000 – Unlimited
Leverage: 1:1 – 1:100
Spreads: 0.9Pips
Commissions – None

Platforms

AlainFX uses MetaTrader 5 (MT5) solely as their platform, and we can’t complain, as this platform, released in 2010, is used by millions worldwide and for good reason. The MT5 platform comes equipped with around 40 technical indicators, 44 analytical objects and they also provide candlestick, line and bar charts with a wide variety of time frames and much more. As it is stated in AlainFx’s site, the MT5 is compatible with windows, Mac, iPhone and Ipad as well as android. This means that you can access your accounts wherever you are through your phone or tablet.

Leverage

The leverage ratios offered depend on the type of account that you opt for and the volume of funds that your account holds. As we mentioned before leverages range from 1:1 to 1:400. We couldn’t find much more information regarding leverages on their website; obviously it would be beneficial to have more information regarding this before opening an account with AlainFX.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size offered by AlainFX is the same for all three accounts, that of 0.01, also known as a micro lot. There is no indication of what the maximum trade size is for this broker but it is not recommended to go over 50 lots as this makes it harder for instant execution.

Trading Costs

From the information provided on their website, we could not find any commissions added to trades. Even when going through the Trading Conditions segment of their site, we did not find any mention of fees or commissions. We tried to contact AlainFx to make sure no hidden fees are present but no answer was provided during the writing of this review. It seems that clients’ costs are derived from the spread, which we will look at later on in this review, as well as overnight (swap) financing, where applicable.

Assets

AlainFX has broken down their assets into six categories namely; Forex with over 55 currency pairs consisting of major, minor and also exotic pairs available for trading, Metals including Gold and Silver, CFD’s, Commodities including cotton, corn, WTI crude oil, coffee and sugar amongst others, Indices and shares. We found no mention of cryptocurrencies available for trade with this broker.

Spreads

This broker states that their clients can enjoy low spreads through interbank sources, acquired from over 100 of the world’s leading banks and alternative market makers, providing a concrete source of liquidity for their traders. On their site, AlainFx claims to have spreads starting from 0.0pips but as we went through all their available products, we failed to find one where the spreads actually started at 0.0pips.

We actually found a segment of the site where this statement is contradicted as it states that spreads start from 0.2 pips, so we are uncertain about this detail. As we mentioned before, AlainFX offers spreads which range from normal, like 0.026 for USD/JPY, to quite high like 2.4 for USD/RUB. It is always advised to have a clear indication of what spreads a broker offers before beginning to trade with them.

Minimum Deposit

The three accounts offered by this broker have different minimum deposit requirements, as is the norm. The most affordable account is the basic account which requires a fair $100. The Economic account, which is stated as the most popular on their website, has a minimum deposit of $1000 which is still quite affordable, whereas the Classic account required a $10,000 deposit which makes it suitable for experienced traders.

Deposit Methods & Costs

This broker offers a variety of deposit methods namely; MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Neteller, Webmoney, China Union Pay, Skrill, Yemadai, Local Deposit, Ideal and Giropay among others. One can see that this broker offers a very wide variety of deposit methods which is convenient. It seems that all deposit methods are fee-free, but the processing time varies from instant with Mastercard, Visa, WeChatPay, American Express, Ideal, Maestro, etc to 5-7 days with International Deposit. You can find a list on AlainFX’s website indicating the waiting time for each method.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawal methods and costs on AlainFX’s website are exactly the same as their deposit methods, so clients have a wide variety of options when it comes to withdrawing their money. We must also mention that we found a number of online complaints regarding withdrawals with AlainFx. Although we cannot verify these complaints, it is always suggested to do your own research before working with a particular broker.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As with the deposits the waiting time varies from instant to 3-7 days depending on the method you opt for.

Bonuses & Promotions

On AlainFx’s accounts website page, it is indicated that both the Basic and Economic accounts have promotions, but we did not find any other information regarding these. We also tried to reach out for more information but it seems that their LiveChat isn’t functioning at the moment. Although we could not find any promotions or bonuses on the website, they do have an interesting Partnership page that offers a number of different opportunities to those interested in partnering with this broker namely; Introducing Broker, Regional Representative, Alai Card Dealer or White Label. You can find more information about these on the Partnership page on AlainFX’s website.

Educational & Trading Tools

Although this broker has a dedicated page to Education on their website, it seems to lack useful articles for anyone looking to learn more about the subject. The website also indicates that there is a quiz that one can take to determine their trading personality, but we could not find the actual quiz on the site. The only information found on the Education page is a description of the types of traders one can find namely; Beginners, Intermediate and Expert. Needless to say, this segment leaves much to be desired.

When it comes to the tools used by this broker, namely; MT5, the broker does offer some brief information about this platform. It is important to note that although the Education part of the website is practically non-existent, one can still find snippets of information regarding trading throughout the site for example product histories and descriptions.

Customer Service

This broker seems to have good customer service from what is stated on their website. A multi-lingual support team is available 24hours a day during the Forex trading week. You can reach out to them either via live chat, phone or through a number of different emails available. It is good to note that the Sales and Technical Support Team is available 24/7.

When it comes to actually using the customer service AlainFX has to offer, we encountered a number of issues. The live-chat buttons don’t seem to be working at the moment, an e-mail we sent with some queries was not answered after 48hours and we also noticed that the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram buttons on their site, all direct the user to the main AlainFX website. We also realized that although there are 6 different numbers which one can call for these different reasons, namely; Complaints, Technical Support, Payments, Account support, Sales and General Queries, all 6 numbers are identical.

We are unsure if these are all temporary issues that the broker is arranging at the moment or if this broker has a below-average customer care service.

Demo Account

This broker offers free demo accounts for any potential clients that would like to practice and sharpen their trading skills before actually delving into the trading market. Singing up for a demo account seems very straightforward and should only take up a minute of your time. To sign up you must provide your first and last name, e-mail address, date of birth, country of residence and a contact number. There is no information about what type of account this demo would mimic (Basic, Economic or Classic) and again our questions have not been answered by their customer service.

Countries Accepted

AlainFX welcomes traders from all over the globe. As we went through the list of countries whilst setting up a live account, we did not notice any missing countries. So countries such as the USA, New Zealand and Japan which are sometimes not accepted due to law violations are welcome to use this broker for their trading. However, if you do have an issue with finding your country whilst setting up your account, speak to the customer service for further information.

Conclusion

AlainFX is an unregulated broker that provides a variety of trading options, including; 3 different account types that vary in leverage and minimum deposits, making this broker affordable for a wide range of trading enthusiasts. Although this broker only works with 1 platform, MT5, it is still one of the most popular platforms out there with ample extra features to help you with your trading activities.

This broker also offers several funding methods and there seem to be no extra charges associated with deposits and withdrawals. At the moment there are no ongoing bonuses or promotions available on their website and the education segment is quite lacking when it comes to up to date information which can help guide beginners. The support seems to be adequate but our own experience thus far has been lacking as no feedback was given through email and we could not access their live chat. A good factor about this broker is that there are no restricted countries which means you can easily set up an account with AlainFX from any part of the globe.

Topic Markets, otherwise known as TMFX, is an online FX & CFD broker that is located in the United Kingdom. The company is registered with the Vanuatu financial service commission under the name TI Securities Limited and has managed to attract a growing number of clients since its establishment in 2018, although the website doesn’t provide us with an exact figure. The company offers leveraged trading as high as 1:400 on FX, metals, and CFD options. Stay with us to find out more about the conditions on the broker’s five different account types.

Account Types

Topic Markets features five different account types: Classic, Pro, Premium, VIP, and Islamic/Swap-Free. The Classic account provides a typical trading experience, minus the ability to trade metals, with the lowest deposit requirement and the highest leverage option. The Pro account keeps spreads at the industry average or below while providing access to metals and offering a commission-free experience. The Premium and VIP accounts reward those that can make larger deposits with tight spreads, although commissions are charged are both accounts. It’s also nice to see an account created specifically for clients of the Islamic religion, as many others seem to offer these accounts as an afterthought. The drawbacks to choosing this specialized account would be higher spreads and a lack of market execution.

Classic Account
Minimum Deposit: $200
Leverage: 1:400
Spread: 1-2 pips
Commission: None
Instruments: FX & CFDs

Pro Account
Minimum Deposit: $3,000
Leverage: 1:200
Spread: 0.8-1.5 pips
Commission: None
Instruments: FX, CFDs, & metals

Premium Account
Minimum Deposit: $7,500
Leverage: 1:200
Spread: 0.1-0.5 pips
Commission: Yes
Instruments: FX, CFDs, & metals

VIP Account
Minimum Deposit: $15,000
Leverage: 1:100
Spread: 0.1-0.5 pips
Commission: Yes
Instruments: FX, CFDs, & metals

Islamic/Swap-Free Account
Minimum Deposit: $1,000
Leverage: 1:200
Spread: 3 to 5 pips
Commission: Yes
Instruments: FX

Platform

The broker supports the award-winning MetaTrader 4 platform, available on PC, mobile, tablets, or through the WebTrader, in addition to their own mobile platform, which can be downloaded on Android and iOS devices. MT4 is a timeless option and is most commonly chosen by forex brokers, due to the wide range of tools and features that are built into the platform. Within MT4, we see Expert Advisors, multiple languages supported, the ability to trade micro-lots, and other extra features that aren’t always supported by others. The broker describes their own platform as having a sleek look and feel, with robust trading options, new execution gestures, and the most accurate market rates.

Leverage

The highest leverage option goes up to an impressive 1:400 on the broker’s Classic account. This would be the best option for those that absolutely require a large leverage ratio for trading. Meanwhile, the Pro, Premium, and Islamic accounts all offer leverage as high as 1:200. This amount should be satisfactory enough for most traders since many find it too risky to trade with a leverage level that is higher than this. As for the VIP account type, we see the lowest limit at 1:100. Brokers often place these limitations on accounts that require large deposit amounts, so it isn’t surprising to see the lower cap here.

Trade Sizes

The Classic account is the only option that allows for the trading of micro-lots. The Pro and Islamic accounts set the minimum at one mini lot, while the Premium and VIP accounts require a minimum trade size of 1 lot. The Classic account allows for 100 simultaneously open orders, the Pro and Islamic accounts allow for 200 open orders, and the Premium and VIP accounts allow for 300 open and pending orders. As for the exact margin call/stop out levels and maximum trade sizes, the website isn’t as transparent.

Trading Costs

Topic Markets profits through typical charges on spreads, commission fees, and overnight financing fees (or swaps). Starting with commissions, we will note that these charges aren’t applicable on the Classic and Pro account types. One thing that the website fails to cover is the exact charges incurred through these fees. As fans of transparency, we are disappointed that the exact figure isn’t available. We are also curious as to whether the broker charges the same standard commissions on each of these accounts, or if each account has a different charge.

We’ll offer more detail on spreads later, but for now, traders should know that most accounts keep the spreads well-below average, with the exception of a couple of the accounts. Overnight interest charges can be viewed within the MT4 platform and will be charged on applicable positions that are left open overnight, with triple charges occurring on Wednesdays. The broker does not seem to tack on any extra fees, like inactivity fees, transfer fees, etc.

Assets

Before we provide more detail on the available instruments, we’d like to remind traders that there are some limitations on the Classic and Islamic accounts that exclude those account holders from trading metals. Otherwise, the broker’s instrument portfolio consists of FX, metals, and CFDs. More than 50 currency pairs are available, while the broker also offers CFDs on stocks, indices, commodities, and energies like oil and gas. Metal options include Gold, Silver, and Pallidum, in addition to a few other possible options.

Spreads

All of the spreads offered by Topic Markets are floating, however, there are limitations that stop spreads from going higher than a certain amount. This is reassuring, as we often notice that brokers advertise the lowest possible spread when their options can climb much higher. Those with the Premium and VIP account types will see the tightest spreads, which start from 0.1 pips and go no higher than 0.5 pips.

The Pro account comes in second place, with options beginning at 0.8 pips and topping out at the industry average of 1.5 pips. From there, we see higher spreads on the Classic account, which are between 1-2 pips. On the bright side, the account doesn’t have any commission charges, meaning that this offer is fairly competitive. Islamic account holders will see much higher spreads that range from 3 to 5 pips. The higher options would stem from the lack of swap charges, although this option still seems high, considering that Islamic account holders pay commissions.

Minimum Deposit

The broker’s lowest deposit offer is $200 on their Classic account. The asking amount is so-so, as many others allow a deposit of around $100 or less on at least one account type. Islamic account holders will have to make a significant deposit of at least $1,000 in order to open one of those accounts. Even though this broker has paid special attention to those clients, some may be forced to look elsewhere for a cheaper option.

The Pro account requires a $3,000 deposit, while the Premium account asks for $7,500, and the VIP asks for the highest deposit at $15,000. Note that the Premium account has an ongoing promotion that lowers the account’s requirement to $5,000 for now. Many traders may be limited to the Classic account because of the higher requirements this broker is asking for on most of their accounts.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded through bank wire, credit/debit cards, and Neteller. Transactions through bank wire are handled by the company’s affiliate bank, which can almost definitely guarantee that fees will be applicable on deposits. However, the broker mentions that any fees incurred on deposits will be reimbursed, so traders will definitely want to check with support if there are fees deducted when funding through any method.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The broker doesn’t offer much information about withdrawals on their website, other than mentioning that all deposit methods are available for withdrawals and that it is necessary to withdraw through the method that was used to fund the account. The fact that the broker isn’t willing to provide us with information about potential fees is concerning. We would definitely recommend making a test withdrawal to be aware of any hidden charges.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The broker mentions that withdrawals are processed instantly. Typically, it can take companies anywhere from 1 to 5 business days to process funds. Once those funds have been sent, we see a waiting period of at least a few business days. Neteller would likely be the fastest option since e-wallets are usually credited with funds much more quickly than bank wire and card options are.

Bonuses & Promotions

The broker has an entire section of their website dedicated to promotions, which includes the following offers:

30% Cashback & Rebate
Introduce & Earn up to $5 IB Commission
Brexit Deal

The IB commission offer seems to reward $5 per client. The Brexit Deal is a multi-offer that would either allow one to open a Premium account for only $5,000 instead of the regular $7,500 requirement or to earn a 75% bonus on the Pro account. The broker also lists free educational resources as an offer, but we would consider this to be something that should already be free.

Educational & Trading Tools

TMFX has an education section that is made up of a forex glossary, economic calendar, FAQ, forms, and a blog. The forex glossary and FAQ seem to focus on providing some of the most relevant terms that revolve around forex trading. The forms section is less of an educational resource, as it simply contains various company documents (KYC, transfer form, account opening form, etc.). The broker’s blog can be helpful, as it focuses on trends in the market and provides predictions that may help traders make choices about which instruments to trade.

Demo Account

The broker has made the strange decision not to provide demo accounts. Anyone that has traded from a demo before knows how helpful these accounts can be when it comes to getting much-needed practice and testing strategies. The majority of others do provide demo accounts. Hopefully, TMFX will offer the option in the near future.

Customer Service

Support can be reached 24/5 through chat instantly, or via phone, email, or by filling out a form on the website. Although the broker does provide 24-hour support, we did notice that there weren’t any agents on chat when we checked on a weekday. The broker also provides two phone numbers, but there doesn’t seem to be any specific reason to call one or the other, as the numbers aren’t linked to different departments or offices.

If you’d like to get in touch through email, you’ll be able to send your email to one convenient address. Otherwise, the contact form on the website can be filled out by navigating to the “Contact US” page, located on the top menu. The contact information has been listed below.

Phone
+44 2032 870795
+44 2032 397894
Email: [email protected]
Address: Golden Cross House, 8 Duncannon St, London WC2N 4JF, United Kingdom

Countries Accepted

The broker seems to be accepting of all clients, as we couldn’t find any disclaimer listing specifically restricted countries. To be sure, we did check out the registration form to check for any missing locations that stood out. Fortunately, we found the United States, Iran, Iraq, North and South Korea, and all other options available on the sign-up page.

Conclusion

Topic Markets offers the ability to trade more than 50 currency pairs, metals, and CFDs on oil and other commodities from five different account types. A Classic account can be opened with $200, while Islamic account holders will have to pay $1,000 and it would cost at least $3,000 to open the Pro account and up. The broker offers a maximum leverage cap of 1:400, with caps lowered to 1:100 and 1:200 on most of the accounts. There are limitations placed on the spreads that keep options within a reasonable amount, with spreads going no higher than 0.5 pips on some accounts.

On the downside, the broker doesn’t provide us with the exact commission charges that are applicable. When it comes to payments, the website is extremely vague about potential charges, although we do see instant processing times and the company is willing to reimburse any fees charged on deposits. Support is available 24/5, but instant support is not always available during business hours.

The broker is currently offering several promotions that would credit cashback rebates on deposited amounts, IB commission bonuses for referred clients, and an option to open the Premium account for $2,500 less. There are some educational resources available, but options are fairly limited and don’t go into much detail. Demo accounts are also missing from the list. The broker is willing to accept clients from all locations, so this could be a plus for those located in commonly restricted regions.

London Capital Group is a veteran broker doing business since 1996 and has grown into a multi-branch company regulated by 3 different authorities. In 2018 LCG got delisted from the London Stock exchange to become a privately held company, effectively detaching from the LGC Group Holdings. The main reason behind this step according to the press is to cut losses. LCG has 3 domains or website versions, and depending on the client country the regulation could be from CySEC, FCA or Securities Commission of Bahamas (SCB) for their international website. The registration will give you an option to select BHS, CySEC or FCA Account as all can be opened at the same time.

For traders, the biggest practical difference is the leverage allowed. LCG is well known for its extensive asset range and one of the big players on the scene boasting with $20 trillion executed trades volume and $1 billion in deposits. There are also multiple awards in different categories, from platform innovations to the best Forex Fundamental Analysis Provider. LCG launched its platform, LCG Trader in 2016, as a specialized platform that will effectively use and integrate their services. On top of this, LCG states they offer security, tight spreads, and analysis. As for the security, FCA regulation includes the FSCS compensation scheme up to £85,000 or up to €20,000 ICF compensation for the CySEC regulated account in the case of LCG insolvency.

The LCG website is well designed, polished, with great transparency and information availability. The content is mixed with marketing as expected, like stating that LGC Group is publically listed, but this has nothing to do with London Capital Group Limited. Still, it does leave an impression of a serious broker for professional and intermediate traders. Interestingly, all these features did not result in good user ratings. On several independent benchmarking sites, LCG received average or bad ratings and none of these reviews received attention form the LCG staff.

In the following sections of this LCG review, we will evaluate their service so traders can see if LCG is a match for their trading style and other requirements.

Account Types

LCG offers Classic and the ECN Account type. Classic Account does not have any special traits except no minimum deposit requirements and relatively competitive spreads. This is the standard account as the ECN type will require a much higher minimum deposit, and additionally, a minimum balance required to maintain it.

The ECN Account has a bit lower leverage than Classic under the BSC regulation but still high enough. ECN Account has a commission charge and spreads from 0 pips for Forex instruments, no requotes and is classified as a Direct Market Access type. Islamic Account or Swap-free is also available upon request. All Accounts have the same asset range and no other differences except for the spread, leverage, and commission. More detail on each category in the following sections.

Platforms

LCG established the LCG Trader platform and holds the license for the MetaTrader 4. MT4 is a well-known platform and LCG offers it in the Web-accessible version as well as for Desktop and laptop computers running on Windows and Mac OS. Mobile versions are also available for Android and iOS. MT4 Multiterminal version is offered for managing multiple accounts and usually used for MAM. Upon installation, MT4 showed 4 LCG servers, LCG-Live 1 and 2 and LCG-Demo 1 and 2, all with around 54ms latency.

We are met with the default layout, with four major forex charts without visible One-click trading buttons. The client version is the latest and set to defaults with the LCG physical address in London not mentioned on the website. The default 4 forex pairs are not open for trading by default as they belong to symbols that are closed for trading and this may confuse first-time users. Some of the symbols have a dot suffix and some are disabled for trading. These are used just for conversion purposes as we are informed by the LGC staff.

The symbols are neatly grouped into groups and subgroups that match the category they belong to. Some groups have E or C suffix, probably signaling the Classic and ECN account assets. The instruments’ specification window is showing all the important trading information. Trading Terminal is showing all trading costs and other relevant data. Execution times were 114ms on average with very small deviations, rarely going up above 117 ms.

LCG proprietary platform is one of the best web-accessible platforms in the industry. The platform is also available for mobile devices running on Android and iOS. Spot on you will notice all the tools and features that experienced traders will understand without hassle. The platform has good looking charts with a similar color palette like Tradingview, completely modular windows with the flex auto arrangement. Each chart window has toolbars to the left, right and on top of the frame.

Starting for the top, traders will have the instrument selector, chart linking, and timeframe options. Timeframes are not classical and the standard has M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M10, M15, M30, H1, H4, H12, D1, W1, MN and the Tick variant has the range from 1 to 1000 ticks. Right next is the Single chart mode switch. The left toolbar side has the chart type selection with Bar, Line, Candlestick, Dots, Heaikin Ashi and HLC. Below is the Indicators selection, we have counted more than 60 indicators equally distributed into 5 categories, Trend, Oscillators, Volatility Volume, and Others.

The indicators will have settings to change line colors, add levels apply different calculations, etc but still, custom indicators from MT4 can be superior in terms of setting versatility and combining with others. Templates are similar in function like in MT4 and also workspaces can be saved. The left sidebar contains the windows arrangement buttons, and various on-chart drawing and measuring tools. These include Crosshair measurements, Market Spanshots, Trendlines, Channels, Fibonacci tools, Shapes, Text, and Coloring.

Price Alert button is the last and will serve as a selectable on-chart pointer where the alert will be triggered. The alert window will give you options to set a higher or lower range trigger to Ask/Bid price. The alert can play a sound and pop up. The right part of the platform holds the Watchlist and the instrument Finder. The watchlist can be customized but we have noticed that the Spread and other information MT4 has is not available.

Trading instruments are neatly categorized into logical relevant groups with the finder toolbar. There are also settings for fast trading orders, dark theme switch, notifications, Email Alerts, and hotkeys list. The platform is fully packed with integrated services from the broker. An interesting and useful Analyze mode is added where traders will find data about their trading risk, exposure, drawdown, and many more, similar to the MT4 Strategy Tester. Newsfeed, Live Chat, Economic Calendar, Trading Central Signal service, all are integrated into the platform.

The right side panel contains information about the selected market including the DoM on 3 levels, Standard DoM, Price DoM, and VWAP DoM. In addition to all this, the Sentiment indicator is present on many useful places for a glance. Ordering options are also more advanced than in MT4 that professional traders will appreciate. We were connected to Frankfurt servers and we had a latency of just 19ms. Overall, the platform deserves all the rewards.

Leverage

The leverage levels depend on the account type, asset, trader categorization and on the regulation. ECN account under the BSC has 1:200 leverage for most, non-exotic Forex currency pairs, except for CHF/JPY pair which has 1:50 leverage. Exotic forex currency pairs have 1:50 leverage. For Spot Gold quoted in the USD is 1:200 and for Silver is 1:100. Indexes have leverage from 1:100 for uncommon and 1:500 for majors while spot Oil assets have 1:200. Cryptocurrencies have interesting, uncommon leverage of 1:8 according to our measurements in MT4.

Classic account traders under the BSC regulation will have 1:500 leverage for the major forex currency pairs while for minors it is reduced to 1:200. Exotics have 1:50 maximum leverage. Spot Gold has 1:200 and Silver 1:100, the same as with ECN. Indices, Commodities and the rest of the asset categories do not have differences according to the account types.

Under the EU or FCA regulation, the leverage for the ECN and Classic account is the same for the Retail traders, 1:30 for majors and 1:20 for exotic currency pairs. Spot precious metals have 1:20 for Gold and 1:10 for Silver. Indexes have 1:20 or 1:10 leverage depending on the grade and all Commodities have 1:10 leverage. Retail traders will also have 1:5 maximum leverage for Stocks.

Classic and ECN account Professional traders under the FCA or CySEC regulation will have the same leverage as traders under the BSC regulation stated above. BSC regulation does not have trader categorization.

The broker applies dynamic leverage adjustments according to the volume. So a trade above 3 million will automatically have reduced leverage to 1:200, then to 1:100 above 6 million units and so on. The full table scheme will be visible in the LCG Trader.

Trade Sizes

LCG supports micro-lot trade sizes or 0.01 lots for Forex instruments for both account types. Spot Gold and Silver is stated to have a 0.1 lots minimum trade size although what we have seen in the MT4 platform is 0.01 lots. Indices have 0.1 lot minimum except for Nikkei 225 which has 0.01 lit minimum trade size.

Commodities all have 0.1 lots minimum while Bitcoin has 0.01 lot minimum stated in MT4. Note that the Cryptocurrencies offer is not published on the website. What we have noted in the MT4 is 0.01 lot minimum trade size a maximum of 7 lots per trade for Bitcoin. For other cryptos, it is 0.1 lots minimum and 50 lots maximum.

Stops level is zero for almost all forex currency pairs, the exception being the GBP based exotics like GBP/ZAR with 150 points stop level. Although for spot Gold and Silver, it is set to 50 pips which are not negligible. Cryptocurrencies have 20 points Stops level while Oil types have 1 point.

Margin Call and Stop Out levels are not disclosed but from other sources, we have found out that Stop out is set at 50% margin level and Margin Call is at 100%.

Trading Costs

LCG non-spread costs are account, platform and asset-specific. ECN account has the tightest spreads and LCG charges a commission of $45 per $1M traded on the LGC Trade platform and $10 per lot on the MT4 for any asset. This commission is not disclosed in the MT4 instrument specification. Classic Account is commission-free as broker fees are included in the spread. LGC will also have a markup on the spreads for Shares and they go from 0.1% to 0.25% for the SEAQ market. ETF will also have markup to the actual spread from 2 cents per share to 0.2%.

Swaps are under normal levels with frequent positive values. LGC website states 0.04% “admin fee” for overnight open positions but this figure is not additional cost. The swaps shown in the MT4 specification window or the LCG Trader are the full charge or credit. Forex swaps are calculated in points and tripled on Wednesdays. For the EUR/USD the long position swap is -9.32 points and 4.28 for short.

Other majors like USD/JPY also have a positive swap, on the long side is 2.8 points and -7.9 on the short. In the majors’ group, almost all currency pairs had one positive swap and almost all negative swaps are single digit. The exception being the GBP/CAD with -8.76 pints long and -0.36 points short swap, USD/CAD with -3 points on both sides and the EUR/CAD with double-digit negative swap on the long side, -12.22 and 5.28 on short.

Minors had more negative swaps but still, only GBP/NZD had a double-digit negative swap, -14.6 for long and -12.1 points for short position. Exotics currency pairs have a much higher swap as expected. The biggest swap is noted for the EUR/MXN pair with -627 points for long and 215.66 for a short position. USD/RUB pair had the biggest all negative swaps, -287.33 for long and -110.83 points for short.

Precious metals swaps are also calculated in points. Spot Gold quoted in the USD has -11.8 points for long and 3.4 positive swaps for a short position. For the cryptocurrencies category, the swaps are calculated in points too but tripled on Fridays. The long and short position swap is the same, for the BTC/USD is -469.34 points or in other words $4.6934 per traded Bitcoin per day.

Assets

LCG has one of the biggest asset ranges on the market. Starting with Forex class, all the majors and minors are present, and a great number of exotics extend the range to over 60 total pairs. Traders will see a lot of emerging market currencies with GBP, EUR, and USD as a base currency. We have found pairs like GBP/ZAR, EUR/ZAR and more common USD/ZAR. This is also true for PLN, NOK, HUF, CZK, TRY, SGD (also AUD/SGD), PLN (also CHF/PLN), MXN, and SEK. Others are available with the USD like USD/CNH, USD/HKD, and USD/RUB.

Precious metals are the weakest offer with only Gold and Silver offered. Some Gold futures also are on the list but none of the other precious metals like Platinum or Palladium are found.

Commodities range is very good. The spot market is focused on Oil types. Both Brent and WTI are listed. In the futures offer traders can also have both Oil types and 13 more commodities. These are US Coffee, World Sugar, Cotton No.2, Orange juice, Soybean, US Cocoa, Wheat, High-Grade Copper, Carbon Emissions, Gas Oil, Heating Oil, Natural Gas, and US Unleaded Gasoline.

Indexes range is one of the best in the industry with 27 total. Some of these are CFD futures and are repeating. There are a lot of uncommon like Russ 2000, Netherlands 25, Swiss 20, Spain 35, Hong Kong 35 and Italy 40. We have found some additional indices not listed on the website like the very popular Cannabis Index and Wall Street Cash Index.

Stocks are categorized into the country and other classification groups. There are more than 4000 tradeable shares in the LCG platform while in MT4 only 3 groups are present with a much lower number of spot stock CFDs. A total of 16 groups are present in the LCG Trader and one of them is focused on Cannabis company stocks. MT4 has UK, US and EU groups with around 100 total companies. This offer is great but is somewhat limited to the LCG Trader platform only.

Bonds and Interest rates are not common to see available for trading. LCG offers a total of 6 Bond types and 3 CFDs on Interest Rates. Bonds offer include BOBL, Bund, Gilt, Schatz, US 10 Year and 30 Year bonds. Interest Rates CFDs are very rare to see, what is offered is Euribor, Short Sterling, and Swiss Euroswiss. These assets are not available in MT4.

ETFs are also offered by LCG. They are only available in their LCG Trader platform and do not have an assigned group so traders will have to search them by typing ETF or similar. They are scattered throughout the shares groups.

Cryptocurrencies are listed on both platforms but are not published on the website. Major coins are present while less common cryptos are Dash, EOS, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, NEO, Monero, and Ripple. These are also quoted in USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and even CHF, expanding the range with interesting trading alternatives.

Spreads

LCG is a variable type spread broker for all accounts. The spreads for the ECN account are tighter but include a commission. The spreads range is not live on the website nor there is a demo for this account. We have observed ECN account MT4 spreads for most traded assets across categories and they are competitive. The usual marketing phrase from 0 pips is not far from the truth as EUR/USD has 2 points spread. Spot Gold has 20 pips and bot Oil types have 3 points spread. Bitcoin remains unchanged and has the same spread as the Classic account of 3610 points of $36.1. This means the biggest benefit out of this account is for Forex category.

Classic account has average spreads and for some traders, it may be a dealbreaker.EUR/USD has 15 points spread as well as USD/JPY while other major forex pairs have significantly higher spreads. GBP/USD has 21 points, GBP/JPY 35 points, EUR/CHF 25 points and so on. Minors forex pairs, again, have increased spreads comparing to other brokers. For example, NZD/JPY has 87 points spread, GBP/AUD 86 points, CHF/JPY 38 points, AUD/CAD 40 points, and GBP/NZD 138 points. The biggest spread belongs to the USD/RUB with almost 2000 pips, followed by USD/ZAR with 2200 points, USD/MXN 1743 points, GBP/NOK 1822 points, EUR/TRY 1500 points. USD/CHN has 220 points spread and the SGD quoted pairs have around 9 pips. Spot Gold has an acceptable 34 pips spread while both Oil types have 3 points.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit for the ECN account is $10,000 and requires to maintain this balance level for eligibility. The Classic account does not have a minimum requirement.

Deposit Methods & Costs

LGC has a deposit channel open for Debit/Credit Cards, Bank transfers, and digital payment processors like Skrill and Neteller. The cost for the Debit/Credit cards is 2%, LGC does not accept some VISA Electron cards and American Express. Note that all options may not be available for all countries or regulations.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Even if a trader is registered under the Bahamas regulation the same method for withdrawal must be used as with the deposit. Credit Cards will have a fee of 2% while Debit is free of charge. Bank transfers do not have any additional charges by the broker as well as online payments like Skrill and Netteler. Note that any Withdrawals less than £50 may be rejected by the broker.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals are requested within my LCG area where the process is automated once the form is submitted. Mobile optimized My LCG portal also has the ability for withdrawals. The broker will finish the process within the same business day and the funds will reflect inside the trader’s account in 30 minutes for online payment processors, and 3-5 business days for the bank transfer method.

Bonuses & Promotions

No bonuses or promotions are presented. Affiliate and Introducing Broker programs are offered with solid compensation schemes.

Educational & Trading Tools

LCG has a dedicated section for Education and Analysis. It consists of Economic Calendar, Technical Analysis, Latest News, Analysis Videos, Trading Videos, Glossary, Webinars and Support Guides. On top of this, the broker has integrated some of these services into the LCG Trader platform and also offers Guaranteed Stop service for a fee.

Economic Calendar on the website is very well developed with multiple filters for countries, impact, timeframe, category, and the ability to save settings for the next session. Also, the Calendar features a search box for quick results. Clicking on the event will reveal more details about it, the link to the source and the figures related. A similar Economic Calendar is integrated into the LCG Trader platform.

Technical Analysis is available in the My LCG client portal and also inside the LCG Trader. The analysis on the website is presented on a slowly rolling bar with trading instruments. Hovering over the asset will open a window with the analysis detail for that asset. The content has the broker preference trade, an alternative scenario, comment or argument based on MACD, RSI and MA, and the support/resistance lines. The success rate of these projections is not disclosed.

The latest news page is full of fresh and important news only. The news content is very good with a mix of technical detail and the implications of the fundamental event. The arguments are very logical and results backed, making this section a very valuable addition for traders.

Analysis Videos section consists of two kinds of videos, Market Insight and Week Ahead. These are not updated and the latest videos are from August 2019. Although the Week Ahead videos are fresh, about 15 minutes long, and of high-quality content. LCG put a lot of effort into these.

Trading videos also have two categories, Basics, and Advanced. The Basics cover topics like “What is Forex“, “Common trading Mistakes”, “Analysis: technical vs fundamental” etc. The videos are of high-quality content and production. The Advanced category has 10 videos and very interesting topics. For example, “How the LCG Cannabis Index works”, “MACD- the momentum indicator”, “Risk management and trading plans”, etc.

Webinars and live sessions available by booking only. We do not have an insight into their quality but we can assume they follow the same form as the videos and held by the same staff. Topics covered at the moment of this LCG review are: “Market Analysis”, “Platform Guide – LCG Trader”, “Trading Education”, and “Platform Guide – MT4”, The duration is from 20 to 50 minutes.

Support Guides is a helping section with How-To guides on basic topics. The section is divided into Introduction to Trading, How To Guides, and Customer Support. The content has a good mix of text and graphics and a bit of marketing. Some topics are “All about the LCG Cannabis index”, “How to Apply Indicators to a Chart”, and “What is the Spread in Trading?”. There are 10 articles in total and we are not sure what is the purpose of having 3 groups.

Finally, to mention the Guaranteed Stop service. This Stop Loss is an absolute risk protection form flash crash scenarios that can happen on any market. No slippage execution is guaranteed. There is a premium for using a Guaranteed Stop included in the spread. This premium is presented as a multiplier applied to trade size. Not all instruments have this option.

Note that the Trading Central analysis and news feed is integrated into the LCG Trader platform and is available for live accounts.

Customer Service

LGC support is not 24/5 but opens from 6 am to 8 pm UK time Monday to Friday. As we are informed they will soon introduce 24h customer service. The chat service requires a minute or two to receive a reply and any subsequent query will also leave you unattended for a few minutes more. It is also integrated into the LGC Trader platform The staff is knowledgeable and willing to help, even for more demanding tasks they will not refer you to write an email. The company also has a dedicated phone line.

Demo Account

The demo account cannot be opened within the MT4 platform so you will need to register with a valid email first. From the My LCG area, it is possible to open multiple demo accounts on different platforms. Each will have 10,000 virtual currency. The demo reflects the actual trading conditions. Demo for the ECN account type can be requested by email and the LCG staff will consider your request.

Countries Accepted

Unsupported countries are Singapore, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States regardless of the regulation.

Conclusion

This section will give additional key information to this London Capital Group review. The biggest selling points of this veteran broker are the LGC Trader platform, extended asset offer, and great tools complementary. This comes at the cost of having somewhat increased spreads which will avert fast trading traders. The ECN account that offers much better conditions for some assets sets a steep wall with the minimum balance requirement.

Traders also need to pay attention to the user rating as this broker has below average grades and most of the reports are similar. The main issue is the withdrawal denial for traders in substantial profit. Even the FCA regulation does not have a great effect here, any fine will not be a problem for a big broker like LCG. We cannot confirm this practice but the majority of similar reports leave a suspicion. Also, note that the company is restructured since it became privately held recently, management could have different policies that could affect to a better or worse for the trader.

CodexFX is an FX and CFD broker that is owned by CodexFX Ltd and FM Marketing Ltd, located in the Marshall Islands. The broker offers a 100% execution rate with no rejection of orders, no re-quotes, and 99.35% of all orders are executed in less than 1 second. One of their primary objectives seems to be offering easy and convenient deposit and withdrawal options, with a guarantee that funds are held in secure accounts. This is certainly something we would demand from our broker, although there’s a lot more to consider when it comes to trading costs, leverage options, and other features. Keep reading to find out all those details.

Account Types

CodexFX offers five different account types: Mini, Standard, Gold, Platinum, and ECN. As for affordability, the Mini, Gold, and ECN accounts share the same $500 deposit requirement, while the other accounts require deposits of $10,000 or more. Accounts also share the same leverage caps of up to 1:50. All accounts, aside from ECN accounts, share spreads from 1-3 pips on FX majors, minimum and maximum trade sizes, and stop-loss levels. The broker also offers a commission-free experience on those account types, with commissions charged in exchange for better spreads on the ECN accounts.

With so many shared similarities, it seems that the only real difference for most of the account types would be the minimum deposit requirements and the balance that each account can hold. For example, one can only deposit between $500 and $5,000 on Mini accounts, so this may force those that would like to make larger deposits to choose an account type that can hold the larger balance. A quick overview can be viewed for each account type below.

Mini Account
Minimum Deposit: $500 – $5,000
Leverage: Up to 1:50
Spread: 1-3 pips on majors
Commission: None

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,001 – $10,000
Leverage: Up to 1:50
Spread: 1-3 pips on majors
Commission: None

Gold Account
Minimum Deposit: $500 – $5,000
Leverage: Up to 1:50
Spread: 1-3 pips on majors
Commission: None

Platinum Account
Minimum Deposit: $10,001 – unlimited
Leverage: Up to 1:50
Spread: 1-3 pips on majors
Commission: None

ECN Account
Minimum Deposit: $500 – unlimited
Leverage: Up to 1:50
Spread: From 0.6 pips
Commission: $7 per Standard Lot

The broker requires one to submit compliance documents within 4 days of the account being opened, otherwise, the account may be closed. Documents must consist of proof of identity and proof of address document, in addition to proof of card ownership (photo of the credit card) and Declaration of Deposit form, which can be downloaded on the website. Documents can be submitted by emailing [email protected] or through the broker’s mobile app.

Platform

Regardless of which trading account you’ve chosen, you’ll be trading from the impressive MetaTrader 4 trading platform if you decide to make CodexFX your broker. MT4 is the most commonly offered trading platform among forex brokers, due in part to its user-friendly interface, customizable charts, and a vast array of features – including Expert Advisors, custom indicators, four pending order types, support of micro lot trading, analytical tools, trading signals, market news, and more.

Even with newer platforms being released, MT4 has stood the test of time and remains the most preferred option available. The platform is available for download on PC, or through Android, and iOS devices, including phones, tablets, etc. This allows for the optimal experience trading on the go so that clients can monitor their trading account from anywhere at any time.

Leverage

One will not find the outrageous leverage caps that go into the hundreds range that we often find with other forex brokers available through CodexFX, and will instead have to settle with the 1:50 leverage cap on FX options. The cap drops to 1:25 on Commodities, 1:12.5 on Indices, and 1:5 on Equities. The maximum cap isn’t absolutely the lowest option you’ll find – some regulatory authorities do require brokers to set their cap at 1:30.

This may not be such a downside for novice traders since we wouldn’t really recommend choosing high options if you don’t have the capital to risk or the experience. Still, we do wish that this broker would offer higher options on at least one account type so that those professional traders could make their own decision about what leverage to use.

Trade Sizes

All accounts allow for the trading of micro-lots and there is a maximum trade size limitation of 10 lots on all instruments. Required margin levels are 2% on currency pairs, 4% on Commodities, 8% on Indices, and 20% on Equities. The margin call level is 200% on ECN accounts. The stop-out level is set at 100% on all instruments on all five account types. Hedging is allowed on all accounts and ECN accounts also support scalping, news trading, automated HFT, and Expert Advisors. The broker will allow one to hold up to 200 positions simultaneously.

Trading Costs

This broker profits through spreads, commissions, overnight interest, otherwise known as swaps, and inactivity fees. Spreads range from 1-3 pips on FX majors on the majority of the accounts. CodexFX does not charge commissions or other fees beyond the minimum spreads for each currency pair on the Mini, Standard, Gold, or Premium account types. Commissions on the ECN account start from 7 USD per Standard Lot, in exchange for better starting spreads from 0.6 pips.

Daily swap charges are posted by financial institutions and are subject to change based on market conditions. The latest swap rates can be viewed within the MT4 trading platform by selecting “View” > “Market Watch”, right-clicking and selecting “Symbols”, choosing a currency pair, and then selecting “Properties”. Inactivity fees seem to be exclusively charged on ECN accounts, with a $10 maintenance fee for every month that there is no trading activity and a $50 reactivation fee once an account has been deemed inactive.

Assets

CodexFX offers leveraged trading of up to 1:50 on FX, Commodities, Indices, and Equities. FX options and made up of majors, minors, and exotics. There are 50 total currency pairs and the most popular options EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY are available, in addition to some more exotic options like the USD/TRY and the USD/SEK, etc. Available Commodities include Aluminum, Cocoa, Copper, Cotton, FCATT, HOIL, LCATT, lead, nickel, and pallidum. In total, there are 39 entries under the Indice category, including BTC/USD, Brent, sugar, and more. Equities bring the grand total of available instruments to more than 270 options, making for a significant number of investment opportunities.

Spreads

Typically, brokers offer different spreads on certain account types, with higher deposit requirements resulting in accounts that offer significantly tighter spreads. CodexFX does not seem to market spreads based on account type for the majority of their accounts, aside from ECN accounts. Instead, the broker offers floating spreads that average 1 and 3 pips on major currency pairs on the Mini, Standard, Gold, and Premium Account types.

Although the broker doesn’t list an estimate for the spreads one would see on other instruments, it isn’t difficult to pull up the asset page in order to view those average spreads. On FX options, we did see the advertised spread of 1 pip on AUD/USD and even 0.6 pips on EUR/USD but spreads also climbed to 3.9 and 4 pips on other options.

On Commodities, spreads fluctuate much more significantly, with the lowest option listed at 1.2 pips. Spreads on Indices range from 0.9 to 7.2 pips or higher, depending on the specific instrument. On ECN accounts, spreads start as low as 0.6 pips and it seems that one should expect those options to be lower than those seen for the other accounts.

Minimum Deposit

Each account has a separate deposit requirement and there are also limitations on the maximum account balance. For the Mini account, traders will need to deposit at least $500, but no more than $5,000. An ECN account can also be opened with a deposit of $500 and there is no limit on the account balance.

The Standard account holds between $5,001 and $10,000. Surprisingly, the Gold account type can also be opened with a $500 minimum deposit and tops out at $5,000, the same as the Mini account. The Platinum account would be the most expensive, with a deposit requirement of at least $15,001.

Sadly, affordability is not one of this broker’s strong suits and accounts can be opened elsewhere with as little as $5. Requirements are especially high for the Mini and Standard account types compared to the same options elsewhere.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded by card, Wire Transfer, or through several online payment methods. Card options include Visa, MasterCard, and Diner’s Club, while the list of electronic payment methods includes: Abaqoo, eKonto, ePay, eps, Euteller, Giropay, Halcash, iDeal, Multibanco, Neosurf, Przelewy24, Sofort, Sporopay, Teleingreso, Ticket Surf, Trust Pay, and Poli internet banking.

There is a maximum limit of $3,000 EUR/GBP per month through credit cards. Accounts can only be funded through EUR, HUF, CZK, BGN, PLN, LVL, LTL, AUD, NZD, depending on the deposit method. All deposits are credited instantly. Unfortunately, the broker is less than transparent about any potential fees that may be incurred on deposits, so traders will want to watch out for any surprise costs.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Clients will be required to withdraw funds back to the originating payment method in the same currency that was used to make the deposit. Withdrawals are subject to processing and handling fees and although the broker mentions that these fees are available on their website, there is no explanation of any such fees. The broker does mention potential intermediary bank fees and suggests clients reach out to their bank regarding those fees, as they are not responsible for those charges. There is a steep $3,000 requirement for withdrawals via Wire Transfer, so be sure to keep this in mind before depositing through this method. Accounts must be fully verified before the client can submit a withdrawal request.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

On their website, the broker lists processing times as instant for all withdrawal methods. Unfortunately, checking their withdrawal policy reveals some conflicting information. The broker can actually take up to 5 business days to process withdrawals and then there can be an additional 10-day wait to receive funds back to card or bank accounts. This can result in a waiting period of around 20 days once weekends are taken into consideration.

Bonuses & Promotions

We couldn’t find any ongoing bonus opportunities listed on the website, but this doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t expect to see opportunities offered by CodexFX. Under one of their PDF files, the broker goes into detail about conditions on deposits and mentions that these offers will be available from time to time. Be sure to keep an eye out for any updates if you decide to open an account.

Educational & Trading Tools

At first glance, the section of the website titled “Academy” seems promising; however, this section is limited to technical analysis, forex basics, and an FAQ. The technical analysis page and the forex basics page only offer brief explanations and do not go into very much detail. This isn’t what we would expect from an academy training session – instead, we’d like to see video tutorials, e-books, a glossary, and other mediums. Under the FAQ, the company answers a few trading questions and provides some information about their own terms. The website is also lacking any helpful tools, like calculators, an economic calendar, etc. Fortunately, there are multiple trading tools that can be found within the MT4 platform.

Demo Account

While the website doesn’t offer many educational resources, we are happy to report that demo accounts are available. Those that have never traded from a demo before should know that these free accounts offer a super realistic trading experience and allows one to practice using the MT4 platform, use different trading strategies, test the conditions offered by the broker, etc. A demo can be opened quickly by selecting “Register” on the homepage and then clicking over to the demo tab and then filling in the name and email.

Customer Service

One can reach out to support through email, phone, or by filling out a form on the website. The broker is also active on Twitter, Facebook, and Skype, although the links on the website are dead. Sadly, there is no instant contact option and wait times for email responses are generally around 24 hours or longer. Support is active 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Contact information has been provided below.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 2080898543
Address: Codexfx Ltd. Trust Company Complex, Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island, Majuro, Marshall Islands MH 96960

Countries Accepted

This broker does not list any specific restrictions and claims that it is up to clients to know the regulatory rules for their countries. This simply means that the broker wants to offer service to anyone, regardless of legal limitations. To be sure, we checked out the registration page to see if any obvious options were missing from the sign-up list. The United States, Iran, Japan, and many other options are in fact available, so this could be a plus if you’re located in a country that is often restricted from opening a trading account.

Conclusion

CodexFX has an investment portfolio that is made up of 270+ options, including FX, Commodities, Indices, and Equities. The broker offers 4 separate account types with a maximum leverage limitation of up to 1:50. Spreads are floating from 0.6 pips on ECN accounts and are from 1 to 3 pips on major currency pairs on the remaining account types. Commissions of $7 per Standard Lot are charged on ECN accounts and there are no commissions on the Mini, Standard, Gold, and Platinum accounts.

Accounts can be funded through card or via several electronic payment methods, although many of these options are lesser-known payment providers. Deposits and withdrawals are processed instantly, but the lack of information about fees is not a good sign. Demo accounts are available but other educational resources are limited and trading tools are nonexistent. The broker also appears to offer bonuses from time to time, although there doesn’t seem to be any ongoing bonus at this time.

Customer support is available 24/5 via phone, email, or through a contact form on the broker’s website. The company is willing to accept clients from all locations, which is a positive advantage for those that often find themselves in a blacklisted country. After considering the advantages and disadvantages, it would be up to one to decide if this broker personally suits their trading style.

City Index is a CFD and spreads betting broker and a trademark of GAIN Capital UK Ltd. GAIN Capital Holding is a well known US broker founded in 1999 and went public in 2010 on NYSE. GAIN Capital acquired City Index In October 2014 to gain quick entry into the UK CFD trading market. In 2010 GAIN Capital was fined by the NFA for margin, liquidation and price slippage manipulation that resulted in $$459,000 fine and additional coverage of traders’ losses. Based in London and as a subsidiary of GAIN Capital, City Index is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with a valid license.

The broker has many rewards for having the best platform, best mobile app, best cryptocurrency trading platform and similar. The broker does not use these for promotion on the website aggressively, in fact, it is hidden in the footer of their website. City Index website is packed with quick references and info on a single page like the idea was to put as much material the visitor can digest. It is well developed and interactive with a good mix of marketing and useable information to promote the broker’s advantages or features.

Transparency is good although some trading condition data could be published under one page or document, most of the time you will have to find the page containing the info, even with the help of the website’s search field. Occasionally, City Index will use some figures as their own for marketing, for example, their 35 years of experience in the industry and GAIN Capital’s 150,000 traders pool, NYSE listing and so on. Other domains used by City Index are cityindexasia.com.sg, cityindex.eu, and cityindex.com.au.

While the broker services and the website look very promising, professional, and rich, user ratings among the benchmark sites are alarmingly low. This City Index broker review will cover service areas to point out what is behind the lines that could be the reason for a bad image if justified at all.

Account Types

City Index has 3 account types that are differentiated mostly through leverage directive limits. Still, there are some other benefit differences as stated by the broker. The accounts are called Trader, Premium Trader, and Professional Trader. As many experienced traders may guess, Professional trader is for those that qualify and pass the ESMA requirements. These are:

“Trading volume: Made an average of 10 significantly sized transactions per quarter over the last four quarters”

“Portfolio: Have a financial instrument portfolio, including cash deposits, exceeding €500,000”

“Experience: Worked in a professional position in the financial sector requiring knowledge of trading leveraged products for at least 1+ year(s)”

Meeting two of these criteria is enough to qualify. The main benefit is the increased leverage allowance and everything City Index adds on like client funds segregation, Priority Service, Credit Facility, dedicated broker-assisted dealing, Relationship Manager, Rewards and Premium events, and additional Dataminr tool.

Interestingly, the table also states the MetaTrader 4 and AT Pro proprietary platform as reserved for this account type, but this is just for marketing. Note that as a Professional trader you will also lose some benefits other account types have. You will not have negative balance protection and the 50% margin Stop Out (close out) will not be triggered. FCA protection by the FSCS and the Financial Ombudsman Service remains.

Premium Trader Account is differentiated by having a Priority Service, Dedicated relationship manager, Broker assisted trading, Loyalty rewards, and Hospitality events. Traders using this account type will not have increased leverage and will be under the ESMA limits. According to the broker, this account type is by invitation only. Traders will have to maintain an account balance of £10,000 and be active after they will be invited or may apply for Premium Trader Account.

Trade Account is City Index’s basic account and is promoted with 12,000 markets open for trading, award-winning platform, and technology, 16 chart types with over 80+ indicators, News and analysis, negative balance protection, and ongoing support. Most of these features are not enough to attract experienced traders except the market range. Tools provided for this account type are not explicitly promoted but they are the same as with the Premium Trader. More on this in the Education and Tools section of this review.

Metatrader 4 platform requires a separate CFD trading account. City Index CFD log in details are not valid for the MT4. The offers and features on the Advantage Trading platform are different than what you can expect in the MT4. MT4’s main advantage is the EAs and custom indicators availability while the City Index’s proprietary platform can place multiple modular Stop and Limit orders, research tools integrated, and so on.

This account type requires a minimum deposit, contrary to the Trade Account and others that rely on the Advantage Trading platform. Also, MT4 Account is commission-free while other CFD accounts have a commission on shares otherwise not offered in the MT4.

Platforms

City Index follows the usual steps of large market maker brokers and has their trading platforms. As City Index is a GAIN Capital brand, the platform is similar if not the same as what can be seen on FOREX.com and other GAIN brands. What is common to all of them is the TradingView HTML charting technology. Therefore, City Index offers a web-accessible AT platform, also called Web Trader and the MT4 platform. Advanced Trader or AT Pro and MT4 are all available for mobile devices running on Android and iOS. MT4 and AT Pro desktop versions are available only for Windows.

MT4 is showing two City Index servers Live and Demo, both with 50ms ping. The platform is updated to the latest version, set to the default setting with classic 4 forex charts open. Interestingly, City Index name is under the brackets beside the GAIN Capital UK Ltd in the about window. Also, the welcome mail is from GAIN Capital. There are no additional templates or custom indicators packed with the installation. One-click trading buttons are not visible so traders will have to manually turn it on. Symbols list has a lot of groups for the same asset class, so for Forex currency pairs we have noticed a total of 10 groups without any apparent grouping pattern or practical sense.

For example, ForexPro10 and ForexPro9 group contains 2 major currency pairs while ForexPro 6 has 7 exotics. Similar is done for the Indices. The instrument specification window is not showing information for the swaps or trade sizes. As stated by the broker swap information is presented as separate entries in your account history. Upon further investigation, we have noticed the Company Tab in the Terminal window where swap information is disclosed and updated.

This tab also contains other links to the chat service and so on. Some links are dead making the whole Company Tab dysfunctional so you will have to restart the MT4 client. This is an unusual practice, swaps are not disclosed anywhere on the website. While online for 24 hours the platform signal dropped 2 times. Execution time is 127ms on average with almost no deviation, providing traders consistent experience.

AT pro platform installation can be standalone or portable. The amount of features exceeds those found with the MT4. Starting with the top frame menu, traders will be intrigued and explore what each section has to offer. Markets tab is all about the market watchlist where traders can use the search and filters to pinpoint their interest. The watchlist can be saved and multiple arranged into a single window, sort instruments per column min/max values, be it % change, volatility, or other criteria.

Charting options are extensive, most interesting are over 100 indicators to insert, chart linking, resizing and movement, Renko chart type, measurement and viewing tools, tick and other non-standard timeframes like 3m, 2m, 10m, H8, and so on. Drawing tools are also very good with all Fibonacci functions, Gann, channels, freehand, shape, and lines drawing. Chart templates can be saved, managed, cloned, and restyled. Research and Analysis tab will hold a great range of services for this purpose.

We have found the Economic calendar integrated, News, City Index market analysis, Trading Central technical analysis link, Fundamentals analysis, Trading Central technical insight (which is the same as the Technical Analysis), Trading Central Market Buzz™, and another Trading Central service – Analyst Views. The Newsfeed is from Reuters and related feed is available next to each instrument or on the chart, while the Economic Calendar is good looking with filters for Country, Category and market impact.

Additional filtering can be set according to the timeframe. Clicking on the event will open the description, link to the source and data figures. Price alerts can be set on the chart context menu with options for GTC or on time, ringtone setting and comments for the alert. Then, there is the My Account tab for all accounts and funds management.

Appearance customization options are also great, you can change the platform skin to dark, light and white, change the menu behavior, language, manage workspaces, windows and so on. Probably the most interesting section is the Automated trading. This platform supports many pre-made algorithms that have descriptions and a range of settings for customization. Traders who are good with coding can also make their own and import them. AT Pro platform has a builder that can be used for indicators building and trading systems.

Custom made systems for this platform are not as available as with MT4 to download. However, City Index forum exists for this and as we have found there are 8 additional systems to download and one indicator. Searching the internet users can probably find more elsewhere. Strategy backtesting is also available for any trading system with a good setting range for finetuning. Ordering panel offers options to set OCO, Entry or Market execution, Stop Limit orders calculated in pips, price or P/L and the trailing type option. Margin calculator is integrated for easier Risk Management.

Partial closing is supported for better scaling in and out, with the ability to use FIFO. Unrealized profits from trading will be used as margin and positive slippage is not filtered. Guaranteed Stop Loss is also offered and the premium for this service is only paid if the order is triggered. Swaps information is available as well as trade sizes and more, yet, execution times are not available to see.

We have manually measured this time and it is roughly 0.3s. AT Pro platform is well made and traders used to MT4 will not need much adaptation, the help section is very useful and structured.

Leverage

City Index adheres to the ESMA regulation and therefore offers the maximum leverage of 1:30 for all trading instruments. These apply for Retail traders that do not qualify for the Professional category. Most major Forex currency pairs are 1:30, the exceptions are NZD/USD and AUD/USD with 1:20 leverage. Minors and crosses mostly have 1:20 while exotics are mostly 1:10 which is the lowest leverage offered for Forex.

For shares, the leverage is from 1:5 while Indexes have 1:20. Gold futures and spot CFDs have 1:20 leverage while other precious metals like Platinum and Palladium have 1:10. Commodity assets all have 1:10 regardless of the contract type. Cryptocurrencies leverage is not published on the website but from the platforms, we have noted 1:2 leverage for all coins. The leverage is dynamic according to the trade size. For the exact margin structure, traders can see in the information window in the Advantage Trader platform.

Professional traders have increased leverage as a result of their proven understanding of the market risks. According to the table, For Forex instruments the leverage is up to 1:400, the same is for Indexes. Shares have 1:33 while cryptocurrencies can have 1:20.

Trade Sizes

MT4 trade sizes are in micro-lots or 0.01 lot. Note that the trade sizing information is not available in the MT4 instrument specification. In the AT Pro platform trade sizes are per CFD unit per pip and can be from 1 CFD to different maximum sizes depending on the instrument. For other types of Forex contracts, trade sizes are in currency units and are from 1000 or 0.01 lots. Minimum order distance varies for each currency pair but is not over 15 pips for the most exotic pairs, most are under acceptable levels that should not influence fast trading strategies.

For Bitcoin/USD the minimum trade size is 0.1 BTC up to 75 BTC maximum. Fore Ethereum/USD the minimum is 1 up to 1600 maximum trade size. There is no minimum required order distance for crypto. Precious metals trade sizes are form 1 to 5000 units. Other trading size variations exist like Gold Mini CFD that has smaller contract value. Taking everything into consideration, these trade sizes are not common for MT4 users and they will need some adaptation.

All accounts have 50% Stop Out level or also called close out by the broker. Margin Call is at 100% but it is not mandatory to notify the trader.

Trading Costs

City Index has commissions only for shares. The commission has a minimum of 10 currency units and 5 AUD for Australian shares as per AT platform market info, also charged per share (1.8 CPS) or in percentage (0.08%). Shares are not available on the MT4 platform, therefore no commission is charged for any tradeable asset. Swaps are not presented in the specification window in the MT4 but are charged. For details, traders can see exact swap rates in the AT platform as these are not published on the website or any documents.

Swaps are under normal levels as seen in the AT Pro platform, calculated in the GBP currency and tripled on Fridays. Swaps are per 10,000 units, for the most traded currency pair, EUR/USD it is -0.70 GBP for long and 0.39 GBP for a short position. GBP/USD short position swap is 0.04 GBP and for long -0.46 GBP, interestingly for USD/JPY there is no swap but over weekend swap is -0.62 for short and 0.28 GBP for long.

Swaps for exotic pairs are low comparing to other brokers. For example, USD/ZAR has -1.53 GBP for long and a positive 0.82 GBP for short, USD/CNH 0.06 GBP short and -0.51 long, or CHF/NOK with 0.9 GBP short and -1.91 GBP long. Most of the times swaps had a positive value on one trade side. There are no swaps for Crypto or Metals CFDs.

Inactivity fee exists and it will be charged in the case of inactivity for 12 months. The fee of £12 will be charged monthly.

Assets

As a part of GAIN Capital Holdings, City Index holds the same great asset range only big brokers can arrange. According to the City Index’s website, over 4000 assets are listed split into more than 10 categories, some of which are unique. Starting with Forex, there are 84 total currency pairs. This extended range mostly comes from many major pair crosses with other exotics. It is rare to see pairs like AUD/CNH, AUD/SGD, CNH/JPY, EUR/CNH, EUR/CZK, GBP/PLN, or EUR/TRY. GBP, EUR, USD, and AUD are used to cross with many other pairs, including the exotics.

Note that we have seen other pairs not available in the AT Pro platform but listed in the MT4. Such currency pairs are USD/RON, USD/ILS, SGD/HKD, AUD/PLN, USD/THB and many more. This forex instrument range is among the top in the industry, if not the best.

Precious metals range is extended as well. Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, and Copper are listed as CFD futures and cash CFDs. There are also variants with Mini contracts for accounts with a lower balance. These assets are also available in the MT4 platform.

According to the website, there are a total of21 Indexes to choose from. These are extended by the presence of future CFDs. Those especially interesting are Wall Street, Volatility Index, US Small Cap 2000, Brexit High and low political Index, US Dollar Index, Switzerland 20, Singapore Index, Netherlands 25, India 50, Hong Kong 50, China A50, and CBOE UK 250. Again, this is one of the best offers in the industry. The MT4 platform has this category listed too.

The broker continues the practice to offer extended and rare assets in the Commodities category too. There are over 25 commodities on the list. UK and US Oil types are standard, traders will have a rare sight into commodities like Robusta Coffe, Lean Hogs, Carbon Emissions, Live Cattle, London or NY Cocoa, Orange Juice, Heating Oil, and many more. The MT4 platform has the Commodities category but with fewer assets listed.

Bonds are offered in the extended range. There are a total of 13 instruments in this category. US Bonds and Notes are offered in multiple due dates and sizing. Other interesting offers are UK Long Gilt, Japanese 10 Year, Euro Schatz, Euro Bund, Euro Bobl, BTP Italian Bonds. MT4 platform does not offer these assets.

Interest Rates CFDs category is giving traders opportunities to experiment. There are a total of 7 instruments listed but most of them are the same with different expiration dates. These are Short Stg 3 months, Eurodollar, and Euribor 3 months futures CFDs. MT4 does not have these assets.

Sector Indices are a unique offer and represent UK industry sector Indexes. There is one index for every sector that makes a total of 14 instruments. Examples are the UK Tech sector Index, UK Finance sector Index, UK Healthcare sector Index, and so on. These are not listed in the MT4.

ETFs range is one of the best with a total of 101 listed instruments not available in the MT4 platform. There are many interesting ETFs in various sectors, 10 are just Gold ETFs like Gold Bull Sec, SPDR Gold Trust, VanEck Gold Miners, Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X and so on.

The only category where the City Index does not offer supreme range is the Cryptocurrencies. What is offered is 9 assets but 4 of those it the Bitcoin quoted in EUR, USD, AUD, and GBP. Also, there is the Mini Bitcoin CFD with a smaller sizing. The rest of the offer is Ripple, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. In the MT4 platform only BTC/USD, ETH/USD and XRP/USD are listed.

Spreads

City Index has fixed and variable spreads offered for certain instruments, although most are variable types. City Index offers 1 point fixed spread on the Australia 200, UK 100, Germany 30, France 40 during market hours. The spreads are up to 30 points fixed for the CBOE UK 250 while China A50 has 10 points around the market spread. Hong Kong 50 and Italy 40 have 10 points fixed but Japan 225 and Spain 35 have 8 points.

Forex spreads are floating type and are competitive. The City Index’s website is promoting spreads from 0.5 pips, 0.69 average and we have observed 88 points during the session ending in the MT4.and 78 points in the AT Pro platform. Nest currency pair with the tightest spread is the USD/JPY where the minimum is promoted from 0.6 pips, an average of 0.77 pips and our reading is 125 points in the MT4 and 117 in the AT Pro during the low liquidity, session end time.

AUD/USD has wider spreads as fixed to 15 pips as well as 7 other major currency pairs with the same spread. These have 1.5 pips set as a minimum in the information window in AT Pro. These pairs in the MT4 have a bit tighter or the same spreads as in AT Pro.

Exotics have much wider spreads as expected but the widest is for the GBP/ZAR with 38.2 pips average stated on the website, and 30 pips in the MT4. This currency pair was not available in the AT Pro. USD/CZK pair has the widest spread in AT Pro during the end session and was 800 points, the same as with MT4. According to these measures, we can tell that the MT4 spreads are not the same and in most cases better than in AT Pro, besides, some pairs are not available in City Index’s proprietary platform.

Precious metals spreads are much better than with Forex. Gold has 0.4 and 0.6 pips spread depending on the contract type, the same as in the MT4 platform. Silver has 2.5 pips, Platinum 12 pips in the MT4 and 2.8 pips in the AT Pro, while Palladium has 13.3 pips in AT Pro and 13.3 pips in MT4 during the session end.

Cryptocurrencies have like fixed spreads and are competitive. BTC/USD has 35 pips spread, the same as in the AT Pro while Ripple has 6 pips in MT4 and the same in AT Pro. Ethereum has better spreads in AT Pro at 11 points while MT4 has 20.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is not set for the AT platforms accounts. MT4 type accounts have the minimum initial deposit of £100.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are no deposit charges by the broker. The deposit methods are Bank Transfers, PayPal, and debit/credit cards such as Visa or MasterCard.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The broker state that no fees exist for withdrawals. The methods available are the save as with deposit and traders can use different methods or cards is the deposit was successful. The minimum withdrawal amount is £50 or the remaining balance of your account. PayPal withdrawals are limited to the total deposit amounts via PayPal.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Allow 3–5 working days for any card withdrawals. Bank Transfers are done in normally 1–2 working days but can be faster for local banks with fast payments. For PayPal 48 hours are needed although these transactions are usually instant.

Bonuses & Promotions

According to the broker, the £1000 switcher bonus offer is available for a limited time only. This bonus is credited to Professional accounts. At the moment of this City Index review, no other bonuses are offered.

Educational & Trading Tools

City Index has a dedicated Training section for education. This page lists various topics (10) about trading in written form and Video Libary section which contains 9 videos. Trading topics are, for example, “Introduction to Financial Markets” article which contains several chapters covering all the assets categories. The content quality is very good with nice visuals and videos. Other topics are similar in structure and are about CFD trading, Crypto trading, Trading Strategies, Technical and Fundamental Analysis, etc.

These are elementary and do not go deep into the subject, but each goes several pages in length following the chapters. The video library contains videos that are used in these articles. They cover topics like “Guide to Asset classes”, “Planning your trade exit” and numerous spread betting videos.

Tools mentioned in the platform makes the essence of the City Index’s offer. In addition to those, the Market News section on the website contains even more informative material. Webinars are available for free and at the moment of our review, we have noticed the last one about “Trading Uber’s IPO” held in May 2018. Therefore we are not sure if these still run. Popular Topics page covers the US-China Trade War, “Tech Stocks Hub” and the “Brexit Hub”.

Market Analysis section contains fresh info on global topics related to markets. The articles are a mix of news and analysis with good interpretation and graphics. Although they are not deep into the subject, they provide some value to traders. Most of these are made by City Index staff using different sources. This section is very extensive and well made, there are filters with options to select Markets, Authors, Regions, and Article types. Other than that there are also Economic Calendar, Company Reports, and Brexit News tabs.

Customer Service

24/5 support is available and the broker can be contacted by phone, email or via chat service. The chat has a query bot integrated and he will respond to your questions first. Most of the time you can find what you are looking for but we had questions for live agents. They will respond promptly and you do not have to wait for them at all. Some advanced topics are answered fully and making it easy to understand. Although we had the impression that they would like to close the chat once you start asking questions about their image.

Demo Account

The demo account is available for MT4 and also for the AT platforms. The accounts are different so you need to register two demo account if you want to try both. The demos are tile limited to 12 weeks and have 10,000 virtual funds. The demo will reflect actual trading conditions.

Countries Accepted

Different regulations exist for each country. FCA covers Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and UK.

For Australia, New Zealand and South Africa the regulator is ASIC and for Singapore – Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Conclusion

This section of the City Index review will reveal other key information not stated above. Note that 72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. This is below the average of 79% in the industry. City Index is just a name for a GAIN Capital branch in the UK and other jurisdictions. Other domains may have slightly different assets range, deposit and withdrawal options and so on. As one of the biggest market maker brokers using the Central Counterparty Clearing House model, they offer one of the best asset ranges and proprietary platforms in the industry.

Also, the trading costs are competitive and traders have a plethora of tools and other useful material. On the other hand, bad user ratings have a common problem with the withdrawals on for profitable clients, extreme spread spikes and similar practice described as when the GAIN Capital was fined for by the NFA. Also, none of these user ratings were met with a reply from City Index. From our impression by speaking with the broker staff, they seem not to care much as they are too big to bother and have enough capital any fine cannot make an impact to.

Xero Markets was founded in 2017 and aims to make a splash into the forex world. Their mission is to strengthen the trading line of their clients both domestically and internationally promising low spreads, high leverage, excellent and fast service and taking responsibility for any problems. In this review, we will be looking at the service being offered to see if they live up to those promises and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

Just two different accounts from Xero Markets, the Regular and ECN accounts, let’s take a look at what the requirements and features of these two accounts are.

Xero Regular: The regular account requires a minimum deposit of $10, this account comes with spreads ranging from 0.1 pips up to 2 pips and there is no added commission on this account. Leverage can go up as high as 1:500 and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots with 1000 lots as the maximum. The account has swaps however a swap-free version is also available, the margin call is set for 100% and stop-out set at 35%.

Xero ECN: This account has a slightly higher requirement of $100, the account has spread as low as 0 pips but due to this, there is an added commission on the account. Leverage can go up to 1:500 and the minimum trade size os 0.01 lots with the maximum being 1000 lots. The account has swap charges however a swap-free account is also available. The base currency must be USD and the margin call level is at 100% and stop-out level at 35%.

There is also a copy trading service where you can copy the trades of other traders, it is relatively basic but it allows you to trade handsfree by investing in one of the already successful traders.

Platforms

Only the one trading platform on offer which is MetaTrader 4, so let’s see what this platform has to offer.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. 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 leverage that you have available is the same for both accounts and is decided based on the account value, we have listed the options below:

• 1:1 – 1:500 for $10 – $25,000
• 1:1 – 1:200 for $25,001-$100000
• 1:1 – 1:100 for $100,001

Leverage can be selected when opening up an account, should you wish to change it on an already open account you should get in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for both 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 available trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots.

The maximum trade size is 1000 lots which is far too high, we would not recommend trading more than 50 lots in a single trade as it can become increasingly harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The regular account uses a spread based system and does not have any added commission, the ECN account has an added commission of $5 per round lot trade which is just below the industry standard of $6 per round lot traded.

There are also swap charges on the accounts which are interest charges for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. If you get an Islamic account then these swap charges are replaced with an administration charge.

Assets

Unfortunately, there is not a breakdown of the different tradable assets. This is surprising because one of the first things that potential clients do when looking at a potential broker is to look at what instruments are available for trading, so not having it is a big blow to potential clients. The website simply states that there are 77 instruments to trade.

Spreads

Unfortunately, we can not give good examples of spreads as they are not mentioned on the website. The regular account can have spread from 0.1 pips up to 2pips as a starting position, the ECN account has spreads starting as low as 0 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, when the markets are volatile they will often be seen higher. It is also worth mentioning that different instruments will have different starting spreads, so EURUSD will have a different spread to AUDNZD as an example.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit in order to open up an account is $10 which gets you the regular account, if you want the ECN account you will need to deposit a minimum of $100.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a number of different deposit methods available each with slightly different features, we have set out a table;e below to give an easy read of what they are.

• Bank Wire Transfer – USD – No Fee
• Visa Credit / Debit – USD – 2.6% Fee
• MasterCard Visa / Debit – USD – 2.6% Fee
• Neteller – USD – No Fee
• Skrill – USD – No Fee
• Online Banking Malaysia – MYR – RM 4.4 / USD Fee
• Online Banking Indonesia – IDR – No Fee
• Online Banking Thailand – THB – No Fee
• Local Exchange Malaysia – MYR – RM 4.4 / USD

There are no added fees for Bank Wire Transfer but be sure to check with your bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawing, we have set out a similar table below.

• Bank Wire Transfer – USD – No Fee
• Visa Credit / Debit – USD – 2.6% Fee
• MasterCard Visa / Debit – USD – 2.6% Fee
• Neteller – USD – 2% Fee
• Skrill – USD – 2% Fee
• Online Banking Malaysia – MYR – RM 4.2 / USD Fee
• Online Banking Indonesia – IDR – No Fee
• Online Banking Thailand – THB – No Fee
• Local Exchange Malaysia – MYR – RM 4.2 / USD

There are no added fees for Bank Wire Transfer but be sure to check with your bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Accounts that have not yet performed a turnover of 200 will have a 10% fee added to any withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There is a little confusion surrounding processing times, the withdrawal policy state that it will take between 4 – 7 business days for Xero Markets to process a withdrawal request, however, the withdrawals page state that Neteller and Skrill are instant withdrawals, Visa and MasterCard withdrawals take 24 hours and Bank Wire Transfers will take between 3 – 7 business days. We will assume that the latter numbers are after the initial processing has been performed, not the overall time required.

Bonuses & Promotions

Promotions change from month to month, so what we have written here may no longer be valid, but can instead be used as an example of the sort of promotions that take place.

Golden Fortune Promotion: The promotion is pretty straight forward, deposit a minimum of $1,000 and trade at least 5 lots you will receive an entry into a prize draw, prizes are different gold (real physical gold). 4 prizes on offer, each member is eligible for one entry into the prize draw.

Educational & Trading Tools

There does not appear to be any educational tools on offer from Xero Markets so there is nothing for us to write here, except that a lot of other brokers are looking to help their traders improve, so it would be nice to see Xero MArkets do a similar thing.

Customer Service

The contact us page is as straight forward as you would expect, there is the standard online submission form where you can fill in your query and then you should receive a reply via email. There is also a physical address and a direct email address along with a phone number to call. The support department is open 24/5 and closes over the weekend at the same time as the markets close.

Demo Account

Xero MArkets offer a demo account, you can click the signup button and fill in the form. When signing up for the account you can only select MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform and USD as the account currency, it uses its own account type called Xero Demo so it does not indicate what the trading conditions actually are. There is also no indication as to how long the account lasts which is quite important as a lot of brokers now put a time limit such as 30 days before they expire.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is on the Xero Markets website: “Xero Capital Markets does not offer its services to the residents of certain jurisdictions such as Afghanistan, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Puerto Rico, USA, Australia, Syria, Japan, and Ecuador.” If you are not sure of your eligibility, we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

The initial look at Xero Markets gave us some good impressions, the accounts looked good and the spreads stated on the account page were ok for noncommission accounts, unfortunately, things then went downhill with a lack of information on the assets and actual spreads for any instruments. Fees being included on deposits and withdrawals is also a little offputting, but there is a nice selection of deposit methods which is good to see. Withdrawal times could be a little long but nothing that will really put us off in that department.

Uniglobe Markets is a foreign exchange broker based in the Marshal Islands and says that they offer safe regulatory environments, lowest spreads, fast execution with no re-quotes, no trading restrictions, swap-free accounts, low minimum deposits, free personalized training, confidentiality, and unrivaled customer service. In this review, we will be looking into the services being offered to see if they live up to the expectations they have put on themselves.

Account Types

There are 5 different accounts available from Uniglobe Markets, each one having a different entry requirement and trading conditions, so let’s see what is on offer.

Micro Account: The minimum requirement to open this account is $100, it has a spread starting from 1.5 pips and there is no added commission. The leverage can be up to 1:500 and trade sizes are starting from 0.01 lots. Hedging, Scalping and Expert Advisors are all allowed and there is an account manager available 24/5. Forex training is also available with this account.

Uniglobe Premium Account: The Uniglobe Premium account increases the minimum deposit up to $1,000, this account comes with a slightly lower spread starting at 1.3 pips and also a slightly reduced leverage as the nex maximum is now 1:300. Trade sizes now start at 0.1 lots and just like the Micro account, Hedging, Scalping, and Expert Advisors are allowed and so is the forex training and 24/5 account manager.

ECN Classic Account: The ECN Classic account sticks with the $1,000 required deposit, spread on this account are as low as 0 pips due to there now being a $10 per lot commission added to the account. Leverage is further reduced and now has a maximum level of 1:200. Trades start from 0.1 lots and just like the other accounts, Hedging, Scalping, and Expert Advisors are allowed along with the 24/5 account manager. Along with the forex training, there are now technical training available as well as free trading signals.

ECN Elite: This account further increases the minimum deposit requirement which now sits at $10,000. Spreads are as low as 0 pips and there is a $7 commission per round lot traded on the account. Leverage is further reduced and now has a maximum value of 1:100. Minimum trade sizes have increased up to 1 lot and all other features remain the same as the ECN Classic account including, the training availability, Hedging, Scalping, Expert Advisors and the account manager being available 24/5.

Uniglobe VIP: This is the top-level account, it requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 which could price out a lot of retail traders. It has spreads as low as 0 pips and a low commission of $2 per round lot traded. Leverage remains at 1:100 as a maximum and trade sizes start from 1 lot. Hedging, Scalping, and Expert Advisors are allowed and now the account manager is available 24/7 instead of 24/5. All training is available along with the free signals, and this account can be used as a corporate account.

Platforms

Uniglobe Markets offer MetaTrader 4 as their only trading platform, so let’s take a look and see what it offers.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. 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 can get depends on the account type that you are using, if you are using the Micro account your maximum leverage is 1:500, for the Uniglobe Premium account it is 1:300, the ECN classic has a maximum of 1:200 and the ECN Elite and Uniglobe VIP accounts both have a maximum leverage of 1:100.

You can select the leverage when opening up an account and if you wish to change your leverage once it is already open, we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to do so.

Trade Sizes

Different accounts have different minimum trade sizes. The Micro account has a minimum trade size of 0.01 (known as micro-lots) lots and goes up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade will be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The Uniglobe Premium and ECN Classic accounts have starting sizes of 0.1 lots (known as mini lots) and go up in increments of 0.1 lots so the next trade would be 0.2 lots and then 0.3 lots. The ECN Elite and Uniglobe VIP have starting trade sizes of 1 lot, it is known what the increment is on these accounts.

There is no mention of what the max trade size of each account is, however, 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 Micro and Uniglobe accounts use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review and so do not have any added commissions.

The other three accounts have a commission added to them, we have listed them below so you can see which accounts have what commissions.

• ECN Classic: $10 per round turn lot
• ECN Elite: $7 per round turn lot
• Uniglobe VIP: $2 per round turn lot

Swap charges are also present, these are a charge for holding a trade overnight, they can be either positive or negative and can be viewed directly within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Uniglobe Markets have broken down their assets into five different categories, we have outlined them below with a few examples from each.

Forex: There isn’t a full breakdown of which forex pairs are available, the site simply states that there are major and minor pairs, a couple of examples are EUR/USD, GBP/USD and AUD/USD.

Spot Metals: Just the two metals are available and these are the regular metals of Gold and Silver, tradable against the US Dollar.

Commodities: Commodities are available in the form of energies and also soft commodities, a few examples are Brent Oil, Crude Oil, Coffee, Corn, and Sugar.

Indices: Indices are also available if you are interested in trading them, some examples are FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, Dow Jones and S&P 500.

Shares: The final category offers shares, there is not a full breakdown but they indicate a few of the available shares as Amazon, Google, McDonald’s, eBay, Alibaba, and Facebook.

Spreads

As there is no specific breakdown of assets, there is also not one of the spreads. The account comparison page indicates that the Micro account has spreads starting from 1.5 pips, the Uniglobe Premium account has starting spreads of 1.3 pips and all other accounts can be as low as 0 pips. The spreads are variable (floating) which means they move with the markets when there is a lot of volatility the spreads often widen and will be seen higher than the stated amount.

It should also be noted that the spreads are different for different instruments, so while the starting spread for EUR/USD may be 1.5 pips, for another pair like AUD/NZD it will start slightly higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $100 which will get you the Micro account, if you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $1,000. Once an account has been opened the minimum deposit for top-ups is reduced down to $50.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We have listed out the deposit methods below along with the minimum / maximum deposit amount.

• Bank Transfer – $250 / Unlimited
• Visa Debit / Credit – $50 / $5,000
• Visa Electron – $50 / $5,000
• MasterCard Debit / Credit – $50 / $5,000
• Maestro – $50 / $5,000
• WebMoney – $50 – $15,000
• Skrill – $50 – $10,000
• Neteller – $50 / Unlimited
• QIWI Wallet – $50 / Unlimited
• Perfect Money – $50 / Unlimited
• OK Pay – $50 / $50
• CashU – $50 – $10,000

The good news is that there are no added fees for any deposit method, however, be sure to check with the processor that you are using to see if they charge any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, Bank Wire Transfer has a minimum withdrawal of $150, while all other methods have a minimum withdrawal amount of $10. There are also no withdrawal fees added by Uniglobe Markets, however, just like when depositing be sure to check with the processor that you are using to see if they charge any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All deposits and withdrawals are processed the same business day between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm GMT. The following are the estimated time it will take to receive your money after processing.

2 – 10 Business Days:
Visa Credit / Debit, Visa Electron, MasterCard Debit / Credit, Maestro, Bank Wire Transfer.

2 – 24 Hour:
WebMoney, Skrill, Neteller, QIWI Wallet, Perfect Money, OK Pay, CashU.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a number of different bonuses and promotions running, we will outline some basic info on them below:

Welcome Bonus: Get up to $6,000 with this 60% bonus. The bonus funds are not withdrawable and act as an extra margin, any profits made using the bonus can be withdrawn.

Cash Rebate: Receive up to $10 per lot as a cash rebate. The more you trade the more you receive, in order to receive $10 per lot you will need to trade over 700 lots in a month, 1 lot up to 199 lots gets you $4 USD per lot traded.

No Deposit Bonus: You can receive $100 as a no deposit bonus, in order to withdraw you need to trade at least 15 lots and the minimum amount to withdraw is $50, the bonus lasts for one month.

There are a couple of other bonuses but these are Christmas related and so may not be relevant when reading this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different things when it comes to learning and trading tools, there is the standard economic calendar which gives you an idea of upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. There is also some basic training, going over very basic areas of trading and to get an understanding of what trading and analysis is, however it never goes into lots of depth. Finally, there is some technical and fundamental analysis which you can view to help you decide what to trade next.

It is nice to have all of this information, however, it is not as in-depth as a lot of other places on the internet.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get in contact with Uniglobe Markets there are a few different ways that you can do it, There is the standard online submission form where you can fill in your query and you should then receive a reply via email. There is also a telephone number should you wish to speak to someone directly. There are also Skype usernames for both Global and Arabic and finally a physical address for the UK and Marshall Islands.

It would have been nice to have an email address available to email directly, but the online webform is as much as we get.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available from Uniglobe Markets, some benefits of a demo account include no initial payment, real-time conditions, learn to analyze and test new strategies, zero risks, and they are 100% free. When signing up you are able to select leverage up to 1:500 and a deposit between 1,000 and 100,000. There is no indication as to which account conditions it mimics or how long the account lasts for.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is on the Uniglobe Markets website: “Uniglobe Markets does not provide services to citizens of certain regions. It is advisable to check if your region is included in the services provided before entering into any legal agreement” This is not the most helpful statement so we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

Uniglobe Markets are pretty transparent when it comes to the information they have provided, the trading conditions are competitive and the deposit and withdrawal methods are clearly laid out and with no added fees they are a big plus. The main downside to the Uniglobe Markets website is the lack of information on instruments and assets, this information would be good to have as many potential clients would like to see what they can trade before signing up, it would also be nice to have an email address available to contact. If you are able to look past those two issues then Uniglobe Markets could be a decent broker to use.

Forex Wings is a forex broker situated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, their goal is to allow traders to become profitable by utilizing powerful trading platforms, access to proprietary straight-through technology, excellent liquidity, world-class customer service and a broad suite of advanced trading tools. In this review, we will be looking into the services being offered to see if they live up to their goals.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available from Forex Wings, these are the Gold, Platinum, and Diamond (Pro) accounts, each having their own entry requirements and trading conditions, so let’s take a look at what they are.

Gold Account: The gold account has an entry requirement of $100, it uses market execution and only has forex pairs available to trade with spreads starting from 2.5 pips. Leverage can be up to 1:500 and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and there is no maximum trade size. Trades go up in steps of 0.01 lots and there is no limit to the number of trades you can have open at one time. This account has swap charges for holding trades overnight and there is no added commission. Scalping and Hedging are both allowed and the margin call level is set at 100% and the stop out level is set at 40%.

Platinum Account: The platinum account increases the minimum deposit up to $1,000. Spreads on this account start at 1.5 pips and this account also uses market execution. In terms of products, the account has forex pairs as well as Gold and Silver available to trade. Leverage can be up to 1:300 and the minimum trade size remains at 0.01 lots and goes up in increments of 0.01 lots with there being no maximum trade size or a maximum number of open trades. The account can be in either a normal account with swaps or as a swap-free account. Scalping and Hedging are both allowed and the margin call remains at 100% however the stop out level has reduced down to 35%.

Diamond (Pro) Account: This is the top tier account with Forex Wings, it requires an opening deposit of $10,000 and with this raised deposit the spreads are starting as low as 0.3 pips. The account still uses market execution and has forex pairs as well as gold and silver available to trade. Leverage has been reduced down to 1:200 as a maximum and the trade sizes now start at 0.1 lots and go up in increment so f0.1 lots, there is still no maximum trade size or number of open trades. Due to the lower spreads, this account now has a commission of $7 per round turn lot traded. Scalping and hedging are both allowed the margin call level is not at 50% and the stop out level at 30%. This account can not have a swap-free version and so is charged swap fees.

Platforms

Forex Wings offers a singular trading platform which is a shame to take away choice, the good news is that the platform available is MetaTrader 4.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. 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 leverage that you have is dependant on the account that you are using, all accounts have a choice of leverage however the Gold account has a maximum leverage of 1:500, the Platinum account has a maximum leverage of 1:300 and the Diamond (Pro) account has a maximum leverage of 1:200. Leverage can be selected when opening up an account, once an account is open if you wish to change the leverage on it you will need to get in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

When using the Gold or Platinum account your minimum trade size will be 0.01 lots (also known as a micro lot), they will then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.03 lots and then 0.03 lots. If using the Diamond 9Pro) account then your minimum trade size will be 0.1 lots (also known as a mini lot) and goes up in increments of 0.1 lots, so the next trade would be 0.2 lots and then 0.3 lots.

There is no maximum trade size or a number of open trades, however, we would always recommend sticking to trades under 50 lots as the bigger the trades become the harder it is for liquidity providers and the market to execute the trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The Gold and Platinum accounts do not have any added commissions and only use a spread based structure that we will look at later in this review. The Diamond (Pro) account has an added commission of $7 per round lot traded which is reasonable considering the industry standard seems to be around $6 per lot traded.

There are also swap charges on all accounts, these are charges for holding trades overnight and can be both negative and positive, these can be viewed wither on the Forex Wings website or within MetaTrader 4. If you are not able to receive interested due to your beliefs, then the Platinum account can be made as a swap-free account, however, there will be additional administration fees to counter this,

Assets

Instruments and assets is one of the places where Forex Wings falls short, there is a very limited number of assets, so few that we can list them all for you, it is worth noting that the Gold account only has access to forex pairs while the Platinum and Diamon (Pro) account also have access to both Gold and Silver.

EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, USDCAD, USDJPY, NZDUSD, AUDUSD, AUSNZD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDCAD, CHFJPY, EURGBP, EURAUD, EURCHF, EURJPY, EURNZD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, CADJPY, NZDJPY, EURTRY, USDTRY, Gold, and Silver.

Spreads

Spreads are dependent on a few different factors, the account hat you are using decided what the minimum spread can be, the Gold account has a minimum spread of 2.5 pips,m the Platinum has a minimum spread of 1.5 pips and the Diamond (Pro) account has a minimum spread of 0.3 pips. The reason they are the minimum is due to the fact that they are floating (also known as variable) spreads, this means that they move with the markets when there is more volatility the spreads will be seen higher.

It is also important to note that different instruments will have different starting spreads, for example, EURUSD may have a spread of 2.5 pips, but another pair may be higher and have over 3 pips as their starting spread.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit requirement to open an account is $100 which gets you the Gold account, if you want a different account you will need to deposit £1,000 for the Platinum account and $10,000 for the Diamon (Pro) account. Once an account is open, any further deposits to top up the account has a minimum of $100 for all account types.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The deposit methods page on the website only mentions Bank Wire Transfers, however on the main page there are images of Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, and Bank Wire Transfers, so it is not completely clear which methods are actually available to use. There is also no mention of any fees when on the deposit page so we can not comment on this, we can advise you to check with your p[rocessor though to be sure they are not adding any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

On the withdrawals page, there is the only mention of Bank Wire Transfers and not any others. You must withdraw to the method that you have used to deposit and the minimum withdrawal amount is $100, there is, unfortunately, a withdrawal processing fee of £25 – $30. Many brokers are getting rid of withdrawal fees so it would be nice to see Forex Wings do the same thing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As the only method of withdrawal mentioned on the site is Bank Wire Transfer, this is normally processed within 1 – 5 business days. Requests are processed in around 1 hour of receipt, however, the office hours are 09:00 – 19:P00 GMT+2, if your request is outside that time then the request will be processed the next working day.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are three different bonuses and promotions available to use, we will outline the basic information about them below:

$10 Live Welcome Bonus: You can receive a $10 bonus to start trading live, this is deposited straight into your account, the account being used must have a leverage of 1:300 and minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, one account per person. You can withdraw any profits made from the $10 account without any restrictions.

50% Deposit Bonus: You can receive up to 50% bonus on top of your deposits, if you deposit between $100 and $3,000 you will receive a 50% bonus, between $4,000 and $10,000 40% bonus and any more, you will have a max bonus of $5,000. Applied to first deposit only and is deposited within 24 hours. In order to withdraw the funds, you must trade 0.1 lots for every $1 of bonus funds, so if you have a $1,000 bonus, you will need to trade 100 lots to withdraw it, this rollover must happen within 6 months, this is an achievable target.

FW Markets Champion DEMO Contest: You can enter a demo account competition in order to try and win real prizes, 1st prize is 500 USD, 2nd is 300 USD and 3rd is 100 USD, the person coming last also gets 100 USD. Prize money is paid into the winner’s real account and can be fully withdrawn.

Educational & Trading Tools

Not much when it comes to educational or trading tools, there is an economic calendar which outlines upcoming news events and which markets they may affect, this is not Forex Wings own calendar, instead, they have embedded one from another site., There is an analysis section of the website however this is currently giving off a PHP error and so it’s not loading and we can not comment on it.

Customer Service

Forex Wings don’t offer too much in the way of contacting their support team, the contact us page is just a simple web form, fill it in and you should get a reply via email. There is also a phone number at the top of the page. We did not get to test the support team at this stage of the review.

Demo Account

There is mention of the demo accounts in the demo contest page however nowhere else on the site are they mentioned, this leads us to believe that the demo accounts may only be available during the contests, this would be a strange move for Forex Wings to make. Demo accounts are important to both new and existing clients as new clients may want to test out the trading environment and existing clients may want to test out new strategies without risking their capital, this is an area that Forex Wings should be looking at improving.

Countries Accepted

Information about which countries are accepted and which are not is not present on the website, so if you are interested in signing up with Forex Wings be sure to get in contact with their customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The Forex Wings site is riddled with PHP errors which means there is something wrong with the site or its databases. Putting that aside, the trading conditions are ok for what is being offered, but far better conditions can be found elsewhere, the lack of deposit and withdrawals information is the biggest worry as Forex Wings will be holding onto our money, this information is vital to help clients understand and be confident with how Forex Wings deals with their money, for these reasons it is currency hard for us to recommend Forex Wings as a broke to use.

IFX Brokers is a foreign exchange broker that is looking to offer their commitment to delivering their promises of client satisfaction, transparency to show their honesty and to build trust in order to gain long term relationships with their clients. In this review, we will be looking at the services being offered so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different account types to choose from the IFX standard, IFS Raw and IFX Islamic. Here is what they offer.

Standard Account: This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $100, it has spread as low as 0.8 pips and has no added commissions. The account uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading g platform and has access to all the instruments/assets that IFX offers. It has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum of 100 lots. The account has swap fees and the base currency can be in USD, ZAR, GBP or EUR.

Raw Account: The Raw account slightly increases the minimum deposit up to $250, it uses the MetaTrader 4 platform and has access to all currencies, as well as Gold and Silver to trade. Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and go up to 100 lots, spreads are starting from 0.3 pips and there is a $3 commission one way. The account has swap fees and can only be in USD.

Islamic Account: The Islamic account is for those that can not accept interest due to their beliefs, so this account does not have swap fees. Its minimum deposit is $100 and it has spread starting from 0.8 pips with no added commissions. It uses MetaTrader 4 and has access to all instruments to trace, minimum trade sizes are 0.01 lots and the maximum is 100 lots, as mentioned there are no swap fees and the base currency must be in USD.

Platforms

IFX Brokers offer a singular trading platform in the form of MetaTrader 4 which is a fantastic piece of software, this is what it offers:

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

IFX offers leverage up to 1:500 which is quickly becoming the industry standard. Leverage can be selected when opening up ana account and if you wish to change it after an account is already opened you will need to get in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots (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. The maximum trade size is 100 lots which we feel is too high. We would not trade over 50 lots at a time as it can become harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades quickly the without slippage the bigger they are, but it is nice to have the options none the less.

Trading Costs

The Standard and Islamic accounts do not have any added commissions and instead use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. The Raw account has an added commission of $3 one way, so a total round lot will have a commission of $6 which is matching the current industry standard.

Apart from the Islamic account, there are swap fees that are charged for holding trades overnight and can be both negative or positive. These charges can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

The assets and instruments available from IFX Brokers have been broken down into 4 different categories. Forex pairs are available, there isn’t a full breakdown but some examples are given are EURUSD, GBPUSD, and USDCHF. Indices are also available however there is no information regarding which ones, Commodities is the next section with examples of Corn, Soybeans, Coffee, and Wheat. The final category is CFDs, however, there is no breakdown or example of these assets so we could only speculate what they could be.

Spreads

Spreads on the Standard and Islamic account start from 0.8 pips, the spreads start from 0.3 pips on the Raw account. These spreads are variable which means they move with the markets and when there is a lot of volatility the spreads will often be larger. It should also be noted that different instruments will have different starting and natural spreads, EURUSD may have a starting spread of 0.8 pips, while GBPUSd may have a starting spread of 1.2 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount is $100, this will get you the Standard account, if you wanted a Raw account you will need to deposit at least $250. Subsequent deposits once an account is open have a minimum amount of $100.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to fund your account, you can use Wire Transfers which has a minimum deposit amount of $250, you can also use Local Electronic Fund transfers, the minimum for this method is $100 or ZAR 1500, Credit and Debit cards, both Visa and MasterCard can be used, the minimum for this method is $100 or ZAR 1500. You can then use PayFast, iPay, and PayU to deposit into your account, the minimums for this method is also $100 or ZAR 1500. You can also use broker-to-broker transfers to deposit directly from another brokers’ account, as long as they are participating in the scheme.

There are no added fees from IFX, but be sure to check with your bank and processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use the same methods to withdraw, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, Local ElectronicFund Transfer, Credit and Debit Card, both Visa and MasterCard, PayFast, iPay, PayU and broker to broker transfers. Withdrawals must be made to accounts in your name and you can only withdraw to Credit / Debit cards the amount that you originally deposited, any more and it will need to go to a different method.

There are no added withdrawal fees but just like with the deposits be sure to check with your bank and processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

IFX Brokers aims to process withdrawals immediately and on the same working day, once a withdrawal request has been processed it can take up to 5 working days for you to receive your funds, dependant on the method you used to withdraw with.

Bonuses & Promotions

The only promotion on offer is something called IFX Evolve, this allows you to qualify to receive a funded account where you then receive 50% of the profits. In order to qualify you need to have an account with at least $500 in, you then need to trade successfully for 6 months before consideration.

Educational & Trading Tools

The IFX Academy holds all of the educational tools that IFX has to offer, initially, there is a free forex workshop to sign up to, this is where you will be taught about all the basics of trading and how it all works. Once you are signed up you receive full access to the educational material, there are full courses designed to give you the edge, teaching you about different assets, analysis techniques and other aspects of trading like risk management. It seems to be pretty in-depth and so if you are a part of IFX we would highly recommend utilizing this feature of the broker.

Customer Service

The customer service departments can be contacted in a number of different ways, the first option is a phone number to give them a call and chat about whatever queries you may have. Next up are email addresses for various departments including Customer Support, Education, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs, Partners, Complaints and, Marketing & Sales. Finally, there is an online form to submit where you fill out your query and you should then get a reply via email.

The customer support department is open 24 hours a day Monday to Friday, while all other departments are open between 08:00 and 16:00 GMT Monday to Friday.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, simply fill in the application and away you go, you can select to have the demo account is USD, EUR, GBP or ZAR. The other features of the demo account are not specified such has which account it mimics or how long the accounts last for, this information would have been good to have so you can tell what the trading conditions of the demo account will be like.

Countries Accepted

Information regarding which countries are accepted is not obvious on the website, so if you are interested in signing up with IFX Brokers we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

IFX Brokers seem to be running a pretty tight ship, their trading conditions are competitive, leverage is good along with decent spreads for non-commission accounts. Demo accounts are available and the customer support team is accessible, the education section of the site seems to be going way above what most brokers do which is great as it is always good to see brokers helping their clients become better. It would be nice to see more methods for depositing and withdrawing but the fact that there are no added fees for the current methods is a big plus.

IKON Atlantic was established in 1999 and specializing in online trading, offering forex at the highest speeds of execution, superior client services, high-quality market information, and a strong support team. That is what they say on the website, so let’s take a look at the services being offered to see if they live up to the expectations they have put on themselves.

Account Types

There is no account page to give us an overview of different account shower when signing up there are a few different options, you can choose lot sizes, either mini (1,000) or micro (10,000) and the trading platform. Leverage is the other option up to 1:500 for both accounts, apart from that there doesn’t seem to be any information about the accounts, the review will look into trading conditions in more detail to give a better image of the accounts and trading conditions.

Platforms

There are two different trading platforms on offer, so let’s take a look at what they are and the features that they give us.

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

Prodigy: IKON Atlantic is proud to launch its in-house developed trading platform Prodigy which combines FX Spot with FX Options trading in a single, fully integrated online platform. Prodigy was developed with more than 20 years of experience in the FX market place and was constructed based on thousand of inputs from worldwide retail and institutional customers. Their first-class Forex trading platform provides state-of-the-art charting tools, real-time account information, customizable user interface and live news & reports designed to enhance your trading experience.

Leverage

When signing up for an account you can select leverage out of 1:100, 1:200, 1:300, 1:400 or 1:500. Once an account is open, if you wish to change the leverage you will need to get in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Regardless of the account type you chose, the smallest trade size available is 0.01 lots (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. There is no mention of the maximum trade size however whatever it is we would not recommend trading over 50 lots in a single trade as it can become harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute larger trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The account uses a spread based system and so there is no added commission on either of the accounts, both accounts are subject to swap charges which are an interest for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed from within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

IKON Atlantic have broken down their instruments into two different categories, forex and metals, let’s see what is in each one.

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNXD, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GPBUSD, NZDCAD, NZDJPY, NZXDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY, EURTRY, USDTRY, NZDCHF.

Metals: XAUUSD (gold ounce), XAGUAS (silver ounce), GAUUSD (gold gram), GAUTRY (gold gram).

Spreads

Spreads on both accounts seem to be the same, they start from 1 pip which his great for a non-commission account. The spreads are variable which means they move when the markets do and when there is a lot of volatility, they generally widen and become larger. Different instruments also have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD may have astarting spread fro 1 pip, EURNZD as an example has a starting spread of 3.1 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is not mentioned on the website so we are unable to confirm what it is at this point in time.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only method of depositing displayed on the website is Bank Wire Transfers, there is a payment system page but it is currently under construction. In terms of fees, there are none stated, just a message that you should contact your bank to see if they charge any fees themselves, this leads us to believe that there may be no fees for depositing.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Bank Wire Transfer is also available for withdrawing, the deposits and withdrawal policy does not indicate any fees which his good to see. Other payment processors are mentioned but not indicated what they are.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests received before 11 am GMT +3 will be processed the same working day, any requests after this time will be processed on the next working day. The timings may vary though so please allow up to 48 hours. Once the withdrawal is processed, Bank Wire Transfers normally take between 2 – 5 business days to clear into your bank account.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not appear to be any bonuses or promotions active at the time of writing this review, if you are interested in them you could get in touch with the customer service team to ask about any potential upcoming promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are no education pages on the website which is a shame as many brokers are now trying to help improve the trading of their clients, IKON Atlantic does not appear to be following this trend.

Customer Service

The customer service page is quite simple, there is an online submission form where you can fill in your query and you should then get a reply via email. There is also a general support email address that you could use, that is all there is though, no phone numbers or live chat which is disappointing to see.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you can select a demo account in either of the trading platforms, however, that is all the information there is, no information on the trading conditions although we expect them to be similar to everything we have written above, one bit of information that would have been nice is to know how long the accounts last for and if they expire after a certain period of time.

Countries Accepted

No information regarding which countries are eligible for accounts and who is not, so if you want to join IKNO Atlantic, please get in contact with the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

IKON Atlantic has been around for a long time, however, they don’t seem to be adapting to the changing markets, their leverage remains good and their spreads are very competitive, but in an age of information, there is a lot of it missing. There needs to be more information on deposit and withdrawal methods, along with more ways to get in contact with the customer service team. If you are able to look past those flaws, then the trading conditions are very competitive and good value for money.

Skilling is a Scandinavian owned forex broker based in Cyprus and licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. Their mission is to create a unique trading platform designed to cater to traders of all levels, from beginners who have never traded to seasoned pros. They want to create a platform that connects everybody to the world’s financial markets and showcases its potential to them. In this review, we will be looking at the services being offered to see if they live up their mission or if they fall short.

Account Types

Two different accounts are available to choose from depending on your opening deposit amount and features that you prefer, let’s have a look at what is on offer.

Standard Account: The standard account requires a deposit of at least €100, It has spread starting from 0.7 pips and has no added commissions. It can use both available trading platforms (see next section of the review) and for retail customers, it has a leverage of 1:30 and a maximum of 1:200 for professional traders. Trading starts from 0.01 lots and there are 73 currency pairs, 10 cryptos, 17 indices, 5 commodities and over 700 equities to trade. The stop-out level is set at 50%, scalping is allowed and there is negative balance protection. This account is subject to swap charges.

Premium Account: The premium account increases the amount required to €5,000, this account has spreads starting from 0.01 pips but now has a commission of $35 / million, which is $3.5 per lot. The account can use both available trading platforms and retail traders can have leverage up to 1:30 while professional traders can have leverage up to 1:200. Trading starts from 0.01 lots and there are 73 currency pairs, 10 cryptos, 17 indices, 5 commodities and over 700 equities to trade. Stop out level remains at 50%, scalping is allowed and there is negative balance protection on this account, spreads are also present when using this account.

Platforms

There are two different platforms on offer, so let’s see what they are.

Skilling Trader: The SkillingTrader is Skilling’s own trading platform, offering user-friendly and intuitive display, full web and mobile support, skilling trade assistant, multiple chart displays, ultrafast order execution, drawing tools, economic calendar built-in, 800+ instruments and more.

cTrader: cTrader is a leading multi-asset Forex and CFD trading platform, offering rich charting tools, advanced order types, level II pricing, and fast entry and execution. With a stunning user interface, it’s connected to the most sophisticated backend technology, and made available on multiple devices.

Leverage

Leverage depends on a number of different factors, if you are classed as a professional trader then you can have leverage up to 1:200, however, if you are classed as a retail trader then you will need to adhere to the ESMA rules on leverage, we have outlined them below.

• Forex Majors – 1:30
• FX Minors – 1:20
• Index Majors – 1:20
• Index Minors – 1:10
• Precious Metals – 1:10
• Equities – 1:50
• Commodities – 1:10

Trade Sizes

Trading sizes start from 0.01 lots also 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. There isn’t a mention of the maximum trade size but we would not recommend trading more than 50 lots in a single trade as it can become increasingly harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades effectively without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The standard account uses a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. The premium account has an added commission of $35 per million traded or $3.5 per lot traded. Swap charges are also present which is an interest in holding trades overnight, these can be viewed within the trading platform of choice or from within the Skilling website.

Assets

Skilling has broken down its assets into a number of different categories. There are 73 different Forex pairs including EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCAD, and EURGBP. 715 different shares including the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and Google. 17 Indices including S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, Dow Jones 30, Germany 30 and UK 100. 5 different Commodities which are Oil WTI, Oil Brent, Gold, Silver and Natural Gas. Finally, there are 10 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.

Spreads

The spreads that you get depend on a few different factors, if you have the standard account then the spreads will be starting at 0.7 pips and if you have the premium account they will start from 0.1 pips. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets and so when the markets are volatile they will be seen a lot higher. Different instruments also have different natural starting spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 0.7 pips, other pairs such as AUDNZD will always start a little higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required in order to open an account is 100 EUR, this gets you the standard account, if you want a premium account you will need to deposit at least 5,000 EUR. The minimum fo 100 EUR is the same for any subsequent top-up deposits on either account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different available methods for depositing, they all have a 100 EUR minimum deposit and can be used to deposit in USD, EUR, GBP, SEK, and NOK. The methods available are Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard, Neteller, Skrill, and Trustly (for bank transfers). There are no added fees from Skilling, but be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawal, for clarification, these are Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard, Neteller, Skrill, and Trustly (for bank transfers). The good news is that once again there are no fees added to withdrawals, but as usual, be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Skilling aims to process your withdrawal request as quickly as possible, they have outlined the following processing times.

• Trustly – 0 – 3 working days
• Credit / Debit Card – 1 working day
• Skrill – 1 working day
• Neteller – 1 working day

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not appear to be any bonuses or promotions active at the time of writing this review, if you are looking for bonuses, either check back regularly just in case one comes up or get in contact with the customer service team to ask if there are any upcoming promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

We could not see or locate any information regarding training or trading tools so it does not appear that there are any which is a shame as a lot of brokers are now trying to improve the trading of their clients so it would be nice to see Skilling follow suite.

Customer Service

Skilling has tried to make getting in touch with them as easy as possible, they have done this by providing a number of different ways to get in touch. Initially, there is a phone number available to call, there are actually a number of different phone numbers, one for the UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany and a global one. There is also a live chat feature and an email to use should you wish to email them directly.

Phone support is open between 08:00 and 17:00 CET Monday to Friday, live chat is available from 08:00 to 21:00 CET Monday to Friday and you should expect an email reply within 24 hours.

Demo Account

Strangely there does not appear to be a demo account available, this is a shame as it is important for new clients to be able to test the servers and trading conditions and also important for existing clients to be able to test new strategies without risking their capital, so this is an area Skilling should look to improve.

Countries Accepted

There isn’t any specific information about countries being eligible or not, so if you are looking to sign up, we would recommend getting in touch with the customer service team to see if you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

It is clear that Skilling is working hard to be a great broker, they are offering very competitive trading environments with good costings. Plenty of assets to choose from so there will always be something to trade and their deposit and withdrawal methods are completely free which is always a bonus. The only downside is the lack of demo account, however, this is only a negative for new clients as they cant test the servers or conditions, at least existing clients can use another demo account from another broker to test their strategies. The decision to use them though is up to you.

MGK Global is a forex broker that aims to provide the highest level of service available. They are offering spreads from the interbank market, rapid order execution, the best trading platforms, offers all trading strategies, trusted deposit methods, the removal of revenue related issues and full transparency. In this review, we will be looking into the services being offered to see if MGK Global live up to their expectations and promises and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are two main account types that we are going to be looking at, the normal account and the speed account, so let’s see what they offer.

Normal Account: There isn’t a lot of information available, however, all the information provided is as follows, widely well-known ideal and reliable trading platform for FX, also known for its high-security standard, easy-to-use for beginners and professionals alike, unlimited and powerful charts enable traders to analyze the trend.

Speed Account: Just like the normal account, there is not a lot of information on the Speed account either, however, the following is available, no re-presentation of price, no order limits the width to limit/reverse limit, also supports automated trading tool, fee of $ 7 one way $ 3.5 round trip will take, trade environment the best stable.

Platforms

Just the singular trading platform is available, the good news is that it is MetaTrader 4, so let’s see what this trading platform offers.

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

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 available is currently 1:500, this can be selected when opening up and account and is available for both account types. If you wish to change the leverage once ana account is already open you will need to get in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lots. Trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade will be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We could not locate any information regarding maximum trade sizes, however, 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 Normal account uses a spread based system that we will look into later in this review, the Speed account has an added commission of $3.5 per execution, so $3.5 when opening a trade and also $3.5 when closing the trade, so in total there is a commission of $7 per round lot traded.

Swap charges are also present, these are a charge for holding a trade overnight, they can be either positive or negative and can be viewed directly within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

There is not any information regarding tradable assets or instrument which is a bit strange as that is what we are coming to a forex broker to do. This information is vital and it not being available is a big blow to our expectations.

Spreads

Spreads on the Normal account seem to start from around 1 pip, on the Speed account they can be as low as 0.01 pips. It should be noted that these spreads are variable which means they move with the markets, when the markets are volatile the spreads will often widen and be higher. Also, different assets have different spreads, so while EURUSD may start at 1 pip, other instruments such as AUDNZD will be starting at a higher pip.

Minimum Deposit

While the information is not prevalent, it appears that the minimum deposit is $30 which gets you to access the Normal account, the entry requirement required for the Speed account is not known to us.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are just two deposit methods available, Asian Pay and Bank Wire Transfer. For Asian Pay, there is a $30 remittance charge and for Bank Wire Transfer there is a $50 remittance charge.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can withdraw your money using the same methods that you used to deposit and must be withdrawn to the same method you used to deposit. There is a fee of JPY 5,000 you can transfer a minimum fo $50 per transaction. MGK Global also states that you will need to pay any of your own bank fees so be sure to check with your bank if they will charge any.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

This information is not stated on the MGK Global website, however as Bank Wire Transfer is one of the only methods available,m we would be expecting withdrawals to take a minimum of 2 – 5 business days in order to become available in your bank account.

Bonuses & Promotions

The is no current information about bonuses or promotions on the website, so if you are interested in them, you could get in contact with the customer service team to see if there is anything coming up.

Educational & Trading Tools

The only educational tool available is a simple glossary giving you the definitions of forex based terms. Apart from this, you will need to go elsewhere for your educational needs.

Customer Service

The contact us page offers a few ways to get in touch, there is the broker favorite online form, where you can submit your query and should then get a reply via email. There is also an email address and physical address should you wish to get in contact that way. We attempted to use the online form and also sent an email, however, we are yet to get a reply from either after 72 hours of waiting. The support team is open Monday – Friday between 9 am and 18 pm.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you can create one as either a Normal account or a Speed account however the speed account can only be in JPY. You can select a balance between 1,000 and 5,000,000 of the base currency and leverage of 1:100 is automatically set. We set up a demo account to test however rit was having some connection issues so we could not test it out properly.

Countries Accepted

We did not locate any information about who can and who can not sign up with MGK Global, so if you are interested din ana account we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

MGK Global set themselves some high expectations, unfortunately, they did not manage to live up to them. There is a lack of information regarding a number of subjects such as banking, account trading conditions, tradable assets and all of this combined with the fact that we are yet to get a reply via email fro the customer service team after 72 hours means it is hard for us to recommend MGK Global as a broker to use, this is before we mention the non-working demo account we created.

HighFX was a forex broker that was established by a team of successful traders and is operated within the United Kingdom. Their vision is to make a difference for their traders by creating a unique relationship and to provide information and strategies to help them succeed. With a high-quality customer support team behind them, HighFX is confident that they can achieve this. That is what the website says, we will be looking into the services on offer to see if this is achieved.

Account Types

5 different accounts are available from HighFx, these are the Standard, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Islamic accounts. We will take a little look at each as they each have their own requirements and conditions.

Standard Account: This entry-level account comes with spreads starting from 1 pip, it also has a leverage range between 1:5 – 1:400. Hedging is allowed and swaps are present on the account. There is a deposit bonus of 15% and it has access to fast and safe withdrawals. You can get support from a personal investment expert and access to forex analysis. This account comes with 24/5 support and also has access to forex training and the WebTrader and mobile applications.

Gold Account: The Gold account reduces the spreads slightly as they now start at 0.8 pips, the account has the same leverage range of 1:5 – 1:400 and hedging is allowed. Swap charges are present and there is an investment bonus of 20% available. The account offers high lot refunds along with fast and safe withdrawals and access to a VIP investment expert. The account received WhatsApp signal and analysis support as well as live trading sessions, dealing room access, 24/5 customer support and access to the EbTrade rand mobile trading platforms.

Platinum Account: The Platinum account reduces the spreads further as they now drop down to a starting level of 0.5 pips. Leverage remains the same between 1:5 and 1:400 and hedging and swaps are both allowed and present. There is a bonus of 30% available and the account offers high lot refunds as well as fast and safe withdrawals. You are able to contact the VIP investment expert, the account also receives WhatsApp signals and analysis support as well as live trading sessions, dealing room access, 24/5 customer support and access to the WebTrade rand mobile trading platforms.

Diamond Account: The Diamond account is the top tier account on offer from HighFx and so the spreads are further reduced down to 0.1 pips. Leverage remains the same between 1:5 and 1:400 and hedging and swaps are both allowed and present. There is a bonus of 30% available and the account offers high lot refunds as well as fast and safe withdrawals. You are able to contact the VIP investment expert, the account also receives WhatsApp signals and analysis support as well as live trading sessions, dealing room access, 24/5 customer support and access to the WebTrade rand mobile trading platforms.

Islamic Account: The Islamic account seems to be similar to the Standard account except for the fact that it has no swap charges. It has a spread starting from 1 pip and leverage between 1:5 and 1:400. Hedging is allowed and there is a bonus of 15% available. Withdrawals remain fast and secure and there is access to a personal investment expert, along with access to forex analysis and 24/5 customer support. The account can use both the WebTrader and the mobile platforms to trade.

Platforms

HighFx use their own platforms to offer their trading, each with their own features, let’s see what they are.

WebTrader: Features of the WebTrader include trading through your browser easily, enables creating a favorites list, so traders can easily access their preferred assets. Easily trading option for your preferred investing assets. Live Stream Technology, a unique live feed that gives instant information and insights about market events and mass trading behaviors. This option also allows traders to get real-time notifications about important financial events or news directly on the platform. Cashback Bonus Program, a Bonus program that enables customers to earn for every position they open. Traders can easily see how much they can earn on the related assets box. The Web Trader platform enables access over all browsers without downloading. Trading Central signal and analysis access and 7 language options.

Mobile Application: The Mobile Forex Application includes all the features of the desktop platforms but with an intuitive interface so you can trade in the quickest possible and most comfortable manner. The main advantage of mobile, in general, is that it is made as simple as possible in order to accommodate our fast-paced lives. Efficiency is a must and most people want to utilize their spare time in the best possible way. By trading with your mobile device, you will be able to actively participate in the world of Forex trading, no matter where you are – on holiday, on a business trip, waiting in a long queue or just during your lunch break.

Leverage

Leverage for all accounts can be between 1:5 and 1:400, this can be selected when opening up an account, should you wish to change it on an already opened account then we would suggest getting in contact with the customer support team with this request.

Trade Sizes

Trading sizes start as low as 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. We could not locate information regarding the maximum trade size, however, we would not recommend trading more than 50 lots as it can become harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades quickly and without commission the bigger they are.

Trading Costs

The majority of the accounts use a spread based system so there is no added commission. It is not clear if this is for all accounts as there is no mention of any commissions on the accounts comparison page or within the terms of service. So we can not comment on any potential commissions.

Swap charges are present on all account types apart from the Islamic account, there are charges for holding trades overnight and can be either negative or positive. These can often be viewed from within the trading platform you are using. There is also a dormancy fee of 10% of the account balance for not trading for an extended period of time.

Assets

HighFx has broken down their assets into a number of different categories but there isn’t a full breakdown of all the tradable instruments, just a few examples. Currencies are the first and there are major pairs and minor pairs available, some of the examples given are EUR/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD and NZD/USD.

Next up is commodities, where there are the usual metals of Gold and Silver, and then other commodities also such as Crude Oil and Natural Gas. Indices are also present with the usual suspects including Dow Jones, S&P 500, Dax 30 and Nasdaq. Plenty of stock on offer from the likes of Apple, Google, Boeing and Amazon available to trade. There are EFTs and finally, there are Cryptocurrencies which is great to see, the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, DASH, EOS, Ehtereum Classic, and Iota are all available to trade.

Spreads

The spreads that you receive depends on a number of aspects, first up is the account type that you are using, If we look at EUR/USD the Standard account has spread of 1.5 pips, Gold 1.1 pips, Platinum 0.9 pips, Diamond 0.8 pips, and Islamic 2 pips. The spreads re variable which means they move with the markets when the markets are being volatile than the spreads often widen and become bigger.

It should also be noted that different instrument shave different spreads, so on the Standard account EUR/USD may have a spread of 1.5 pips, other instruments like USD/CAD has a spread starting at 5.5 pips and commodities such as Bitcoin has a spread of 20,000.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required from HighFx is 200 USD, EUR or GBP, this is the same for the initial deposit as well as any further top-up deposits you may make.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Just two methods available to deposit with which are Credit / Debit card, both Visa or MasterCard and Bank Wire Transfers. Using Bank Wire Transfer should mean your funds arrive in your account within 1 – 2 business days. While HighFx does not add any fees of their own, they do state that it is the customer’s responsibility to cover any expenses that may be incurred, so be sure to check with your bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw as they were to deposit, withdrawals must be made to the same account that deposited. The first withdrawal of the month is free, any subsequent withdrawals are subject to a 30 USD, EUR or GBP charge. The minimum withdrawal amount is 100 USD, EUR or GBP.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals are processed by HighFx within 36 hours of the request being made. It will then take 2 – 5 business days for the withdrawals to become available in your bank account due to the banks’ own processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are a few different bonuses however the information surrounding them is not completely clear, but this is what we have got.

Reward Points: Get rewarded for your trading, by simply trading on your live account, you can accumulate HighFx points proportional to the volume of your closed trade. These points can be easily converted into funds and credited directly to your trading account. The more you trade, the more HighFx points you get.

Deposit Bonus: There is a deposit bonus available from each account which ranges from 15% up to 30%, the conditions of this bonus are unknown as the terms of service simply state that they can not be withdrawn until they have been converted into real funds, but there is no mention of how to do that.

Competiton: There is a trading competition each month where you can win up to $25,000. You simply need to trade the most volume, those who trade the most win.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is an economic calendar available to show you any upcoming news events and which currency they are on, however it is very basic and far better ones can be found elsewhere. There is a technical analysis section of the site, but no actual analysis, just information on what technical analysis is. The Academy is disappointing, it is just a single page outlining some basic information about forex trading. Finally, you are able to request a live trading session with a professional trader, we do not know how worthwhile this is though as we did not do it ourselves.

Customer Service

The customer service team is accessible via email or phone. There are email addresses for General Topics, Customer Services, and Affiliates. There are then phone numbers in a number of different countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, South Africa, Australia, Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore, and Nigeria. You can also get in touch on social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Demo Account

There is no mention of demo accounts on the website, however near the top of the Terms and Conditions there is a very strange sentence, it states: “I confirm that I got an opportunity to trade on a demo platform and/or read a tutorial” However the demo accounts do not seem to be available so we are a little confused by this statement.

Countries Accepted

Which countries are accepted is not clearly indicated on the website so if you are interested in getting an account we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

The trading conditions being offered by HighFx seem reasonable, spreads are not incredibly high and there is no mention of commissions, however, the lack of information on commissions can be a little concerning. There needs to be a better breakdown of tradable assets as potential clients will use this to ensure that there are enough and the right assets for them to trade. The main downside to HighFx is the withdrawal fees, the first in each month may be free but people often withdraw multiple times a month and any additional withdrawals will cost you 30 base currency which is quite high.

CEO Trading is a forex broker based in Belize, there isn’t much information about the company as a whole on the website so there isn’t too much to go by. We will be using this review to look at the services that are being offered to hopefully help you decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

CEO Trading has four different accounts on offer, we will be looking at the different requirements and features of each one.

All Accounts:
All accounts come with the following features, MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform, tradable assets of Forex, CFDs, and Metals, base currency as USD, unlimited maximum lot sizes and number of trades, floating (variable) spreads, margin call at 150% and stop out level at 50%, swap charges and the allowance for both scalping and hedging.

Mini Account:
The minimum deposit for this account is $1,000 and the maximum balance you can have is $9,999. The maximum leverage is set at 1:500 and The minimum lot size is 0.01 lots and the trade sizes go up in increments of 0.01 lots.

Standard Account:
The standard account increases the minimum deposit to $10,000 which is a lot and could price out a lot of newer traders, it has a maximum balance of $19,999 and the minimum lot size is 0.1 lots which goes up in increments of 0.1 lots. The maximum leverage for this account is currently set at 1:200.

Pro Account:
The pro account further increases the minimum deposit to $20,000 with a maximum balance of $49,999. The minimum lot size remains at 0.1 lots and increases in increments of 0.1 lots. The leverage is further reduced down to 1:100.

Premium Account:
The top tire account from CEO Trading requires an opening balance of $50,000 and has an unlimited maximum balance. The site doesn’t state what the minimum trade size is but as it goes up in increments of 0.1 lots we would assume it sticks to 0.1 lots. Leverage is further reduced and the maximum allowed is set at 1:50.

Platforms

Just the singular trading platform available, the good news is that the one platform is MetaTrader 4.

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

• Mini Account: 1:400
• Standard Account: 1:200
• Pro Account: 1:100
• Premium Account: 1:50

Leverage can be selected when opening an account and a number of different levels can be selected. If you wish to change the leverage once an account is already active you will need to get in contact with the customer service team and the request needs to be made when there are no open trades.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are also dependent on the account that you have, if you have a mini account then your minimum trade size will be 0.01 lots (also known as a micro lot) and will go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next available trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. If you have any other account then the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots (also known as a mini lot) and goes up in increment of 0.1 lots so the next trade would be 0.2 lots and then 0.3 lots.

There is no maximum on any account, however, we would not recommend using trades larger than 50 lots because it becomes increasingly difficult for liquidity providers and the market to execute larger trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

There isn’t any mention on the website in regards to any added commissions to trades so it appears that the accounts are using a spread based payment structure which we will look at later in this review.

Swap fees are present, they are an interest that is paid for holding trades overnight, they can be both positive and negative. These fees can be viewed directly within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

The only information regarding what assets or instruments are available is in the accounts comparison take which simply states Forex, CFDs, and Metals. There is no indication of how many or examples of which ones which is a surprise, many brokers are actively promoting how many assets they have available as a way to encourage people to sign up. We can only assume that there isn’t a large selection based on the lack of information.

Spreads

Similarly to the assets, there isn’t really any information on the site regarding this, the accounts section states that the spreads are floating, which means that they move with the markets, when the markets are especially volatile then the spreads tend to widen and get a lot higher. We do not know what the minimum trade is and how competitive they are which is a shame, these sorts of trading costs are vital to new potential clients. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets will have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount to deposit in order to open an account is $1,000 which is a little high if trying to bring in new clients., There is no mention as to whether or not this amount decreases for any subsequent deposits after an account is already open, having said that, it does state that the minimum deposit for bank transfers is $500 so it may drop down to that amount.

Deposit Methods & Costs

It seems that the only method for depositing is via bank transfers. This can only be done in USD and thankfully there is a 0% fee for depositing. It can take a few days for your deposit to be processed which is a little concern as the majority of people wants to start trading immediately. It is also a shame that only one method seems to be available and this could potentially alienate a lot of potential clients.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like depositing, the only withdrawal method available is via bank transfer. This must be done in USD and unfortunately, there is now a $30 withdrawal fee. It is also worth noting that there is a minimum withdrawal amount of $30. Please also make sure to check with your own bank just in case they add a fee of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The CEO Trading site states that the lead time (processing time) for withdrawal requests is 2 to 5 hours which is very quick, as the only method of withdrawing is bank transfer, this means that your withdrawal will take another 2 to 5 working days to clear in your bank account due to bank processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

We could not locate any information on the website that indicated that there were any active promotions or bonuses, this does not mean that there won’t be in the future so if you are looking for bonuses be sure to check back regularly.

Educational & Trading Tools

Nothing that we could find would be classified as an educational resource. As for trading tools, those would be limited to what the platform itself provides. Those tools are listed below.

Customer Service

The contact us page offers a few different ways to get in contact with CEO Trading, you can use the usual online submission form to fill in your query to be sent off, you should then receive a reply via email. There are also three email addresses available, one for the Admin, one for Finance and one for Support, so you can email the department that you desire.

The support department is open Monday to Friday between 10 am and 9 pm, it is closed at the same time as the markets on Saturday and Sunday.

Demo Account

We could not locate a way to open up a demo account, nor is there any mention of them on the website so we do not think that they are available which is a shame as many people like to test their strategies and test out the trading servers before signing up or using their strategies on live accounts. CEO Trading should really look at making demo accounts available.

Countries Accepted

No information on the website to indicate who can and who can not open up an account, so if you want to know if you are eligible you will either need to try signing up or to be safe, get in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

Not too much to say about CEO Trading as there is too much information missing, information that is often vital for new clients to see before deciding to sign up somewhere. Things like commissions, spreads, and tradable assets should be available to potential clients, but with CEO Trading they are missing, due to all the missing information, it is hard for us to recommend them as a broker to use.

Big Boss Financial is a forex broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. They have a mission statement of “Reliability, Innovation, Enhancement, and Challenges are all the elements we put in our heart when we deliver service.“ During this review we will be looking at what is on offer and if they manage to live up to their own expectation.

Account Types

There are three account types on offer from Big Boss, two of them are focused on trading as a whole, while one is designed specifically for cryptocurrency trading, we will take a look at the requirements and features of each account.

Standard Account:
The standard account which is the entry-level account for Big Boss does not require a minimum deposit and can be opened with any amount (subject to payment method minimum). The base currency can be in USD or JPY and has forex leverage up to 1:555 (varies with different instruments). There is no added commission when trading with this account, margin calls are set at 50% and stop out at 20%.

Pro Spread Account:
The pro spreads account has a lot of similarities with the standard account, it also has no minimum deposit and leverage can also be as high as 1:555 (varies by instrument). This account, however, has a commission of $4.5 per lot traded which is reasonable depending on what the spreads are like. Margin call and stop out levels remain unchanged.

FOCREX Account:
This account is designed for people who only want to trade cryptocurrencies, it can have a base currency of USD, JPY, BTC, ETH, OMG, QASH, EXC, AXE, XRP, no minimum deposit just like the other accounts but this account does not have a margin call or stop out level. The markets will remain open 24/7 365 days a year as opposed to the other accounts closing on weekends.

Platforms

Big Boss currently only offers one trading platform, luckily that platform is MetaTrader 4, here is a brief little outline of what MT4 offers.

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

There are a few different aspects that affect the leverage that you will receive, we have listed out the leverages below for convenience. When creating an account you can select the leverage that you desire, should you wish to change the leverage once the account is open, you will need to get in contact with the support team and there must be no open trades during the request.

Forex: 1:555
CFD: 1:50
Forex Minor (USD/RUB, USD/TRY, USD/ZAR): 1:50
Crypto: 1:5

Crypto on the FOCREX account may have higher leverages.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes are another aspect that depends on the account that you are trading with and also the instrument or asset that you are trading.

Forex on all accounts has minimum trade size of 0.01 lots which is also known as a micro lot. For the standard account, all CFDs will have a minimum lot size of 0.1 lots and all others will have 0.01 lots except for ETH/USD and NEO/USD which will have a lot size of 0.02 lots. For the pro spread account, some CFDs have a minimum lot size of 0.01 lots while others will have a size of 0.1 lots.

We could not locate any information in regards to the maximum trade sizes, no matter what they are, we do not recommend trading lot sizes greater than 50 lots as it can make it harder for the liquidity providers and the market to execute the trade quickly.

Trading Costs

The standard account uses a spread based system instead of any additional costs, we will look into the spreads later in this review. The pro spread account has an additional commission added to each trade of $4.5 per lot traded which is reasonable as the industry standard seems to be around $6 per lot. There are also swap charges which are either paid or received for holding trades overnight and can be viewed from within the trading platform (MetaTrader 4).

Assets

There is not a full breakdown od which assets and instruments are actually available to trade, instead, there is just a mention of a few and the categories that they fall into. It is clear that there are forex majors, forex minors, CFDs and cryptocurrencies available but not much more info than that. It does state that there is currently Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and a couple more crypt coins, but other than that it is hard to ascertain exactly which assets are available for trading.

Spreads

There is not a full breakdown of what the spreads are, instead there is a snapshot of a few different forex pairs and their live spreads. If we look at EUR/USD the spreads are around 1.6 on the standard account and 0.7 on the pro spread account, GBP/USD is around 2.3 on the standard account and 1.2 on the pro spread account. The standard account has pretty normal spreads however the pro spread account has quite high spreads when comparing it to other commission-based accounts.

It is also worth noting that the spreads are variable (floating) which means that they do not remain the same and will often be seen higher when there is a lot of volatility in the markets.

Minimum Deposit

There is no set minimum deposit which means you can deposit with any amount hat you want, the only possible limit is the limits imposed by the method that you are using to deposit, for instance, some cards won’t let you deposit less than $5.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Bib Boss currently allow you to deposit using all major credit and debit cards including Visa and MasterCard, they also accept bank wire transfers and bitcoin, it does not appear that e-wallets such as Skrill or Neteller are available to deposit with. We could not locate any information regarding any additional fees or if the deposits are fee-free so we can not comment on that aspect of depositing.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods for depositing are available for withdrawing, similarly to depositing with Big Boss it is unclear if there are any additional fees for withdrawing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Big Boss state that they will aim to process any deposits within 48 hours, after this processing time it will take bitcoin as long as it takes for there to be enough confirmations, for bank transfers it will take between 3 to 5 business days and card transfers will take between 1 to 7 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

The bonuses and promotions on Big Boss seem to be related to upcoming events, at the time of writing this review there is one bonus on offer and it is a Christmas one. You can get a 100% bonus of up to $5,000. While there is information in the terms about how your funds could be forfeited, there is no information on how to convert them into real funds which is a little suspicious to us.

It seems that there have been other bonuses in the past so be sure to keep an eye out if you are after a bonus for upcoming bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

Looking through the website it does not appear that there are any educational information or trading tools to help you with your trading.

Customer Service

It seems like there is only one way to get in contact with Big Boss and that is through an online form where you fill in your query and submit the form, you should then receive an email within the next couple days.

Big Boss states that they aim to respond to queries within 1 working day. It would have been nice to have more ways to get in touch with Big Boss as sometime sit is nice to actually speak to an actual person.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you can select to open a demo account on the MetaTrader 4 platform and can be for either the standard account or the pro spread account. The full details of the demo account are not listed on the website in regards to how many you can have or how long they last but it is good to know that they are available and nice that you can choose to have the conditions similar to multiple account types.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is on the BigBoss website: “Bigboss does not provide Contracts for Difference to residents to certain jurisdictions, such as USA and Iran. This website is for reference purposes only and not intended to target residents of Malaysia or Japan. In principle, we do not accept applications from Malaysian or Japanese residents.”

If you are unsure, get in contact with the customer service team to get confirmation as to whether you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

It can be a little hard to find the information that you want with Big Boss, most notable is the lack of information regarding deposit and withdrawals it is such a major part of a broker for many clients, knowing exactly how you can deposit and withdraw as well as any costs are vital. It is nice having no minimum deposit but this does not make up for other shortcomings such as the lack of methods to get in contact with the customer service team. At this time, it is hard for us to recommend Big Boss over some of the other more established brokers out there.

Bernstein Bank is a german bank and brokerage firm catering to countries within the European Union. The core of Bernstein Bank includes providing a professional trading platform, the latest IT infrastructure, a broad range of financial instruments, quick and secure order execution, an attractive price model and the security of a German bank. In this review, we will look at what is being offered to see if they can live up to their core principles.

Account Types

There isn’t much information on the site in regards to different account types so it would appear that there is only one account on offer. Due to this, all information within this review is aimed at this singular account, so keep reading to learn more about the trading conditions such as spreads and commissions and much more. There is, however, information available on-site in relation to managed accounts.

Platforms

Only MetaTrader 4 is on offer from Bernstein Bank but when MT4 is the only option, it’s not a bad option to have.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. 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 with Bernstein bank is 1:100 which is relatively low when compared to a lot of modern brokers who are aiming for 1:500. Leverage can be set anywhere between 1:1 and 1:100 and can be changed on an account as long as there are no open trades during the change request. It is important to note that higher leverage can bring more profits, however, it also increases the loss of stopping out.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots and increase in increments of 0.01 so the next available trade size would be 0.02 and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is currently 50 lots which are more than enough for the majority of retail traders. Cryptocurrencies have a minimum trade size of 1 lot and a maximum trade size of 5 lots. For shares, you can buy a minimum of 1 share and a maximum of 1000 shares, metals have a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 20 lots which indices and commodities have a maximum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum of 10 lots.

Trading Costs

Bernstein Bank adds an additional spread onto their markets but we will go more into spreads in a later section of this review. In terms of commissions, there is no indication that there are any on the site, however, we can not say that there aren’t so we are unable to comment fully on this section. Swap fees are present for holding trades overnight and can be both negative or positive, these can be viewed from within the trading platform MetaTrader 4.

Assets

There are over 100 assets and instruments available to trade with Bernstein Bank, these are broken down into various categories. There are the standard forex currency pairs such as EUR/USD or GBP/AUD, there are major, minor and exotic pairs available. There are also Indices available such as DAX, US500 or FTSE 100, there are also commodities such as Corn, Wheat, and Crude Oil. When it comes to metals there is just Gold and Silver which are the main two and there are also a number of shares available such as Apple, Tesla, and Facebook. It is also nice to see that cryptocurrencies are available however there are only three and they are Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, it would have been nice to see more but it is a good start.

Spreads

Spreads start at 1 pip, this is for the EUR/USD pair and so other pairs are naturally higher than this. The 1 pip is the minimum, they are floating spreads which means that they will move with the markets and when there are high levels of volatility, they will often be seen a lot higher. The 1 pip minimum is an amount added by Bernstein Bank in order to make money on each trade.

Minimum Deposit

There is no information available in regards to a minimum amount or how much you require to open up a new account so we are unable to comment on this section.

Deposit Methods & Costs

In terms of costs for deposits, we could not locate any information in regards to this, deposit methods available are stated in the FAQ but not a lot of detail is given. Considering this is a bank, bank transfers are available, there is also the ability to deposit using both credit and debit cards from either Visa or MasterCard, it does not seem like any e-wallets or cryptocurrencies are available to deposit with.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

There is the same lack of information in regards to the withdrawal methods, however considering that bank transfers and credit/debit cards are available for deposits, we would assume that they would also be available for withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The Bernstein Bank website states that incoming payments will be processed within 24 hours, however, there is no mention of any outgoing payments. We can say that card payment normally takes between 1 and 5 business days and bank transfers within 3 to 5 business days once they have been processed and we would hope that all requests are processed within 48 hours but no concrete information is available at this time.

Bonuses & Promotions

No information regarding if any bonuses or promotions are available on the website so we do not think that there are any active at this point in time. This does not mean that there never will be though so if you are interested in joining Bernstein Bank then be sure to check back to the site regularly in case any promotions pop up.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different things available to both clients and website visitors.

Research: There is a news section on the site which sets out different news articles about what is happening in the markets and what to look out for. There is also a podcast available, but this is more like a tutorial than an actual podcast and has topics such as how to use certain features of MetaTrader 4 and the basics of CFD trading. There is also something called a market mover which is actually just an economic calendar and doesn’t give off too much information that you cant easily find elsewhere. Finally, there is a newsletter to sign up to but we did not so we can not comment on how good it is.

Academy: The academy contains some webinars, however, that section is currently empty, there are however videos available which can give you a basic understanding of topics such as how to use the trading platform, how to trade different assets and how to place orders. There is also a knowledge base which gives information on various different topics. Finally, there is a glossary of forex based terms should you come across something you do not know the meaning of.

All of the above is useful when just starting out, however, if you have traded before then it may not be too useful to you.

Customer Service

The Bernstein Bank customer service team is open 24/5 and is closed at the same time as the markets over the weekend. There is a phone number available should you wish to get in contact that way, there is also an email address to use. We did not manage to test out the customer service team during the course of this review so can not specify how good or quick they were to respond.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, we managed to sign up to one, but when trying to access the account we came across some connectivity errors and so were not able to test it out completely to see what the trading conditions were like.

Countries Accepted

There is not any specific information regarding this, however, there are little bits that suggest that they are catering for countries within the European /Union. If you are unsure if you eligible or not, we would advise getting in touch with the customer service team to see if you can open up ana account with them.

Conclusion

Bernstein Bank is primarily that, a bank. While they offer the forex and trading experience it is clear that it is not their main focus, the information on the site is a little lacking and can make it hard to really understand what the trading conditions are or what is really being offered. Our personal recommendation would be to look for a broker that is dedicated to forex only and doesn’t have it as a side project.

Capital 245 is a forex broker based in Sofia. Their mission is to provide the best online trading experience to their clients, they will do this by providing an intuitive trading platform designed with the best technology, along with a high-quality customer service team. In this review, we will be looking into the services being offered bt Capital 245 so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are a large number of accounts, 6 in total, we will briefly outline what each one gets you.

Mini Account:
Min deposit: €500 – 4,999
— Includes —
Up to 10% monthly profitability
Monthly withdrawal of 3% of your initial deposit
Market reviews: 1 per month
Margin Loan of 15%
1:200 Leverage

Bronze Account:
Min deposit: €5,000 – 9,999
— Includes —
Up to 12% monthly profitability
Monthly withdrawal of 4% of your initial deposit
Personal Account Manager. 1 operation insured per week
Market reviews: 2 per month
Margin Loan of 20%
1:200 Leverage

Silver Account:
Min deposit: €10,000 – 24,999
— Includes —
Up to 14% monthly profitability
Monthly withdrawal of 5% of your initial deposit
Personal Account Manager. 2 operations insured per week
Market reviews: 3 per month
Margin Loan of 25%
1:200 Leverage

Gold Account:
Min deposit: €25,000 – 99,999
— Includes —
Up to 16% monthly profitability
Monthly withdrawal of 6% of your initial deposit
Personal Account Manager. 3 operations insured per week
Market reviews: 1 per week
Margin Loan of 30%
1:200 Leverage

VIP Account:
Min deposit: €100,000-249,999
— Includes —
Up to 18% monthly profitability
Monthly withdrawal of 7% of your initial deposit
Personal Account Manager. 4 operations insured per week
Market reviews: 3 per week
Margin Loan of 40%
1:200 Leverage

Premium Account:
Min Deposit: €250,000 +
— Includes —
Up to 20% monthly profitability
Monthly withdrawal of 8% of your initial deposit
Personal Account Manager. 5 operations insured per week
Market reviews: 1 per day
Margin Loan of 50%
1:200 Leverage

Platforms

Capital 245 use their own trading platform, it is not the most intuitive and can be quite difficult to use, it also does not have the ability to perform automated trading, something that a lot of traders like to do when using a platform like MetaTrader 4 or 5. The platform acts more like a binary options platform which is never a good sign.

Leverage

The maximum leverage allowed on each account is currently 1:200, this is valid for all account types. Leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change the leverage on an account that is already opened you will need to get in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trades sizes on the small account start at 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade available is 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. There is no indication of any change in the other account types. There is also no indication of the maximum trade size but whatever it is we would not advise trading over 50 lots as it can become hard for the markets and liquidity providers to execute larger trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

We could not locate any information in regards to commissions being added to the accounts so we are not sure if there are any, there are swap charges, however, these are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the trading platform.

Assets

There is not a breakdown of which assets are available, in fact, there is no information at all which is a shame as this is vital for many clients when selecting which broker to use, this is an area that Capital 245 really need to look at improving. Looking on the platform there were a number of forex pairs, around 50 or so and a number of CFTs and ETFs such as Cocoa, Coffee, Cotton, and Sugar, there are also Oils and Natural Gas.

Spreads

Spreads aren’t advertised on the website and for good reason, when viewing the platform we noticed spreads were incredible, high, high enough to put any trader off, EURUSD was sitting at around 16 pips when we checked, considering you are normally looking at around 1.5 pips to 2 pips for non-commission accounts, this is around 10 times this amount. They are also variable which means they move with the markets so they go up and down, but no matter how long we looked they remained very high.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount you need to deposit to open an account is $500, this will get you the Mini account, if you want a different account then you will need to deposit more.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available to deposit: QIWI Wallet, WebMoney, Visa, and MasterCard Credit / Debit Card, Yandex and Bank Wire Transfer. There is no indication of any fees, however, also no indication that there aren’t any, also be sure to check with your own processor or bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw as they are to deposit however there is a strange clause added to withdrawals, on the accounts page there is a little statement with each account, for example, the Mini account you are only able to withdraw 3% per month of your initial deposit, so if you have deposited $1000, you can only withdraw $30 per month, massively restricting your withdrawals and makes getting your money out as difficult as possible.

There is also no mention of any fees and just like when depositing, check with your own processor or bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There is no indication of how long Capital 245 will take to process withdrawals, but for bank wire transfers and card withdrawals, you can expect 2 – 5 business days as a minimum.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is no indication on the Capital 245 website of any promotions and bonuses so it does not appear that there are any available at the time of writing this review.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is an education section of the website which goes over aspects of trading such as forex basics, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, risk management, trading plans, and trading volatility. These are just single pages of information and will not help you become a forex master, instead, they offer basic information to get you started.

Customer Service

There isn’t a dedicated customer service page, instead, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page to get any kind of information. There is an email address and a phone number available along with a submission to fill in your query and can then expect to get a reply via email.

Demo Account

We did not see the option to open a demo account so as far as we could tell there isn’t one available which is a shame as this is where new clients can test the trading conditions and regular clients can test out their new strategies without any risk to their capital.

Countries Accepted

There was no information present on which countries are accepted and which are not, so if you are interested in opening an account with Capital 245 we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to find out f you are eligible or not.

Conclusion

The trading conditions offered by Capital 245 are not good at all, they are much more expensive than the competitions and the lack of information on assets and instruments on the site is concerning. The most concerning aspect though, is the restrictions to withdrawals, only being able to withdraw 3% of your initial deposit oper month massively restricts getting your money out and for that reason alone we would suggest steering clear of Capital 245.

Royal Capital Pro is a foreign exchange broker situated in Tallin, Estonia. They claim to be perfect for traders from all backgrounds, offering superb trading materials and training, a wide array of bonuses and perks, step by step analysis, latest risk management tools and top quality customer service team. That is what the expectations are, so in this review, we will be looking at what is on offer to see if they live up to these expectations.

Account Types

There are three main accounts on offer and then an additional Islamic account, here is what their requirements and features are.

Classic Account: This is the entry-level account from Royal Capital Pro, it has a minimum deposit amount of $500, this account uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform, has access to Forex pairs, metals, equities, indices, bonds and commodities, the account currency must be in USD and there are no added commissions. The margin call is set at 1505 and the maximum trade size is 50 lots. The account also comes with an account manager with a professional degree in Economics, a plethora of materials that help you understand trading, free tutorial trading sessions consisting of 3 lessons, a trading platform is compatible with mobile phone and daily recommendations from your account manager

Silver Account: The silver account increases the required deposit to $2,500, this account also uses MetaTrader 4 and has access to forex, metals, equities, indices, bonds, and commodities. The currency must be in USD and there is no added commission, the margin call is set at 150% and the maximum trade size is 50 lots. The account also comes with an account manager with a professional degree in Economics, a plethora of materials that help you understand trading, free tutorial trading sessions consisting of 5 lessons, daily recommendations from your account manager, a trading platform is compatible with a mobile phone.

Gold Account: The Gold account has a required deposit level of $10,000, this account is also un USD and has access to forex pairs, metals, indices and commodities. It uses the MetaTrader 4 platform and has no added commissions. The margin call level remains at 150% and the maximum trade size remains at 50 lots. The following features are also part of the account: An account manager with a professional degree in Economics, more advanced materials that are designed for you to learn the most advanced strategies. Free tutorial trading sessions consisting of 7 lessons, free access to all sorts of video tutorials, daily review by your market analyst, daily recommendations from your account manager, a trading platform is compatible with mobile phones.

Islamic Account: An Islamic account is for those that are not able to receive interest (swap fees) due to their beliefs, the website states the following features for this account: Buying and selling occur immediately and there is no postponement clause. All currencies are properly documented between the buyer and the seller. The deal must be paid for in full without any delay. If there are any usurious rates the contract is invalid.

Platforms

The trading platform offered by Royal Capital Pro is MetaTrader 4, so let’s see what this platform offers.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. 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 amount of leverage offered is the same for all accounts, however, different asset types have different maximum leverage amounts. You can select your maximum leverage when opening up an account and should you wish to change it you can get in contact with the customer service team to give them your request.

• Forex Majors: 1:200
• Forex Crosses: 1:200
• Indices: 1:50
• Metals: 1:200
• USA Shares:1:20
• Commodities: 1:50
• Energy Futures: 1:100
• Europe Shares: 1:20

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all accounts start at 0.10 lots (known as a mini lot), usually, broker start trades at 0.01 lots which make them more accessible and easier to apply risk management. Increments of the trades are unknown as to whether it is 0.01 lots or 0.1 lots. The maximum trade size is 50 lots which are fine as we always recommend to stay under 50 lots, the bigger the trade size, the harder it is for liquidity providers and the markets to execute the trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

All the accounts use a spread based system that we will look into later in this review, there is no commission on any of the accounts. The other cost that is valid for all accounts except for then Islamic accounts is swap charges, this is an interest that is either paid or received for holding trades overnight, the amount of this interest can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Assets at Royal Capital Pro have been broken down into a number of different categories. We will outline some of the instruments in each group below.

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

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

Indices: NASDAQ, DOW JONES, S&P 500, CAC 40, IBEX 35, NIKKEI, SMI, Dax 30, FTSE 100.

Metals: XAGUSD (Gold), XAUUSD (Silver).

USA Shares: (a lot so only a few mentioned) Cisco, Alcoa, Apple, Google, CitiGroup, Coca Cola, Exxon Mobile, Pepsi.

Commodities: Cocoa, Corn, Soy Bean, Wheat, Coffee, Sugar.

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

Europe Shares: Eni, Fiat, Banco Santander, BMW, BBVA, Inditex, Telefonica, Deutsch Bank, Siemens, Volks Wagon, Enel, Unicredito Spa, Barclays, BP, HSBC, British Airways, Roll Royce, Tesco, Vodafone.

Spreads

There is only one set of spreads mentioned on the site so we believe that all accounts use the same spreads. EURUSd is shown as having a spread of 3.2 pips, this is the starting level, the spreads are variable (also known as floating) which means they move with the markets when there is a lot of volatility they move a lot more and can be larger. Different instruments also have different starting spreads, so while EURUSD shows as 3.2 pips, other pairs like NZDUSD are shown as 4.2 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount needed to open up an account is $500 which gets you the Classic account, if you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $2,500. Usually, once an account has been opened small er amounts can be deposited to top up the account but there is no mention of such a thing on the Royal Capital Rpo website.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different ways to deposit into Royal Capital Pro, these are Credit / Debit Card, both Visa or MasterCard, Bank Wire Transfer and a number of different e-wallets including, WebMoney, CashU, Neteller and Skrill.

Currently, there is a high fee of $25 (or currency equivalent) per deposit which is very high for depositing, there is also a note saying that Royal Capital Pro could change this at any time. We would also suggest checking with your processor or bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw, for clarification these are Credit / Debit Card, both Visa or MasterCard, Bank Wire Transfer and a number of different e-wallets including, WebMoney, CashU, Neteller and Skrill. The minimum withdrawal is 50 units unless you have less than this and it is your last withdrawal.

There is no mention of a fee, however considering there is a fee for depositing we are confident that there will be one for withdrawing too, in any case, we would recommend checking with your processor or bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will take up to 24 hours to be processed once it has been processed it may take up to 7 days for funds to reach your bank account.

Bonuses & Promotions

The only promotion that seems to be running is a cashback program where you can earn up to $10 per lot traded as cashback. The following details are correct at the time of writing:

Deposit $5,000 – $10,000 – $1 cashback per lot traded
Deposit $10,000 – $50,000 – $5 cashback per lot traded
Deposit $50,000+ – $10 cashback per lot traded.

The cashback is deposited as real funds and the client can do as they see fit including withdrawing.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a page on trading strategies but it is very simple not a whole lot of information and provides a very brief overview of different trading strategies. There are also trading signals on offer but we can not see them so we can not tell how accurate or profitable they have been in the past. There is then a glossary of different terms should you come across a word or phrase that you do not understand. There is a training section, however, registration is currently closed so you can not currently sign up for this.

Customer Service

The contact us page on the website offers you a few different ways to get in touch. You can use the online submission to send your query which you should then get a reply via email. There is also a physical address available along with an email address to the support team and a phone number, there is also a separate email for the support team, and complaints team.

No message about what times the support team is open but we will be assuming that they will be closed over the weekends, the same times as the markets are.

Demo Account

There is no option to select a demo account so it does not appear that there are any. This is a shame as new clients like to use them to test out trading conditions and current clients like to use them to test out new strategies without risking any of their own capital. This is an area that Royal Capital Pro should look into improving.

Countries Accepted

There is no statement on the website about which countries are eligible for an account and which are not, so if you are interested in joining we would recommend getting in touch with the customer service team first to make sure you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

The trading conditions offered by Royal Capital Pro are a little on the steep side, while there is no commission, the spreads are starting at over 3 pips which is quite expensive, a lot of the competition start at around 1.5 pips for non-commission based accounts. Deposit and withdrawal methods are good however there is a fee for depositing and we expect there to be one for withdrawing too which is always a shame to see. No demo account makes it hard to really gauge the trading conditions that are being offered.

Trustworthy, transparent and fair, that is the motto from Trigold, a forex broker registered in Seychelles. TriGold’s main goal is to provide clients with all the tools they need to develop their skills at every step of their journey while enjoying an unparalleled trading experience. In this review, we will be looking into the services being offered to see if they live up to their motto and expectations.

Account Types

It seems that there is only one live account on offer from Trigold. This account has a starting deposit of $11 and has no commission, leverage can be as high as 1:400 and trading starts at 0.01 lots. The account is eligible for a bonus and execution speed is around 0.1 seconds. We will be looking into the different trading conditions in more detail later in this review.

Platforms

Trigold uses MetaTrader 4 as its only trading platform, so let’s see what the trading platform offers.

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

Leverage can be as high as 1:400, this can be selected when opening up an account and once an account is already open, if you wish to change the leverage you will need to get in contact with the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

Trading sizes start at 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lots, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We could not locate information regarding the maximum trade size, however, we would not recommend trading more than 50 lots as it can become harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades quickly and without commission the bigger they are.

Trading Costs

The account with Trigold uses a spread based system that we will look at later in this review, there are no added commissions. Swap charges are present which are fees that you wither pay or receive for holding trades overnight, these can often be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

Trigold has broken down their assets into two different categories, forex, and precious metals. Looking at the forex page, there only appears to be forex majors, at least that is all that is mentioned, the only pairs mentioned are AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, and USDJPY, it is unknown if there are any other pairs available to trade. In terms of the precious metals, there is only Gold and Silver mentioned so we assume this is all that there is.

Spreads

The spreads are not stated on the website, and trying to use the demo account did not work so we are unable to tell what the spreads actually are apart from the usual marketing of “competitive spreads”.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit stated on the website is $100, this is also the amount for any top-up payments too.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can only use Bank Wire Transfers to deposit into Trigold, there is no information regarding any fees so we can not comment on that, however, be sure to check with your own bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like depositing, you can only use Bank Wire Transfer, again there is no indication of any fees, however also no notice that there aren’t any, as always, be sure to check with your own bank to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Trigold states that it will take between one and two business days to process a request, after this, it will most likely take another two to five business days for the funds to become available in your bank account.

Bonuses & Promotions

You can receive up to a 35% bonus up to a total of $30,000. This is for new customers only and is deposited as bonus funds, you are required to trade the bonus amount / 8 in lots in order to convert it into real funds, there is also a 3-month time limit and all bonus funds will be removed if the rollover is not met in the three month period.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few little things when it comes to education and tools, there is the standard economic calendar that tells you of upcoming news events as well as which markets they may affect. There is a risk management page which gives some very basic information on risk management and there is a training academy which is actually just some very basic information on different aspects of trading, it isn’t anything that will make you an expert but if you have no knowledge at all could be somewhat helpful.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available between 10:30 am and 6:00 pm from Monday to Friday and is closed at the same time the markets are. Strangely there is no phone number, no email and no online form to fill in. There are just physical addresses for Hong Kong, Seychelles, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka. So there isn’t actually a way to get in contact which is very concerning.

Demo Account

A demo account is available, however, it is currently not functional so we could not actually test it, looking through the internet, it seems that others had the same issue so it appears that they are not functioning or if they are, they are not representing real trading conditions.

Countries Accepted

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

If you are unsure if you are eligible for an account we would recommend getting in touch with the customer service team (if you can work out how) prior to signing up.

Conclusion

Too much information is missing for us to seriously consider Trigold as a suitable broker to trade with, the assets are unknown, deposit ./ withdrawal fees are unknown, spreads are unknown and the demo account doesn’t actually work. The worst part though is that there is no way to get in contact with the customer service team, for that fact alone we would recommend staying clear of Trigold.

House of Borse is an online FX and CFD broker that is located in London. The broker is fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), under regulation number 631382. Since its establishment in 2014, HoB has claimed to be focused on empowering its clients to trade with confidence – by providing superior services and upholding their core values. Read on to find out whether the company holds up to its mission statement.

Account Types

House of Borse offers three different account levels; Silver, Gold, and Platinum, with the assigned level depending on the amount of traded volume. Each account level rewards traders with lower commission costs, with options being 12.5% lower on the Gold account and 25% lower on the Platinum account. In order to qualify for better status, one would need to trade up to 1 yard for the Gold status, or more than 1 yard for the Platinum status. With other brokers, we often see higher deposit requirements traded in turn for better account status, so the difference is refreshing. Other than commission costs, each account shares the same conditions. All accounts are also offered as swap-free options. Conditions for each account can be viewed below.

Silver Account (traded volumes of less than 1 yard per month)
Minimum Deposit: NA
Leverage: Up to 1:100
Spread: Floating from 1.3 pips on FX
Commission: $4 per side per 100K traded on FX

Gold Account (traded volume up to 1 yard per month)
Minimum Deposit:
Leverage: Up to 1:100
Spread: Floating from 1.3 pips on FX
Commission: $3.5 per side per 100K traded on FX

Platinum Account (traded volume of more than 1 yard per month)
Minimum Deposit:
Leverage: Up to 1:100
Spread: Floating from 1.3 pips on FX
Commission: $3 per side per 100K traded on FX

Platform

At the moment, the broker exclusively supports the MetaTrader 4 platform, with claims that MetaTrader 5 will be added as an alternative in the near future. Some may want to hold out for MT5, but most will be more than happy to see the world’s favorite MT4 available in the present. Speaking on some of the platform’s highlights, MT4 offers complete customization tools, more than 30 pre-installed indicators, the ability to develop your own technical indicators, live streaming prices, one-click trading, support for Expert Advisors, and more. The platform is completely encrypted and designed with security in mind, so there’s no need to worry when operating through MT4. The platform can be accessed on the Webtrader or downloaded on iOS, Google Play, PC, and MAC.

Leverage

This broker’s leverage offer is capped at 1:100. This certainly isn’t the lowest option we’ve seen and is much higher than the 1:30 cap set by some regulators. On the other hand, there are forex brokers out there offering leverage caps of 1:400 and even higher, so this offer may seem slim in comparison. It’s really up to the individual trader to decide whether this leverage will be sufficient, although we predict that the cap will only affect professionals since trading with a higher option would be extremely risky.

Trade Sizes

All accounts support the trading of micro-lots, with the exception of CFDs, where we see minimums of 1000 barrels of US and UK Oil, and so forth. The website does not give any information on maximum trade sizes. Hedging is allowed, but the broker does not mention whether scalping is supported. Margin call and stop-loss levels are not listed.

Trading Costs

HoB profits through spreads, commissions, and overnight interest fees, otherwise known as swaps. The broker offers one floating spread that is shared by all account types, with options starting as low as 1.6 pips. The broker tries to hide the fact that commissions are higher on CFDs. Commissions on currency pairs start at $4 per side per 100K traded on the Silver account. In order to access cheaper options, clients will need to trade higher volumes. For the Gold account status, the required amount is up to one yard, with commissions being $3.50 per side. The broker doesn’t specify how much would qualify the upgrade from the basic Silver account to the Gold.

Traded amounts of more than 1 yard per month qualify for the Platinum status account, which has the cheapest commission charges of $3 per side per 100K traded. On CFDs, commissions are $9 on commodities and $7 + 1 tick on indices on the Silver account, $8 on commodities and $6 + 1 tick on indices (round turn) on the Gold account, and $7 on commodities and $5 + 1 tick on indices on the Platinum account. The website mentions that there are no extra fees, so clients shouldn’t have to worry about paying inactivity fees or other hidden charges. Swaps are charged on positions that are left open past closing time, with triple charges occurring on Wednesdays.

Assets

HoB offers more than 60 currency pairs (63 to be exact), CFDs on futures, and precious metals. Taking a look at the available currency pairs, we see an assortment of majors, minors, and 8 exotic pairs. CFDs include US 30, US 100, US 500, UK100, UK Gas, UK Oil, and US Oil. Metal options include Gold, Silver, and Platinum. Overall, these options are a bit limited, and we don’t see many different categories available. The grand total of available instruments comes out to 73 options.

Spreads

This broker provides variable spreads that fluctuate with the market, meaning that exact examples we have provided may change at times. At the time we checked, the lowest spreads on FX options were at 1.3 pips on EURUSD, which is typically the currency pair that has the lowest spread. The second-best spread was available on the pair NZDUSD and was at 2.6 pips, well above the industry average. The spread on Silver was at just 1.6 pips, while the spread jumped to 2.3 pips on Gold and 81.1 pips on Platinum. This isn’t too surprising, considering that metals are more volatile. The current live spreads for each instrument can be viewed by clicking on the “Trading Products” tab at the top of the website and then choosing a category.

Minimum Deposit

It isn’t possible to access any information about the minimum deposit requirement until one has completely finished the verification process. Some online information suggests a $5,000 minimum, although we couldn’t get support to verify this. This is only the beginning of the vague information on the website related to funding.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Deposit methods are limited to Wire Transfer and credit cards, with fees depending on the card type or incoming bank. One thing we disliked was the fact that the website is only willing to provide terms on fees from within the member area, making it impossible to view associated fees from the main website page.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Once again, the broker is less than transparent about associated fees for withdrawals. This always makes us wonder whether conditions are hidden because they are less than advantageous. The wording on the website does make it sound as though fees will be incurred on both withdrawal methods, and we can assume that banks will charge some type of fee from their end (typically $25-$50). Be sure to check with your receiving bank to get a better idea of those costs.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Any withdrawal request that is received before 11 am UK time will be processed within two business days, with an additional one-business day wait time for requests received after 11 am. Note that this is only the processing time, and the website doesn’t mention exactly how much longer the wait time could be once funds have been sent.

Bonuses & Promotions

As far as any extra opportunities go, HoB isn’t currently offering anything. It’s always nice to see welcome bonuses that can help out beginners, trading contests, demo contests, etc. However, many brokers don’t offer these options. It seems to be more commonly available with larger brokerages, although the prescience of bonuses or promotions does not necessarily mean that one could profit more with another broker.

Educational & Trading Tools

Unfortunately, the HoB website is completely barren when it comes to educational opportunities. Beginners will probably feel less than enthused with the lack of resources and would need to look elsewhere in order to be prepared to open a live account. We do see demo accounts available, but would strongly recommend one become more acquainted with trading terms, chart patterns, etc. before opening a real account without other experience. As for trading tools, you’ll find an economic calendar on the website, but not much else.

Demo Account

In order to open a demo account through the broker, one can simply click “Demo Account”, located on the top right on the website. Signing up for a demo is risk-free since it requires a commitment to open a real account and no cash deposit is required. These accounts provide an excellent opportunity for traders of different skill levels to practice different trading strategies, trade under the broker’s conditions, become acquainted with the supported trading platform, etc. HoB allows users to select the amount of virtual currency from a predetermined list, starting at $50,000.

Customer Service

Customer support is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. In order to get in touch with an agent, traders can use LiveChat, call a direct phone number, send a fax, email, or fill out a contact form directly on the website. Having so many contact methods is an attractive quality and it shouldn’t be too difficult to get in touch with an agent, although we do wish support was available on weekends. Listed contact information has been detailed below.

Phone: +44 (0) 203-327-7001
Fax: +44 (0) 203-327-7010
Email: [email protected]
Address: Berkeley Square House, 2nd Floor, Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London W1J 6BD

Countries Accepted

On their website, HoB claims that their services are not meant for clients in the United States or any other jurisdiction where it would be unlawful for residents to open an account. The wording used indicated that it still may be possible to open an account from the US, so we headed to the account registration page to test the process. While the US isn’t listed specifically, we did find the US minor outlying islands on the list, which can be selected as an alternative.

Conclusion

House of Borse is a regulated broker that offers leveraged trading of up to 1:100 on FX, futures, and metals from the MT4 platform. The broker provides three different status level accounts, with better levels being earned by trading larger volumes. Rewards come in the form of cheaper commissions, with the cheapest option being $3 per side per 100K traded. All accounts share the same spreads, which tend to be higher than average on most currency pairs.

No deposit minimum is listed and accounts can only be funded through wire transfer and cards. The broker also refuses to provide any information about deposit and withdrawal fees until one has completely completed the verification process, which is typically a red flag that tells us those fees could be high. Another negative is the lack of information on any certain deposit minimum requirement.

Support isn’t available on the weekend, but the broker does make it convenient to reach out to an agent and offers 24-hour support on weekdays. Currently, there aren’t any extra opportunities to profit through bonuses or promotions. The broker has also failed to include any type of educational resources, aside from demo accounts. This broker may reward higher volume traders with regular commission charges but doesn’t seem to bring much else to the table.

Infinox Capital Ltd is registered in the United Kingdom and registered and licensed under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This broker opens its services for clients who wish to not only trade individually but also offer Introducing Broker and Affiliate programs to those who wish to expand on their income outside of their trading portfolio. Infinox is also well established, and have been offering their trading services since the year 2009 so it is safe to say they clearly know how to maintain a client base and offer the right service to suit their trading needs.

Account Types

Infinox offers 3 live trading accounts for CFD trading:

• IXO (Infinox tailored trading platform): no commission fees
• MT4 STP: no commission fees
• MT4 ECN: 5 GBP (round turn) commission fees but access to lower spreads

All accounts offer the same instruments and spread however the IXO platform is the only one in which clients have access to Equity CFDs. If however, you would rather trade Futures rather than CFD, there is an alternative trading platform available (CQG).

Platforms

As mentioned above, Infinox offers its trading services compatible via MetaTrader 4 platform as well s their own IXO platform which is tailor-made. Clients can choose whichever they prefer, with the same access to the same markets for trading. Of course, the difference between the two platforms is aesthetics as well as the fact that the IXO platform does not charge commission fees. Therefore, expect the spreads to be slightly marked up as the broker would, in turn, earn profit from the spread in this case.

Clients who opt to use MetaTrader 4 can Download MT4 on their Desktop PC or Mac, and Android/ iOS versions are also fully compatible. The IXO platform is only available via the Desktop version.

Leverage

The maximum leverage on all CFD trading account is set at 1:30. This is, of course, to comply with the regulation policies that Infinox adhere to. While this leverage cap is low and not competitive, traders can still make a great profit, but this would mostly be a result of a large initial deposit, to begin with. Equity will need to be maintained when trading with such leverage caps. The maximum leverage allowance is as follows for all instruments:

• FX Majors: 1:30
• Commodities: 1:10
• Equities: 1:5
• Cryptocurrencies: 1:2

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size requirement is 0.01 lot, which is standard for the vast majority of brokers, but the maximum is set relatively low at 40 lots for Forex trading.

Trading Costs

The commission fees are not applicable to all trading accounts but bear in mind that where commissions are NOT charged, the spreads on that account option will be marked up.

• IXO: 0 commission fees
• MT4 STP: 0commission fees
• MT4 ECN: 5 GBP RT commission fees

Assets

Infinox offers a fairly wide and competitive range of tradable instruments to their clients, which include: Forex currencies (49+), Indices, Commodities, Equity CFDs and Futures. we advise you to open an Infinox Demo account to see the complete and full list of tradable instruments available. Infinox did previously offer Cryptocurrencies but no longer do, the reason as to why this is the case is unclear.

Spreads

Infinox offers their clients variable (floating) spreads, all of which ‘typical’ spreads are available, for ALL instruments directly on the website, however, to view all LIVE floating spreads, you will need to open a demo account. On the whole, even just looking at the typical spreads, Infinox offers competitive spreads across the board, especially for Forex currency Majors and Commodities.

Minimum Deposit

The FAQ page states that the minimum deposit required to start trading with Infinox is just £1 or equivalent in your base currency so this leaves the initial deposit entirely down to the client to deposit as much as he/she wishes to fund their account with, without any pressure to deposit a specific amount.

Deposit Methods & Costs

According to the FAQ page, Infinox accepts clients to fund their account via the following:

• Debit or credit card
• Skrill
• Neteller
• Bank transfer

Infinox does not charge its clients for making a deposit via the above methods available.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The withdrawal methods available with Infinox are the same as the deposit methods listed above, and the only fee-free withdrawals would be for the GBP trader account holders. If, for example, you have your account in EURO currency, you will be charged a 7 EUR fee but the first withdrawal of the month is totally free of charge.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Infinox process all their withdrawals within 3-5 working days, however, Neteller withdrawals are processed within the same day, and usually is the fastest method. Although wait time after processing can sometimes vary, Infinox does stick to their timescales and does not disappoint their clients with any delays.

Bonuses & Promotions

Infinox does not offer any deposit bonus schemes or such promotions, which of course reminds us this is a fully regulated broker, who cannot offer such schemes under strict regulatory policies.

Educational & Trading Tools

Infinox offers a small selection of reading material on trading and how it works, but it is not very thorough so if you are looking for some in-depth reading and learning to do, you may be better off approaching alternative avenues. However, not to worry as many free online trading education resources can be found online.

Customer Service

One thing that really stands out positively with this broker is the Infinox Customer Support team. They are available to contact via email, telephone and live chat during the hours of 8 AM – 6 PM between Monday and Friday. You will find customer support by Infinox more than satisfactory, with their prompt and professional responses. This level of quality in a customer support team is not all that easy to come across in a broker so it is refreshing when you find it as this adds a level of reassurance and confidence among the clients, knowing a representative is easily contactable and will deliver fast responses.

Demo Account

Infinox does offer a demo account so for those who are either just starting out in trading and wish to take some time to practice, this tool is available. Alternatively, if you simply wish to backtest a simulation of the live trading environment, the option is there, prior to opening a live account right away. Of course do bear in mind that while the demo account reflects the live trading conditions, it cannot take into account some real-life instances that occur in live trading, such as slippage.

Countries Accepted

The Infinox website disclaimer does state that these trading services are not directed at residents of the United States, Belgium or any particular country outside the UK or any country or jurisdiction where the use of these trading services would be contrary to local law or regulation. Of course, to register for a live account, all clients must go through a KYC process and submit a document proof of Identification and proof of address residency. At this point, you will be notified if your residency allows access to Infinox trading services or not.

Conclusion

On the whole, Infinox offers a very competitive trading service, as far as regulated brokers can offer. Their selection of tradable instruments is wide and the selection of trading account types are fair and justified and clients have the choice of trading on IXO or MT4 platform, as they wish. In addition, the customer support team are consistent in terms of speed of response, quality of response and professionalism.

One major downside to trading with this broker, however, is that those clients who do not hold a GBP account, are subject to paying incredibly expensive withdrawal fees, which can really stack up if you are withdrawing frequently. This is essentially a double-edged sword whereby the client may choose to keep on trading and try their luck, as opposed to withdrawing their profits as they earn them, meaning they will be more inclined to keep their funds with the broker and continue trading.

Overall Infinox is a good choice of broker to consider, even if you are not wholly experienced as a trader, this broker offers simplicity and straightforwardness for their clients, and a reliable 24/5 support team to assist you along the way.

UFX is an STP broker, formerly known as UFX Markets, that was founded back in 2007. In 2011, UFX became regulated in the EU, with their global business being regulated by Cyprus Securities (License number 127/10) and subject to CySEC rules. In 2014 the company underwent a rebranding exercise and became UFX. This brand also has an entity regulated in Vanuatu, under the name UFX GLOBAL. This is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC).

This broker offers fixed spreads on a proprietary state-of-the-art MassInsights Technology platform that is suitable for professional as well as beginner traders. On their website, they state that all UFX processes are encrypted and 100% secure. They ensure their clients that funds are held in segregated accounts at top-tier banking institutions. UFX offers six different account types for clients to choose from, including a Swap-free account, ideal for Islamic clients, with varying minimum deposit requirements.

Account Types

If you’re interested in opening an account with UFX, you have a choice of six different accounts available namely; Micro/Mini, Mini, Standard, Gold, Platinum, and Islamic. Minimum deposit requirements vary from $100 for the Micro accounts to $10,000 for the Platinum and the Islamic account. The Gold and Platinum accounts have access to the MT5 platform while all available accounts have access to daily market reviews and recommendations, 24h live support and a video library.

The Mini, Standard, Gold and Platinum accounts receive VIP trading support whilst only the Standard, Gold and Platinum accounts have access to exclusive updates. On their FAQ page regarding their Accounts, this broker states that clients are not allowed to open more than 1 account and they need the following documents to successfully open up an account with UFX; copy of passport, a copy of a bill or statement with current residential address and a copy of both sides of their credit card. Apart from this information, we could not find any useful information regarding their accounts such as; spreads and leverage on their Accounts page.

Platforms

This broker offers two trading platforms, their own UFX MassInsights Technology platform and the well-known MetaTrader 5.

UFX’s proprietary platform, which is accessible through any web browser, without the need to download, has a number of popular tools and features amongst clients that can help them make better-informed decisions whilst trading. For example, on this platform, clients can see which specific assets are trending in real-time, which assets have experienced an abrupt change in direction, any rapid buy/sell activity on specific assets, any larger-than-usual growth in overall trading volume on particular assets, Uptrends, Downtrends, financial events calendar as well as up to date market news.

Needless to say, this information is extremely valuable to those experienced brokers that know what to do with it. Although this platform does not require a download, it only supports the latest versions of Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari (version 8+) and Internet Explorer (version 10+). There is also the possibility of downloading a mobile application of this platform. This will enable you to access demo mode, to set Stop Loss, Take Profit & Limit Orders and round the clock support.

Apart from their own platform, UFX also offers its clients the most popular and the most trusted platform out there, the MT5. Although the MassInsights platform does have attractive tools, the MT5 offers a superior range of features on a user-friendly interface. Some of the features that you can find on MT5 are; Flexible trading, Virtual Hosting and fundamental analysis for those weighted financial decisions. You can find a download button for the MT5 platform on UFX’s website.

Leverage

With UFX, leverage levels are set by default to a maximum of 50:1 as it is required by the Regulator, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, but experienced retail clients will be permitted to trade CFDs with full leverage levels (400:1). On the other hand, less experienced clients will be permitted to trade CFDs with a decreased leverage of 30:1. Clients are classified as Experienced once they have completed a total of at least 30 trades or 5 consecutive months of trading with UFX, whichever happens first. Clients are notified by the broker once this has occurred.

Trade Sizes

All six accounts have different minimum trading volumes applied as explained below;

• Micro/Mini- $250
• Mini- $5,000
• Standard- $10,000
• Gold- $50,000
• Platinum- $100,000
• Islamic- $100,000

We could not find any information regarding the maximum trading volumes permitted by this broker, so we decided to contact them via live chat. They redirected us to the Accounts page that does not specify maximum trade sizes, but they did inform us that clients can open as many trades as they wish with the free margin that they have available.

Trading Costs

Potential clients can find some information regarding any fees or commissions they are expected to pay when dealing with UFX on their Terms and Conditions page.
For example, the level of overnight commissions also referred to as swap fees, are calculated once every day from Sunday to Friday and in triple on Wednesday. UFX’s spreads are based on market rates received from the execution brokers or liquidity providers and they are pre-determined according to the client’s account status. This broker also reserves the right to use floating spreads on any assets for MT5 accounts.

If you decide to join UFX you must also keep in mind that maintenance fees and inactivity fees may be charged. Although UFX does not charge regular maintenance fees, it does reserve the right to charge a $100 fee on an open account every 45 days, and if an account has been inactive for over 45 days, and inactivation fee of $100 will be charged.

Assets

UFX has a vast selection of assets available including over 40 Currencies, including Bitcoin and a variety of Major, minor and exotic pairs, 7 Commodities including Gold, Natural Gas, Oil, and Silver SP, a very large number of stocks including American Express, Amazon, Apple and Coca-Cola amongst many others as well as 7 indices including Dax30, CAC 40 and Dow Jones. You can find the list of all available assets on UFX’s website, along with the leverage and spreads for each.

Spreads

As we’ve just mentioned, potential clients can have a look at UFX’s spreads on their Assets page. If you were to compare this company’s spreads to other popular brokers of the moment, UFX’s are definitely on the high side. For example, the popular currency pair EUR/USD has a spread of 4.0 Pips while GPB/USD has a spread of 5.0 Pips.

Minimum Deposit

This broker offers 6 available accounts, all with varying minimum deposit requirements. The cheapest account to open is the Micro/Mini which has a minimum deposit of $100, making it affordable for a large number of traders, even those just starting out. The Mini and the Standard accounts have a $500 and $1,000 minimum required respectively. The Gold account can be opened for a minimum of $5,000 whilst both the Platinum as well as the Islamic account have a minimum deposit of $10,000. The last 3 accounts are targeted towards experienced traders rather than beginners.

Deposit Methods & Costs

UFX claims to have fast, easy and secure funding methods available for its clients. We also noticed that they have quite a variety of methods available namely; MasterCard, Visa, Visa Electron, Maestro, Diners Club, Local Bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, Sofort, ELV Giropay and more. You can find the full list on UFX’s Funding page. According to their FAQ page, this broker does not charge any deposit fees. Also, if clients accidentally deposit funds into their account, they can request a withdrawal immediately by clicking on the Withdrawal tab on their trading platform.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Clients can withdraw funds by signing into their trading account, clicking on the profile button and choosing Withdraw Funds from the drop-down menu. Like most brokers, withdrawals will only be sent via the method with which the initial deposit was made. It seems like UFX does not charge any withdrawing fees, which is always a plus, but transfer fees may be imposed by banks.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals may take between 3-14 business days to be processed. The broker also mentions that the minimum amount for withdrawal is $25 and any funds exceeding the initial deposit will be transferred via Bank Transfer.

Bonuses & Promotions

UFX does have a promotions page on their website, and although this seemed positive at first, we realized that the last competition took place back in 2014. Their promotions, or competitions as they’re called on their website, seem to be quite different from the norm, as they require players to guess closing prices of Commodities as well as holding the longest drive. Although there isn’t any mention of a current, ongoing competition at the moment, you might want to check out this page perhaps more competitions will be available for clients in the future.

Educational & Trading Tools

At the moment, this broker does not offer any educational content on their website. They do go over some basics on their FAQ page, but there is no up to date information about the trading business. As for trading tools, one can find an economic calendar on UFX’s site as well as daily market reviews.

Customer Service

UFX can be reached either by Live chat or by telephone. We did have a pleasant experience when using their live chat options. We were assisted by a UFX worker who was quick and polite when giving us feedback. We did notice, however, that most of her answers were simply stating what was already on the site, so we suspect that the customer support might not be 100% informed about UFX’s trading conditions. You can find this broker’s contact information below:

UFX HEADQUARTERS – Reliantco Investments Ltd
139 Makarios Avenue, Zavos Business Center
3021 Limassol, Cyprus
Telephone numbers
Cyprus: +357 2503 0314
Germany: +49 303 080 8240
Czech-Republic: +420 22 888 22 70

Demo Account

UFX does offer a demo account that is designed to give potential clients the opportunity to learn how to trade within the Forex market without risking their capital in a risk-free environment. When we asked their customer support, we were informed that Demo accounts have $10,000 of virtual money and there is no time-limit on Demo account activity. In order to set up a demo account, clients must first sign in, click on the profile avatar and click on Demo.

Countries Accepted

Unfortunately, clients coming from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Belgium, Iraq, Turkey, and USA are not accepted to trade using this broker. You can find this information on UFX’s FAQ page.

Conclusion

UFX offers a wide range of assets available for trading, including Cryptocurrency CFDs and Single-Stocks. They also have a big choice of accounts to choose from, although the minimum deposit requirements are slightly high. Clients may find that the biggest drawback UFX has is its pricing options, with fixed spreads being quite high.

Their customer support is fast and efficient, and we should mention we were given an answer within minutes even on a Sunday. Educational content is not present on the website, but needless to say, those wanting to learn more about the industry have a never-ending supply of up to date content on Forex.Academy’s website as well as multiple other sites.

They do have quite a number of restricted countries, including America and New Zealand which is obviously a major drawback for clients coming from these particular places. This broker offers plenty of options when it comes to depositing and withdrawing and it is good to note that the broker does not charge any fees for these actions.

If you are interested in what UFX has to offer, you can head on to their website to find out more. We also suggest using their Live Chat as feedback is quick and efficient.

ZenTrader is a relatively new binary options broker that offers clients a different experience when trading. The main company, ZT Markets Limited, is registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines under the registration number 25071 IBC2018. This is a popular offshore zone for brokers as it offers easy registration, low taxes and companies don’t need to meet any regulatory requirements. Potential clients should always be aware of such information as there is a risk involved in dealing with this kind of broker.

ZenTrader state that this company was founded with the goal of creating the best trading experience for its clients. They claim to have the highest payouts on winning trades, a knowledgeable support team, and fast deposits and withdrawals. Clients can trade Currency pairs, Equity Indices, Commodities, Single stocks and also Crytpo. You won’t find a list of accounts available through this broker as they only offer 1 type of account that, in their words, is perfect for beginners as well as experienced traders.

Account Types

This broker only offers 1 single account platform, but with two types of options, Classic and On-Demand. Not much information is given regarding this account, apart from minimum investment requirement and maximum payouts reaching 200%. The payouts are based upon the asset being traded and the particular time frame. When we spoke to their live chat they explained that clients would be able to see the payout before entering the trade. This account seems to be directed towards short-term traders that like flexibility as well the convenience offered by a fixed schedule.

On the other hand, this makes this broker not appealing to traders looking for long-term trading. When using this account, clients can trade Forex, Commodity, precious metals, single stocks, and stock indices. The minimum trade size for Zentrader’s account is just $5 and the maximum exposure per account is $25,000 or equivalent.

The Classic High/Low options run on a fixed time schedule (15min, 30min, 1hour and 1 day) traders may enter or exit at any time up until the no-trading point just before expiry. On the other hand, if clients go for the On-Demand option, the countdown of the selected time frame, whether 30sec, 60sec, 3min or 5min begins when the trade is entered into. If you need more information about these options, you can speak to their efficient and informed live chat which we will be discussing soon further on in the review.

Platforms

ZenTrader offers its own trading platform that can be used via a web browser, mobile web app, and Android. Potential clients can have a look at what the platform looks like by trying out the Platform Demo found on this broker’s website. The design is very minimal and easy to follow, which is great for new traders. Through this demo, clients can also see what the percentage payouts are on all assets provided by this broker in the top left part of the page.

On the bottom right corner, clients also have an updated news feed regarding the trading industry. According to their live chat, the demo platform and all the data and conditions you see on it are identical to the live platform. Although this platform seems easy to trade with, some traders might still want the option of using a more popular platform such as MT4 or MT5 but unfortunately, this is not available when using this broker.

Leverage

This broker does not offer leverage but a payout percentage of up to 195% in 30 seconds. This refers to the total amount clients will receive back on any winning trade. For example, if a client placed 1 x ¥5000 trade on USD/JPY with a payout of 195% and win, they will receive back ¥9750. The ¥5000 investment + ¥4750 profit. Obviously, for losses, the same numbers are applied. The payout percentage is based upon the asset being traded as well as the timeframe. You can find out the payout percentages through their Demo platform. Investors should be wary of such high returns as this brings along with it great risks.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size with this broker is very affordable at $5 whilst the maximum trade size is $1000.

Trading Costs

There is no mention of commissions or fees applicable to clients on ZenTraders site. To make sure, we asked their live chat and they confirmed that no commissions are applied when trading with this broker.

Assets

ZenTrader offers quite a large variety of assets to choose from including the currency pairs, commodities, indices, single stocks as well as cryptocurrencies. We’ve listed down some of the available assets below.

• Forex: EUR/USD, AUD/JPY, AUD/NZD, USD/CHF, USD/JPY, EUR/JPY
• Commodities: Gold, Silver, US OIL (WTI)
• Stock Indices: Nikkei 225
• Single Stocks: Softbank, Fast Retailing, Toyota Motor
• Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin

You can find a current list of all available assets on the Trading Schedule page on ZenTrader’s website.

Spreads

We cannot comment on this as it seems Zentrader does not use spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account with this broker is $50 or equivalent. Although there are brokers who have a smaller minimum deposit, $50 is quite affordable to many traders, even those just starting out in the business.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Clients wanting to deposit funds into their ZenTrader accounts can do so via a number of methods. Local bank transfers are probably the simplest way to do so and deposits through this method are typically credited to the client’s account instantly, but this depends on the country the client is located in. This broker also accepts international bank transfers for those located in countries where local bank transfers are not available. Manual bank transfer deposits usually take between 1-3 business days.

This broker also accepts deposits through credit or debit cards in a range of currencies as well as multiple e-wallet payment systems which will enable you to fund your account instantly 24 hours a day. ZenTrader also allow clients to deposit funds through their preferred providers like ecoPayz, Paysafecard, iWallet and Jeton Wallet amongst others. The minimum deposits clients can make through ZenTrader is $50 and the max is $50,000 daily.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Clients can withdraw their funds through the same methods mentioned in the deposit methods segment of this review, namely; Bank transfers, credit & debit cards, bank transfers as well as e-wallets. There are no mentions of fees when it comes to withdrawing, but bank fees may be applied.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Clients can withdraw their funds by filling a withdrawal request on the withdraw page of the ZenTrader Dashboard. Withdrawal wait time depends on the method chosen by the client and clients can view the status of their withdrawal in the payment history page which is also found in their Dashboard. ZenTrader claims to be committed to processing their clients’ withdrawals as fast as possible. Some methods are instant whilst others, such as international bank transfers may take up to 3 business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

This broker has a dedicated page to Rewards on their website. These rewards enable their clients to earn cashback through their online trading plus accessing a range of exclusive benefits. The reward points depend on how much the client trades each month, obviously the more clients trade, the higher their rewards. According to their Rewards page no coupons, codes or redemption forms are required and the cash that clients earn goes back into their personal trading account.

The ZenTrader rewards are divided into three different categories; Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Bronze: Bronze traders will earn a $50 cashback bonus when they trade between $10,000 to $24,999.99 in a calendar month.

Silver: Silver traders will earn a $250 cashback when they trade between $25,000 to $49,999.99 in a calendar month.

Gold: Gold traders will earn a $500 cashback bonus when they trade $50,000.00 or more a month.

In order for clients to withdraw their cashback bonus, they must redeem them first. To redeem, clients must trade the cashback bonus amount of times 1.

Customer Service

Clients wanting to reach ZenTrader can do so via Live Chat or telephone. Their Live Chat response is instant and, in our case, we were met with a knowledgeable support provider. We asked a number of questions and he answered them all with no hesitation. This broker also has a Help Centre that you can find on their Support page. In this section, you will find information on how to get started with ZenTrader. They also have a number of articles that clients may find useful. Here are ZenTrader’s contact details:

Address: ZT Markets Limited
SVG IBC, First Floor, First St Vincent Bank Ltd Building
James Street,
Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines

Telephone: UK +44 152 422 0083
Switzerland +41 43 505 12 88
Japan +81 503 196 4588

Demo Account

Unlike most brokers, ZenTrader has a Platform Demo available on its website rather than an Account demo. The demo that they offer serves as an introduction to their own platform. On their platform, you can see all the basic information that you would need whilst trading in a simple and organized way. Trading currency, time frame, payout percentage, and account balance are visible on the platform’s main page.

Countries Accepted

Even though ZenTrader is a global broker, they do not accept clients from United States, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Estonia, Israel, Iran, North Korea, Palestine, Sudan, Syria or the Russian Federation. This list is subject to change due to increasing regulations. If you are interested in opening an account with ZenTrader you can see what current countries are accepted in the Country drop-down box found in the registration form.

Conclusion

ZenTrader is a new binary options broker that is registered offshore. They are different in the way they enable their clients to experience trading. Using their own platform, clients can experience a high payout of up to 195% which can be as rewarding as it is damaging, a quick and informative support team and no fees for deposits and withdrawals.

On the other hand, this broker only offers short-term options which make them quite limited for traders wanting more long term options. Potential clients may also find it difficult to gather important information regarding the single account that is being offered because most of the information is either missing or difficult to find.

Having said that, their support team is very quick and knowledgeable. ZenTrader also has an interesting Rewards scheme where clients can get cashback bonuses without actually doing anything else except trading. Keep in mind that this broker is unregulated and this might be a fact to consider when picking your broker of choice. If you’d like to know more visit ZenTrader’s website and try out their Demo platform.

BP Prime, which stands for Black Pearl Securities Limited, has been around since 2013 and it is authorized and regulated by the reputable Financial Conduct Authority (company number: 08823678). When a company is regulated by the FCA, this means reliability, funds are held securely and compliance with strict requirements. They are headquartered in London, with operational offices in Italy and China. This company has both retail and institutional clients from across South America, Asia, and Europe.

This UK forex broker was named Broker of the Year by Le Fonti Awards in 2018. BP Prime offers its clients a choice of three accounts with attractive trading conditions whilst using the most popular platform available, MT4. BP Prime claims to offer dedicated 24/6 customer support, non-dealing desk, fast execution, and low latency. On their website, clients can learn more about the background and experience of their IT Director, CEO & Founder as well as the compliance manager. This can help clients feel more at ease when trading money through this broker.

Account Types

If you are interested in creating an account with BP Prime you have three available options, namely; The Standard Account, The Pro Account and the Prime account.
The Standard and the Pro accounts have quite a lot of similarities including the minimum deposit requirement of $5,000 (or equivalent in Euro). This is quite high when compared to other brokers. We did find some contradicting information regarding this in another section of their website, but we will go into more detail about this in the Minimum Deposit segment of the review.

These two accounts are also fee-free and the minimum lot size available for trading is 0.01 lots. Spreads for the Standard account start from 1.4 Pips whilst the Pro Account spreads start from 0.6. The leverage for both these accounts changes according to the clients. For retail clients, leverage is set at 1:30 whilst for professional clients, this increases to 1:100. Both the Standard and the Pro accounts allow their clients to trade using all available instruments, we will go into detail about this in the Assets segment of this review.

The Prime account has a minimum deposit requirement of $10,000 or equivalent and spreads are competitive as they start from 0.1 pips. The minimum trade requirement is 0.01 lots and this particular account is suitable for high volume as well as Algo traders. Clients opting for this account should take into consideration that the commission is dependent on trading volumes. Leverage for retail clients is set at 1:30 whilst for professional clients, it is increased to 1:100.

Clients must meet a number of stipulated criteria in order to qualify as a professional trader. These criteria are; A financial instrument portfolio that exceeds €500,000, a minimum of 1-year experience in trading in the financial sector and the placing of 10 relevant trades of a significant size per quarter for the previous year.

On the FAQ page on their website, we also found information stating that this broker allows hedging. You can find more details about this on their website. Accounts that are left with 0 balance are archived after a ninety-day period but there are no dormant fees.
We have outlined the main characteristics of all accounts offered by BP Prime below:

The Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000 (or equivalent)
Leverage: Retail Clients – 1:30
Professional Clients – 1:100
Spreads: 1.4 Pips
Commissions: None

The Pro Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000 (or equivalent)
Leverage: Retail Clients – 1:30
Professional Clients – 1:100
Spreads: 0.6 Pips
Commissions: None

The Prime Account
Minimum Deposit: $10,000 (or equivalent)
Leverage: Retail Clients – 1:30
Professional Clients – 1:100
Spreads: 0.1 Pips
Commissions: Dependent on trading volume

Platforms

BP Prime uses the most popular platform available, which is the MetaTrader4 (MT4). The MT4 gives traders easy access to Commodities, Cryptos, Forex, and CFDs. This platform comes equipped with over 50 in-built indicators that simplify and highlight key trends that helps clients to determine the best entry and exit points. Another cool feature of this platform is the ability to automate trades by using Expert Advisors as well as the facility of building your own trading strategy, including instant executions, stop orders and trailing stop functionalities. You can use this platform on any device from desktop to mobile devices which makes it easy to trade on the go, wherever you are.

Leverage

When comparing BP Prime’s leverages to other brokers, they seem to be quite low as the maximum leverage offered is that of 1:100. The leverages are reasonable and they comply with regulations applicable to CFD trading. Apart from this, the ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) introduced a leverage cap of 1:30 for retail clients in 2018 and this broker must comply with these regulations.

Trade Sizes

The minimum lot size for all accounts is 0.01 Lots. We did not find information regarding the maximum lot sizes available for trade with this broker on their accounts page.

Trading Costs

The Standard and Pro account are fee-free which means no commissions are applicable when trading through these accounts. The Prime account, on the other hand, does have commissions that are dependent on the trading volumes, but we could not find any more details about this commission. You can reach out to the broker if you want more details regarding any fees you will encounter when trading with the Prime account.

Assets

When trading with BP Prime you will have quite a variety of assets to trade with, namely; Forex, Indices, Commodities as well as Cryptocurrencies. We saw 28 currency pairs available for trading on their FOREX page. The currencies are split into three categories; Majors, Minors and Emerging/Exotics. The trading hours for these assets are from Sun 21:00 to Friday 21:00. We also noticed that spreads for Major pairs were quite low as most fell under 0.7 Pips.

Clients can also trade more than 10 index CFDs, including; DAX, S&P, DOW JONES and FTSE amongst others, with real-time pricing either through GUI or via FIX API. BP Prime claims to offer extremely tight spreads offering the chance to profit big from small price movements. Clients can also be more in control of their risks since this broker offers flexible leverage when dealing with these assets.

BP Prime has four commodities available for trading including; UK Oil, US Oil, Gold, and Silver. Spreads are quite low here as well as they range from 0.04 to 0.027. US Oil, Gold and Silver can be traded from Sunday 22:00 till Friday 20:45 while UK Oil can be traded from midnight on Monday till Friday 20:45.

On their Cryptocurrencies page, potential clients can have a look at a table comparing this broker with other popular brokers who trade Cryptocurrencies. This data is based on the analysis of the published Crypto spreads published on BP Prime’s UK competitor sites. Leverage on this type of asset is up to 1:10 and no commissions or fees apply. You can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.

Spreads

Spreads with BP Prime are quite low overall, although they seem to be a bit high on the Standard account. One must also remember that although the spreads on the Prime account are very low, there will be a commission to add to that, so keep that in mind.

Minimum Deposit

On BP Prime’s ACCOUNTS page, one can see the minimum deposit required for each account; Standard & Pro Account £5,000 and £10,000 for the Prime account. We thought these requirements were quite high, especially for the Standard account, where clients can find other brokers offering similar conditions for much less.

Whilst we were going through the FAQ page, we did find a piece of contradicting information regarding minimum deposits. On this page, the broker states that the Standard account has a minimum deposit of £100, the Pro £1,000 and the Prime £10,000. Although these figures make more sense, we are unsure which figures are the correct ones. We reached out to BP Prime through live chat to find out, but as of yet, we have not received an answer.

Deposit Methods & Costs

If you’ve opened up an account with BP Prime you can choose one of the following methods to deposit money into your account; Credit/Debit card, Neteller, Skrill, WebMoney, and Bank Wire Transfer. There are no fees charged to clients from the broker’s side, but they do inform clients that their credit card provider may charge transaction fees or international processing fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Currently, BP Prime has a number of options available for clients wanting to withdraw their funds, such as multiple credit cards, multiple electronic payment methods, bank wire transfer, and local bank transfers. Money can be deposited in any currency the client wishes. This will be automatically converted to the base currency of the client’s account.

In order to withdraw funds, clients must have a validated account. Once confirmation has been received from the Validation Department that the account has been validated, clients can request funds withdrawal by logging into the Members Safe Area, selecting the withdrawal tab and sending a withdrawal request.

Withdrawals are sent back only to the original source of deposit. Clients can also withdraw their money whilst having an open position. This is possible if, at the moment of payment, the free margin of the client exceeds the amount specified in the withdrawal request.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All withdrawal requests are processed by the broker’s back office within 24hours on business days. Bank wire or credit/debit card usually takes 2-5 business days, whereas standard bank wire in the EU countries takes 3 working days and in some other non-EU countries this may take up to 5 working days.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the moment, it seems as though no bonuses or promotions are available when trading with this broker.

Educational & Trading Tools

Clients of BP Prime can register to watch free Webinars organized by the broker which covers a variety of topics related to trading. Apart from these, clients, as well as potential clients, can access a number of interesting articles related to trading, with an emphasis on Cryptocurrencies, which can help assist beginners as well as professional traders in their trading endeavors.

Although we didn’t find any specific information regarding trading tools on their website, we did find mention of this on their Brochure that you can access on their Legal Documents page. Here BP Prime state that they offer a suite of multi-platform, multi-lingual, market informed apps which help their traders to optimize their trading strategies. They claim that these apps give traders institutional-quality tools over and above those offered by MT4. This includes decision assistance, messaging broadcasting facilities, news & market data and trade execution, and management.

Customer Service

Clients wanting to get in touch can do so either by live chat, request forms or a free call back. This broker offers these services 24/6. We did try to contact BP Prime through live chat but we weren’t given any feedback regarding our queries. You can find BP Prime’s contact details below:

Address: BP Prime
Lower floor, 62 Great Eastern St
London EC2A 3QR, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)20 3745 7101
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

On BP Prime’s website, you can find a Try a Free Demo Button. This button takes you to a simple form that you must fill out. Apart from the usual personal details, you will also get to choose which account you want to test, Standard, Pro or Prime. All three options are offered in USD.

Countries Accepted

In their FAQ page, one can find information that BP Prime does not accept US clients because of regulations. In the footer of their website this broker claims that the content of this site is not directed at clients of the US, Canada, France or Belgium. If you are from any of these countries, you might encounter some issues when trying to open up an account with BP Prime. You can contact the broker directly for more information regarding restricted countries.

Conclusion

This UK based broker is licensed by the FCA, which for some, is a major plus. Apart from this it uses the industry’s leading platform MT4 and claims to offer even better proprietary apps available for clients. It offers its clients a choice of three accounts, two of which being fee-free. Leverages are reasonable whilst spreads are low especially in the Prime account. The website does offer some up to date and useful educational content in the form of webinars and articles. Although BP Prime claims to offer 25/6 customer support, we weren’t given any feedback via live chat.

If you think you’d feel safe trading through BP Prime, get a closer look at their conditions by visiting their website.

Aide Securities Futures Co., Ltd is a Hong Kong-based broker that offers Securities, Futures and Forex trading on leverage. Additionally, the broker is licensed to conduct advisory on futures and securities trading and Asset Management. The group is oriented to the Asian market, not offering any content in English. Financial Education is one of the best in Hong Kong, and the management behind this broker is publicly known for its great performance.

EDDID is an acronym of Efficient Dedicated Dependable Innovative Dynamic, the usual what most brokers want. Professionalism is one of the trademarks of this broker that is also commonly cherished in the business culture in Hong Kong. The website does not have a really pleasant design but has some content that shows transparency and a good scope of the broker business. Investors can rely on the regulation license of EDDID, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission – FSC, while this review of EDDID will focus on the services provided so you can decide on the investment, provided you are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau or mainland China.

Account Types

EDDID has an account for each service, Futures, Forex and Stocks Account. The Forex trading account is promoted by offering 24h assets trading availability, leverage, low spreads, and easy to use trading platform. The minimum deposit is not disclosed, one can assume the minimum is what is needed for opening a minimal volume trade on top of the margin requirements.

To trade Forex, one needs to install EDDID’s proprietary platform.
Securities Account is focused on Hong Kong and US stocks. The broker describes other securities like ETFs and Options, but in an educational manner, without much relevance to the features of the Account. There are special sections for the Hong Kong fees and commissions, and the US market. Looking at these tables one can see so many fees that it is very confusing and most of the beginners will look away from this presentation. Transparency is evident although the structure is overcomplicated.

Futures Account features the leverage, two-way trading, and low deposits required for Futures position opening. The dedicated in-house platform is available to download that provided real-time quotes with the addition of futures investment analysis. A full manual is provided on how to use the platform for this Account in Chinese.

EDDID does not provide specifics of their Accounts, you will not see anything typical brokers usually present. Additionally, special platforms for each account, very different from MetaTrader, make it clear that EDDID is specialized for the local market. The account opening approval process takes 1-3 days.

Platforms

We have found 3 different platforms specially developed for trading Futures, Forex, and Securities. Starting from the Forex platform, probably where most traders will go considering easier comprehension of the Account features, it is called EDDID mF4 Trader. It sounds like a copy of MT4, but actually, it is coded in HTML and shares some similarities. EDDID presents the platform features although we have filtered some of the content that is not useful to anyone. The mF4 features are Clear trading interface; Adjustable trading size; One-Click trading; Stop Loss/Take Profit set by price, pips or range; Up to 20 technical indicators; Newsfeed, financial data, and market analysis.

The platform is available in a few versions. For mobile devices, there are Android and iOS versions. We have tried the Android version called EDDID Fx Pro. The app is also available in English and is simple but without many features. The main list is presented with 40 forex pairs with their respective Bid and Ask prices without any kind of filtering options.

Opening a position is easy enough, with SL/TP setting by price, Pending orders, tolerable slippage level, and “Good Till” setting for specifying timed orders. The execution is fast without delays of more than half a second. The chart takes some time to load and has a toolbar in full-screen mode with timeframe setting, crosshair, rotation lock, instrument selection, and indicator toggle button.

The indicators are RSI, MACD and Bollinger Bands with default settings and non-customizable. These are the only indicators you can use. The app is useful for emergency trading and not intended for serious analysis. The main issue we had is the connection interruptions with the server that led to forced logout. Also, the app would not load on retry, so you will need to force close it. The fingerprint login makes things faster, but these issues should not happen this often at least.

The desktop mF4 platform is available for Windows in Java and HTML versions. Installing is easy with the ID and password that are sent to the email. The registration can also be done from the platform. At first glance, you will see similarities with the popular MT4 but it is clear that this platform has fully customizable module windows. Click and Drag also has a context menu for easier arrangement.

Chart type can be set to Heiken Ashi in addition to the classic that MT4 also has. Every chart has a statement in the bottom that “they are for reference only”, like they may not show the real-time quotes. A top toolbar will give you options to draw Fibonacci levels, channels, lines, shapes, text and so on, but also the ability to fix window scaling.

Crosshair does not measure points as the MT4 does. Timeframes are classic, we have not found anything advanced here like in cTrader where 2H timeframe can be set, for example. Traders can save their workspaces although only one kind of template can be saved called “default indicators”. The list of indicators available is limited to exactly 20 as promoted. All of them are common to the trading community.

Open Positions module and the Journal are different than MT4 with more focus on orders type listing than on showing various fees, swaps, executions, etc. Some numbers are also off the scale, the balance is probably showing Yuan even our base account currency is in USD. The promoted News Feed module is nowhere to be found. Interestingly, our position opened within the mobile platform cannot be closed from the desktop, as it looks like the position sizes are incompatible. There are few cases of platform crashing to desktop.

The Futures application is called EPolestar. The platform failed to run after installation so we were unable to review it. We advise against installing it in the first place as it contains compromising files and could not be uninstalled the normal way.

ED One-Stop application should encompass Forex, Futures, and Stocks although it is only reserved for China and it is in Chinese. The Securities platform is available for mobile devices running on Android and iOS. Windows desktop version is also there with the addition of a web-accessible platform. As all were only written in Chinese, we were unable to test it.

Leverage

The leverage is up to 1:20 for all Forex currency pairs. For Futures, the broker does not disclose the leverage except mention that they are low. The trading conditions table presents some very messy information that could be outdated as the link to the Hong Kong Exchange is provided to check the actual conditions.
For Securities, no leverage is mentioned.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is 10,000 units for Forex or 0.1 lots. EDDID has set this level probably to enforce the minimum deposit to more serious amounts. Additional steps volume size is also 0.1 lots. The Margin Call is at 5% level and Stop Out will be executed at a 1% margin level. This means EDDID allows almost maximal drawdowns.

Trading Costs

EDDID has put a lot of information on its complex fee structure. For Forex no commissions are charged. The updated swaps list is disclosed online and they are under normal levels with common positive figures, calculated in points. EUR/USD has -7.8651 long position swap and a positive 3.2039 for short while GBP/JPY 0.2822 long and – -5.2826 short. In the exotics zone the swaps remain very low, for example, -7.2145 long and -3.5500 short for the USD/CHN, USD/RUB has -18.01 points long and 5.6325 for short, and the biggest swap we could find is for the USD/TRY pair with -42.274 for long and 13.568 for short position. Spot Gold against the US Dollar is also lited with very low swaps, -7.2508 long and 3.6215 short.

Hong Kong stock commissions are HK $100 minimum or 0.25% and 0.005% transaction fee. A physical stock deposit fee is 250 to 350 HKD per transaction while the withdrawal fee is 8 HKD per lot. Other stock related fees are also listed that are not that important. Custody fee of 0.12 HKD per lot per month for margin accounts exists and also inactivity fee for not trading for more than one year of 250 HKD.

Agent corporate services also have fees, so for example, 1.0.20% of the dividend received (minimum charge 30 HKD) for dividend collection, and many more. US Stock commissions are 0.8% for the normal trading sessions. After a market close, the commission is 60 HKD minimum.

For Futures EDDID has a separate fee for each trading instrument. For example, Hang Seng Index Futures has a 20 HKD exchange fee per lot with the addition of a trading commission that is negotiable. A total of 8 futures are listed with their associated fees and required margins. Global Futures all have negotiable commission rates. Negotiation is common in China and is part of the culture.

Assets

EDDID assets range can be considered specific to the market and average compared to the usual brokerage houses. With Forex there are a total of 40 currency pairs. All majors are listed with the addition of some exotics with good trading conditions like USD/CHN, USD/RUB, USD/HKD, USD/MXN ad USD/CZK, and Scandinavian quoted currency pairs.
In the Index category, we have encountered a total of 10 and most of them are not common like the MSCI Taiwan Index, SGX Nikkei Stock Average, or the Mini E-mini Dow Jones Index.

In the futures set, there are Forex futures also with 9 total contracts. Some of them are New Zealand Dollar future, EUR, YEN, etc. Energy futures are both Oli types, Brent and Crude with the addition of Natural Gas and Small Crude Oil. Commodities futures are extended compared to the industry with some rarities. You can find Cors, Soybean, Wheat and Soy Flour but also some rarely listed metals like Kohara Copper. Metals encompass the Spot Gold, Silver Copper and smaller equivalent contracts. Bond Futures are also present, they are all US treasury bonds with a 10-year maturity. As for Stocks we could not confirm what is offered as the platform is in Chinese and no other information is disclosed online.

Spreads

EDDID promotes spreads from 0.8 pips for Forex. In the time of a very calm period, we have observed that EUR/USD had 9 points variable spread, and also USD/JPY – 9 points. AUD/USD is next with 12 points and then we see a sharp increase with the EUR/JPY at 17 points, NZD/USD – 23 points, GBP/AUD – 52 points, NZD/CAD – 68 points, meaning the 0.9 pips spread is reserved for the most liquid currency pairs. From exotics, USD/CHN has 208 points, USD/TRY – 841, USD/MXN – 2094 and USD/HKD – 110. Spreads for the other assets were not available to us.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is not set but should be in line with the mentioned trade sizes, leverage, and other fees.

Deposit Methods & Costs

EDDID, like everything else, does not have classical deposit methods. “FPS” transfers are described in 3 steps and involve making screenshots and emailing. Costs involved with this bank transfer method will not be reimbursed by EDDID. The usual Bank Transfer is also possible with a similar procedure, EDDID’s Bank of China account is accepting 3 currencies, HKD, USD, and Yuan. A check deposit is rare to see but it is possible with EDDID. It can be delivered in person or by post. EDDID does not accept any other deposit methods.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

For local withdrawals the broker requires a withdrawal form, then the check will be sent by mail to the trader. Cross border withdrawals are initiated from the E-Stop portal. The Wire Transfer will be processed for non-Hong Kong bank and a fee of 350 HKD will be charged. Some additional fees may be charged by the bank and an exchange feel will apply if the account currency is not matching.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal processing is available from Monday to Friday until 2 pm. After 2 PM the withdrawal will be processed the following working day. Bank transfer could take up to 7 days.

Bonuses & Promotions

EDDID does not have any bonuses or promotions officially for a longer period but we have encountered an article in the company news section where 1000 HKD worth of gifts is handed to assignees to the seminars.

Educational & Trading Tools

EDDID is great at seminars they conduct within their local offices. The Team behind is professional with extensive experience in various financial areas. By looking at the activity timeline, we have noticed that they are often, although the last one is held in March 2019. Topics covered are classified into Basic Investment Teaching, Investment strategy sharing, and Market trend analysis. Specifically, some of the topics are “Five reasons for the Yen to rise”, “Global Central Bank policy review”, “Derivatives Win Strategy”. In addition to this, two articles about the US and Hong Kong stocks trading are short and cover some basics, certainly not enough for novices.

The company news section is very well managed with frequent events coverage worth checking. This provides some insight and very high activity the company encourages.

Customer Service

EDDID has Chat, Phone and email channels ready. The Chat service is through the Whatsapp service, meaning the broker will have insight into your phone number, compromising your privacy. The support is in the Chinese language.

Demo Account

The Demo account is available and is easy to create. It can also be done within the mF4 platform. There are no limits mentioned.

Countries Accepted

There is no information about country limits although the One-Stop application is available only to China.

Conclusion

To complement with additional information of the ADDID review we would like to note that the broker key selling point is the Asset Management service. The service is accommodated to the client with great diversification options available only to the EDDID. This is the core of EDDID operations, to access their Managed Accounts service, a minimum of 50,000 USD investment is needed. On the other side, trading conditions are not good enough to be competitive for world-class brokers. Whatsmore, the platform shows some stability flaws and limitations, it is inferior to Metatrader. Finally, the fee structure will avert most of their potential customers.

Britannia Global Investments is one of the new rebrands and integration with Destek Markets, a former experienced Turkish broker. Britannia Global Investments is an FCA regulated broker, although the website name – britanniacapitalmarkets.com registered in the license is not the current domain – www.britannia.com/gi. We have further investigated this issue and the results are in the Conclusion section of this Britannia Global Investments Review.

The website itself is very limited in terms of content, information, and features. There are a few dead links and the trading conditions are not presented transparently. The broker is relatively new under this name, since October 2018, under the name of Britannia Capital Markets. The company has not yet established full effective business potential as it is evident by the website alone.

There are no special features about this broker, the biggest selling point is the FCA regulation and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme of up to £50,000 (£85,000 is stated elsewhere on the website). As stated, the broker is also under the MiFID directive. Financial Ombudsman Scheme that is provided can offer some security in certain cases but bureaucratic difficulties may arise if the company is constantly rebranding.

There are no specific figures, videos, tools, tables, feedback or names that could give some substance to the broker presentation except classic, eloquent financial marketing content. We will evaluate Britannia Global Investments services and give traders insight into what is behind the words.

Account Types

Britannia Global Investments does not have a set of account types. The registration is done manually via the email to the broker ([email protected]). The registration link is also not promoted, as usual, the link exists only in the footer of their website. Trading features are stated in the Trading section, traders can use up to 1:100 leverage, have “extensive trading tools and research offering” and “Easy account management”. Except for the leverage, nothing else is clear in this offer. There is no trading conditions page. Trading assets are limited to Commodities, Forex and Index CFDs according to the website. More on this in the Assets and Platforms section.

Platforms

Britannia Global Investments offers only one platform, MetaTrader 4. MT4 is usually available for mobile devices as a web-accessible, and desktop computers. In Britannia Global Investments case, the links to these are not working. The only link that works on the broker site is initiating the standard Windows 32bit MT4 client. This MT4 version is the default by MetaQuotes, without any modifications and updated to the latest version. There are two servers to choose from, Demo and Live with around 55ms ping. 4 default charts are displayed with the major currency pairs and One-click trading buttons visible.

The About window will show the former website address – britanniacapitalmarkets.com and also the former registered business address. There are no additional templates or indicators packed in the MT4 installation. Trading instruments symbols are focused around Forex, there are 8 Forex groups and 2 reserved for Indexes and Commodities.

Interestingly, Turkish Lyra has a special group, showing signs of Turkish broker origin. The instrument specification shows enough information about the trading conditions. Trade Terminal is properly showing trading costs, swaps and commissions. The execution times have a range from 115ms to 190ms with an average of 160ms. The deviation is present but all executions were under 200ms in normal market conditions. This time average for a Dealing Desk broker as Britannia Global Investments states.

Leverage

We had some suspicion of the 1:100 leverage that is presented on the Britannia Global Investments’ website but this leverage is real. It is still not clear how this leverage can be in effect for a broker that adheres to MiFID or FCA for clients in the EU region. All Forex pairs have this leverage, including the exotics. XAU/USD is the same, with 1:100 leverage, also XAG/USD. Commodities do not deviate, 1:100 is applied to both Oil types.

Trade Sizes

Britannia Global Investments is a micro-lot broker meaning all trading instruments have a minimum trade volume of 0.01 lots, except for Indexes that have 0.1 lots minimum. For Forex, the maximum volume per trade is 20 lots, also for precious metals while Indexes have 200 lots maximum. Stops level exists and should not be a problem for fast traders as it is set to 10 points for Forex currency pairs, Commodities, and Indexes. Stops level of 10 points or 1 pip means no Stop Loss or Take Profit orders can be placed in the 1pip range of the current asset price. Step volume is also standardized to all assets to 0.01 lots and 0.1 lots for Indexes.

Trading Costs

Britannia Global Investments does not state any cost figures regarding the commission on the website, legal documents or the MT4 platform. The only trading costs are negative swaps. What we have observed in the MT4 platform the swaps are under normal levels, calculated in points and mostly tripled on Wednesdays. EUR/USD has a -13.22 points long position overnight charge and 6.01 points for short. Other majors are under similar levels, for example, USD/JPY 4.97 points long and -12.32 short, GBP/USD -7 long and -0.5 short, or AUD/USD -1.4 long and -3.3 points short swap.

As seen, positive swaps are not that common, and usually include just the USD currency pairs. Swaps under the minors group are all single-digit for both position sides except the USD/SGD with -6.7 points for long and -10.4 for short position. More exotic pairs like the USD/TRY have -139 long position and 91 points positive swap for short but tripled on Thursdays. USD/CNH does not have a high swap considering it is considered exotic, -79 points for long and -26 for short position. Other exotics are also lower than average, so USD/HKD has -13.2 long swap and -53.1 short position swap, USD/ZAR -300 for long and 150 points positive swap for short, USD/PLN -24.2 long and -20.9 short and the highest swap is reserved for the USD/MXN with -550 points for long and 300 points positive swap for a short position.

XAU/USD has a single-digit, -9.5 points for long and 1.5 for short. Both Oil types have swaps tripled on Fridays, US Crude Oil has -0.25 points long and -0.82 points short position swap.

Assets

Britannia Global Investments has only 4 trading instrument categories offered by our count. These are Forex, Precious metals, Commodities, and Indexes.

Forex range is good enough for the most forex traders. We have counted 42 currency pairs total listed in the MT4 platform. All the major and crosses are present and forex traders will like the symbol groupings to Minor, Exotic, Major, FX Scandinavia and FX Australasia. The exotic range is solid and includes currencies like CNH, HKD, MXN, PLN, and ZAR, all quoted under the USD. There is an issue with the USD/CNH, AUD/NZD and USD/HKD instruments as trading are in full access although the MT4 platform was not able to execute orders and gave us the Off Quotes warning. This means that these exotics at the current state are not liquid enough to be tradeable and, Britannia Global Investments will have to find more liquidity providers. Taking this into account, this forex range is mediocre compared to other brokers in the industry.

Precious metals are limited to spot Gold and Silver, although they have very good trading conditions.

Indexes range is also limited as there are only 6 total listed in MT4. These are Germany30, UK100, US30, US500, and NASDAQ 100 as named in the platform. These also have a 1.5-hour break around day end trading hours.

Finally, Commodities are just energy assets and limited to just two major Oil types, Crude Oil and Brent.

Spreads

Britannia Global Investments has floating type spreads for all assets. Based on our reading form the MT4 the spreads are competitive and do not deviate much for more exotic instruments. Forex currency pairs with the tightest spread are the EUR/USD with 5 points spread, USD/JPY with 6 points, GBP/USD with 5 points and AUD/USD with 9 points spread. NZD/USD, EUR/JPY, EUR/CHF, and USD/CAD are the second with spreads just above 10 points.

Other minors do not go over 20 points spread and the exotics have much higher spreads as expected. USD/TRY has 613 points spread, while EUR/TRY has a tighter one at 318 points. USD/PLN has 115 points, USD/MXN 227 points, and the off quotes USD/HKD has the last recorded spread at 445 points.

One of the good traits of this broker is the spread for the spot Gold – 14 pips, one of the best in the industry. For Silver, it is 20 points. Brent and Crude Oil have similar spreads around 50 points.

Minimum Deposit

Britannia Global Investments does not have a statement about the minimum deposit. What is known that the previous brand, Britannia Capital Markets, has a minimum of 100 USD/GBP/EUR. Subsequent deposits also had a minimum of 20 EUR/USD/GBP.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Bank transfer to Britannia Global Investments’ Barclays Bank account is the only mentioned deposit method. Currencies supported are GBP, EUR, and USD. The broker will not charge a fee but fees for the bank transfer will not be covered. It may take up to 5 business days for the funds to reflect in the trading account.

it is possible to transfer funds from a different broker to Britannia Global Investments trading account. As stated, only FCA regulated UK brokers are eligible for this transfer. The minimum requirement is 5000 EUR, USD, GBP per transfer.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

For withdrawals, no information is disclosed. If a trader wants to withdraw, he will need to contact Britannia Global Investments via email.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

If only bank transfers are possible, processing may take up to 7 days for international transfers.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no Bonuses or Promotions disclosed.

Educational & Trading Tools

Actual educational material available online does not exist, as well as any tools or the Economic Calendar. Although Britannia Global Investments states that they will provide “a wide range of educational and research tools”.

Customer Service

The broker states they are available 24/5, offer multilingual support via phone, email, chat or live in their offices. We have not found a chat service and the broker location does not point to offices in London.

Demo Account

A demo account is easy to open from the MT4 platform with a few personal information fields. Here you can select your leverage (up to 1:100) and the number of virtual funds. You can open multiple demo accounts. No email confirmation is required. It is unknown how long the demo lasts.

Countries Accepted

The broker mentions the United States, Belgium, and Canada, or any country or jurisdiction where their services would be contrary to local law or regulation.

Conclusion

While reviewing Britannia Global Investments services and structure, we have found a few interesting facts. 79.06% of traders lose money when trading with this broker, which is a bit below average in the industry. What is more interesting and confusing is the leverage provided which is above the regulatory limits of 1:30 for retail traders. As Britannia Global Investments does not offer separate conditions for professional clients, or at least not stated on the website, which is obligatory, it is not clear how the FCA and MiFID regulation does not apply even though the FCA register contains this license. The license does not contain the www.britannia.com/gi domain, only britanniacapitalmarkets.com.

Additionally, the broker is not registered under the Money Laundering Regulations of FCA.
The broker does not have any ratings under the current brand or domain, nor in the previous. This could mean that no marketing is pursued or simply not good enough to attract investors. For now, Britannia Global Investments is under the radar.

From the company history, we have also found uncommon activities like 6 official business address changes within one year, a few official company name changes or rebranding, many official managers and directors switches, and very low employee number for such a company (on some occasions just 5). Additionally, the website may be still in construction, but important documents like Terms and Conditions have a dead link from some pages.

The website’s certificate expired on 12/12/2019, so every time you visit Britannia Global Investments’ website, a warning will pop out about an insecure connection. Transparency issues are also present, both in the legal documents and on the website. The broker, on the other hand, provides solid Forex and metals trading conditions and will probably finish the incomplete business venture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IGOFX is a forex broker located in Vanuatu which aims to be a world-class grade forex company and wants to become a market leader by committing themselves to deliver competitive pricing, reliable trade execution, and innovative trading tools. In this review, we will be looking at what is on offer to see if they live up to these expectations or if they fall short.

Account Types

There are three different account types available, these are the mini account, the standard account, and the premium account. Let’s take a little look at what each of them offers.

Mini Account: The mini account is the entry-level account from IGOFX, due to this it has a very low entry requirement and needs a minimum deposit of just $1. The base currency must be in USD and it can be leveraged up to 1:1000. The minimum trade size for the account is 0.01 lots and hedging is allowed. There are 30 currency pairs and metals available for trading and you can also get a swap-free (Islamic) version of this account.

Standard Account: The standard account increases the minimum deposit value up to $300 which his still very accessible. The account is also required to have USD as a base currency and leverage is now set at 1:500 as a maximum. The minimum trade size if 1 lot and hedging is allowed, the same 30 currency pairs and metals are available and just like the mini account, you can have this account as a swap-free version.

Premium Account: The premium account sees the minimum deposit jump all the way up to $20,000 which will price out many retail traders. The base currency stays at USD and the maximum leverage remains at 1:500 as a maximum. The minimum trade size is 1 lot and there are 30 currency pairs and metals available to trade. Hedging is allowed and just like the other accounts, if you require a swap-free account, you can have one in this account variant.

Platforms

IGOFX offers a few different ways to trade however only one of them is based around forex and so we will only be looking at MetaTrader 4, the other platforms such as the Binary Options we will not be concentrating on.

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

Maximum leverage is dependant on the account that you have, if you have a mini account then the maximum leverage would be 1:1000, if you have the standard or premium account then the maximum leverage available to you would be 1:500.

Leverage can be selected when opening up an account, should you wish to change the leverage once an account is already open you will need to get in contact with the customer service team, also ensure that there are no open trades when making a leverage change request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes also depend on the account that you are using. The mini account has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots which is also known as a micro lot. 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. The standard and premium accounts have a minimum trade size of 1 lot, it is unknown how much each increment is, it could be 2 lots as the next trade or it could be 1.01 lots, we can not tell for sure.

The maximum trade size can be a little confusing, the FAQ on the website states that the maximum trade size you can have is 1000 lots, however, the maximum that MT4 can open is 500 lots, either way, that is far too high, we would never recommend opening trades larger than 50 lots, as the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets and liquidity providers to execute the trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

There is no mention of any commission on the website so it would appear that there are not any added to any of the accounts, all three accounts use a spread based payment structure that we will be looking at later in this review.

There are swap charges which are either paid or received for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. If you opt for a swap-free account then an administration charge will be added to the account instead of interest.

Assets

This is a major downside to IGOFX, the fact that there are only 30 currency pairs and 2 metals to trade, it can leave you with nothing to trade or analyze at times. Gold and Silver are the two metals which hare also the most popular two. In terms of currency pairs, there are ones such as AUD/CAD, EUR/JPY and EUR/USD, there does not seem to be any exotic pairs, just majors and minors/crosses.

Spreads

Spreads are the main way that IGOFX makes their money, they add on an additional spread which they then take as profit. There is not a stated difference between the accounts but we would expect the higher entry requirement accounts to have slightly lower spreads, however, we can only go on what the website says.

Some examples of spreads are:

• AUD/CAD: 8 pips
• AUD/USD: 3 pips
• EUR/GBP: 4 pips
• GBP/CHF: 7 pips

As you can see the pips are relatively high, even for accounts with no commission. It is also important to note that the spreads are variable (also known as floating), this means that they move with the markets, when the markets are being volatile then the spreads will widen and will be seen much higher than the numbers stated.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount to open an account is $1, however, the minimum amount allowed by any of the deposit methods is $2 with Perfect Money so that will be the minimum deposit, should you wish to open an account other than the mini then you will need to make a deposit of at least $300 for the standard account and $20,000 for the premium account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There is not a huge selection of deposit methods and it is disappointing to see so many processors excluded from the list. We have set out a little list below to give you some basic information on the methods available.

• Bank Wire Transfer – $100 Min – Bank Fees Apply
• Visa Credit / Debit – Min $100 – 5% Fee
• MasterCard Credit / Debit – Min $100 – 5% Fee
• Perfect Money – Min $2 – 0% fee

It is a shame to see transfer fees added to the deposits if using bank wire transfer be sure to check with your bank to see if there are any added fees from the bank.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw as they are to deposit, the same information is displayed on the deposit. withdrawal page so we are assuming that all the information posted above is also correct for withdrawals, for clarification this is:

• Bank Wire Transfer – $100 Min – Bank Fees Apply
• Visa Credit / Debit – Min $100 – 5% Fee
• MasterCard Credit / Debit – Min $100 – 5% Fee
• Perfect Money – Min $2 – 0% fee

If using bank wire transfer be sure to check with your bank to see if there are any added fees from the bank.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

IGOFX does not specify how long it takes for them to process a withdrawal but they do provide lead times for each of the withdrawal methods which we have also listed below for ease of reading.

• Bank Wire Transfer: At least 5 working days
• Visa Credit / Debit: 1 – 5 working days
• MasterCard Credit / Debit: 1 – 5 working days
• Perfect Money: Within 24 hours

Bonuses & Promotions

There is one main bonus on offer which is a 30% deposit bonus when opening up a new account. You are required to make a deposit and then trade a certain amount in order to claim and keep the bonus. The terms do not specify what is required to convert the bonus funds into real funds though which is quite important information to know so we can not comment on the terms or how profitable the bonus could be. There are also a few different contests available but they seem to have expired so we can’t comment on them too much, they are ways to trade and win if you do well.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are some webinars in the forex tools section of the site, however, the page is blank and there is nothing in the upcoming webinar section so they may not be happening at this moment in time. There is also an economic calendar that details any upcoming news events and which markets they may effect, there is also a market analysis section however nothing has been added to this section since 12 June 2017 so it appears to be dead.

Customer Service

The customer support is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week wand closes over the weekends just as the markets do. There does not appear to be any phone numbers, just email addresses, there is an email available for the support department as well as the accounting department. It would have been nice to have a way to speak to someone directly, we have tested the email addresses provided but are yet to have a response after 72 hours of waiting.

Demo Account

Looking around the site we could not locate any information about demo accounts so it appears there may not be any. Potential new clients like to use demo accounts to test out the servers and trading conditions offered, current clients like demo accounts as a way to test out new trading strategies without risking their own capital. It would be a big boost to IGOFX if they make demo accounts available to their current and potential new clients.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the IGOFX website: “IGOFX does not accept clients from the U.S., UK, Canada, Belgium, Sudan, Syria, North Korea, Malaysia, and China. Clients from Singapore and the above countries are not accepted to trade Binary Option in IGOFX.” If you are unsure of your eligibility, we would recommend trying to get in contact with eh customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

IGOFX offers a number of account but the differences between them are not clear, the spreads all appear to be the same and are all far higher than we would expect, even for accounts with no commission. The fact that some of the website sections have not been updated in a while makes it hard for us to be clear how serious IGOFX is in becoming a leading forex broker.

FinMArket is a forex broker based in Cyprus and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (“CySEC”). They don’t offer too much information about themselves, just that they value regulation, security, support, and trading platforms. In this review, we will be looking into the services that are being offered to help you decide if FinMarket is the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are 5 different accounts to choose from should you sign up with FinMArkets, each one has its own requirements and features so let’s take a look at what they offer.

Silver Member: The silver account requires a minimum deposit of $250, this account offers variable spreads starting at 4 pips, there is no commission on this account and has leverage up to 1:30, the account also allows hedging and the use of expert advisors.

Gold Member: The gold account requires a minimum deposit of at least $5,000, this account has slightly reduced spreads which now start at 3.4 pips. The account gets a commission discount (in this case spread) of 14% and is available to use the MT4 trading platform, this account also has a leverage up to 1:30.

Platinum Member: The platinum account further increases the minimum deposit which now sits at $20,000, with this increase in deposit the spreads have reduced further and now sit at 1.1 pips as a starting position. This account gets a 65% discount on the spread and is available on the MetaTrader 4 platform, just like the previous accounts this one has leverage up to 1:30.

Diamond Member: The diamond account brings the minimum deposit up to $50,000 which now prices out a lot of retail traders, this increased deposit gives account holders a 75% discount on spreads as they now start at 0.9 pips. Similarly to the previous accounts, the leverage remains at 1:30 and the account can use MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform.

Elite Member: The top tier account and something a lot of us could only dream of, this account requires a minimum deposit of $250,000, yup you heard that right. This account reduces the spreads by 85% and they now start at 0.8 pips. All other features remain the same with 1:30 maximum leverage and MT4 as the trading platform.

Platforms

FinMarkets offer MetaTrader 4 as their only trading platform, so let’s take a look at what it brings to the table.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4): MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. 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 being offered to all accounts is 1:30, it is low due to the regulations put upon FinMarkets. Leverage can be selected when opening up ana account, should you wish to change it on an already open account then you will need to ensure that there are no open trades and then get in contact with the customer service team.

Different instruments have different leverages available, and here is a breakdown:

• Forex Pairs: 1:30
• CFDs: 1:20
• Stocks: 1:5
• Indices: 1:20
• Commodities: 1:10
• Cryptocurrencies: (not stated)

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes with FinMarket start at 0.01 lots which are known as micro-lots. 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 could not locate information on the maximum trade size, however, no matter what it is we would not suggest trading over 50 lots in a single trade as it becomes increasingly harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades quickly and without any slippage the bigger they get.

Trading Costs

All accounts with FinMarket use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are no commission-based accounts. Swap charges are present, they can be both positive or negative and are charged for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed directly within the MT4 trading platform.

Assets

FinMarket has broken down its assets into 6 different categories.

Forex Pairs: 30+ different currency pairs including majors, minors and exotic pairs. Leverage on forex currency trading has a maximum leverage of 1:30.

CFDs: There is a large variety of CFDs at FinMarket, they are further broken down into other categories including trade currencies, commodities, crypto, stocks and indices, CFDs have a maximum leverage of 1:20.

Stocks: There isn’t an exact number of Socks stated on the site but instead a list of a few of them including Apple, Goold,e Alibaba, Coca Cola, Amazon and a few more. You can have a leverage up to 1:5 when trading stocks.

Indices: You can trade all major indices with FinMarkets including S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, FTSE 100 and Nikkei 225. When trading indices you have a maximum leverage of 1:20.

Commodities: The most popular commodities are available including Gold, Silver, Coffee, and Crude Oil, there isn’t a full breakdown of assets but it does state that there is maximum leverage of 1:10 when trading commodities on FinMarket.

Crypto: The most popular cryptocurrencies are available to trade on FinMArket including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash and Monero. The leverage on crypto is not stated on the crypto page of the website.

Spreads

The spreads that you receive are dependant on a few factors including the account you use and the instrument that you are trading, if we look at EUR/USD, the silver account has a starting spread of 4 pips, the gold is 3.4 pips, the platinum is 1.1 pips, the diamond 0.9 pips and the elite account has a starting spread of 0.8 pips.

All spreads are variable which means that while they state 0.8 pips as an example, they will often be seen higher than this as it is simply the starting point, during times of high volatility the spreads will be much higher.

It is also worth noting that different instruments have different natural spreads, while on the Standard account EUR/USD may have a starting spread of 0.8 pips, USD/CAD will have a starting spread of 1.2 pips.

 

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount required to open an account is $250, this will get you the Silver account, if you want a different account then your initial deposit will need to be bigger. There isn’t any further information regarding deposits such as a reduced top-up minimum or anything like that.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The deposit methods are not clearly indicated on the website, there is a simple image of a number of processors such as Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Wire Transfer, Skrill GiroPay and Neteller, but there isn’t a dedicated deposit/withdrawal page with information. This is very disappointing as it is vital for potential clients to know how their money will be handled and what costs there may be for depositing (and withdrawing).

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like the deposits, there isn’t any information about withdrawals, we would be assuming that the same methods listed above would be available for withdrawals as they all have that function, however, we are not able to say for sure. Just to reiterate that it is a shame that this information is not available as it is so important.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The only information that we have is that withdrawals are processed within 48 hours, there isn’t any more information. We can state that Visa and MasterCard withdrawals will take 1 – 5 business days and bank transfers 2 – 5 business days after they are processed but not much more than that.

Bonuses & Promotions

Looking through the FinMarket website we did not locate any information regarding any bonuses and promotions so it does not look like there are any active at the moment, if you are interested in bonuses then be sure to check back at a later date to see if any have come up.

Educational & Trading Tools

FinMarket has a tools section of their website which has some basic help in regards to trading. There is a news video feature which gives daily news on what is happening around the world, we could not view a video as you are required to have an account to view it. There is also an economic calendar that gives basic information about upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. Finally, there are webinars, however, loading up the webinar page it displayed a blank page with just a risk warning and no actual content.

Customer Service

Should you have any questions of queries for FinMarket you can get in touch with them using an online submission form, this is a form where you fill out a query and should then get a reply via email. There is also a phone number to ring with is open Monday to Friday between 9L00 am and 9:00 pm. Finally, there are 3 different emails, one for support, one for finance and KYC issues and one for compliance issues and complaints. It appears that the support is open 5 days a week and is closed over the weekend when the markets are closed.

Demo Account

We went all over the site but did not locate any information about a demo account and could also not locate a way to open one so it appears that they are not available. This is never a good sign for us as many potential clients will use demo accounts to check what the trading conditions are like and current clients may want to test out new strategies without risking their own capital. So it would be beneficial for FinMarket to add in demo accounts.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the FinMarket website: “K-DNA Financial Services Ltd does not offer its services to residents or passport holders of certain jurisdictions such as Azerbaijan, Moldova, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Belgium, Sudan, USA, Syria, North Korea, Israel, Canada, Myanmar, and Australia .” If you are unsure, be sure to get in touch with the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

FinMarket start of their set of accounts with an accessible account which sadly has terrible spreads, we would not recommend anyone trade with spreads starting at 4 pips, in order to gen an account with acceptable spreads toy will need to deposit at least $20,000 which will price out a lot of potential clients. This couple with the fact that there is so little information about deposits and withdrawals, one of the most important parts of a broker considering we are giving them our hard-earned money can make them very difficult to recommend. Lots of tradable assets including crypto is a big plus, but is it enough for you to give them your money to trade with?

ETFinance is a forex broker based in Cyprus and is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (the “CySEC”). Their mission is to provide a firm foundation and a cutting edge platform to allow traders to reach their full potential. During this forex broker review, we will be looking at different aspects to see if they live up to this and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you to trade with.

Account Types

There are three accounts available when trading with ETFinance, these are Silver, Gold, and Platinum, we will take a look at the requirements and features of these accounts are.

Silver: This being the lower value metal is the entry-level account for ETFinance. It is unknown at this time what the deposit requirement is but the account comes with over 750 tradable assets, 1:30 maximum leverage for retail traders and 1:400 / 1:500 for people classed as professional. Spreads start at 0.07 which is unclear but we will go into more details regarding spreads later in this review.

Gold: The gold account has a slightly reduces spread at 0.05, leverage remains the same for both retail and professional traders. This account comes with a dedicated account manager, access to webinars and videos and also allows hedging. There is also a nice 25% discount for swap charges.

Platinum: The platinum account is the top-level account, it further reduces the spreads to 0.03 and leverage remains unchanged. This account also has access to an account manager, webinars and videos, a further reduced 50% discount on spreads and now also has news alerts and a free VPS.

All account types can be used as an Islamic account if you are not allowed to receive or pay interest such as swap charges due to your beliefs.

Platforms

Just the one platform on offer from ETFinance and that one platform is MetaTrader 4.

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

Leverage varies depending on how ETFinance class you as a trader, if you are assigned as a retail trader (someone who is new to trading) then you will have a leverage up[ to a maximum of 1:30, if you are classed as a professional trader, then you will have a maximum leverage up to 1:400 or 1:500, how the difference between 1:400 and 1:500 is decided we do not know. We are also currently unsure of what ETFinance constitutes as a professional client and what they require to assign you as one.

Trade Sizes

Trades start at 0.01 lots which are also known as a micro lot, trades then go up in increments of 0.01 so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We are unclear what the maximum trade size is but whatever it is, we do not recommend trading over 50 lots in a single trade as it will become harder and harder for liquidity providers and the market to execute trades quickly without any slippage the bigger they become.

It is also important to note that different assets will have different minimums and maximums, as an example forex pairs have a minimum of 0.01 lots while some commodities or indices will have minimums of 0.1 lots.

Trading Costs

There are no commissions charged on any of the accounts with ETFinance, at least not according to the website, each account uses a spread based system that we will look into later on in this review.

There are swap fees charged on accounts though, these are either paid or received when holding a trade overnight, they can be viewed directly within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. If you have an Islamic account then you will not pay these, however, there will be an administration charge added to the account.

Assets

Plenty of assets on offer, in fact, the website states that there are over 750 available to trade. These are broken down into 5 different categories. In the forex group, you have major pairs, minor pairs, and exotic pairs, these include the likes of EUR/USD, AUD/NZD and CHFJPY. There are also crypto pairs, and there are a lot of them, too many to list individually but the major coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple are there and tradable against multiple different currencies.

There are indices such as the FTSE 100, DAX 30 and SP 500 along with many more. Commodities are also present and there are plenty of them, including metals such as gold and silver along with others such as Coffee, Corn and Orange Juice. Finally, there are stocks, this is where the majority of the 750+ assets mentioned lie with stocks from the USA, Europe and the rest of the world present and tradable.

Spreads

The spreads mentioned on the accounts page can be a little confusing, usually, it states the spreads for currency pairs, however on the accounts page it is going for the lowest spread possible which comes with some of the commodities.

In regards to currency pairs, they are as low as 0.7 pips on the platinum account, the crypto pairs have floating spreads and no minimum is given on the website. All spreads are technically floating (variable) which means that they move with the market and when there is a lot of volatility will often be seen much higher than the stated amount.

It is also important to note that the minimums stated are for the platinum accounts and the lower tier accounts will have slightly higher spreads as a minimum. The final point to note is that not all pairs and assets have the same starting spread, EUR/USD as an example has a minimum spread of 0.7 pips while AUD/CAD has a minimum of 3.6 pips.

Minimum Deposit

There isn’t much information regarding the deposits and what the minimum deposits are which is a shame as this is important information for potential clients so not seeing what this information can put a lot of potential clients off. Scouring the internet, it appears that the minimum deposit is either $200 or $250 as different sources offer different amounts as a minimum.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Just three methods available for depositing and they are the once most frequently found with forex brokers. You can deposit via credit and debit card, Trustly, bank transfer, and Skrill. There are no added fees when depositing but be sure to check with your own bank just in case they charge their own transfer fees. There may be other methods to deposit, but we were not able to locate them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use the same methods to withdraw as you do to deposit, similarly to the deposits, there are no added transfer fees by ETFinance however check with your own bank to see if they will charge any incoming transfer fees.

It should be noted that if you deposit and then withdraw with only 1 or fewer trades being made, ETFinance may charge a withdrawal fee of $50, so ensure that at least 2 trades have been made before withdrawing.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will be processed on the day they are made as long as the request is before 11 am GMT, if they are made after 11 am GMT then they will be processed the next working day. Credit and debit cards will then take an additional 1 to 5 working days and bank transfers a further 3 to 5 days before they clear into your account. Trustly and Skrill withdrawals should arrive within 20 minutes of the request being processed,

Bonuses & Promotions

There wasn’t any clear information regarding any promotions or bonuses apart from the usual affiliate program where you can refer others to use ETFinance. Due to there being no information it does not look like there are any active promotions or bonuses but if you are interested in them, be sure to check back regularly to see if any have popped up.

Educational & Trading Tools

On the outside, it appears that ETFinance offers quite a lot when it comes to education. They offer some webinars and it seems like they have one every few days, plenty of ended events and it does not appear that you can rewatch the ones that have already been which is a shame. There is also an earnings calendar which is based around the earnings reported by a lot of companies, not really beneficial unless you are a stock trader. Articles are the next section which as well, articles about various different aspects of trading and about different things that may affect your trading.

There is also a video section that has a number of different videos about various subjects including MetaTrader 4, and different things like a risk in trading. There are also some Ebooks to download, we didn’t get to take a look but there are a few on topics that could be helpful to new traders. Finally, there are courses and tutorials which go over a number of different trading aspects to help give you the edge.

While there is a lot of content, none of it is truly groundbreaking and is very similar to other sources on the internet.

Customer Service

The contact us part of the site is a pretty standard one, there is everyone’s favorite online contact form where you fill in your query and can expect to get a reply via email. There is also an email address that you can email your query directly. A phone number is also available should you wish to talk to someone directly and finally, there is a live chat to get to talk to someone quickly.

We tested out the live chat and got a response quite quickly, the person on the other end was helpful and understood our questions well. The customer service team is open Monday to Friday between 8 am and 8 pm GMT.

Demo Account

We could not locate any information regarding demo accounts so it does not appear that there are any available if there are then they are not advertised very clearly. We always feel that it is beneficial for a broker to offer demo accounts as it gives potential clients a way to test the servers and also to test out any strategy that they may have without risking any real money. If demo accounts are not available then it is something that ETFinance should definitely look into getting them.

Countries Accepted

There wasn’t any clear information regarding which countries are accepted or not, the only clear detail was that clients from the USA are not able to join. If you are unsure if you are eligible for an account, be sure to get in contact with the support department to find out.

Conclusion

ETFinance seems to be running quite a competent platform, their initial accounts do not have the best trading conditions however the upper accounts have much better conditions. There needs to be more information available on the site in regards to deposits and withdrawals as well as the requirements for opening each account as they must be different due to the drastic improvements in the trading conditions. This along with the lack of demo accounts can make it hard to recommend, the big plus was a helpful and quick response from a customer service representative. It is now up to you to decide if you feel that ETFinance is the right broker for you.

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

iForex24 is an online, offshore broker with an investment portfolio that contains more than 200 options, made up of FX, commodities, and stocks. The company’s physical location is in the Marshall Islands, with establishment dating back to the early 2000s (according to the website). The broker’s main goal is to provide traders with an effective and convenient environment for investment. While this goal is certainly well-intentioned, it is fair to say that most traders would be more concerned with the costs that are associated with trading with this broker. Fortunately, we’ve done enough digging to outline everything one would need to know about this broker, so stay with us.

Account Types

iForex24 is currently offering three account types; Premium, Standard, and VIP. Accounts share several similarities, including leverage options, spreads, commission charges, trade sizes, available instruments, etc. The main differences would be the deposit requirements and the fact that the Standard account offers discounted spreads on commodities, while the VIP account offers the same discount but on commodities, indices, and forex majors, ultimately making it cheaper to trade these types of instruments on these account types. The broker doesn’t go as far as to detail exactly how much these discounts could save traders. We’ve outlined important details for each account type below.

Premium Account
Minimum Deposit: $200 (maximum $9,999)
Leverage: Up to 1:200 on FX
Spread: From 3 pips (fixed)
Commission: 0.1% (stocks only)

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $10,000 (maximum $29,999)
Leverage: Up to 1:200 on FX
Spread: From 3 pips (fixed) (With discount on commodities)
Commission: 0.1% (stocks only)

VIP Account
Minimum Deposit: $30,000 (maximum $49,999)
Leverage: Up to 1:200 on FX
Spread: From 3 pips (fixed) (With a discount on commodities, indices, forex majors)
Commission: 0.1% (stocks only)

The broker requires specific documents each time a client makes a deposit, including a photo ID, recent utility bill, etc.

Platform

This broker has made the bold decision not to offer a well-known trading platform like MT4 or MT5, and instead offers their own iForex platform. We’ve seen some brokers bring impressive platforms to the table, but the website is extremely vague about the features that are supported on their available platform. This doesn’t mean that the iForex platform doesn’t hold up on its own, we just wish the broker would provide some photos and more information, especially since they need to establish their own platform as a reasonable choice.

We’re guessing that the broker didn’t want to dish out the $100k license fee for MT4, and therefore made their own platform, which seems like more of an afterthought. One good piece of information we do have about the iForex platform is that is compatible with smartphones, making it possible to trade on the go.

Leverage

Rather than offering specific leverages on each account type, the broker has assigned a maximum leverage cap to each individual instrument. FX options share the same leverage cap of 1:200, which is the highest option offered by the broker. On commodities, the limits are set at either 1:50 or 1:100, depending on the specific instrument. Gold and other metals, Crude Oil, and Cocoa offer the 1:100 cap, while the other instruments only offer the 1:50 cap. Indices also offer a similar pattern, with some options offering the 1:50 cap and others offering a cap that goes as high as 1:100. The majority of stocks have a leverage cap of 1:20, with an exception of 1:10 on Banca Monte Paschi Di Sienna.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is one mini lot on CFD contracts based on currencies and 0.03 lots for commodities. The margin requirement is 1% of the nominal value of the contract size in the case of currencies, 2% in the case of indices, and 3% for commodities. A margin call is activated any time the equity in the account falls below the 100% margin requirement and the company will immediately begin to liquidate open trades if the balance falls below 20%. Traders are only permitted to open one trade per 2 minutes on any specific contract that goes on the same asset, direction, and expiry time.

Trading Costs

iForex24 profits from spreads, commission fees, and swaps, or overnight interest charges. The Standard account offers a spread discount on commodities, while the VIP offers the same discount on commodities, indices, and forex majors. We’ve provided more information on the typical spreads offered below. The commission charge is 0.1% on stocks and commissions are not applicable on FX or commodities. The iForex24 financing charge for overnight interest is 1.5% with charges on commodities and stocks being based on the denomination of the CFDs currency. If the CFD is priced in a currency other than USD, the company will determine the value of the exchange rate.

Assets

The broker’s investment portfolio contains 40 FX options, 26 commodities, including Corn, Crude Oil, gasoline, shares of foreign and US companies, and German bonds. The broker also offers full access to the Warsaw stock exchange, with 141 total options. Taking a more in-depth look at the FX options, we see major and minor instruments, in addition to several exotic options, like the TRY, ZAR, SEK, NOK, and more. This makes for an impressive number of assets to invest in.

Spreads

Accounts share the same spreads, although some discounts may apply to the Standard and VIP accounts. The company is very transparent about the typical spreads on each instrument and lists these under “FX Trading Conditions” and “Trading” > “Trading Conditions. On FX options, clients can choose from floating or fixed spreads. We’ve listed a few examples of the differences below, in order to give one an idea of the typical spreads on FX options and the difference between the fixed and floating options.
The floating spread starts from 2.2 pips on EUR/USD, while the other version of the spread is fixed at 3 pips.

The spread is fixed at 4 pips on EUR/JPY, while the floating spread starts from 3 pips.
On EUR/GBP, the floating spread starts from 3.1 pips and the spread is fixed at 4 pips.
The lowest fixed spread that we see on FX instruments is 3 pips, making options higher than average. On commodities, the spread is either fixed or floating, depending on the instrument. We see fixed spreads at 0.05 pips on Crude Oil, 0.7 pips on Gold, and 0.07 pips on Silver. The remaining instruments in this category have floating spreads, with the highest spread starting from 10 pips on Cocoa.

Spreads on Indices start from below 1 pip and differ based on which instrument you’re looking at. As for stocks, the majority of options are at one pip or lower, although the spreads can be higher on a couple of instruments. Between 20:45 GMT and 7:00 GMT, spreads of TRY pairs may be widened and spreads on PLN might be widened to 20.

Minimum Deposit

The Premium account would be the most affordable, with a $200 minimum deposit requirement. This amount could be considered typical, although many other brokers have at least one account type with a lower requirement, and some have done away with deposit requirements altogether. There is also a maximum balance limit of $9,999 on this account. Opening a Standard account requires a much more significant deposit of at least $10,000 and the account has a maximum balance limit of $29,999.

The VIP account is the most expensive, with a $30,000 deposit requirement. We would expect this account to have an unlimited balance, but iForex24 has set a balance limit of $49,999 on their VIP account, making it impossible to have a balance larger than $50k with this broker, at least according to the broker’s website. Under their terms, the broker also mentions that the maximum deposit they can accept is $10,000. This may mean that deposits for larger accounts would need to be made through multiple payments.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Currently, the available deposit methods include Visa/MasterCard, Wire Transfer, and Skrill. The broker mentions on their funding page that more options will be added in the near future, so be on the lookout for the possible addition of more e-wallets. Upon making a deposit, the broker will require a copy of the client’s valid passport or ID card, photocopies of the front and back of the card being used to make the deposit (feel free to blackout all of the card number, aside from the last 4 digits), and a copy of a recent utility bill in the client’s name. There don’t seem to be any fees associated with making a deposit.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals made via Visa/MasterCard are processed as “refunds” back to the original card for amounts up to the funded amount. Any extra profits must be sent back through Wire Transfer. One Wire Transfer per month is credited free of charge, with a 25 Euro fee on any additional withdrawals made through this method in that month. Clients must make minimum withdrawals of at least 50 Euros when using this method. If the trader has not made at least 5 trades before making a withdrawal request, then the broker will charge an additional $50 USD fee on top of any other applicable charges. The broker doesn’t mention any applicable charges for Skrill or Visa/MasterCard.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Once a withdrawal request is submitted, the broker can take up to 3 business days to process the request. Once the request has been approved, it can take between 3-5 more days for funds to show up in the client’s account. This means that if one were to make a withdrawal request on a Friday, the maximum time it could take to receive those funds would be 12 days.

Bonuses & Promotions

Currently, the broker isn’t offering any special opportunities. Under their Terms & Conditions, iForex24 does mention that they may offer bonuses, promotions, or other benefits at their discretion. In the case that a bonus is awarded, the terms state that the trader would need to execute transactions in amounts at least 30 times the bonus amount and that there may be requirements based on deposit minimums, minimum trading volume, timeframes, etc.

Educational & Trading Tools

The website’s Education section is made up of Forex Basics, Fundamental Analysis, Video Tutorials, and Technical Analysis. The latter includes the mini-sections Chart Formations, Chart Analysis, Market Trends, Support and Resistance, Technical Indicators, and Technical Basics. Unfortunately, the video tutorials are not yet available, although the broker claims that this section will be updated soon. Trading tools consist of platform downloads and an Economic Calendar, so we don’t see other options, like calculators, VPS, etc. available on the website.

Demo Account

Like the majority of their competitors, this broker is offering risk-free demo accounts to any users that would like to open one. Opening a demo is a quick process and only requires the trader’s name, email, phone number, and country. One thing that makes this broker’s demo account special is the fact that the accounts are specified to mimic each of the broker’s real accounts, meaning one can open a Premium, Standard, or VIP demo account. These accounts serve a variety of purposes and are excellent educational tools for beginners, but demo accounts can also be used to test conditions offered by the broker on their various account types or to test out the lesser-known platform. This information can help to give one an idea of whether they would prefer to make a real deposit with the broker.

Customer Service

In order to reach customer support, traders can call, email the broker directly, or send a message through the online contact form on the contact page. We don’t see any instant contact option available, making phone the quickest way to get in touch with support. Support is active 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. This makes it convenient to get in touch on weekdays although weekends tend to be a high-volume time when many users may be looking to sign-up. Listed contact information has been provided below.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +441865521164
Address: IFOREX24 LTD, Trust Company Complex, Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island, Majuro Marshall Islands, MH 96960

Countries Accepted

iForex24 mentions that services are not available to clients located in France. In addition, the broker reserves the right to refuse service or cancel accounts opened by clients that they deem to be located in jurisdictions where it would be illegal to pursue a relationship with them. In addition, the broker mentions that it is against the law for US clients to buy and sell commodity options. If you visit the account registration page, you’ll find both of the aforementioned locations are listed. This means that it is possible to open an account from France, the US, and many other locations.

Conclusion

iForex24 is an online FX and CFD broker that offers leveraged trading of up to 1:200 on more than 200 total instruments, made up of FX, commodities, and stocks, from three separate account types. The most affordable account can be opened with a $200 deposit, but the broker asks for deposits of $10k or more to open one of the additional account types. Traders can choose from fixed or floating spreads on FX instruments.

Spreads seem to be above average on FX instruments, regardless of which type is chosen, while the broker offers much more attractive options on commodities and stocks. Commissions are only charged on stocks, so traders won’t have to worry about these costs when trading currency pairs or commodities.

One disadvantage would seemingly be the broker’s featured trading platform, since it was created by the company and the website doesn’t provide any details about available features. Funding methods are currently limited to Visa/MasterCard, Wire Transfer, and Skrill, with a maximum wait time of up to 10 days for withdrawals. Fees are not charged on deposits and clients are able to make one free Wire Transfer withdrawal per month.

Customer Support is available 24/5, via email and phone. The broker seems to be in the process of updating their educational section and trading tools are limited to an economic calendar. Currently, there aren’t any ongoing promotional opportunities, but it does seem promising that this could be available in the near future. Service is available for US clients and clients in many other locations all over the globe.

GCM is a Turkish broker with a local license to provide Advisory and brokerage services for financial derivatives. It is authorized by the local authorities in Turkey (Capital Markets Board) and the website is not available in English. For investors that are not residents of Turkey, it means this broker does not have any regulation for international clients. The company is headquartered in Instanbul and transformation from Artı Menkul Değerler A.Ş, which has been operating before and this is a continuation in the form of a brokerage.

The website design has tight margins and organized in a typical way, without modern effects and limited information to keep it beginner-friendly, but, with some effort, a lot of important information for investors is published, with good transparency. GCM states that their specialty is leveraged trading and Futures. They are proud to present their figures, 86k clients, 39 TRY (~7M USD) capital investments, 330 employees, and the ongoing effort to bring more trading assets and technology.

Additionally, there are many awards displayed like: “High Transaction Volume Award” in 2015, “Best Order Transmission” from Forex Report Magazine, “Best Forex Broker” in 2014 and a few more. Of course, these awards are a part of the marketing industry, but this GCM review will reveal the scope and quality of service they provide.

Account Types

GCM does not give you any options when selecting an account type. The page will offer you a Trial Account and a Real Account. The first one is just the usual demo. Real Account is presented to feature low spreads, a personal sales manager, and other “advantages” that are not specified. By applying for a Real Account you will also need to accept the Consent Form that some may see as privacy-invading, you will opt-in for a lot of marketing and private information sharing.

Real Account is available in EUR, USD and TRY currency. The two-step registration procedure will list many worldwide countries, but in the next step, you will be given to select only cities from Turkey and ID registration in Turkey.

VOIP is a designed Account for Futures and Options trading localized on Borsa Istanbul. More than 30 instruments are promoted with leverage, tax advantages, and bi-directional trading. Demo for VOIP is also available. Turkey’s big companies are featured as well as Borsa 30 Index that is interesting for local investors.

Platforms

GCM offers MetaTrader 4 platform for standard trading and MetaTrader 5 for Options&Futures. Both are available to download for Windows but not for Mac. Webtrader and mobile versions are also offered running on Android and iOS. GCM has an additional web platform, Sirix, a well known, simplistic platform that is easy to adopt by beginners.

The MT4 platform is connected to 4 live servers and one demo. These are distributed in several global locations, in the UK, Netherlands, Singapore, Honk Kong, and Ireland. Our dedicated server from the Netherlands had a ping rate of 58ms. The platform is updated to the latest version and is set to defaults and One-Click trading buttons visible. Four charts with major Forex currency pairs are the default template with MAXD and CCI inserted.

Trading instruments are categorized into too many groups to be considered practical, for example, Forex pairs have 7 groups, EUR/USD USD/JPY, and USD/RUB are separated for no apparent reason. Whatsmore, CFD1, CFD2, etc groups do not represent what class of assets they contain. The instrument specification window presents enough information. Execution times were below 0.2s but sometimes it could go over 500ms. Trade Terminal is showing all the trading costs including swaps.

Sirix platform is available in a web-accessible form and for mobile devices running on Android and iOS. It will not be shown in the English language straight after the loading, so the trader will have to find the language switch in the top right. Sirix is not designed to deliver complex orders or for automated algorithms. It features 50 indicators with basic chart drawing possibilities which are somewhat inconvenient as everything is done with mouse only.

Sometimes Sirix platform has a more advanced variant to switch to, but we could not find that on this GCM version. What is good with Sirix is the nice-looking graphical design and the Social module, unfortunately, we were unable to see it working. Economic Calendar is also integrated, but it was the same case as with the Social module. The execution times are slower and take about 1 second, making this platform just a user-friendly step for inexperienced traders until they understand the basics of trading.

MetaTrader 5 platform for VOIP Accounts needs to have login details specific for VOIP Account. It is set to present the Futures and Options trading with four charts displaying Futures on Gold, Bank Vis Index, USD/TRY, and one future with an exchange specific codename. There are 4 servers, all based in the UK and Netherlands with below 60ms ping. The executions are great with just above 60ms mark. The instruments specification window shows additional information needed for futures trading, like Margins, Ratios, dates, commissions, etc. Note that most markets have gaps and noise typical for low liquidity.

Leverage

Exact leverage is not disclosed when you open the account. The whole instruments list exists in the Trading Conditions section, although you may need a few clicks to get there. For all trading assets, the leverage is 1:10, which is considered too low in the industry. Most of EU brokers will offer 1:30. VOIP Account leverage is up to 1:30.

Trade Sizes

GCM has the usual micro-lot trade sizes or 0.01 lots. For Forex the minimum trade volume is 0.01 lots, also for additional steps. The maximum trade size is 150 lots for EUR/USD but all other currency pairs have 100 lots. Other Instruments also have the same trade sizing, even Stocks and Indexes. Stops levels could be a matter of concern for a good share of traders. For the EUR/USD pair stops level is 40 points, GBP/USD 120 points, EUR/CHF 140 points, and as we go towards minor and exotics, Stops levels get uncomfortably high. Therefore, AUD/NZD has 300 points, GBP/AUD 300, and GBP/TRY no less than 500.

The highest Stops levels are with USD/ZAR at 2398 points, for most, these levels are too much. For those that do not know, the Stops level threshold does not allow limit orders around the current price. Gold/USD has a 100 points Stops level.
Margin Call and Stop Out are not disclosed.

Trading Costs

GCM does not charge commissions for the standard account. The swaps are very low with frequent positive figures on one side. EUR/USD has -11.3 points on the long and 5.3 points on short, tripled on Thursdays. Double-digit swap is not a common sight among the major pairs, the highest swap is with the EUR/AUD, -12.5 points for long and 6.2 for short.

From the exotics, the swaps are expectedly higher so EUR/HUF has -20.2 long and 4.23 short, USD/ILS 0.33 points long and -12.50 short, USD/ZAR -400 long and 90 for short, the same as USD/MXN, and the highest swap values among currency pairs is with USD/RUB at -2120 for long and 500 for short position overnight charge. XAU/USD has -15 long and 4 points short swap while Silver/USD has just -1.5 and 0.5. Crude Oil has -3.8 and -2.4 points.

Inactivity fee exists. If a trader does not have any open positions and did not open any new for 3 months it is considered non-performing and will be charged $3 or 2€ monthly.
Trading Futures and other derivatives on VOIP is subject to banking and insurance transactions tax (BITT) of 0.0005%.

Assets

GCM has a very good asset range across all categories, except for cryptocurrencies which are not offered. Forex features 51 currency pairs with some broker specialties. All majors are present, and minors have variants with EUR, GBP, and USD as a base currency. Therefore you can find EUR/TRY, USD/TRY but also GBP/TRY. This is also true for the Scandinavian currencies, DKK, NOK, and SEK.

Among the exotics, traders will find PLN, ILS, MXN, HUF, SGD, RUB, and ZAR. A GCM specialty is a basket forex asset TRYBASK that comprises of EUR and USD against the Turkish Lyra, so 1 lot contains 50k USD and 50k EUR. Some of the instruments were off quotes like EUR/ILS, or in other words, not available for trading.

Precious metals have extended range where you can find Gold against USD, TRY, EUR but also Gold Gram variant. Silver is only available against the USD. Platinum and Palladium are under the commodities grouping and they could be hard to find at first. In addition to these Copper is also listed, as a commodity metal.

GCM has a good choice of Index including the Dollar Index that is not just indicative but fully open for trading. A total of 14 are present with major ones and less common like Russel 2000 Mini Index, CAC 40, CNA 40, DJ EUR 50, MIB 40 Italy, Hang Seng Index, and IBEX 35.

Commodities are present and above the industry average range. Traders can find a total of 8 commodities but nothing exotic. These are both, Brent and Crude Oil types, Natural Gas, Heating Oil, Gasoline, Wheat, Corn, Soybean, Sugar, and Cotton.

We have fount a total of 38 stocks from the EU and 50 from the US, which is the average range. These are major popular companies shares but are very well diversified by industry. GCM also offers bonds. These are all US treasury Bonds with 3,10 and 30-year maturity. 30 year US bond is not common to see among brokers.

Spreads

GCM offers fixed spreads for most trading instruments. This means the broker may not be the best option for fast trading strategies where low trading costs and spreads are essential. Starting with Forex, the most traded pair, EUR/USD has 2 pip spread. Other majors follow GBP/USD 3 pips, USD/JPY 2 pips. In the mid liquidity range, GMC has AUD/NZD with 15 pips spread, EUR/NZD 20 pips, GBP/CAD 15 pips and similar for others.

In the exotic range, the spread is increased, GPB/TRY has 60 pips spread, higher than USD/TRY with just 15 pips. Then we have the USD/SGD which has a floating spread specified, although we did not see it changing from the 80 points level. The highest spreads were for EUR/HUF – 70 pips, USD/MXN – 100 pips, USD/ILS – 160 pips, and USD/RUB – 675 pips. A sharp increase for the exotics means these are maybe attractive only to long term traders.

Whatsmore, the fixed spreads can be changed by GCM, as stated, during the volatility periods and also around session closure. Precious metals also have a fixed spread. Gold/USD has 50 pips and Silver 4 pips. Gold denominated in EUR has much wider 100 pips spread, and in TRY 450 pips. Palladium spread is 250 pips and Platinum 12pips, both classified as floating spreads. Copper also has a floating spread at 62 points.

Crude Oil has a 40 points fixed spread while Brent has a 7 point, a lower amount because it is a floating spread. Note that GCM also seems to present ECN accounts with variable spreads but the actual account opening does not offer this option, therefore we will not cover this, probably former account type with variable spreads and commission.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is not presented on the website until you register for an account. The minimum deposit is 50,000 TRY or around 8500 USD. This is a high barrier for entry for most traders but considering the lower leverage, it may be needed.

Deposit Methods & Costs

What we have seen within the trader’s area, only bank transfers are possible. The costs will depend on the bank. Currencies available are USD, EUR and TRY. Credit Card option is displayed but the link opens the same page for bank transfers. Deposits by bank transfer are more complicated for a chargeback than with VISA or MasterCard.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals are made only by bank transfers. A form will require you to type IBAN and other bank details. No associated costs are mentioned.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal processing takes one business day by the broker, after the transfer may take up to 7 days.

Bonuses & Promotions

There are no promotions or bonuses offered by GCM.

Educational & Trading Tools

GCM shows analysis and tools on different pages across its website. Often you will see the basics about Forex, transactions, where to invest and so on, essentially this is tied to marketing and account opening. Forex training section contains both Fundamental and Technical analysis, Webinars, Videos, and written material. An analysis manual that describes how to interpret the reports and indicators is also added.

Videos are numerous and of great quality. MT4 platform explanations are all in Turkish but are very detailed and professionally edited. Over 30 videos exist just for the platforms. GCM states that there are more than 10,000 minutes of video material for various topics. Other videos showcase the latest market developments and can last for more than 30 minutes.

For example, the latest topics are “Latest Situation in the Oil Market”, “Policy Developments of Fed and Large Central Banks”, “Inflation, Base Effect, and Central Bank Route”, etc. These videos are also of great quality, long, showing different technical applications, fundamental drivers, fact figures and other arguments. There is also a possibility to sign up for a live Youtube stream.

Fundamental and Technical analysis part explains what they are and how to apply them. They are structured and well written. The indicators page is long and tries to cover the most popular indicators and other methods of analysis. Additionally, there is an e-book containing all this material, but it is not available for download.

Articles are fresh but updated monthly and cover interesting topics that are relevant to present political developments. Some of the latest subjects are “What is ECB? Effects of ECB Interest Rate Decisions”, “What is Trade War? Effects of Economy of Turkey and the World Trade War” and so on. The articles are of good quality without any marketing.
GCM also has a very developed Market Analysis section.

The analysis is published daily and more than once. A timeline graphic will show traders what analysis coming up, be it morning technical analysis, video or special reports. Expert opinions are also published and contain short but quality content, with the addition of how it is relevant to Turkey. Technical analysis is also extensive but does not show anything more than Support and Resistance levels, Pivot lines and price levels.

Market News section is outdated, showing the latest reports from 2017. GCM probably decided to include news along with the reports and analysis they frequently publish.
GCM has a few tools available. Calculators are for Pips, Margin, Swap and s currency converter. These are very basic while the economic calendar has its section but it is not available.

GCM has its Sentiment Indicator for every asset. This indicator is usually seen with larger, market maker brokers. It is refreshed frequently.

Customer Service

GCM has an email, phone and chat service available. It is not available in English and is not 24/7, just during the working hours in Turkey. The staff requested our phone number and disconnected us without providing us with any answers. Direct audio contact is better for sales hence the reason for the phone number. Note that it is common to see other affiliates contacting you as a part of shared policy marketing.

Demo Account

GCM promoted a Trial Account or a demo with 100,000 virtual currency. After 30 days, the trial account will be closed. A new demo could be obtained and within the user account panel, it is possible to open multiple accounts. The Demo account will have all the conditions as with Live, having the same information specs.

 

Countries Accepted

No information is available from the GCM website. The registration form has a long country list.

Conclusion

To complete this GCM review we will state a few important info for interested traders. This is a market maker broker that has great range and transparency. We have seen a broker publish statements on profitable/losing traders ratio using their services, but it is uncommon to also see reports on price providers, Ration of rejected orders, Asset price deviation report, and a Ratio of Customer Complaints. This is commendable although it still may not be enough considering trading conditions that are not favorable to fast traders, which are many.

The broker also shows signs of being just an affiliate of Fortrade, that shares the same trading instruments although at higher leverage and a bit higher fixed spread. GCM has some additional values for clints from Turkey as most of their services are adapted to them, including the Futures and Options trading. Additionally, there is a lot of marketing involved and it is in the national culture.

Finally, the minimum deposit is too high for most traders that just want to try live service, especially taking into account that this is a locally licensed broker, not globally popular and that there are not enough positive user reviews.

Formerly known as Merkativa, AGEA is a rebrand that has been online since 2005. This broker is headquartered in Montenegro with a real address location in Podgorica. AGEA is a public company on the Montenegro Stock Exchange and regulated by the local authority, Commission for Capital Markets. This regulation does not officially comply with the EU directives as the country is not in the EU, but AGEA states they are based on the legal framework following the MiFID directive. Client funds are segregated and policies are established for AML, Risk and other categories compliant with the MiFID. There is also a client categorization policy that defines a professional trader. Still, the leverage provided is not limited as with ESMA compliant brokers.

AGEA has improved its services since establishment and differentiated in some fields like the platform offers. The website is well designed and does not follow the classic structure. Content has a good mix of educational and specific information material for advanced users who can understand the industry phrases. Overall transparency is good, the website is providing more details than what we usually see with other brokers, especially for the overview of the platform. User rating for this broker is mediocre, although the most negative come from accounts that used the company promotion funds.

AGEA responds to every negative review and that shows dedication to improve the image. Apart from being transparent, the broker encourages the use of the demo account for at least several weeks for inexperienced traders, giving us the feel of genuine interest to have skilled traders for a longer-term. This notion is further confirmed with good tips guides. This review will give you insight if AGEA has the right offer for your style of trading and the quality of service.

Account Types

AGEA does not have classic account packages with different minimum deposit requirements or similar. Account differentiation is based on the platform. AGEA offers two platforms, MetaTrader 4 and Streamster. MetaTrader also has a Cent Account that enables traders to risk lower amounts of money but experience live trading. The maximum balance for the Cent account is $5-$6000. Each platform has somewhat different trading conditions although not substantial.

Accounts are available in USD, EUR, GBP, CHF for the MT4, and USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD, and AUD for the Streamster platform. Accounts have different maximum leverages and the MT4 platform requires at least $100 balance as stated on the website, but the AGEA support told us a lower limit. When trades register for an account with AGEA, the will be rewarded with $5 upon verification but they will not be able to have multiple accounts. Traders will still be able to have accounts under their single master Account with AGEA.

Platforms

AGEA supports two platforms, Streamster and MetaTrader 4. Streamster is available as a desktop version and web which is automatically opened once you register and is regarded as a standard platform. This platform is simplified, easy to use and well designed. There are two color themes to switch to, light and dark, both are good looking and easy on the eyes. Some advanced features like chart drawing, custom indicators or automated trading are missing, as expected with simplified web platforms.

Streamster has its API for algorithmic trading but you will have to be familiar oh how to set it up for automation in PHP or Visual Basic. A guide is prepared on the AGEA website with examples. Streamster will have enough features for basic trading, there are 3 windows by default that can be resized and rearranged by preset layouts. The windows will display the chart, instruments list, and the account/trading terminal with few integrated tools and services not available in the MT4. The chart can be set to classic timeframes like in MT4, and type can be set to line, bar, candle and track, Track style is like a bar with gradient changing colors as the price reaches new lows and highs.

We have spent some time to figure out how to add a new instrument chart as this is integrated with the indicators list that is much larger than the instrument selection dropdown menu at the top. The same list is opened with a gear-like button but without the instruments selection menu. Traders can have up to 3 charts open but cannot have them visible at the same time. The indicators list is similar to the MT4, we have counted a total of 35. Most of the indicators are well known and there are no additional colors or other settings like with the MT4.

Ordering will give you options to set Stop Loss and Take Profit (called Exit Target) levels, volume in Units, Limit, Stop and Market type, GTC, GTD, IOC duration and a custom text that can be added to the trade. The most interesting part is the management module window that is similar to the Termina in MT4. In addition to classic trade management sections like Portfolio, Orders, and Positions, Streamster has Chat, News, Support, Calendar, and Account integrated service sections. Chat will give you the ability to communicate with other traders globally and also with AGEA support. We found this chat to have a lag more than a few seconds for every line sent.

News will display the latest feed from Reuter, CBNC News, South China Morning Post, RT Business and Market Watch, with a filter to disable some of these sources. Clicking on the news line will link you with the published page. Calendar section will list the last 9 events for the current day without any filter options, thus seriously limiting the usability.

Account section will display similar information as from the AGEA website if not the same, making this section just an integrated AGEA webpage where you can open new accounts, read content and so on. The instrument information is obscured, you will not have the spread displayed or anything related to the execution time, but still have the instrument price change, highs and lows, and the time.

Streamster desktop platform is similar but has more features than its web version. This platform has more indicators with more settings, some chart drawing options, alerts for prices and economic events, and more account management features. “My AGEA” menu hold much more useful information and analysis. Here you can see Portfolio analysis, manage accounts, see trades information, manage funds and more.

MetaTrader 4 is available only as a desktop version. It is described by AGEA as a platform used “by traders who understand how to code”, which is not true, traders do not need to understand coding at all. The platform is updated to the latest version and shows two servers upon startup, AGEA Demo and Live. Both are having a ping rate of about 200ms. The instrument symbols are grouped into four groups with clear and full specifications.

The default four forex charts have the One-click trading buttons visible with default indicators applied. No additional indicators or templates are added to the installation. The MT4 Terminal will show all the relevant trading costs for open positions including swaps and commission. Execution times are around 270ms without deviations, the slowest execution being just past 280ms. This latency is average in the industry. We have also noticed a major issue with Oil assets. They were off quotes or took an abnormal time to execute orders. Trading hours for all platforms is Sunday 22:15 to Friday 21:00 GMT.

Leverage

The leverage is initially by default 1:100 for the MT4 Account and fixed to 1:100 for the Streamster platform. MetaTrader 4 has the leverage set from 1:1 to 1:200 for the standard size and up to 1:500 for the Cent account. This leverage is available regardless of the client categorization set by MiFID that exists during the registration process. The leverage for precious metals and other assets is the same.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes in the Streamer platform are measured in units, and the minimum trade size is 1 unit for Forex. This is lower than a micro-lot trade size as 1 lot is 100,000 units. Increments are also not limited. Limits exist for the maximum number of opened positions (50) per desk type (200 in total) but this limit should not be a factor for most traders. The maximum volume limit is 1,000,000 cumulative for all positions. For target orders, there is a 3 pip distance limit that may be too big for some fast trading strategies.

MetaTrader 4 platform has a different trading size policy. The minimum trade size we have observed is 0.1 lots. This is too big for small deposits even though the minimum requirement is very low. The 0.1 lot minimum trade size is not applied to precious metals, so XAU/USD has 0.01 lots minimum trade size and the same for additional trading steps. The maximum allowed per trade is 10 lots. For Oil assets, there is another interesting limit, the maximum trade size is 1 lot while the minimum is 0.01. The contract size for these CFD Oil futures is not standard and is 10 units.

The stop out level is the same as with the Streamster – 3 pips. The Cent account has the same trading volumes and conditions. Margin Call and Stop Out levels are not defined and are limited only to the equity needed to sustain the margin.

Trading Costs

AGEA is a commission-free broker for all platforms and also swap-free for the Streamster platform. This means the only non-spread trading costs are the negative swaps if you are using the MT4 platform. The swap rates are disclosed in the MT4 instrument specification window only. The website listing will display some information about the spreads but not swaps. Swaps are calculated in currencies and tripled on Wednesdays. Positive swaps are not uncommon.

For the most traded pair, EUR/USD the swap is -7.32 EUR for long position and 2.57 EUR for short. USD/JPY also has a positive swap on the long side, 1.45 USD and -5.55 USD on short. GBP/USD has -4.66 GBP for long and 0.02 GBP for a short position swap. NZD and AUD swaps are also wit positives, NZD/JPY has 2.56 NZD positive for long and -8.46 NZD for short while AUD/CHF has 3.51 AUD for long and -9.41 AUD for short position swap.

As we go into exotics the swaps are not going higher to a large degree, some remain single-digit. For example, USD/CNH has -3.25 USD for long position and -0.85 USD for short, USD/HUF has -0.65 USD long and -5.35 USD short. The highest swap is for the EUR/TRY with -42.48 EUR for long and 0.10 EUR for a short position swap. Swaps for XAU/USD is low with -0.056 USD for long and -0.047 USD for short.

AGEA has an Inactivity Fee of $20 per year for accounts dormant for 12 months.

Assets

The asset range offer is different for the Streamster and the MT4 platform. Both have the same categories but MT4 has an extended Forex instrument range. A total of 44 currency pairs is present in MT4 while Streamster desktop and web version have 17 total and none of them are exotic pairs. In the MT4 forex traders will also find uncommon pairs like USD/MXN, USD/CNH, USD/HKD, EUR/PLN, EUR/TRY, SGD/JPY, EUR/HUF, and Scandinavian currencies.

These and more variants with the USD are not present in the Streamster platforms. Desktop Streamster platform has some of the forex and other assets invisible, traders will have to “subscribe” to all available by clicking on the search button under the Subscriptions tab.

Precious metals are limited to spot Gold and Silver. These are present on both platforms.
Indexes are present on all platforms in equal numbers. There are a total of 6 future Index CFDs and the asset names are not what we see usually. You will find XDE30 (German DAX), XFR40 (CAC 40), XUK100 (FTSE 100), XUS100 (NASDAQ), XUS30 (Dow Jones e-mini) and XUS500 (S&P 500).

Commodities are limited to Oil futures CFDs. UK Brent and US Crude Oil are present in MT4 but not on Streamster platforms. AGEA had some technical issues with the execution. We are not informed is the problem is with the liquidity provider or server related.
AGEA Instruments Profiles page also has Bonds, ETFs, and Stocks in the dropdown menu, but these assets are not yet introduced.

Spreads

AGEA has floating spreads that are specific for each platform they offer. The spreads are generally competitive but not good enough for fast trading strategies. Forex spreads are disclosed on the website but the minimums are never achieved, even during night sessions. For example, EUR/USD minimum spread is 5 points but it is almost always in 10 points range, USD/JPY has 12 points while the minimum stated is just 1 point. AUD/USD has 11 points, NZD/USD 12 points, and USD/CHF has the highest with 18 points in the majors.

Other pairs have higher spreads, so AUD/NZD has 29 points, CHF/JPY 31 points, EUR/NZD 37 points, GBP/AUD 44 points, and GBP/NZD with the highest spread of 83 points in the minors. Exotics spreads are like fixed for some pairs like for USD/TRY at 6000 points, 3000 points for USD/ZAR, and 6000 points for EUR/TRY. These are also the highest spreads. For other exotics, the spread is much tighter, so USD/MXN has 665 points, USD/PLN 166 points, ZAR/JPY just 13 points, USD/CNH 107 points, and USD/HUF 218 points.

Spot Gold has competitive spread at 37 pips and Silver with 12. Oil assets have 13 points spread.

Streamster platform has tighter spreads but is not displayed on the platforms. Traders will have to manually calculate from the Bid/Ask price. For comparison, EUR/USD has 5 points spread, USD/JPY 4 points, GBP/USD 5 points, and the rest of the forex currency pairs have the same 4 or 5 points spread. These spreads are much more comfortable for fast trading but traders will have to put some effort into API to connect their algorithms. Spot Gold has 15 pips spread and Silver is at 4 pips in the Streamster platform.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit stated on the website is $100 for the MT4 platform and no requirement for the Streamster. In the FAQ there are no minimum requirements as stated while the support staff told us the minimum for the MT4 is $6 and $1 for the Streamster. Note that the trading sizes for MT4 may require you to have more on balance. Cent MT4 account has a $5 minimum balance. AGEA will reward new traders with $5 upon verification so traders can start with Cent account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

AGEA has a comprehensive list of deposit costs by different payment processors. AGEA does not charge any fees for deposits. Deposit methods are numerous but without any crypto methods. You can deposit via Bank Wire, VISA, MasterCard, Local China Banks / UnionPay, DixiPay, FasaPay, Local Bank Transfers, Neteller, PerfectMoney, Qiwi, Skrill, WebMoney, Payza, RBK Money, E-Dinar, Epay, and AliPay.

Fees charged by these payments providers are:

• Local Banks in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam: 2.8% (deposits); 1.6% (withdrawals).
• Credit Cards: 3.5% + USD 0.50 or 3.5% + EUR 0.35 (deposits); 2.5% + USD 7.50 or 2.5% + EUR 6.50 (withdrawals).
• Local China Banks / UnionPay: 1.20% (deposits); RMB10 per transaction (withdrawals).
• Fasapay: 0.50% (deposits); 0% (withdrawals).
• Skrill: 2.5% + USD 0.37 + 0.5% or 2.5% + EUR 0.35 or 2.5% + GBP 0.3 (deposits); 1% (withdrawals).
• Neteller: 1.9% + USD 0.29 (Minimum USD 1.29) or 1.9% + USD 0.29 + 0.5% (Minimum USD 1.29 + 0.5%) or 1.4% + 0.29 equivalent of USD for other currencie (deposits); 0% (withdrawals).
• PerfectMoney: 0.50% (deposits); 0.50% (withdrawals).
• WebMoney: 2.50% (deposits); 1.50% (withdrawals).
• QIWI: 5% (deposits); 1% (withdrawals).
• Payza: 3.9% + USD 0.59 (deposits); 0% (withdrawals).
• RBK Money: 3.50% (deposits); 3.50% (withdrawals).
• DixiPay: 0.50% (deposits); 0.50% (withdrawals).
• E-Dinar: 1% (deposits); 1% (withdrawals).
• Epay: 0% (deposits); 0% (withdrawals).
• AliPay: 2.2% (deposits); 0% (withdrawals)

Some of these options are not available in all countries.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

In addition to withdrawal fees charged by payment processors stated above, AGEA also has its fees. Bank Wire fee is $10 and $7 one-time fee for other, non-wire processors. This means the reward of $5 will not be available for withdrawal.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal processing is not automated and will take up to 24 hours to process. This is also valid for e-wallets. After clearance, bank transfers may take up to 7 days and e-wallets are usually instant.

Bonuses & Promotions

AGEA has a kind of a bonus upon account verification but since there is a fee for withdrawals this bonus may be regarded as a pure marketing gimmick.
AGEA has a tournament called “AGEA Masters – Monthly Tournament”. This tournament is based on the highest pips performance for the current month and available only for the Streamster platform. The rewards are not disclosed.

Educational & Trading Tools

AGEA does not have a dedicated section for education. The closest thing is the Resources section with Introduction to Markets, various FAQs, Specifics and Facts, and Trading Techniques. Introduction to Markets is a very short explanation of the basics like ordering and profit calculation. This is not very useful for beginners. Trading Techniques contains useful tips about Technical, Fundamental analysis, and Risk Control.

The content is short for any serious study but points out important facts for successful trading. Specifics and Facts part is just some common phrases and topics in the forex industry. It is a kind of glossary with examples and explanations. AGEA FAQs are well structured and cover the majority of common trading questions. Transparency is good enough, the only drawback is the lack of the search tool.

AGEA does not have the Economic Calendar or any tools available on the website. Most of the tools are integrated into the Streaster platform. More on this is in the Platforms section.

Customer Service

AGEA customer service is very good. The support is available by email. phone, and chat. The chat service is well designed and integrated into the Streamster platform. This chat has a small lag for every line sending but it is tolerable. The staff will respond within a minute and has a good knowledge of trading and understanding of your needs. Some answers may not be in full, especially if it is hard to answer without a negative context. In our case, after asking about the Oil trade execution problem, we were put on hold for a few minutes until we had to ask again. Only then we have received a reply that they have technical issues. Still, the support service is 24/5 and answers promptly.

Demo Account

AGEA is one of few brokers that will encourage traders to spend on a demo for a few weeks before going live. The demo account for the Streamster platform will provide traders with $10,000 virtual funds and the MT4 demo account can be opened within the platform. The leverage and the number of virtual funds can be selected. There is no time limit and the demo will reflect live trading conditions accurately. All platform versions have a demo available.

Countries Accepted

Countries not supported are the United States, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

Conclusion

This section of the AGEA review will sum key information about this broker. AGEA has some advantages that are not good enough to attract new-age traders and not good enough for classical, mid and long term traders. Their Streamster platform is easy to use but lacks features and assets while the MT4 has a good Forex range, it does not have the best trading conditions. This is further complicated by low liquidity or overloaded servers.

Whatsmore, the regulation is not known for being robust and is not quite adhering to the MiFID EU directive. On the other hand, the company has solid grounds for beginner traders that like simplicity, good trading tips, chat, social aspect, and almost no deposit entry barrier. To complement this focus to beginners, AGEA has introduced the Cent account and the monthly tournament.

The broker also needs affiliates and additional staff they recruit through the AGEA Assistant program. The main selling point of this broker is the beginner-friendly Streamster platform, enough leverage, and the low deposit requirement. For other traders that prioritize great execution times, more assets including cryptocurrencies, better spreads and liquidity may look elsewhere.

Zurich Prime is an online NDD Forex and CFD broker that was launched in 2017. The company is based in Romania and offers leveraged trading of up to 1:400 on FX options. The broker’s asset portfolio consists of several different instrument types, including currency pairs, Precious Metals, Energies, Indices, Stocks, Commodities, Stocks, ETFs, and CFDs. The large variety of tradable options could certainly be enough to attract one to the broker’s website, although we were determined to find out whether the trading conditions make this broker a worthy choice.

Account Types

This broker offers five different account types, including Standard, Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Islamic. Leverage options and trade sizes are shared by all accounts and the differences seem to come in the form of deposit requirements and spreads. The Standard and Silver accounts require different deposits, although both accounts share the same spreads. Once one reaches the Gold account level or above, welcome bonuses can be activated and spreads begin to drop lower, with the very best spreads being reserved for the most expensive Platinum and Islamic accounts.

This broker has done away with commission fees entirely, meaning that traders will only pay costs through spreads and swaps. Those that are looking to open a traditional Islamic account may be satisfied to see that the broker has tailored an attractive account for them specifically. We’ve detailed the aforementioned conditions for each account type below.

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $250
Spreads: 4-5 pips
Leverage: Up to 1:400

Silver Account
Minimum Deposit: $2,000
Spreads: 4-5 pips
Leverage: Up to 1:400

Gold Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000
Spreads: 3-4 pips
Leverage: Up to 1:400

Platinum Account
Minimum Deposit: $10,000
Spreads: 1-2 pips
Leverage: Up to 1:400

Islamic Account
Minimum Deposit: $20,000+
Spreads: 1-2 pips
Leverage: Up to 1:400

Platform

We don’t see the most popular options MetaTrader 4 or 5 available through this broker. Instead, the company supports the SIRIX platform, which is accessible through WebTrader, PC, or on mobile devices, including iOS and Android. The platform advertises advanced functionality that allows traders to make accurate predictions that lead to successful trades.

The program is easy-to-use and incorporates advanced charting with built-in indicators, one-click order capabilities with no re-quotes, and comes with fully integrated social trading. Overall, this platform does seem to be an effective option that is simple to navigate. Some traders may be disappointed to see that MT4 or 5 is not available, although this platform is popular and efficient enough to hold up on its own.

Leverage

All accounts share the same leverage caps, with limitations set based on the category of asset that is being traded. On FX options, a generous leverage cap of up to 1:400 is available. This amount should be more than enough for even the most professional traders. On Precious Metals, Commodities, and CFDs, the leverage cap is set at 1:100. On Stocks and Indices, the maximum leverage cap is 1:25. For the holiday season, the broker is currently advertising a leverage option of 1:100 as an advantage on the instruments Dow Jones, NASDAQ, S&P 500, and Gold. One would need to contact their account manager in order to receive this benefit.

Trade Sizes

Micro lots are allowed on Standard, Silver, and Islamic accounts. A minimum trade size of 0.01 lots is required on the Gold and Platinum account types. We don’t see any information about maximum trade sizes or stop out levels on the broker’s website.

Trading Costs

This broker profits from spreads, swaps, and data fees. Zurich Prime does not charge commissions on any of their account types and incorporates all trading costs into the spread. Spreads can range from 1-5 pips when trading, depending on the account type. All open positions are automatically rolled over at the end of the trading day (5:00 pm ET). The value of the swap is determined based on the movement of the open position and the interest rate difference between the currency pair. The broker will also charge data fees on accounts that are inactive for a period of 90 days, although the fee can be avoided by temporarily deactivating the account. The broker does not list the exact charge in the case that the fee is incurred.

Assets

This broker’s investment portfolio includes FX, Precious Metals, Commodities, Energies, Stocks, ETFs, Indices, and CFDs. FX options are made up of majors, minors, and exotics. Precious Metals include Gold, Silver, Platinum, and others. Commodities include Coffee, Wheat, Corn, Sugar, Cotton, and others. Energies are made up of Natural Gas, Oil, and others. Stocks include major options like Apple and Facebook as well as lesser-known options with a leverage of up to 1:25.

Four ETFs, Indices, such as the Dow Jones and NASDAQ, and CFDs on a large variety of instruments in all major markets are also available. The broker doesn’t provide an entire list for each category, so it was impossible for us to count the exact amount that is available for each category. While we would have liked to see more transparency here, there is enough information to determine that the broker is offering a large variety of instruments.

Spreads

The very best spreads are reserved for the most expensive Platinum and Islamic accounts, with starting spreads from 1-2 pips, when trading major currencies. The second-best option of 3-4 pips is exclusively offered on the Gold Account. At the bottom of the list, we see spreads from 4-5 pips on the Standard and Silver level accounts. Since the broker has built all of the trading costs into the spreads, it makes sense to see spreads that are a little higher than the industry average, although the spreads on the Standard and Silver account still seem to be higher than we’d like to see, even with the lack of commission charges.

Minimum Deposit

Deposit minimums range from $250 up to $20,000+, with the cheapest $250 requirement being exclusive to the Standard account. One could argue that this is the industry average, although we typically see lower charges on Standard accounts that gravitate more towards the $100 range. The second most affordable account type would be the Silver option, which accepts deposits of $2,000.

If you’re looking at the Gold account, you’ll need to deposit at least $5,000, while the Platinum account requires a deposit of at least $10,000. On the higher end of things, the Islamic account requires a minimum deposit of at least $20,000 or more. Many will be happy to see that this broker has created an entire account type for Islamic clients, although the cost may turn away some of the broker’s potential clients if they cannot meet the requirement.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded by card (Visa, MasterCard, Maestro), Wire Transfer, EcoPayz, and Sofort. The broker does not accept third party deposits. The broker does mention that transfers may be subject to currency conversion charges, bank fees, or provider fees that are not reimbursable. Since the broker doesn’t list these exact fees, it is impossible to say exactly how much may be debited from the total funded amount. On their homepage, the broker advertises 0 deposit fees from their side.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

This broker does have a few rules in place to prevent money laundering. Any funds deposited via card must be withdrawn back to the same card and any profits can only be withdrawn via Wire Transfer. Profits can only be withdrawn in amounts that exceed $100 USD. The broker is not transparent about any costs that may be associated with withdrawals and one should expect to see bank charges.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

If there are no active bonuses, the account is verified, and the submitted request is for an amount of the available balance or lower, then the withdrawal will be processed within 2 business days (Monday through Friday). Once processed, it can take 7-10 days for funds withdrawn via Wire Transfer or card to be received. The broker mentions that it can take longer to receive Wire Transfers due to the fact that this payment method must pass between several banks.

Bonuses & Promotions

Standard or Silver account holders will not qualify for any type of bonus opportunity. The Gold level account qualifies for a 10% Welcome Bonus, while the Platinum and Islamic accounts qualify for a 20% Welcome Bonus. The broker doesn’t offer much more detail about the terms of the Welcome Bonus, although we can assume that this would be applied to the initial deposit that is made to the trading account. In addition, the broker advertises instant rebates, a 30% Power Bonus, and a 100% Credit Bonus, although terms are not discussed.

Educational & Trading Tools

This broker has dedicated an entire section of their website, titled “Academy”, to providing educational resources. This section aims to explain different types of trading instruments, trading strategies, social trading, and economics. Traders can access the vast amount of data through video tutorials, e-books, or articles. Since an entire portion of this section is devoted to a Beginner’s Course, one could defiantly say that this broker is doing their part to educate any novice traders that come their way. If you’re more interested in tools, you’ll be able to find an economic calendar, market news, financial news, summary news, and social trading available on the website as well.

Demo Account

Unlike the majority of other Forex brokers, this broker does not currently offer a demo account. This was a little surprising, especially considering the fact that Zurich Prime seems to be dedicated to providing educational resources. Demo accounts are always an excellent tool for traders of all skill levels, so we did feel disappointed overall to find the option missing. One could always open a demo through another broker, although the conditions wouldn’t mimic the exact conditions available through this broker, which would result in a watered-down experience.

Customer Service

Support is only available on weekdays from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, local time. This broker does not offer instant contact LiveChat, so phone would be the quickest contact method, followed by an email or the alternative contact form that is available on the website; however, the broker does not list a direct phone number. The customer support team is based in Romania and uses the same email address for all five of their departments. All listed contact information has been listed below.

Email: [email protected]
Address: U-nex Solutions SRL, Bucharest, Romania

Countries Accepted

Under their terms of service, the company mentions that traders are required to know their own state laws in order to determine if they can legally open a trading account. We weren’t certain if the broker would actually make it impossible for clients in certain countries to register, so we did check out their registration page to double-check. We were happy to find that the United States, Canada, Japan, North Kora, and several options that are typically restricted can, in fact, open an account through the broker.

Conclusion

Zurich Prime is an online broker that offers leveraged trading of up to 1:400 on a large variety of instruments, including FX, Precious Metals, Commodities, Energies, Stocks, ETFs, Indices, and CFDs from the SIRIX trading platform. This broker seems to follow a familiar pattern of rewarding clients that are able to make larger deposits with better trading conditions, with the best spreads of 1-2 pips available on the Platinum and Islamic accounts, which require deposits of $10,000 or more. Traders that cannot afford one of the better account types will be subject to spreads from 4-5 pips and would need to deposit at least $250 to open the cheapest account.

Fortunately, the broker has done away with commission fees altogether, which makes it easier to keep up with costs. The broker has a policy that is somewhat of a nuisance, where profits must be withdrawn through Wire Transfer for amounts of at least $100 USD. This could potentially restrict one from withdrawing their profits, even if they were very close to meeting that limit. The broker provides a vast library of educational resources, including videos and e-books, in addition to some trading tools and news. Strangely enough, demo accounts are not available.

Any trader that can afford a Gold level account or better will qualify for a Welcome Bonus through this broker. Support hours are limited to 9:00 am to 9:00 pm on weekdays and the instant contact option LiveChat is not available, meaning traders will need to call or email in order to get in touch with an agent. One would need to determine which account type would be the most advantageous, and whether they could afford it when deciding whether to invest with this broker.

Trade4x is an online forex broker that offers leveraged trading as high as 1:500 on FX, metals, indices, oil & gas, and stocks. The company is fairly vague when it comes to describing themselves and doesn’t provide us with any details about who they are, when they were founded, or what missions they have. As for location, we do get the vague information that the company has offices located in Singapore and Dubai. We’d recommend taking a look at our detailed review if you’re in the market for a forex broker, although the lack of background information may leave some traders feeling apprehensive about this choice.

Account Types

Trade4x offers three account types; Standard, Premium, and VIP. In addition, Islamic accounts are offered as a fourth account type. Standard accounts offer the same leverage options as the Premium account, with a lower deposit requirement and there is no listed information about the account’s spreads. The Premium account offers starting spreads from 2 pips, in exchange for a larger minimum deposit. The VIP account offers the best starting spreads from below 1 pip, with fixed leverage of 1:100 and a $5,000 deposit requirement. The website never notes whether commissions are charged on any of the accounts. All of the listed conditions for each account type have been detailed below.

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit: $250
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: NA
Commission: NA

Premium Account
Minimum Deposit: $2,000
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: From 2 pips
Commission: NA

VIP Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000
Leverage: From 1:100 fix
Spread: From less than 1 pip
Commission: NA

The broker will require documents that prove identity in order to verify the account, for example, a photo ID, passport, utility bill, bank statement, etc. The broker doesn’t list how long wait times for verification can last, or whether one would be able to begin trading before fully completing the process.

Platform

This broker supports the MetaTrader 4 platform, which is available on PC, Mac, Iphones, Ipads, and Android devices. MT4 was designed with a customizable and easy to use interface that continues to satisfy the majority of traders today. The platform supports 100+ custom indicators, Expert Advisors, 4 pending timeframes, partial close, and various other built-in features. This is the platform that is most commonly offered by forex brokers and it has not lost any popularity since being released in 2005. MT4 should provide everything a trader could need, from beginner to absolute professional status levels.

Leverage

The Standard and Premium accounts offer a leverage cap of up to 1:500 with no limitations based on the account’s equity. This cap is impressively higher than many of the competitor’s offers, although beginners will want to keep in mind that trading with leverages this high can be extremely risky. For the VIP account, the broker offers fixed leverage of 1:100. This is the exact leverage that is preferred by a wide range of professional traders across the globe, although some may not like the fixed leverage on this account type.

Trade Sizes

Standard accounts allow for trading of micro-lots, while VIP accounts support the trading of mini lots. The broker doesn’t provide an answer for the minimum trade size on Premium accounts, so we would assume these accounts would fall in the middle, either supporting micro or mini lots. The broker doesn’t provide any information about maximum trade sizes or stop-loss levels.

Trading Costs

We can confirm that this broker charges swaps, rolling fees, and dormant fees on inactive accounts. Swaps are dependent upon the chosen account type and can start from below 1 pip up to 2 pips or more. One may want to avoid the broker’s Standard account type since the exact spreads are not listed. The broker charges rolling fees, aka swaps, for extending a day-trading position until the following day. One potential way to avoid this charge would be to open an Islamic account if one meets the criteria to do so.

Accounts are considered dormant once there have been no transactions for 12 consecutive months. Once an account is considered dormant, the broker will charge a $25 annual maintenance fee or the remainder of what is in the account if the amount is less than $25. Unfortunately, the broker fails to mention commission charges anywhere on their website. It is possible that there are no commissions, although we would expect the broker to list commission-free trading as one of their advantages if this were the case.

Assets

Trade4x has an asset portfolio that consists of FX, metals, indices, oils & gas, and stocks. At first glance, the broker seems to be offering detailed product pages for each category. Unfortunately, clicking on each of these only takes us to a page that explains a description of each instrument type, instead of specific information and spread examples of what this broker has available. Aside from briefly mentioning that there are 44 available currency pairs, the broker doesn’t provide an exact number of available instruments.

Spreads

The broker fails to mention what type of spreads are associated with their Standard account type. We’re going to assume that those spreads start from more than 2 pips, based on the fact that the Premium account requires a deposit that is $1,500 larger and already offers starting spreads as high as 2 pips itself. This means that the broker would have to be offering a less attractive option on their cheapest account type. The only account that offers below-average starting spreads would be the VIP account, with starting spreads below 1 pip.

Minimum Deposit

The most affordable option offered by this broker would be the Standard account, which requires a $250 deposit. This amount is somewhat standard in the forex world, although it isn’t hard to find brokers offering the same type of account for $100 or less. There is also a $2,000 balance limit on the Standard account type. In order to open a Premium account, one would need to deposit at least $2,000, so some may feel limited based on the higher requirement. Fortunately, a VIP account only requires a $5,000 deposit, which isn’t unrealistic for that type of account. It would really come down to what the individual is willing to pay in order to access better conditions.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded through Wire Transfer, credit and debit cards, and e-wallets. The website doesn’t offer any further information about potential fees that may be incurred when making a deposit through one of these methods. For Wire Transfers, we would definitely expect to see some charges on the bank’s side, although this can be checked by contacting your personal bank. The website doesn’t list which e-wallets are accepted so it is hard to speculate for that payment method.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

This broker sets some limitations that may change the available methods for withdrawals. Withdrawals can be refunded back to cards up to the amount that was funded by that card. In some cases, the broker will allow these refunds to be processed back to a bank account owned by the client. If the account has a currency that differs from the card’s currency type, additional conversion fees may apply. The website does not go into further detail about any potential fees that may also be incurred on withdrawals. Unfortunately, this could mean that the broker will tack on high withdrawal fees without the client having any prior knowledge. These fees can really add up in the long run and we do wish that the broker would be more transparent on the subject.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Once again, Trade4x leaves us without any information about their processing times. We can be certain that it would take at least a few business days to receive funds through cards and Wire Transfer since one would be looking at the broker’s processing time on top of the bank’s own processing time. As for the e-wallets, we can’t say for sure since we aren’t provided with an exact list. Usually, withdrawals are credited back to these methods much more quickly.

Bonuses & Promotions

This broker’s website is fairly simple and we don’t see any extra offers for this category. This doesn’t mean that these options won’t be offered in the future, although the broker hasn’t mentioned anything related to bonuses at any point on their website. If you decide to sign-up, keep an eye out for any updates.

Educational & Trading Tools

The “Education” section of the website is made up of four categories: Introduction to Forex, Technical Analysis, Fundamental Analysis, and Automated Trading. Under the first section, we see some brief but helpful information that explains some of the major concepts of forex trading. The Technical Analysis section is made up of the following: What is Technical Analysis, Technical Indicators, Charts, Support & Resistance, Chart Patterns, Mathematical Indicators, Fibonacci & Elliot Wave. The Fundamental Analysis section also consists of a brief explanation of related concepts. As for trading tools, we see automated trading and other tools built-into the MetaTrader 4 platform, with no additional options on the website.

Demo Account

One can open a demo account through the broker by simply clicking “Open Demo” on the website’s homepage. You’ll then need to fill in a few simple details – name, email address, and phone number, before selecting a username and password. From there, traders will be able to start trading from the risk-free demo account. We don’t see any customization options with this broker’s demo accounts, so it seems that the account will come with a predetermined amount of virtual currency. It also seems that the demo account is only available in one type, rather than being available in the broker’s Standard, Premium, or VIP versions.

Customer Service

Contact methods seem to be limited to email options or call back requests. The broker does mention the phone and fax at one point but never lists any phone numbers anywhere on the website. It is possible to fill out a callback request if one is willing to wait for a support member to reach out. Also, note that there is a live chat menu in the bottom right corner of the screen that doesn’t seem to work. At first, we thought that support may not be online, but it seems that the broker has simply abandoned offering this contact option altogether. The broker is also active on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and it may be possible to contact support through their social media channels. One can fill out a feedback form under the “Support” section of the website. All available contact information has been listed below.

Email: [email protected]

Countries Accepted

Trade4x explicitly states that residents of the United States and Hong Kong may not open accounts with them. We did try to test out the registration page to see if this rule was upheld, but the website seems to block users with certain IP addresses, confirming the statement that residents in the US are blocked. If you cannot access the sign-up page, chances are that the broker has purposely blocked users in your location from creating an account.

Conclusion

Trade4x is an online broker that offers leveraged trading of up to 1:500 on FX, metals, indices, oils & gas and stocks. Traders can choose from 3 main account types, with minimum deposits ranging from $250 up to $5,000. The lowest spreads start from below 1 pip on the most expensive account, with the highest spreads starting from more than 2 pips on the Standard account. The high spreads would be more forgiving if the broker actually mentioned whether or not commissions are charged in addition to the spreads. This leads us to believe that these charges are applicable, meaning that one would need to deposit at least $5k in order to access the only account with spreads that are not above average.

The website is also vague about funding and only mentions the available funding methods, without giving us any indication of how much it may cost to deposit and withdraw funds. Trade4x isn’t offering anything extra, like bonuses, extended support hours, or LiveChat, but we do see some educational resources available. The website also fails to provide us with a lot of important information on the broker’s background, such as what year the company was established, etc. Altogether, the lack of some information can be a red flag, but there is more information provided for the Premium and VIP account types if one is willing to make the larger deposit.

ProfiForex is an FX and CFD broker that offers market execution on CFDs and Metals and instant execution on forex instruments with 4-digit quotes. The company is located in Belize, owned and managed by TIM GROUP INC. and was founded by a group of traders with the goal to help others become successful. Since 2010, the broker has been attracting more clients and growing in popularity. Stay with us to find out whether the founders have actually managed to provide a competitive environment that their clients will benefit from.

Account Types

ProfiForex provides the choice between two real account types – Micro and Standard. In addition, the broker offers a demo, Islamic, joint, and corporate accounts. Both of the real accounts share several similarities, including minimum trade sizes, lack of minimum deposit requirements, spreads, and commission costs. On Micro accounts, the balance will be shown as USC or US Cents. For example, a deposit of $1 will show as 100 USC. Another difference would be the maximum trade size and the number of simultaneously opened positions that are allowed. Upon registration, the broker does not provide a choice between account types and it seems that the default account is Standard. Details for the two main account types have been listed below.

Micro Account
Minimum Deposit: None
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: variable/fixed (See “Spreads”)
Commission: 0.3 pips to 0.6 pips (See “Trading Costs”)

Standard Account
Minimum Deposit:
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: variable/fixed (See “Spreads”)
Commission: 0.3 pips to 0.6 pips (See “Trading Costs”)

Unlike most of their competitors, this broker does not require verification documents and there are no restrictions placed on accounts that have not been verified, so there is no need to worry about withdrawals or other problems arising. It would still be wise to provide proof of ID and residence documents since the company does reserve the right to request these documents if the need arises. Fortunately, one would be able to begin trading without being delayed by the companies 5 business day waiting period.

Platform

This broker offers the world-famous MetaTrader 4 platform, in addition to the MobiusTrader7 platform. MT4 can be downloaded on PC, iOS, and Android devices, or accessed through the browser-based Webtrader. The website also provides download links for MobiusTrader7 on PC, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, and this platform can also be accessed through the browser with no download required. MetaTrader 4 could really serve as a standalone platform choice on its own, with support for one-click trading, Expert Advisors, customizable charts, economic news, reliable execution, analytical objects, multiple technical indicators, and more.

MobiusTrader6 also seems to be a worthy choice that supports trailing-stop and the ability to make multiple orders. The platform has an offline mode, offers access to the full trade history, supports all types of executions for trading operations, and has 3 different types of charts; bars, Japanese candles, and broken lines.

Leverage

The lowest leverage option that can be used is 1:1, which simply means that one is trading with the exact amount of funds that are within the account. The maximum leverage cap is set at 1:500 on FX and Indices and 1:100 on Metals. There is also a condition on EUR/TRY where the leverage is 10 times lower than the currently selected leverage option. The maximum cap offered by this broker is extremely high and should be more than enough to satisfy even the most demanding of traders; however, beginners may want to consider sticking with a lower option, as trading with higher leverages can cause one to lose a significant amount of funds quickly. Leverage settings can be changed at any time from the “Personal Area” once one is logged into their account.

Trade Sizes

Micro accounts allow for the trading of micro-lots and have a maximum trade size of 10,000 lots. Standard accounts also allow for the trading of micro-lots, with a 1,000 lot maximum trade size limit. Up to 200 orders can be opened simultaneously on a Micro account, while Standard accounts will allow for 300 open orders. The company reserves the right to close out the most unprofitable deals when the client’s margin level drops to 15%.

For deposits that exceed $1,000, the margin call level is 80%, while the stop loss level is set at 60%. Scalping is allowed; however, orders must last at least 1 minute or they will be canceled on deals with fixed spreads. There is no limitation on deals with variable spreads. Hedging is also allowed, providing that there is a time gap of at least 5 minutes between the opposite deals being opened.

Trading Costs

ProfiForex profits from spreads, commissions, and swaps. The broker does not charge commissions on pairs with no suffix, for example, EUR/USD. A round turn commission of 0.3 pips is charged when trading on instruments with the suffix V and a round turn commission of 0.6 pips is charged when trading on instruments with the suffix ECN. Overnight interest, or swaps, are charged on positions that are held overnight, with a triple charge occurring on Wednesdays. There do not appear to be any inactivity fees charged by this broker.

Assets

Trading instruments are limited to currency pairs, Metals, and CFDs. In total, the broker offers 49 currency pairs, including majors, minors, and exotics, like the USDTRY, USKNOK, USDHKD, and more. Metal options include Silver/Euro, Silver/USD Dollar, Gold/Euro, and Gold/US Dollar. There are 11 indices available, including Brent Crude Oil, natural gas, copper, and more. This brings the grand total of available instruments to just under 70 options.

Spreads

This broker offers variable and fixed spreads, and one can determine the spread type by checking the suffix that has been assigned to the instrument. If there is no suffix, then there are no commissions charged on that instrument and the spread is fixed. The suffix V stands for variable spreads, while the suffix ECN stands for lowered spreads. On the “Spreads And Swaps” page, users can view the minimum and average spread on each instrument for both the variable and fixed spreads. We see higher options on the fixed spreads, for example, the fixed spread on EUR/USD is 2 pips, while the minimum variable spread is between 0.1 and 0.5 (average) pips on the same instrument.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum required amount needed for the minimal contact size is only 3 cents, although the broker suggests depositing at least $2-3 for full-scale trading. Compared to the deposit minimums in the hundreds or thousands, this makes this broker one of the most affordable options on the market.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Accounts can be funded through Visa/MasterCard, Skrill, Bitcoin, Okpay, WebMoney, PerfectMoney, Neteller, RBK Money, Liqpay, W1, Yandex Money, QiWi, UnionPay, Boleto, and Mobile. If one decides to deposit via Visa/MasterCard, the broker will require a photo of the card, showing the name and last four digits, with all other information blacked out. All deposits should be credited instantly. The broker does not charge fees from their side but does mention possible fees that may be charged by each specific payment provider.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

All of the deposit methods are available for withdrawals. The company does have a rule that states withdrawals can only be made back to the originating deposit method. It is unclear if any certain method must be used for profits, so we’ll assume that clients can choose a method in those cases.

Exact fees are not listed on the website, although we were able to see the fees for a couple of methods on the withdrawal page after registering for an account. The rest of the payment methods are likely missing because we haven’t made a deposit, although the website will display those commission fees for all methods once one does go to make a withdrawal with funds. The associated fees that we could view are listed below.

WebMoney: 0.8%
Visa/MasterCard: 2.9%
Skrill: $5
PerfectMoney: $5

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Amounts less than $5,000 are processed within 24 hours, while amounts for more than $5,000 are processed within 48 hours. Withdrawals back to Visa/MasterCard may incur a longer wait time because of the bank’s processing times. Withdrawals are only processed on business days and withdrawals made on Fridays will not be processed until the following Monday.

Bonuses & Promotions

The broker is currently offering a whopping bonus of up to 500% on initial and replenishment deposits. Upon making the deposit, traders will select the amount of the bonus, from 50% to 500%. The chosen amount will increase the account’s leverage, for example, a bonus amount of 500% will result in leverage of 1:3000. The bonus is then reflected on the account as a credit and will be canceled out if the stop loss level is reached.

Portions of the bonus will also be subtracted from the account if a withdrawal is made. For each 1 lot that is traded, a separate amount of the bonus can be converted to withdrawable form on the account balance. The exact amount that can be converted varies and those conditions have been listed below.

Forex – 1 USD (per lot)
Forex.ECN – 1 USD (per lot)
Forex (Fixed Spreads) – 3 USD (per lot)
Forex.Big – 80 USD (per lot)

In addition, the broker is preparing to offer a newbie contest on demo accounts that will offer real cash prizes. More on that later.

Educational & Trading Tools

The ProfiForex has an entire section of their website dedicated to education. Within this section, we see tutorials that explain concepts like Bulls & Bears, moving averages, ADX, and more. Those articles contain photos and graphs that can help one to grasp the concepts much more easily. We also see a tutorial that is dedicated to explaining how to use the MetaTrader 4 platform with step-by-step photos. We also see articles that are dedicated more towards professional-level strategies and information based on the graphical analysis. Another section of the website is dedicated to trading tools; however, this section only includes downloads for the trading platforms.

Demo Account

A forex demo account allows traders to practice trading on the financial markets without risking any real funds. All currency is virtual, so traders can gauge their skill level based on their profitability within the program. A demo account can be opened directly from the website, or from within the trading platform. Traders will need to log in at least once every two months in order to keep the demo account active and non-active demo accounts will be archived. Another incentive to open a demo with this broker would be the ability to take part in a free contest that opens on the 22nd of January. The contest is for newbies and a grand prize of $100 will be paid out to the winners, with places 2 through 10 bringing home $5 to $50, depending on ranking.

Customer Service

Customer support can be reached through LiveChat or via email. Note that customer support cannot provide technical assistance over the phone and the broker does not provide any direct phone numbers. As for LiveChat, we are happy to see an instant contact option, although support was not online when we tried to chat later in the day. The exact hours that support is online on chat is not specified, so one would likely have to catch support at a good time. Otherwise, it’s possible to reach out through email via the different email addresses that have been listed by the broker. The contact information is listed below.

Email:
Client Department (24 hours): [email protected]
Financial Department (7 a.m. – 4 p.m. London time Mon-Fri): [email protected]
Development Department: [email protected]
Quality Management Department (6 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mon-Fri): [email protected]
Management Department (6 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mon-Fri): [email protected]
Address: Corner Hutson & Eyre Street Suite 302, Blake Building, Belize City, Belize

Countries Accepted

We visited the account registration page to check for any obvious restrictions on the broker’s sign-up list. Fortunately, the USA was a selectable option and we were able to register an account from our US-based offices with no problem. There is conflicting information, however, as the FAQ states that United States residents are not accepted. We also see Iran, North and South Korea, Canada, Iraq, Japan, and many other commonly restricted countries on the sign-up list.

Conclusion

ProfiForex offers leveraged trading of up to 1:500 on 64 total instruments, which include FX, Metals, and CFDs. Traders will have the choice between Micro and Standard accounts, both of which share many similarities. The broker does not require a minimum deposit of more than a few dollars. The broker offers variable and fixed spreads and charges commissions of 0.3 – 0.6 pips on certain instruments. Accounts can be funded through a variety of methods with quick processing times on deposits and withdrawals. Exact fees associated with funding for all payment methods are not listed.

Currently, an impressive 500% bonus is being offered and a contest that offers real cash prices for trading on demo accounts starts soon. The website also offers some educational resources, although we don’t see any trading tools, like an economic calendar or calculators. Support is limited to LiveChat and email and agents do not always seem to be online during business hours. The broker offers service to clients in all locations and seems to be worth consideration.

NumerousFX is an online FX and CFD broker that offers leveraged trading as high as 1:1000 on FX, precious metals, CFDs, and cryptocurrency pairs. The company was founded in the year 2008 by a group of financial experts and professionals, with years of experience in financial trading and technical support. The broker is located in the United Kingdom and offers the advantage of choosing from 5 account types; however, one would definitely want to read more about those terms before deciding whether to open an account.

Account Types

NumerousFX offers the choice of five different account types: Basic, Classic, Premium, Pro, and Advanced. The Basic account offers the lowest deposit requirement, with a leverage cap of 1:300 and spreads from 2.5 pips. From there, one would find an incentive to make a larger deposit in the form of higher leverage options and lower spreads. The Classic account offers a leverage cap of 1:400 with spreads from 2 pips, although the deposit requirement jumps to $1,000.

The Premium account shares the same starting spreads as the Classic account, although the account offers a higher leverage option and requires a $5,000 deposit. Spreads start from 1.5 pips on Pro accounts, with leverage options as high as 1:700 and there is a $10,000 deposit requirement on this account type.

Finally, the Advanced account offers a maximum leverage cap of up to 1:1000 and spreads start from 1 pip, with a deposit requirement of $50,000. There are no commission charges on any of the accounts. None of these accounts offer swap-free options, so those looking for Islamic accounts will have to look elsewhere. All aforementioned conditions have been listed below.

Basic Account
Minimum Deposit: $100
Leverage: Up to 1:300
Spread: From 2.5 pips
Commission: $0

Classic Account
Minimum Deposit: $1,000
Leverage: Up to 1:400
Spread: From 2 pips
Commission: $0

Premium Account
Minimum Deposit: $5,000
Leverage: Up to 1:500
Spread: From 2 pips
Commission: $0

Pro Account
Minimum Deposit: $10,000
Leverage: Up to 1:700
Spread: From 1.5 pips
Commission: $0

Advanced Account
Minimum Deposit: $50,000
Leverage: Up to 1:1000
Spread: From 1 pip
Commission: $0

The broker doesn’t mention anything about account verification on their website, so it is unclear whether ID and/or address documents would be required before one could fund their account and begin trading.

Platform

This broker exclusively supports the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. Links to download and access the platform can be accessed from the broker’s website by navigating to the “Downloads” tab. Note that the NumerousFX server can be accessed by choosing with the server name PROFX. Most have already heard about this platform and know that it comes loaded with features and supports trading styles that will suit all types of traders.

If you haven’t heard about MT4, you should know that the platform supports one-click trading, trailing stops, Expert Advisors, customizable charts, a user-friendly interface, analysis tools, multiple order types, 4 pending timeframes, micro-lots, and more. MT4 is accessible on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, or through the WebTrader.

Leverage

Leverages with this broker range from 1:300 up to 1:1000. The lowest leverage cap is reserved for the Basic account and is still high enough to satisfy a broad range of traders. The Classic account raises the cap to 1:400, while the Premium account offers a maximum cap of 1:500. From there, options become much higher than average at 1:500 on Premium accounts and 1:700 on Pro accounts. The Advanced accounts offer an advantage to professional traders, being that the account offers a leverage of up to 1:1000. Options are typically much more limited for account types that require larger deposits with other brokers.

Trade Sizes

All accounts allow for the trading of micro-lots and maximum trade sizes are not listed anywhere on the website. Stop out occurs at 25% on Basic and Classic accounts, 20% on Premium and Pro accounts, and 10% on Advanced accounts. The broker does not specify whether hedging or scalping is allowed.

Trading Costs

NumerousFX has done away with commissions altogether and only profits from spreads and swaps. The fact that all trading costs are built-into the spreads makes it easier for one to calculate the exact costs that are being incurred, so this is always an advantage for beginners. Do note that spreads seem a bit higher than average, although spreads are raised to make up for the missing commissions. As for swaps, these charges would be incurred on positions that are held overnight, with triple charges on Wednesdays. There do not appear to be any inactivity charges associated with this broker.

Assets

NumerousFX has a very simplistic website – one that, unfortunately, fails to list a product page. We can still tell you that the broker offers currency pairs, precious metals, CFDs on commodities and indices, and a number of cryptocurrency pairs, including Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more. Sadly, we can’t offer more details, like the exact number of available instruments, or more detail about each category.

Spreads

One should expect spreads to be a bit higher with this broker, considering that all of the costs are built-into the spread due to the lack of commission charges. Still, the starting spreads from 2.5 pips seem a bit high for the Basic account type and one would need to make a deposit of at least $1,000 to access the starting spreads from 2 pips on the Classic and Premium account types. The starting spreads drop to a much more reasonable level from 1.5 pips on Pro accounts. To access the best spreads possible, one would want to open an Advanced account, which offers spreads from 1 pip.

Minimum Deposit

If you’re looking to deposit less than $1k, then your only option would be the Basic account type, which has a $100 minimum deposit requirement. From there, requirements jump into the thousands, at $1,000 on the Classic, $5,000 on the Premium, and $10,000 on the Pro account. The most expensive account would be the Advanced account, which comes with a steep $50,000 deposit requirement.

Overall, it seems that the broker is offering a good range of different account types, although it would be nice to see less expensive options, at least on the Classic account. One can open an account with as little as a few dollars through some bigger brokers, although the $100 minimum for the Basic account is a realistic number.

Deposit Methods & Costs

According to the website, accounts can be funded via Bank Wire, Visa/MasterCard, Neteller, Skrill, and WebMoney. The website doesn’t go into any further detail about costs or wait times, although it’s safe to assume that there are likely fees associated with the majority of these methods. This can be said for Bank Wire especially, as the bank will apply their own charges on deposits. The lack of transparency when it comes to these costs is somewhat disappointing and unfortunately, this pattern repeats itself as we move on to withdrawals. One suggestion would be to make the smallest initial deposit possible in order to test the process.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Once again, the website fails to provide us with any solid information about withdrawals. With most brokers, we do see rules in place that force withdrawals to be made back to the original deposit source, for example, if one were to initially deposit $100 through a card, then rules would require one to withdraw funds back to that card up to $100.

We don’t see any pages dedicated to terms or conditions on the website, so it is unclear whether this broker follows that familiar trend. As for fees, one should definitely be prepared to see costs when it comes to withdrawing funds. If withdrawals were fee-free, this would definitely be something that the broker would boast about somewhere on their website.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The website doesn’t provide any information that gives us a substantial idea of how long wait times may be for withdrawals. We do know that customer support is active 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday, so withdrawals are likely processed during these hours, with a longer wait time for a request that is submitted on a Friday. Bank Wire and Visa/MasterCard withdrawals typically take longer to be received based on the bank’s processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

At this time, the broker is not offering any type of bonus or promotion. We usually read through broker’s terms and look for hints on the website that suggest that these types of opportunities may be offered from time to time; however, this broker’s website remains simple and does not seem to refer to bonuses at any point. This leaves little room for faith that we will see these options offered through this broker at any time.

Educational & Trading Tools

As we mentioned earlier, this broker’s website is fairly simple and nothing extra is offered in the ways of education. NumerousFX has even failed to offer simple demo accounts, which will force beginners and novice traders to look elsewhere for learning material. This doesn’t actually affect whether one should open a real account, it’s just nice to see brokers making an effort to educate their clients and make the process easier by offering those resources directly. We also failed to find any tools on the website, although MT4 does come loaded with some helpful tools that will somewhat make up for the lack of options on the website.

Demo Account

Surprisingly enough, we don’t see the option to open a demo account available through this broker. The majority of forex brokers offer demo accounts to their potential clients free of charge, as a way to allow traders to test out their conditions and gain experience trading without risking funds. We’re disappointed to see the option missing here, especially coupled with the fact that the broker isn’t offering any educational resources at all.

Customer Service

One can get in touch with a support agent at any hour on weekdays through phone, email, by filling out a form on the website, or Skype. While we did try to contact the broker’s support team on Skype, our search result did not yield any results when using the company’s provided Skype ID. Hopefully, the broker will correct this issue, otherwise, traders will only be left without an instant contact option.

There’s nothing wrong with email, although response times typically take 24 hours or more through this method. If one were in a hurry because of a technical error or missing funds, then we would certainly hope to be able to contact an agent more quickly. All contact methods have been listed below, including the currently non-active Skype ID.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0) 3700 0106
Skype: supportnfx
Address: 20 Ropemaker Street, Finsbury, London, EC2Y 9AR, UK

Countries Accepted

The broker doesn’t list any restricted countries anywhere on their website. Instead of offering a traditional registration page, the broker directs potential clients to fill out a form with a message to send to support. The form does ask for the trader’s country and allows anything to be typed in. This leaves it unclear as to whether the broker would reject clients from certain countries.

Conclusion

NumerousFX offers leveraged trading as high as 1:1000 on FX, precious metals, CFDs, and cryptocurrencies from the MT4 platform. Traders can choose from five separate account types, all of which offer commission-free trading. Deposit minimums range from $100 to $50,000, and the Basic account type is the only option for less than $1k. Spreads are floating, starting from a below-average 1 pip all the way up to an above-average 2.5 pips, with starting spreads being dependent on the chosen account type.

Funding is iffy with this broker – there is no information listed about the associated fees on deposits and withdrawals, nor are processing times listed. This makes us apprehensive about making a deposit. Support is available 24/5 via phone, email, or Skype. Currently, there are no current offers or signs that the broker will be offering any bonuses or promotions any time in the future.

The website is also lacking any educational resources, including demo accounts, and tools. It is unclear whether those in the US and other commonly restricted locations would be able to get passed the registration process with this broker. One would definitely want to take all of this into consideration before opening an account.

FirewoodFX is an offshore broker, located in St. Vincent & the Grenadines and has been operating, unregulated since the year 2014. On first look, it appears to be a rather well-established broker, offering a range of preferable trading options and tools, and not only offering a palatable trading service but also a variety of IB affiliate programs that clients can make use of, in addition to profiting from the trading services. The website is clearly set out, and a live chat support team is on hand 24/5 should you require assistance.

Account Types

FirewoodFX offers 3 account types, and there is a neat account comparison table displayed on the website, setting out all main features and benefits of each. All accounts may use the leverage of up to 1:1000 and do not accrue commission charges.

Micro: 0.01 lot, min deposit: 10 USD
Standard: 0.01 lot, min deposit:10 USD
Premium 0.1 lot, min deposit: 100 USD

Islamic accounts are also available, and there is the option of PAMM accounts as well, upon request.

Platforms

FirewoodFX offers the reliable MetaTrader platform, compatible with PC, Desktop Web Trader, and MetaTrader 4 Mobile (iPhone / iPad and Android) which means clients can trade both on the go or at home, regardless of whether you are a Windows or Mac user.

Leverage

The maximum leverage clients of FirewoodFX are allowed is 1:1000. This leverage allowance is the same across all 3 account types offered. It must be noted that this is extremely high leverage and only those who have a thorough and experienced understanding of how leverage works, and how trading with high leverage especially, works, should delve into the use of it. High leverage trading can be incredibly profitable, as well as incredibly risky and can cause severe losses if you are unfamiliar and inexperienced with it.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size requirements are set out on the website and vary according to account type. This also can help prospective clients decide which account is more suitable, depending on the type of trading you like to conduct, complying with the capital you wish to deposit.

Micro: min 0.01 lot, max 200 lots
Standard: min 0.01 lot, max 30 lots
Premium min 0.1 lot, max 50 lots

All accounts have a cap of opening a maximum of 200 positions.

Trading Costs

All clients of FirewoodFX can enjoy a low-cost trading experience since all account types do not charge any trade commission fees, but swaps do apply, which can be calculated according to trade size and pair you are trading. Of course, Swap-free accounts (Islamic accounts) are available upon request if this is applicable to you.

Assets

FirewoodFX does not offer the greatest variety of assets, and certainly do not stand out competitively among the wider majority of brokers these days, with offering just two types: Forex and Metals. All Forex and Metals available are however displayed on the website, with the spreads according to each, and relevant to each account type.

Spreads

Firstly, FirewoodFX offers only FIXED spreads, not floating, which may be ideal for some traders, while for others, perhaps not. FirewoodFX also offers different starting spreads depending on the accounts type you opt for, which are as follows:

• Micro: from 3 pips
• Standard: from 2 pips
• Premium from 1 pip

Even so, each tradable hair has a different starting spread, so for each pair, it varies, as well as depending on the account option you go for. All starting spreads are displayed on the website too which is useful to refer to.

In general, if we compare the starting spreads to competitor brokers, the spreads offered by FirewoodFX are not entirely competitive for all pairs, and in fact, are a lot higher than average, and this goes for all account types.

Minimum Deposit

As mentioned earlier, the minimum deposit requirements depending on the account type you choose. All minimum deposits are low in comparison to what some brokers require, which makes this broker more appealing to perhaps the newer traders who are wary about depositing large sums, to begin with.

• Micro min deposit: 10 USD
• Standard min deposit:10 USD
• Premium min deposit: 100 USD

Deposit Methods & Costs

FirewoodFX should be given credit for the wide array fo funding methods they offer, including Visa/Mastercard Debit/Credit Card ($0.5 + 5% fee), Skrill (3.9% fee), Neteller (4.4% Min $1 + $0.29 fee), UnionPay (2.6% fee), ACB, FasaPay and a handful of bank wire transfers are available.

Note that if you are making a bank wire deposit, fees may be applied by your banking provider, so it is always best to check beforehand. As stated above, there are few methods with fees attached, so clients have a good selection of options to choose from.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As with the deposit methods, all withdrawal methods available are set out on the website with their applicable costs, which are the same, if not similar to the deposit fees. Of course, as per the above suggestion, for wire transfers, you should check with your provider as you may be liable for some fees.

• Mastercard Visa card fees: $10
• Neteller: Neteller Fees
• Skrill: No Fee (For max $5000 withdrawal within 30 days) and 1% (For over $5000 withdrawal)
• OK Pay: OKPay Fees
• FasaPay: Fasapay Fee 0.5%, max $5

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All withdrawal processing times are shown on the website, with all aside from wire transfer and card withdrawals (which are within 48 hours), are processed within 24 working hours. Of course, the time is taken for you to actually receive your funds may vary depending on your banking provider or third party processors.

Bonuses & Promotions

FirewoodFX offers a handful of bonuses and promotional schemes including a Deposit Bonus which all clients can take advantage of. This bonus scheme gives 20% of your deposit, on top of what you fund your account with. For example, if you make a $100 deposit or more, you will be eligible for a 20% bonus. Bonuses must not, however, be understood as giving you true extra margin and equity, and the policy to withdraw them are rarely met, therefore very very few traders actually ever get to withdraw their profit.

For Standard and Micro account holders, there is also a promotional offer whereby clients can receive up to $5000 Trading Reward. The slogan, which is highly encouraging for clients to rapidly deposit large sums, reads: ‘The more you trade and deposit, the more bonus you get’. This in itself depicts the type of broker this is, seeking only large deposits form clients, using ploys like this to make this happen.

Educational & Trading Tools

FirewoodFX does offer regular daily news articles which are most helpful in one’s everyday trading, while charting up, for example. In addition, a Forex Glossary and Margin Calculator can be found directly on the website, so there are ample tools for both the newer and more experienced traders to benefit from.

There is no specific trading educational material or packages to be found, however, this is not an issue for the newer traders out there, as you can easily find training material online, paid courses as well as free.

Customer Service

FirewoodFX offers a customer support team on a 24/5 basis should you require assistance. You may contact them via live chat or email, as you prefer. This broker does not offer a telephone line for support contact, however, the live chat prompt responds and is in fact, a more effective method of contact in the case of a trade query or issue.

In regards to the quality of client support, this broker offers typically a fast response rate, and consistently a professional and comprehensive answer. In fact, it can be said that the support team is a stand out element of this broker!

Demo Account

As standard goes, FirewoodFX does offer a demo account, which is compatible via the MT4 platform. Ensure to make use of the demo to backtest your strategies alongside the trading conditions offered by this broker, prior to opening the live account, to avoid any nasty surprises.

Countries Accepted

In respect of FirewoodFX unregulated status, it should be known that traders from the USA would not be accepted to use these trading services, which is in fact stated in a disclaimer at the footer of the website.

Conclusion

This broker gives off a mixed signal in the sense that there are some aspects that are very appealing and preferable to traders, while other aspects may be questionable. For example, this broker offers a very small selection of tradable assets and fixed spreads (and they start high), while on the other hand, there are no trade commission fees, decent leverage options, and low minimum deposits. The more questionable side of things is when you consider the deposit bonus scheme which encourages clients to trade, at times, aggressively and without thinking clearly which more often than not, results in hefty losses. This is also made more than possible with the wide spreads and high leverage.

All things considered, this broker does do what it says on the tin, so to speak, and their transparency cannot be denied. In addition, their website is very clearly set out, and the customer support team is prompt and professional, and easily contactable. Having said that, this broker’s trading conditions would seemingly be more suitable and appropriate for experienced traders, and not total novices.

Z.com Trade is a forex broker that was founded in 2005 as GMO Click and was rebranded in 2015 as Z.com. They are authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and offer powerful technology, STP NDD execution, ultra-tight spreads, and comprehensive account service. That is according to the website, in this review we will be taking a look under the hood to see if they really do offer what they say.

Account Types

There are 4 different accounts on offer from X.com Trade, these are the Classic, ECN, ECN Plus and the professional account. Let’s take a little look at what each account offers.

Classic Account: The classic account is like other accounts you will see on most brokers. It has a minimum deposit of $10,000 and the base currency can be in USD, EUR or GBP. It has leverage up to 1:30 and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots. It has a floating spread which starts at 1 pip and there is no added commission when trading. The maximum trade size os 50 lots and the server is located in London.

ECN Account: The ECN account also has a minimum deposit of $10,000, this account can have a base currency of USD, GBP, and EUR. This account has a leverage of 1:30 and has a floating spread starting at 0 pips, due to the low spread there is an added commission of $4 per lot traded. There is also a maximum trade size of 50 lots and the server is also located in London.

ECN Plus Account: This account is slightly different as it is based on a minimum balance or trade volume, it requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 or a trading volume of 100 million. It has a leverage of 1:30 and the minimum trade size os 0.01 lots and the maximum is 50 lots. It can have a base currency of USD, EUR or GBP and it also has a spread starting from 0 pips, the commission is slightly reduced and now sits at %2.5 per lot traded.

Professional Account: The professional account is very similar to the ECN Plus account in the fact that it requires a minimum balance of $10,000 or a trading volume of 100 million per month. This account has larger maximum leverage though as it has now increased up to 1:200, the spread remains as a floating spread starting at 0 pips with a commission of $2.5 per lot traded added to the account. The minimum trade size remains at 0.1 lots and the maximum is still 50 lots. The account can also use USD, EUR or GBP as the base currency.

Platforms

X.com Trade only has one main trading platform which is MetaTrader 4, it also uses an API function should you wish to trade that way.

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

API: There isn’t too much information provided regarding the API functions but this is very advanced and you will already know all about it should you be attempting to use it. It allows you to access the markets through your own software using Z.Com Trades APIs settings.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available for the Classic, ECN and ECN Plus accounts is 1:30 this is due to the regulations that Z.com Trade has. The professional account allows you to have maximum leverage up to 1:200. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account, once an account is open you can request for it to be changed by getting in contact with the customer service team, there must be no active trades when requesting to have the leverage on an account changed.

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 available trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is 50 lots, this is relevant for all account types and is at an appropriate level as we never suggest making trades larger than 50 lots anyway.

Trading Costs

The classic account uses a spread based payment system that we will look into more later in this review. The ECN account has an added commission of $4 per lot traded, the ENC Plus and Professional account have a commission of $2.5 per lot added to the account, both of which are under the industry average of $6 per lot traded. There are also swap charges which can be both positive and negative for holding trades overnight, the swap charges can be viewed from within the trading platform itself.

Assets

Z.com Trade has broken down their assets into 8 different categories, however, a number of them interlink with each other so there aren’t actually as many.

Forex Majors: The forex majors include pairs such as CAS/CHF, EUR/GBP and EUR/USD, these are the major trading pairs that have the most liquidity and so the markets are more stable.

Forex Minors: The forex minor pairs include currency pairings like GBP/AUD, NZD/CHF and AUD/USD, these pairs have slightly less liquidity and so offer a slightly more volatile trading experience.

EUR Exotics: These are exotic pairs that are traded against the Euro, they include pairs like EUR/PLN, EUR/RUB, and EUR/CZK, these are much less frequently traded pairs so offer a lot of volatility, especially during news events.

GBP Exotics: Just like the EUR exotics, theses are less traded instruments which offer a lot of volatility, some examples are GBP/SEL, GBP/ZAR, and GBP/NZD

USD Exotics: Exactly the same except these ones are traded against the United States Dollar, they include pairs such as USD/MXN, USD/HUF, and USD/DKK

Commodities: There aren’t as many commodities as you would expect, there are the usual metals of Gold and Silver and then some other commodities such as Coffee, however, the majority are other metals such as Copper and Nickel.

Indices: There are 10 different indices which include the usual suspects of UK 100, US 500 and DE 30.

Cryptocurrencies: The final category is cryptocurrencies which is great to see, coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash are available to trade against the US Dollar.

Spreads

The spreads that you receive are dependant on the account that you trade with and the instrument that you are trading. When trading on the classic account you have spreads starting from 1 pip, this means that they will not drop below this level, with all other accounts they are as low as 0 pips.

The spreads on all accounts are variable (also known as floating) which means that they move with the markets, when there is a lot of volatility in the markets the spreads will often be seen higher than the stated amount. It is also important to note that different instruments have different spreads, so while one instrument such as EUR/USD may have a spread starting at 1 pip, another currency pair may have a spread starting at 1.6 pips, so it is important to check the pair you are trading.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open an account seems to be $10,00 which is relatively high and could price out a lot of potential new clients. Normally when a broker requires a large amount to open an account any subsequent deposits into the already opened account have a reduced limit, however, we could not see any information regarding this on the website.

Deposit Methods & Costs

A few different ways to deposit your money into Z.com Trade, we have set out the table below in regard to the method and currencies available.

MasterCard – USD, EUR, GBP
Visa – USD, EUR, GBP
Co-branded Cards – USD, EUR, GBP

Neteller – USD, EUR, GBP
Skrill – USD, EUR, GBP
WebMoney – USD, EUR
2C2P – USD

Bank Wire Transfer – USD, EUR, GBP

There are no added fees for deposits as Z.com Trade has decided to cover all transfer costs when depositing funds.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available for withdrawing, unfortunately, there are some added fees for withdrawals and we have outlined them for you below.

MasterCard – 2.6%
Visa – 2.6 %
Co-branded Cards – 2.6%

Neteller – 2%
Skrill – 1%
WebMoney – 1.85%

Bank Wire Transfer – 0GBP, 20 EUR, 25 USD

Withdrawals must be made to the same method that you used to deposit.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Requests made before 12:00 UK time will be processed the same day, any requests after this time will be processed on the next working day. You can only make one withdrawal request per day. Neteller, Skrill, and WebMoney will arrive in your account around 15 minutes after the request being processed, credit/debit cards and bank wire transfers will take between 1 – 5 business days to appear in your bank account.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is the usual affiliate program and introducing broker program but we will not be going into that in detail, apart from these there does not appear to be any active promotions, there may have been in the past and there may be new ones in the future so be sure to check back regularly if you are looking for bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

We could not locate any educational tools or trading tools on the website so it does not appear that there are any which is a shame as a lot of more modern brokers are actively trying to help their clients become better traders so it would have been nice to see X.com Trade do the same thing.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get in contact with Z.com Trade you can do so in a few different ways, you can use the online chat feature where you can talk to a representative through a chat client. This support is open between 09:00 and 17:00 UK time from Monday to Friday. You can also get in touch via phone, there is a UK phone number which has the same opening times of 09:00 to 17:00 UK time from Monday to Friday. Finally, there is a postal address should you wish to send a physical letter.

It is a shame that the support is not available 24 hours a day as many traders may have issues during the night and there would be no way to get any assistance until the morning.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you can sign up by clicking the try demo button, but at this point in time Z.com Trade is not accepting new clients, the demo account can mimic any of the trading conditions of the 4 available account types. There was not any information in regards to how long they last though as some brokers allow them to work indefinitely and others put time limits such as 30 days before they expire so it would have been nice to know this information.

Countries Accepted

We could not locate any information in regards to eligible or excluded countries so if you are unsure we would recommend getting in touch with the customer service team in order to get a definitive answer.

Conclusion

The service being offered by Z.com Trade seems competitive and competent, the main downside right now is that Z.com Trade is not currently accepting new clients, we spoke to the customer service team and this may change in the future but at the moment no new clients are able to join. The trading conditions are good with decent spreads and very low commissions, they also have plenty of tradable assets and the main downside being the reduced maximum leverage for all accounts except the professional account. If you are interested in joining X.com Trade we would recommend keeping an eye out for when (if) they open up for new clients again.

We hope you like this Z.com review. If you did, we invite you to check out some of the other reviews on Forex Academy to help find the broker that is right for you.

RCPro was founded in 2010 and is based in Estonia. Their vision is to build a new generation of professional traders through training and education. They try to offer a high-quality service in terms of trading environment and platforms as well as a lightning-fast support team. In this review, we will be looking at what is on offer to see if they live up to their vision.

Account Types

There are four different accounts on offer, the Classic, Silver, Gold and Islamic accounts, let’s take a look at what each of them offers.

Classics Account: The classic account is the entry-level account, it has a minimum deposit requirement of $500, and this account uses the MetaTrader 4 platform, it has forex, metals, equities, indices bonds and commodities available to trade. The account currency must be in USD and there is no added commission on the account. The margin call level is 150% and the maximum trade size is 50 lots. A few additional features include an account manager with a professional degree in economics, a plethora of materials that help you understand trading, free tutorial trading sessions consisting of 3 lessons, the trading platform is compatible with a mobile phone and, daily recommendations from your account manager

Silver Account: The silver account requires an increased deposit amount of $2,500 and also uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform it has forex, metals, equities, indices bonds and commodities available to trade. The account currency must be in USD and there is no added commission on the account. The margin call level is 150% and the maximum trade size is 50 lots. The following features are also available for this account: Account manager with a professional degree in economics, a plethora of materials that help you understand trading, free tutorial trading sessions consisting of 5 lessons, daily recommendations from your account manager and, a trading platform is compatible with mobile phone.

Gold Account: The gold account increases the minimum deposit further up to $10,000, the account also uses MetaTrader 4 but now there are fewer assets to trade with only forex, metals, indices, and commodities being available. The account currency must be in USD and there is no added commission on the account. The margin call level is 150% and the maximum trade size is 50 lots. A few additional features include an account manager with a professional degree in economics, more advanced materials that are designed for you to learn the most advanced strategies, free tutorial trading sessions consisting of 7 lessons, free access to all sorts of video tutorials, daily review by your market analyst, daily recommendations from your account manager and, a trading platform is compatible with mobile phone

Islamic Account: The Islamic account is for people who can not pay or receive interest in holding trades overnight, also known as a swap-free account. The account comes with the following features: Buying and selling occur immediately and there is no postponement clause, all currencies are properly documented between the buyer and the seller, the deal must be paid for in full without any delay if there are any usurious rates the contract is invalid.

Platforms

RCPro uses MetaTrader 4 as their sole trading platform, if there is only one platform available then there could be a lot worse ones than MT4.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms and for good reason. Released in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, it has been around a while, it is stable customizable and full of features to help with your trading and analysis. MT4 is compatible with hundreds and thousands of different indicators, expert advisors, signal providers and more. 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 available depends on the instrument that you are trading, we have set out a simple list below detailing the maximum leverage available by asset type.

Forex Majors: 1:200
Forex Crosses: 1:200
Indices: 1:100
Metals: 1:200
USA Shares: 1:20
Commodities: 1:100
Energy Futures: 1:100
Europe Shares: 1:20

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for all instruments start at 0.10 lots (also known as mini lots). There is no indication as to what the increment size is for trades so we can not tell you if the next trade size would be 0.11 lots or 0.20 lots. The maximum trade size is 50 lots which is a good amount as any higher and it becomes harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute the trades quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

There are no commissions added to any of the accounts as they all use a spread based system which we will look at later in this review. There are swap charges on all accounts except for the Islamic account, these are charged for holding trades overnight and can be both positive or negative. The swap charges can be viewed directly within the trading platform.

Assets

Assets are broken down into various categories including Forex Majors, Forex Crosses, Indices, Metals, USA Shares, Commodities, Energy Futures and, Europe Shares. Selections of available assets include EUR/USD, NZD/USD, CAD/JPY, EURCHF, NASDAQ, S&P 500, Gold, Silver, Apple Shares, Google Shares, Corn, Coffee, Natural Gas, Brent Crude Oil, BMW and, FIAT.

Spreads

Spreads are dependant on a number of different things, for example, the asset that you trade will have a different natural starting spread, if we look at EUR/USD, it has a starting spread of 3.2 pips while CAD/JPY has a starting spread of 4.9 pips. It should also be noted that these spreads re variable (also known as floating) so when the markets are volatile, the spreads will be higher due to movement in the markets. The stated numbers are the starting spreads and they will often be seen higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is $500 which gets you the classic account, if you wanted a different account then you would need a deposit of $2,500 or $10,000. Often when you open an account, any further deposits requirements are reduced for top-ups but there is no indication as to whether this happens with RCPro or not.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a whole lot of information on deposits, the information that is available is pretty basic but gives us an idea of available methods. You can currently use Credit / Debit cards, both Visa and MasterCard, you can also use Bank Wire Transfer and E-wallets, however, which e-wallets are not indicated on the website. RCPro does not charge any fees on deposits, however, it is important to check with your processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can use the same methods to withdraw as you did to deposit, you must withdraw to the same method used. You may be asked to provide additional documentation when requesting a withdrawal which is a shame to see, as the broker is making it easy to deposit and hard to withdraw, a practice we never like to see. There is no mention of any fees or the lack of them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawals requests at RCPro will take up to 24 business hours to process, once this process is complete the amount of time it takes will depend on the method used, most e-wallets will receive funds within 30 minutes, others such as bank transfer can take up to 7 days to be available in your account.

Bonuses & Promotions

The only bonus mentioned on the RCPro website is regarding a cashback program. The amount of cashback that you get depends on the balance of your account. You can receive up to $10 per lot traded as cashback each time you trade. The cashback is paid as cash and the funds can be withdrawn if desired. There does not seem to be any other bonuses or promotions active at this time.

Educational & Trading Tools

In terms of trading tools, there is the basic economic calendar that tells you of any upcoming news events and which markets they will affect. Then for education, there is a section based around trading strategies however it is very basic and does not go into much detail about any of them. There is a trade copying service, however, there are no examples of them so we can not comment on the accuracy or profitability of them.

Customer Service

The contact us page offers a way to get in touch with RCPro should you have any queries or concerns. There is the standard online submission form that you can fill in and should then expect a reply via email. There is also an email address available to use directly along with phone numbers and physical addresses. The site does not state the opening hours but we would assume that they will be closed over the weekends when the markets are also closed.

Demo Account

Looking around the site we could not locate any information about demo accounts so it appears there may not be any. Potential new clients like to use demo accounts to test out the servers and trading conditions offered, current clients like demo accounts as a way to test out new trading strategies without risking their own capital. It would be a big boost to RCPro if they make demo accounts available to their current and potential new clients.

Countries Accepted

There isn’t a statement or any information regarding who can or can not use the service if you would like to find out if you are eligible for an account or not we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team.

Conclusion

RCPro gives their vision as a broker wanting to offer competitive environments however their trading conditions are far from competitive, the spreads are very high giving quite a large costs, despite there being no commission it is an expensive broker to use. There are enough instruments to give you things to trade but it would have been nice to see more variety. The promotion looks good but the lack of demo accounts along with the other information provided can make it hard to recommend them as a broker to sue at this point in time.

We hope you like this RCPro review. If you did, please be sure to check out some other reviews here at Forex Academy to help you find the broker that is right for you.

Acetop Financial Limited was formed in 2016 and is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They are based in London and offer forex, CFD and spread betting services. Acetop has the vision to be recognized across the industry as the most trusted provider of trading serviced with an unparalleled commitment to offering first-class service. In this review, we will be looking at different aspects of what Acetop provides to see if they can live up to their visions and so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are two different accounts on offer from Acetop and both are very different from one another, these are a spread betting account and a CFD trading account.

Spread Betting Account: Spread betting accounts are used within the UK to help avoid paying tax, these accounts are classed by the UK government as gambling and so do not require any capital gains tax being paid. The account can use MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform and has a stop out level of 50% and the margin call level of 100%. The account can be in either EUR or GBP as a currency and there are 50 different products to trade. The minimum deposit is £100 or €150 and swap charges are present for holding trades overnight. The spreads are variable and the minimum trade size is £0.10 or €0.10 and the maximum trade size is £250 or €250. Demo accounts are available for free and as mentioned this account is tax-free.

CFD Account: The CFD is account is more like what you will see at many other brokers, this account also uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform and has a margin call level at 100% and stop out level of 50%. The base currency of this account can be in EUR, GBP or USD and it has 50 different instruments to trade. The minimum deposit is £100, €150 or $150 and this account has swap charges for holding trades overnight. The spread is variable and the trade sizes start from 0.01 lots which a maximum trade size of 50 lots. The account comes with a free demo and the account is no tax-free so capital gains tax must be paid on any profits (please see your accountant for more information).

Platforms

Both accounts with Acetop use the same trading platform, there is just the one available and that platform is MetaTrader 4.

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

Leverage exists with Acetop however there isn’t any mention of what the maximum or minimum leverages are, the example given on the website states 1:50 but we can not tell if this is the maximum or if it goes further. The FAQ on the website also states that once leverage on an account is set it can not be changed. This could also be meaning that there is no choice in leverage and you must use what Acetop suggests.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes for CFD trading start at 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 is 50 lots which is an appropriate level as you would not want to make trades much higher due to difficulties with executing large trades quickly and without slippage. The spread betting account has trade sizes starting at 0.10 base currency and go up in increments of 0.10 base currency. The maximum trade sizes are 250 base currency.

Trading Costs

There is no added commission on either of the accounts, they use a spread based payment structure that we will be looking at later in this review. Swap charges are present though and are charged for holding trades overnight, these can be both positive and negative and can be viewed from within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

Acetop does not provide a massive range of products, they are broken down into three different categories, Forex, Commodities, and Indices. The website states that there are 50+ forex pairs including EUR/USD, EUR/NOK, NZD/JPY, and AUD/USD. There are only four different commodities available in the form of Gold, Silver, US WTI Oil, and UK Brent Oil. Finally, there are 10 indices including UK 100, US Dollar Index, Germany 30 and US Tech 100.

Spreads

The spreads comparison between the two account types make it seem like they are almost identical, the main difference in spreads will be dependant on the instrument that you are trading. For example, AUD/CAD has a starting spread of 2 pips, while AUD/NZD has a starting spread of 3 pips. These spreads are what is known as variable (or floating), this means that they move with the markets, when the markets are being volatile the spreads normally widen and get bigger. The stated numbers are the minimum that they will be and they will often be seen much higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open ana account with Acetop is currently set at £100, $150 or €150 depending on the currency you want the account in. Once ana account has been opened, with many brokers the required deposit for future top-ups can fall to a lower amount however there is no indication that this happens with Acetop so we will state that they remain at £100, $150 or €150 just to be safe.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available to deposit with Acetop: Bank Wire Transfer, MasterCard Debit / Credit, Visa Debit / Credit, UnionPay, and Skrill. There are no additional fees when it comes to depositing and Acetop will cover any fees that the processors may add.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available o withdraw as they are to deposit, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, MasterCard Debit / Credit, Visa Debit / Credit, UnionPay, and Skrill. Acetop offers free withdrawals and does not add any fees of their own for withdrawals. It is important to note though, that the processor that you use may add fees of their own so be sure to check with them prior to making any deposits or withdrawals.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Processing times depend on the processor that you are using and the withdrawal method used. The Acetop Financial website states that all methods of withdrawals will take between 3 to 5 working days for you to receive your finances, however, we can not see Skrill deposits taking the same time as a bank wire transfer, so we would not take the numbers stated on the website as gospel.

Bonuses & Promotions

We could not locate any information on the website in regards to bonuses and promotions so it does not appear that there are any active at the moment, this does not mean that there won’t be in the future so be sure to check back regularly if you are looking for bonuses.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few very basic things on offer when it comes to educational and trading tools. Ther is a market news section which gives you some news about what is happening in the markets, this also comes with an economic calendar which tells you of any upcoming news events and which markets they may affect.

In terms of education there re some FAQs on CFD trading as well as Spread Betting and Forex trading. There is also a section for seminars and events however at the moment there is a notice stating that there are currently none available, however, you should stay tuned for updates.

Customer Service

The contact us page outlines the different ways that you can get in contact with Acetop, these include phone numbers to the Acetop main platform as well as the client services department. There are email addresses for client services, compliance, marketing & PR and, Human Resources. The support department is open from 7 am to 5 pm (UK Time) Monday to Friday and closes over the weekend at the same time as the markets close.

Demo Account

There are demo accounts available to both of the account types, the accounts will mimic the trading conditions of the account that you are using, there isn’t any information in regards to how long they last, as some brokers let them go indefinitely while others put a time limit such as 30 days before they expire.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the Acetop website: “The information on this site is not directed at residents of the United States, Belgium, Canada, Singapore, or any particular country outside the UK 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 unsure of your eligibility, then be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

Acetop offers spread betting which is a little different to what you may be used to, if you are not in the UK then we would not recommend using this option and instead go for the CFD account. The trading conditions are ok, they are nothing special and while it states that spreads can be quite low, they are relatively high when comparing to the competition. Initial deposits are low which makes them appealing to newer traders however there isn’t a huge selection of assets to trade which could mean there are moments of downtime (no trading) where you could be trading on other brokers.

We hope you like this Acetop Financial review. If you did, please be sure to check out some of the other reviews on Forex Academy to help find the broker that is right for you.

Intertrader is a renewed CFD and Spread Betting brand in 2019, as it is acquired by the GVC Holdings PLC. GVC is a betting and gambling business company that is expanding into the brokerage industry. GVC is publically listed on FTSE 250. The broker is headquartered in Gibraltar and authorized by Gibraltar Financial Services Commission and partly regulated by the FCA. The broker states it has 10 years experience in the industry, back in 2010 Intertrader brand was under the London Capital Group, an old broker with not so good reputation.

Intertrader has DMA execution for equities and ECN for Forex and also offers Prime brokerage service for institutional trading, supplied by Argon Financial. Intertrader has a mediocre reputation among the users, yet the brand could have a new business model, management and policies that could provide a better experience. Certainly, this broker has strong regulation and legitimate addresses despite being an overseas company.

The website has a classic structure but different content marketing, FAQ, Trading Information, the product range is not presented clearly, visitors will need to navigate to find this important info. Intertrader puts their neutrality, no conflict of interest, funds security and regulation as one of the key selling points, carefully explaining how they operate to inspire trust.

The main idea of Intertrader’s website is to serve more as promotion than as an information portal, even though the spreads are tight enough to promote one of the great features of Intertrader, still, this info is hidden under a few menus. Whatsmore, the trading conditions list for their web platform overlaps with other elements of the website if expanded to show more than 10 instruments per page, giving us a feel this section received less attention from developers.

There are many awards Intertrader received before 2019, they are presented on every page of the website with additional video clips that explain how to deposit and to promote forex trading. Whole website content is geared towards new traders as there are over explanations for all categories. We will review Intertrader’s services by sections to bring better information than what is actually presented, so traders can decide if this broker matches their needs.

Account Types

Intertrader offers Spread Betting and classic CFD trading. As stated both can be done from one account and one platform, but what is meant is that you will have to select the account type, Spread betting or CFD trading during the registration. Note that there is different pricing for the MT4 and the web platform. Based on the options given, traders can select Metatrader 4 Account or Web Account, under which they select Spread Betting or CFD trading.

The broker presents what you will need for registration and the required minimum deposit. There is also an option to select a corporate or individual account. The account currency can be in GBP, EUR, or USD. Since the accounts have different trading conditions on the platforms, Intratrader presents a feature list of both platforms on the account creation page. The only difference between the two is EAs and FIX API that is available only on MT4 while the Web Platform features Shares trading and TradeBack™ rebate program, not otherwise available on MT4.

We would also like to add that the Web Platform does not support custom indicators and other features, but has a news feed module, more on platforms in the next section. Also, there are differences in pricing between the two.

Intertrader also features a professional account named Black Account. This account has special pricing and higher leverage but, as per regulations, has certain requirements. Two of them must be met to be classified as a professional trader:

-Executed at least 10 sizeable trades per quarter over the last four quarters
-Have a total trading portfolio size more than €500,000
-You have worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position

Platforms

Intertrader offers two platforms, Metatrader 4 which is available in mobile and desktop installments, for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Web MT4 version is replaced by Intertrader’s platform. Advanced Intertrader Platform is the second, available as a downloadable install for Windows and Mac.

MetaTrader 4 is updated to the latest version and set to default settings. There are two servers available and both are from the UK, relaying a ping of just above 60ms. Classic default chart layout is loaded with the 4 major Forex pairs set on 4 hours timeframe, there are no additional indicators or templates.

Symbols are grouped into 4 sets that do not represent the assets class correctly, for example, you can find Brent Oil under the “Indices (CFD)2” group. Instrument Specification window is filled with enough trading information. One-Click trading buttons are visible and the Termina Trade tab shows all relevant trading costs, swaps, and commissions. The execution times ranged from 130ms to 190ms which is very fast even though we have seen execution times lower than 70ms with ECN STP brokers. Indeed Stocks are not listed in MT4 but Indexes are.

Intertrader Web Platform is integrated with different services from the broker and has a neatly organized “Market Watch” into sets. On top, there are tabs for additional features so traders can access the Analysis from the Intertrader’s website which consists of Strategy Centre, Education Centre, and Trading Tools. These are just web pages to webinars and latest Intertrader’s blog posts, while Tools window opens the login to Trading Central and Autochratist service.

The “News” tab has a nice feedback window from RANsquawk which requires Flash Player but still lists daily digest with useful short information. Whatsmore, Daily Brief will allow you to insert a Trading Central plugin to your MT4 or Intratreder platform. This plugin will act as an indicator on a chart that will display the analysis and Trading Central trading recommendation. In the “News” tab, Economic Calendar is also added that is powered by Econoday. This Calendar has a great overview of events, descriptions on click, impact meter, filtering by country and different time scaling.

The “Resources” tab contains just a platform guide and mobile apps link while the “Product Information” has a link to Intertrader’s website FAQ, product tables and a TradeBack app for the broker’s rebate program. The last “Platform Help” tab is all about deposit and platform guides. The chart has similar if not all the features like in MT4 but with more timeframes and has automatic analysis lines applied.

The chart windows are resizeable but not modular, have different themes and a few chart types, some of which are not available in MT4. A total of 29 indicators are available to insert, some are interesting like the Elastic Volume Weighted MA. Finally, apart from the almost the same trading positions panel as the MT4, there is a Signals and Patterns module that is available only for Live accounts that feature analysis from Intratrader.

Overall the web platform is far superior to what is seen usually and packed with features.
Intratrader’s downloadable version is based on Java and is even better than the Web version. While similar in design, it has even more features and advanced possibilities not available in the MT4. The only drawback is the inability to insert Automated Trading Robots, custom indicators, and the FIX API. This time all windows are modular and resizeable, even more, chart types are available with the ability to link as well as more indicators.

Complex alerts can be set, a lot of tools are at your disposal. They are of high quality and provide useful detailed information. Workspaces can be saved giving traders the ability to specialize on, for example, on fundamental, technical analysis and trading. There are more than 70 indicators on the list and more than 20 automatic patterns plotting. Traders that are used to MT4 would need some adaptation while cTrader users will have an easier time as the platform uses similar design. Overall, a professional, broker-specialized platform.

Zulutrade’s automatic trading subscription is promoted.

Leverage

Leverage is instrument-specific and is also different for professional and retail clients. For Forex, the leverage is 1:30 for majors and crosses, and 1:20 for minors. Exotics have 1:10 and some even lower to 1:5 like for the USD/ZAR pair. For professionals, the leverage is higher to 1:200 and 1:100 levels. Indexes have 1:10 and 1:20 leverage while Cryptocurrencies have 1:2 for all. Commodities usually have 1:10 but precious metals have 1:20 leverage including the futures contracts.

Trade Sizes

Intratrader is a micro-lot broker or the minimum trade volume size is 0.01 lots for Forex. The maximum individual trade size is 100 lots. This is the same for spot Gold and Silver while Gold futures have 1 lot minimum trade size and 500 lots maximum. The same is for other futures including the WTI and Brent Oil. Indexes have the same trade sizes, 1 lot minimum and 500 lots maximum. Cryptocurrencies futures hide a surprise, the minimum trade volume is 1 lot, including the Bitcoin, which is too high especially considering the leverage of 1:2.

Stops levels are 0 for most assets, the exception is cryptocurrencies which have a 10 points limit. Note that all Futures have an expiration date at which your trade positions will be realized. We could not find Stop Out and Margin Call levels so we had to ask Intertrader staff. The Stop Out is at 50% levels and Margin Call is at 100%.

Trading Costs

Intratrader charges commissions for Forex CFDs while other instruments have the costs included in the spreads. The commission is 3 currency units per side per lot, so it will depend on the currency pair traded. For example, GBP/USD trading will involve 6£ per lot traded. We have confirmed this statement in the MT4. The commission is not presented in the specification window within the MT4, but it is in the Terminal once you open a trade. Commissions are not charged for the web platform.

Swaps are calculated in points and are under normal levels with frequent positives, tripled on Wednesdays. The website pricing table does not have swaps and visitors are redirected to see instrument specification in the MT4. The most traded currency pair, EUR/USD have -15.11 points for long and a positive 3.89 points for short. USD/JPY has 3.94 points long and -12.78 points for short while for the EUR/NZD swap is getting higher to -19.65 for long and -15 short.

As we go to move into exotics pairs the swap is getting higher, so the USD/HKD has -133.6 points for long and -189.9 for short, USD/CNH -131.13 points long and -178.30 points short, and the USD/ZAR -324 long and 108 points for short position swap. The highest swap is for the USD/MXN at -538.12 long and 24.29 points short position swap. Spot Gold/USD has-23 points for long and -1 point for short, it is not common to see negative swaps on both sides for Gold.

For Cryptocurrencies, the swap is calculated in percentage terms, and it is -55% on both sides. This is per annum rate and is much higher than average in the industry. Also, note that the cryptos are also futures so they have an expiration date.

Web platform shares have a commission, 0.1% commission per side for Germany and UK companies and 2.95 cents per side added to underlying for US companies shares. Dividends are paid and debited depending on the position and on the company or Index. On the MT4 no shares trading is possible.

Assets

Metatrader 4 Account does not have shares so traders will have Commodities, Precious metals, Forex, Cryptocurrencies, and Indexes. Forex has a total of 50 currency pairs. All the majors and crosses are present while exotics have GBP, EUR, and USD as a base currency. Therefore traders can find GBP/PLN but also EUR/PLN and USD/PLN. This is also true for TRY, HKD, ZAR, and Scandinavian currencies. CNH and MXN are available only with the USD as a base. Some other EU currencies are not present like the HUF but still, this is above average Forex range.

Precious metals are limited to Gold and Silver in the MT4 but with the Futures extension. This is not a better offer as the difference is negligible. Platinum futures are mentioned on the website listing but we could not find it in the Web platform nor the MT4.

Indexes have a good range with 13 total in MT4 and 14 on the Web platform. Major ones are lited with the addition of less common ones like the N25 (Netherlands), SWI 20, CAC 40, US Tech 100, and Spain 35. Wall Street and US Russell 2000 are additional assets in the Web platform. Volatility Index is available as a futures contract. US Dollar Index is also open for trading only in MT4.

Commodities are limited to energy assets mostly. Both Brent and WTI Oil can be found in multiple instances like US Crude spot and futures, UK Crude Oil spot and futures, US Gas RBOB futures and US Cotton futures. In the MT4 only two Oil types can be found. Coffee and Cotton futures are present in the Web Platform but not in MT4. Coffee futures are not on the website’s official listing. As we are informed by the Intertrader’s staff, Platinum, Wheat, Soybean, Corn and Orange Juice futures are not available in the platform and the website is not yet updated to reflect the real offer.

The cryptocurrencies range is basic, limited to 5 coins. These are Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, Ethereum, and one less common – Aether Cash (XBN). For the Web platform, only two are listed on the web site, Bitcoin and Ethereum but we could not find the Cryptocurrencies category in the Web platform.

Stocks are available only for the Web and Intertrader desktop platform. They are categorized into the US, UK and EU groups. The overall offer range is extreme so the listing is done alphabetically to avoid long lists.

Web and Intertrader Desktop platform also feature Bond and Interest Rates Futures. These are not common to see, a total of 4 instruments are listed on the website but only 3 are found in the platforms. These are Euribor Futures CFD, Euro-Bund Futures CFD, and Short Sterling Futures. Note that Euribir Futures are tradeable by phone only.

Spreads

Intertrader have floating type spreads that are tight for some assets while for others are not competitive. EUR/USD pair has from 3 points spread and during our observation did not pass 5 points. On the website, it is stated from 0.6 pips, but obviously, the spread is tighter. USD/JPY also has the spread form 0.3 pips while USD/CHF is under the double-digit point spread most of the time.

Double-digit spreads are only for EUR/AUD, EUR/CHF, GBP/CHF, AUD/NZD, EUR/NZD and even they do not pass 17 points figure. Higher spreads are only for exotics, so for example, USD/CNH has around 100 points spread, USD/HKD – 44 points, USD/MXN – 40 points, USD/PLN – 70 points, USD/TRY – 200 points, etc. The biggest spread is for GBP/ZAR going from 500 to 1000 points.

Spot Gold/USD spread is one of the top tiers in the industry around 15 pips. Spot Silver is at 4 pips while Gold futures is like fixed to 40 pips – not moving even the prices fluctuate.
Spot Brent and WTI have both around 40 points spread and their futures contract versions have like fixed to 20 points but are classified as floating spreads.

Crypto spreads are not as with Forex. They act like fixed to $100 for Bitcoin, $1 for Ethereum, and 10 points for Ripple. These spreads are not competitive.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum initial deposit is stated at 500 USD/GBP/EUR for all account types. If you plan to trade Bitcoin, this will not be enough as the minimum trade size is 1 lot and the leverage is 1:2.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Deposit channels are by bank transfer, by debit or credit card, or by Skrill. GBP, USD, and EUR are accepted currencies to the Intertrader’s bank account transfer or by credit cards. Skrill also has a small transfer charge of 3 % but no fees are charged by the broker. Skrill deposits are instant after your Skrill account has been verified. All accounts must be on the investor’s name.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Funds must be sent to the same source as with the deposit, so if you made your initial deposit by bank transfer funds must be returned to your bank, while deposit by card funds must be returned to the card if possible, otherwise the funds will be sent to the bank account associated with the card. The minimum withdrawal amount can exist as InterTrader can refuse individual withdrawals under 50 EUR/GBP/USD unless this is to close your account.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

After a trader has made a request within the Clients’ area, Intertrader will process the request within 24 hours timeframe, although your bank or card provider may take up to 3 to 5 days to return the funds to your account. There are no associated fees with the withdrawals.

Bonuses & Promotions

Intertrader does not have classic promotions or bonuses. The only similar service is the TradeBack rebate. TradeBack is for professional clients only. The rebate is paid at the end of the month to clients who have traded in sufficient volume. The rebate is based on the total spread fees amount so if a trader spreads cost reach 500 GBP they will receive a 5% rebate, over 1999 GBP is 7.5% and above 4999GBP is 10%.

A Referral program is also available but for professional clients only. Each additionally referred client will have an increasing bonus by 50 GBP, starting from 100GBP for the first. Additional time and trading volume conditions apply.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is no special educational section but the Intertrader’s website is full of explanatory content. Of course, there are classic introductions like “Why trade Forex”, “Why trade CFD’s”, “Why spread betting”, and video tutorials.

Economic Calendar is also added to the website, not just from the Intertrader’s platforms. It is the same great design by Econoday with a good overview and features as in the platform.

Apart from the tools and features mentioned in the platforms, the Technical Analysis section on the website is actually Intertrader’s blog that contains articles of various categories and topics. For example, here you can find educational content “How do IPOs work? The basics”, “Safe havens: four assets that can reduce risk”, and “Eight traits of a professional trader”.

Other topics are about trading like “Bitcoin continues lower: short-term outlook”, “Gold and silver trading in a gently downward-sloping trend”, and “Short-term trading levels for index futures ahead of US-China trade discussions”. The analysis content has a lot of graphics, different indicators and is based on price action and some other reputable trader’s claims. The arguments are not based on anything substantial except for Fibbonaci levels or similar.

The blog section has more categories to choose from and also a search box that comes useful. The blog is updated a few times a month although lately, only one is published in November.

Customer Service

Intertrader has 3 communication channels, phone line, chat service, and email. Customer care is claimed to be 24/5 and we have confirmed that this is true. The chat service is very good, without any delays more than a minute. The answers are not always to the full and the staff is not very courteous like with some UK brokers, but the service quality is good overall.

Demo Account

The demo accounts exist for all account types and platforms. They reflect real trading conditions and it is not time-limited. All accounts are funded with 50k or 10k virtual funds which are not changeable. The leverage is also predetermined. Traders can use multiple demo accounts and also test the cross-platform trading orders.

Countries Accepted

An official list of unsupported countries is not disclosed but we can confirm from the Intertrader’s support that clients from the United States are not allowed.

 

Conclusion

We will address a few more important information that is not covered in this Intertrader review. The broker discloses that 78% of retail investor accounts lose money with them. It is noticeable that the broker internal alignment is not clear as the website feels it is made for traders that are new while offering products, tools, and platforms that require knowledge and are still not easy to adopt with all the video tutorials.

On the other hand, experienced traders will search for better trading conditions, more information that is not wasting too much time to find. As in terms of funds security, Intertrader is providing more than an average regulated broker, with a special compensation scheme in case of insolvency by the GICS, up to 20,000 EUR. It is also claimed to have additional funds above the requirements secured by the GVC subsidiary, bwin.party holdings Ltd.

Traders ratings for this broker are average, with the common problem for traders which made a profit. The complaints are about the denial of the withdrawal by the broker, claiming that traders are violating one of their terms. This case is often enough to raise suspicion even though there are not many trader reviews as the broker is not very popular. Note that Intertrader is renewed with new management and there are no new reviews so whether this practice will continue is not certain.

The main selling point of Intertrader is the good spread and trading conditions for the Forex market, including precious metals. This is further complemented with great tools and good execution times that could attract traders that also seek funds security.

Fort Financial Services LTD – a company behind the FortFS brand is doing business since 2010 and has not rebranded. The broker managed to expand into the Asia-Pacific market while retaining the image of a one-stop complete trading solution for any kind of a trader or investor. FortFS is known for its cent accounts, bonuses, platforms, and a great range of trading assets, that match their slogan, “Citadel of Trading”.

One could assume that a broker with this wide service range would be regulated, surprisingly it is not. FortFS once held a license by IFSC from Belize, a regulation that is regarded as mild anyway, but as of lately no license is held. FortFS reputation is maintained by diligently responsive staff that monitors the most popular benchmarking sites. Overall ratings by users are mixed although they are either excellent or bad. We have not found a single bad user report that has not met with an attentive inquiry from FortFS.

On several occasions, the broker put great efforts to prove their legit nature, and even publishing proof online. The website is very well organized considering so many services, some typical marketing is present but the majority of content has useful information. Transparency is good with plenty of available data, some of which need more clarification for a novice. Former company domains are TradeFort.com and TradeFort.ws.

The expansion to the attractive Asian market is evident with established websites for Malaysia and Indonesia fortfs.asia and www.neofortfs.com. Other countries like the Russian Federation remains a target market. This FortFS review will evaluate the broker services by sections so traders will have complete insight into points of interest.

Account Types

FortFS offers 4 account types that are differentiated not by the minimum deposit requirement, but with key categories like fixed spread, cent account, or faster execution. The aim is to accommodate every type of trader. Starting with the Newbie Account it is evident that the broker offers one specialized account that received rewards as the best for inexperienced traders. The Account features cent base only, meaning every $ is represented as 100 currency units, changing the scale of trading that allows forgiving losses. This account is also swap-free, with zero spreads for certain Forex currency pairs and low variable spreads. Having a swap-free also means no dividends are paid.

Trading shares is not possible with Newbie Account anyway, also ETFs are out. Leverage is high and enough for most, without the possibility to reduce it. Margin levels are very tolerable so newbies can trade until no equity is left, Stop Out is at 1% and Margin Call at 5% level. The minimum deposit requirement exists but it is small enough it is symbolic. Commissions apply, although only for “CFDs”, not for Forex and they are $20 per lot.

Some trading volume limitations exist that should not be a factor while trading, more on trade sizes in the following dedicated review section. A unique benefit of the Newbie Account is the 10% compensation on closed losing trades but at a cost of no bonus eligibility. For Cent accounts, the maximum volume is 10 standard lots per tradeable instrument. For. Trading history will be kept for 90 days.

Fort Account’s main trait is the fixed spread. Apart from this, the account base currency can be in EUR too and have the ability to have a Cent base like the Newbie Account. The downside is only 4 digit price accuracy, probably intentional to keep fast trading methods away and attract longer period traders. The commissions are the same as with Newbie ($20 lot), as well as the minimum deposit. Margin requirements are higher, Stop Out is at 25% and Margin Call at 50% and for Cent base is 10%/30%. Bonuses on deposits are available, in 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% levels. More on bonuses in the lower section of this FortFS review.

The broker also states information about dividends payout which is 5% and 3% for Cent accounts. Dividends are not available is a trader opts for a swap-free option. Zero spread instruments like in the Newbie Account are also included.

Flex Account is the most popular choice as the broker states. The biggest difference is the variable spread and 5 digit prices, retaining the offer of zero spread instruments. Designed for fast trading although without better execution times, which gives an impression the account type is “artificially” made. The rest is the same as the Fort Account. The leverage can be changed from a maximum of 1:1000, commissions are $20 per lot, and available deposit bonuses are from 10 to 50%. Margin requirements are Stop Out at 25% and Margin Call at 50%, for Cent base is 10%/30%. Dividends are paid 5%. Flex Account supports EUR and USD.

The final, Pro Account requires a higher minimum requirement that is still affordable. To some extent, it is also required as the leverage is reduced to 1:100 maximum. The Pro Account offers the best possible executions, intended for fast trading strategies applicable to Forex and commodities as no other assets are open for trading. The spreads levels are presented as low and the account is only available in USD, no Cent base. Trading volumes are in mini-lots minimum, which is the main reason for a bigger deposit.

The benefit apart from better execution is 100% ECN Account, which means all transactions are entered into the interbank market. Normally, participating in the interbank market should also bring tighter spreads. We will check if this is true in the Spreads section. Margin Call and Stop Out are 80%/40%and commissions apply – $9. Dividends and bonuses are not available.

Note that the following list of currency pairs are not available for trading on Swap-Free accounts: HKD, MXN, TRY, and ZAR. Short positions on USA shares will only remain until the end of the trading session and will be automatically closed at current market prices. Pending SELL orders will be canceled. Also, during our platform testing, we have noticed that the zero spread assets had 4 digit pricing on all account types.

VIP status is reached once a trader has a $25,000 balance excluding the bonuses. The benefits of having VIP are FortFS’s compensation on any commissions for deposits or withdrawals, 10% interest per annum of free balance, 7% commission rebate, Pro accounts have 20% reduced commission, +3% for each profitable transaction, customized loss limits and position locking, unique analytical reports from the world’s leading research agencies and banks.

Platforms

FortFS offers 4 trading platforms out of which some are dedicated to certain instruments. MetaTrader 4 and 5 are offered in all versions. Additionally, the broker offers NinjaTrader and CQG. MetaQuotes platforms are well known as almost all brokers use it but NinjaTrader and CQG are not that popular. NinjaTrader has some advantages over MT5 like more charting customization and features, historical data selection, better stability, multiple data feeds, and more. The platform provides great ordering functionality, clearly made for knowledgeable traders.

NinjaTrader has an insight into true market depth, simultaneous orders at different prices which opens special possibilities for experienced fast trading traders. Automated trading is more developed for the MetaTrader but NinjaTrader is written in C# and since this programming language is widely known, it is easy to make one in the NinjaScript tool. The testing module is also somewhat better than MetaTrader’s Strategy tester with the ability to back and future test, simulated data feed support, and Monte Carlo simulation.

Overall, the platform is designed and superior for scalpers that need to have extra options for their strategies or automation. If you want to have this platform when trading with FortFS be ready to deposit $10,000 and accept the fact that micro-lot order sizes are not supported and trade only Futures instruments.

CQG platforms are also more oriented for experts in trading futures, spreads, and options. There are four client types, for mobile devices, web trader, QTrader for $40 per month and professional Integrated client for $ 595 per month. All types also have a $0.25 commission per contract which is included in FortFS’s commission. Probably the most interesting would be the QTrader as it can also be optimized to work on mobile devices.

QTrader features modules whit specific functions that add on to the platform versatility. These are, for example, Spreadsheet Trader that allows for a great overview and track strategy performance on various instruments, Order Ticket – a variant of market depth and order module, DOMTrader®- order making app, SnapTrader® – One-Click trading mod, Alert Trading module, Spread Matrix, and Spread Pyramid – a spread monitoring module, and more.

The platform is connected to many exchanges globally such as CBOT, CME, COMEX, GLOBEX, IOM, SGX, NYMEX, KCBT, SFE, Eurex and a few more. Made for professionals who need to deposit at least $15,000 and no ability to have micro-lot sizing.

As for already known Metatrader 5, we can say it works very well with FortFS servers. There is only one server to select – FortFS live with a ping of 53ms. The client version is not updated to the latest although that is resolved with the automatic updates The very responsive start met us with 4 default chart screens that remained black as no information is received. The reason behind this is the FortFS does not have the default trading instruments names but with the “p” suffix for Pro Account and f for Flex. Zero spread assets also have a “nosp” suffix.

FortFS did not want to change the client defaults so 4 non-working charts may not be a good presentation to a novice if they decide to go with the Pro Account type. Inside the indicators list, we have noted a long list of custom added indicators and 3 basic templates. For the Pro Account, you will see only Forex, Commodities and the Indicative symbols groups as this account type does not feature all the possible assets. One-click trading buttons are not visible so the trader will need to enable it. The execution times for the Pro Account were around 60 ms with almost no deviation and valid for all assets.

The Trading Terminal window shows the cost of the swaps but not the commission. For the info on commission, traders will need to open the instrument specification window which has all important fields filled. We have also tested the execution times for the Flex Account types to see if the Pro is any better and to our surprise, Flex Account has an average execution time of 54ms without deviation. With this issue, we have doubts if the Pro Account provides any special value, as the execution time was one of two major advantages. Still, both execution times are among the top tier in the industry.

MetaTrader 4 is also available in all versions, as a web trade, for mobile devices running on Android and iOS and for computers running on Windows. This time we have tested the Flex Account and we could find two FortFS servers, Live and Demo. The ping was about the same as with the MT5 at 52ms. The default layout is different from what we see. There are 9 opened charts with custom backgrounds and themes with some indicators plugged in.

Some of the charts were offline as the matching asset name is different. The symbols are also grouped and categorized differently. The execution time is 130ms on average, twice slower than the MT5 although still fast enough, faster than presented “from 0.3 s”. Trade Terminal shows the commission costs in MT4, unlike the MT5. Symbols are categorized in many groups and a bit untidy, some of which are not well described. Indicators available to use out of the box are not so numerous as with the MT5.

Leverage

The leverage is scaled with the total balance on the account, with a higher balance, then leverage is lower. Up to $1000 the leverage can be set at a maximum of 1:1000. After, up to $5000 is 1:500, then up to $20,000 – 1:200, up to $100,000 – 1:100 and everything above is 1:33.

The Pro Account type is limited to 1:100 immediately while others support the 1:1000 maximum leverage. The leverage level can be adjusted. Some additional limitations exist as stated by FortFS. the broker reserves the right to limit the leverage to 1:33 for positions opened using the martingale method. In other words, any additional positions using this trading method will require more volume.

Note that on Friday’s trading session the leverage can change to 1:33 for the orders on Forex and Spot assets opened 60 minutes or less before the end of Friday trading session. Be aware that is the Stop Out level can be reached during this time.

For Cryptocurrencies, the leverage is 1:33 for all account types where they are available.

Trade Sizes

The only Account that does not have the micro-lot size volume is the Pro Account where the minimum trade size is 0.1 lots but any additional volume steps are 0.01 lots. Stops level is usually zero or one point for Flex Account, which is convenient for scalpers. For Fort Account Stops level varies from 0 to 86 points we have noticed with GBP/ZAR currency pair. Double-digit Stops levels were mostly for exotics while others have marginal values. Cryptocurrencies have micro-lot sizing minimal volumes and steps for all account types.

Trading Costs

FortFS are one of those kinds of brokers that have a complex structure for commissions as they have variable commission even for assets in the same category. The comparison table showing the account type differences present commissions per side, an option to make the costs look smaller, which is okay if that note is added but we have not found any. There are no commissions for Forex and Precious Metals but for zero spread assets it could be from $20 for majors to $50 for more exotic currency pairs. Zero spread instruments are only currency pairs and they are categorized under special groups in the MT4/5 symbols list.

For Indexes, the commission is 0.075% per lot and Crypto – 1.5% per lot traded. Stocks have 0.1% commissions per lot and ETFs have 0.1% per contract Swaps for Forex are under normal levels, with some positive figures and calculated in currencies. EUR/USD swap is -9.91 for long and 0.18 EUR for short per lot. GBP/USD has -7.79 and a positive short position swap 0.86 GBP. Interestingly as we go towards minors and more exotic currency pairs, the swap is lower on both sides. USD/DDK with -5 USD long swap and -20 USD long is the first example where the swap is more significant.

TRY quoted pairs shown the biggest swaps around -$100 for long and $3 for short position. Swaps for the zero spread pairs are the same. For precious metals swaps are calculates in percentage terms per annum. XAU/USD has -5% on both sides, XPT/USD -1.37% and XPD/USD -3%. Cryptocurrencies also have percentage swap and they are -20% on all. Swaps are tripled on Wednesdays and for Crypto on Fridays.

Pro Account commissions are $18 per lot traded for all assets available for trading with that account type excluding the zero spread currency pairs that retain the $20-50 commissions.

Assets

One of the main benefits of FortFS is the above-average asset range, probably among top offers in the industry without regulation. If we stick to the MT4/5 platform only there are 8 categories by our count. These are Crypto, Futures, Commodities, Precious metals, ETFs, Stocks, Indexes, and Forex with an additional zero spread currency pairs sub-category. This is a full asset range we had available with the Flex Account.

Forex features 51 currency pairs out of which 14 currency pairs can also be traded with zero spreads but with a commission. This option could be very useful for traders that like news trading or do not want to take spread widening risks that could trigger their Stop Loss. So for Forex traders, this is a unique offer as they can have the best from both spread types. In the exotic range, it is interesting to see TRY, MXN, HKD, CNH, ZAR, RUR (RUB), and Scandinavian currencies, some with EUR and GBP as base combinations. More very interesting currency pairs are just indicative, disabled for trading, but still, have a purpose.

Indexes are not as extended with 12 total. Majors like the S&P 500 are present with some other worth mentioning like Hang Seng Index, CAC, IBEX 35, and DAX 30. Among the Indexes category, we also found Natural Gas that was probably inside this group by mistake.

Stocks offer is average with just 50 companies from the US markets only, and all of them are popular. They are somewhat diversified by the industry as usual, but nothing special in this category.

ETFs are one of the shining parts of FortFS. We have counted a total of 41 ETFs that are very diversified and are a great complement to other assets. From precious materials, ETFs traders can find GlodMiners, Diamonds, and S&P Metals and Mining ETFs. Country specific share ETFs are also present.

Energies are limited to just 3. Both Oil types, WTI, and Brent and Natural Gas.

Commodities are classified as Futures contracts, and there are so many of them that the offer overshadows all other categories. Under Futures, there are also Bonds, Metals, Currencies, Indexes, and more Energies. It would take a lot of time just to grasp what opportunities exist in this category.

Precious Metals are in full 4 popular range, Platinum, Gold, Palladium, and Silver. Gold and Silver can also be found with the EUR quote making a total of 6 instruments. Futures metals extend this range to Copper too.

The cryptocurrencies range is very good with 13 tradeable. This class does not have other quoting currencies apart from the USD, so there are 13 different coins. Major cryptocurrencies are present with the addition of a few interesting ones like NXT, DashCoin, Stellar, Monero, Augur, Zcash, EOS, and Etereum Classic.

Spreads

Another specialty of FortFS is having a variable, fixed and zero spreads which are essentially fixed but have a commission as a substitute. Combining both into one account type is also unique, but how wide floating spreads are in times of volatility. We have tested this during the Friday closing. These are pairs with the lowest spread: EUR/USD had 3.7 pips, EUR/GBP – 0.3 pips, USD/JPY – 1.3 pips, EUR/JPY – 1.5 pips and EUR/AUD with 2.1 pips. The rest of the currencies had more significant figures, for example, AUD/NZD – 30 pips, CAD/CHF 19.5 pips, GBP/JPY – 12.7 pips, NZD/CHF – 38.4 pips and so on.

Spreads from 0.3 pips that are presented on the FortFS website are correct, and the major pairs have even less during the calm periods. Spread expansion is about 10 fold during higher volatility and this measurement can be used for Stop Loss orders placement to avoid the spread triggering. XAU/USD spread is around 70 pips during Friday closing, Palladium 2300 pips and Platinum 500. The BTC/USD has 3 digits price precision so the spread was $144 per coin.

Zero spread pairs are fixed to 0 and Fort Account type fixed spreads did not deviate from their fixed levels. EUR/USD stays at 2 points as well as USD/JPY, EUR/AUD 10 points and the highest spread from the non-exotic currency pairs is with the EUR/NZD at 20 points. Exotics had fixed levels too, so the EUR/MXN has 500 pips spread, the same as GBP/TRY and these are the highest fixed spreads. Others like USD/CHN had just 3.6 pips.

Floating spreads for these pairs during the volatile period were 1214 pips for EUR/MXN and 3653 pips for GBP/TRY. Note that exotic pairs do not have their zero spread options listed. Fort Account fixed spread for XAU/USD is 75 pips and for XAU/EUR 150, higher than variable spreads during Friday closing volatility. Although for Palladium and Platinum the spread was fixed to 600 pips, lower than floating spread. For spot Silver, the fixed spread was 10 times lower at 6 points. For Cryptocurrencies, there are no fixed spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit presented on the table is $5 for Fort, Flex, and Newbie Accounts. This is the same for Cent based options. For the Pro Account, you will need $500 as a minimum. Probably, even more, would need for optimal trading considering the reduced leverage and increased trade sizes. Note that for certain platforms, like NinjaTrader and CQG you will need $10,000 and $15,000 minimum. If you deposit by local bank transfers the minimum will be $20 as well as for deposits by Skrill, VISA or MasterCard.

Deposit Methods & Costs

FortFS client portal showed us fewer deposit options than what is officially presented on the broker website so the deposit options will be limited for certain jurisdictions. All possible deposit channels are by using e-wallets like Neteller, PerfectMoney, Qiwi, Skrill, WebMoney and more local bank options like Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese and Thai Local banks. VISA and MasterCard are also supported without commission. The only channels listed that have commission are PerfectMoney with 1% and FasaPay with 0.5% commission. VISA, MasterCard and Qiwi can also be used for Ruble deposits, not just EUR or USD.

We also had the Expobank transfer option available from the client portal without commission. VISA and MasterCard have $10,000 maximum deposit limits and FasaPay $5000.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Withdrawals need to be made using the same method as the original deposit unless specified by the broker. The available methods are the same but they have different costs. Visa and MasterCard withdrawals have $20 minimum and 2.5% commission while Perfectmoney has the same 1% commission for withdrawals too. FasaPay commission is 0.5%. For withdrawals, we also had an Expobank transfer option without commission.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

FortFS has a processing time of up to 5 days. If further investigation is needed the time could be prolonged to 10 days. Once the withdrawal form is processed, the withdrawal is instant. Only for VISA/MasterCard and bank transfers, there is a delay in up to 7 days.

Bonuses & Promotions

FortFS has one of the most extended promotions and bonuses structure we have encountered. Starting with the classical Welcome Bonus, a kind of volume-based bonus that is withdrawable after 20 lots traded within 45 days timeframe, without deposit requirements. The only step needed is the client verification. Newbie and Pro Account are not eligible for this $35 bonus. Forex and metals are counted for the volume condition only. More conditions are published on the FortFS website along with an example.

Deposit Bonus is a classical on-deposit bonus. It is selectable from 10% to 50% according to the client’s wishes. The bonus time-limited to 3 months until the required trading turnover requirement must be met. The volume required depends on the bonus received and is calculated by Bonus in USD/4=lots required.

Megaprotect Bonus acts like margin support funds during a drawdown. It is available up to 100% deposit and also for cent accounts. Flex and Fort Accounts with no active bonuses obtained are eligible. Stop Out will not be triggered even when funds reach this level.
Unlimited Leverage, a unique offer from FortFS is an option to have unlimited leverage. The requirements are numerous, mostly restrictions of this leverage to volatile periods. To open a position you will still need the initial margin. After, the margin will be set at zero.

Not available for Newbie, Pro Accounts. Can be activated only for MT4 Accounts
AutoRebate is a rebate of up to 30% per lot. There are no restrictions, and for some instruments, the rebate is 15% minimum. For Fort and Flex Accounts only.

FortFS has many other promotions that are offered for a certain period. Some of them are additional Profit Bonus, $75 Welcome Bonus, “888” lucky draw, Autorebate Extra, and so on. FortFS has established a Telegram channel for the latest promotions.

In addition to bonuses, the broker also has interesting types of contests. These are not based on extreme risk performance. For example, FortFS organized a contest for the Financial analyst with prizes but also a position in the company, $1000 Contest is rewarded for completing social network tasks, and more.

Educational & Trading Tools

FortFS also has a solid Educational section. The material consists of 7 parts with topics that are related to the company and with trading in general. For example, Part 7 – Trading with Futures is a few page long tutorial on Futures contracts but also how to trade with them using the platform and FortFS services. Other parts could be longer, as the Technical Analysis with good content quality.

Technical and Fundamental analysis is provided in-house and updated daily. The technical analysis material is mostly based on Price Action, RSI, ADX and Bolliger Bands indicators with an interpretation of additional graphics. Support and Resistance levels are marked with some more info on what is going on in the market, but very basic. Some better content is provided in the Fundamental section that is brief but captures the gist. Also, there are weekly and monthly outlooks on markets, including Crypto.

Signal service is provided but it is not well established and is based on common indicators like the MACD. Some trading recommendations could be regarded as blind guessing. There are also Forex news and the Economic Calendar. Forex news is just one sentence about a particular trading asset, nothing more, but could be enough for most. The news is updated frequently. Economic Calendar is very basic, without any filtering, charts or info about the event.

Customer Service

FortFS has a very good customer service that could be contacted with a ticket system within the client portal, phone, and email. There is also a Telegram channel and social network pages that are well managed. The staff is responsive, you will not wait more than a minute for a response. All responses were good although they may lack depth. No marketing or KYC will be condoned and the approach is purely supportive.

Demo Account

The Demo Account is great and could be opened for any platform and any account type. This will give you insight into the varied trading conditions these accounts provide. Servers on MT5 are the same for Live trading, so you will have the exact conditions. The Demo is time-limited to 90 days but could be easily renewed. The demo opening process is simplified and done through the platform, with most of the fields automatically filled in. The trader can select the account type, leverage, funds amount and so on.

Countries Accepted

We have a direct answer form the staff that only clients from the United States are not allowed for FortFS services.

Conclusion

Some additional information to this FortFS review that is important for investors. FortFS location cannot be determined and shares the common Belize location with many other off-shore brokers, some of which have scam reputation. FortFS does not give that impression at all, and most of the trust comes from their hard-to-achieve level of service and solid user ratings. Some of the bad ratings could come from traders that do not respect the bonus rules or use other prohibited techniques like quotes delay arbitrage and so on. Most of these traders are also attracted to the leverage, bonuses and other promotions that can be abused.

One of the additional services is the S.T.A.R – Short Term Assets Revenue, an investment service that allows investors to select their investment manager according to their criteria. This service makes this broker one of the most complete in the unregulated class, yet the regulation would surely cut most of the great benefits. As their staff responded to us, the license application in Belize was not completed even they had met all of the requirements. For investors, it is simple, all these benefits come with a certain risk that may be acceptable if good Money Management is applied.

NAGA is a broker-exchange-social trading hybrid, an innovative FinTech company that is versatile in services and options available to the client. In was found in 2015 and had exceptional growth and expansion to new markets. The company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2017, one of the best performing IPOs for that year. Later on, NAGA issued its ICO that was widely supported beyond expectations.

Along with the NAGA coin (NGC), a wallet was introduced supporting major crypto and all ERC-20 Standard tokens (Ethereum blockchain tokens) and adding direct transfer between users method by email. Realizing additional complementary products would bring additional value to users, NAGA launched their exchange- NAGAX which supported major crypto and fiat and had good transaction processing capacity.

In 2019, NAGA continues to add more related products, options, and services by delivering IBAN SEPA account and MasterCard. In terms of regulation, the NAGA Group of companies has a few locations and applicable regulatory bodies. Therefore, NAGA Capital Ltd which owns the NAGA website is located in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and where most traders are interested – NAGA Markets Ltd is regulated by CySEC. NAGA’s website is in friendly and calming colors, nicely selected for a social trading platform. It is very well designed with a smart mix of marketing and substantial information.

The presentation of services is professional, with many to the point features that users will find interesting and appealing. While all this could be flashy, the final verdict comes from the users and their ratings. NAGA has a very good standing on major independent benchmark sites, to the point some fake negative campaigns are launched by the competition. This NAGA review will provide you information to what is so great about this multidisciplinary broker and is it the right choice for your trading.

Account Types

NAGA does not differentiate by account types but with many features. The account registration process will ask about your trading experience, Beginner, Advanced or Professional. This is probably to set the number of visible tools so users do not get aversed by the first look. To get familiar with the account, NAGA made a tour with key features. NAGA states that there are over 500 assets to trade in 6 categories – stocks, currencies, commodities, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.

Copytrading is one of the main selling points of NAGA, also one of the most unique types in the industry, with bonuses for traders being copied and the CYBO AI which can be used to automate copying best traders. Whatsmore, the NAGA account can be funded with fiat by card or bank transfers or with cryptocurrencies. Users will have no limits for withdrawals as stated. The demo account created will have 2500 EUR virtual funds, with the possibility to upgrade to Live with full access to tools and features.

NAGA also has trader classification to retail and professional traders, with familiar requirements as per new leverage policies. These are as follows:

“Make an average of 10 significantly sized transactions per quarter over the last four quarters.“

“Have a financial instrument portfolio, including cash deposits, exceeding €500,000 or currency equivalent.”

“Work experience in a professional position in the financial sector requiring knowledge of the transactions or services envisaged for at least 1+ year(s).”

If traders meet 2 of these criteria, they can apply for a professional account.

Currencies we have seen available for the account are USD, EUR, GBP, PLN, Bitcoin, Binance Coin, Ehthereum, and NAGA Coin. A swap-free account is available but the swap-free period is 10 days for each trade. After 10 days, normal swaps will apply.

Platforms

NAGA does not promote MetaTrader 4 or 5 platforms on their website and one can wonder if they are supported at all. Adding a new account will give you all the options and we can confirm that MT5 is not supported at the moment of this review, although the MT5 account exists. NAGA is currently preparing for the MT5 release. MT4 is available as a desktop version only, for Mac and Windows, NAGA has its Web and mobile devices platform versions running on Android and iOS.

The MT4 platform has 3 severs, US, Newyork, and Dublin with the ping rage of 140ms to 165ms for Dublin, even though Dublin was the closest to our position. Everything is set to defaults, showing default 4 major currency pair charts with One-Click trading buttons visible. The client is updated to the latest version showing the NAGA address in Limassol, Cyprus, and the nagamarkets.eu domain. There are no additional custom templates or indicators to the default installation.

Trading instruments Symbols list is organized into many groups, with additional contract sizes info but the listing is showing many single asset groups that should have been inside one already made. The instrument specification widow is showing enough information to understand the trading environment. The terminal window is showing all the trading costs and the execution times were around 250ms, which is acceptable but many other brokers provide faster times. There are some deviations in the execution times of up to 1.2 sec. This shows that NAGA servers are loaded as they must support so many features and services from NAGA. Some traders that rely on scalping or other fast trading strategies, may notice slippage or even see this kind of lag unacceptable.

NAGA Account area dashboard represents their trading platform concept. The idea is to have all the NAGA features on the top bar menu for ease of use. The menu contains Feed, Blog, Markets, My Trades, Top Traders, Auto Invest, Academy, Messenger, and Crypto-Wallet.

The Feed section resembles a popular social network interface with the news slide bulletin and posts form other traders right below. To the right are side-panels with Top Leaders and Top Wins performance meter that can be set to Daily, Weekly, and Monthly timeframe. Real-time trader’s activity window and the Top and Lowest performing companies list are right below. The left side-panel shows your status, deposit/withdrawal management links and a link to NAGA’s card.

Right below is the NAGA Academy webinars schedule and description. The webinars are plenty and in different languages such as Hungarian, Spanish, Polish and English. They are updated and fresh every day with topics like “Global Macro Updates”, “Weekly Wrap Up” and “Week Ahead Outlook”. The description and the mentor are presented on-click with the ability to register. The Academy section material is divided into Tutorials, Videos, and Webinars.

The blog section is arranged in block topics with pictures and updated daily. The content sometimes has 15 min videos with additional text about the markets. The quality is mostly short descriptions about what is going on currently without any depth or special dedication to analysis. Next to the content is the panel with all the mentioned symbols giving you the ability to jump to see the market chart.

Markets tab is the market overview of tradeable instruments. To the left is the list of all the categories. The instruments list features a mini-chart with the price levels and their percentage changes for that day. Besides each, there is an option to set a price alert which also can be set to percentage change. Clicking on an instrument will open a chart by TradingView will all the tools and indicators available from this charting service. The Feed part will give traders more info about the instrument, sentiment, and latest feed on trades.

My Trades represent all of the trader’s active positions, pending orders and closed trades history. Each trade has information similar to the MT4 but also percentage ROI, Taxes amount and a visual presentation of Stop Loss and Take profit levels relevant to the current price. The execution times can sometimes be above 1 second. This kind of trading is definitely not an option for fast pace trading.

Top Traders panel will give you more selection tools for picking the right trader to copy. Here you can select filters on the type of performance measurement, period, location and specific trader connections with you.

Auto Invest is NAGA’s range of managed trading solutions. NAGA Portfolios are ready-made solutions that are classified according to the risk and investing period. There are 3 risk levels, Conservative, Moderate and Growth. The portfolios are industry-specific but can also be, for example, a copy of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway investment portfolio. The portfolios are well designed with information on what is their content.

Auto Copy is a classic copy trading service that is one of the NAGA’s core business. This section will provide you with all the traders you have copied with additional info on the performance.

CYBO is NAGA’s automated trading AI. It will do the trading and copy trading for you according to set parameters. The actual performance cannot be verified. The video for this product will describe the outlines with a mix of good marketing, but we could not find information on what principles the AI works. CYBO requires a minimum deposit of 1000USD to activate, there is no demo.

2% per annum Interest CFD is an additional benefit that is available from $100. This is a CFD that will provide you with global interest differentiation trading by NAGA technology just by investing.

NAGA Messenger is a messaging service with the ability to follow public channels in addition to chatting with other NAGA users.

Crypto-wallet supports Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, BNB, DASH, Litecoin, NAGA Coin and Ripple. In addition to these, ERC 20 Tokens address is also provided. Users can Buy, Sell, Receive, and send digital assets to the exchange, email or wallet addresses.

Leverage

The leverage is standard for the brokers regulated by MiFID and as per ESMA to 1:30 maximum and 1:200 for professional clients. NAGA has different leverage for certain assets. These are the margin requirements/leverage provided:

• Forex = Major 3.33% (1:30), minor exotic 5% (1:20),
• Crypto=100% (1:1)
• Indices= 5% (1:20) major, 10% minor (1:10)
• Stocks= 20% (1:5)
• Commodities=Gold 5% (1:20), other 10% (1:10)
• Futures= commodities 10% (1:10), major indices 5% (1:20), other 10% (1:10)
• ETFs=(1:5) 20%

Trade Sizes

NAGA is a micro-lot broker, the minimum trade volume size is 0.01 lots. The volume step is also 0.01 lots while the maximum is 50 lots. All Forex pairs have 20 points Stops level, meaning any Stop Loss or Take profit have to be 2 pips above the price spread range. For Indexes, the minimum trade size volume is 0.1 lots and with 100 lots maximum per trade, with an exception of Nikkei 225 with 1 lot minimum trade size.

Spot Gold and Silver have micro-lot minimum trade sizes and 200 lots maximum. Stop levels for precious metals are also set to 10 points. These levels are the same for Oil assets, and for Cryptocurrencies, the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots for all except Ripple and IOTA, without any Stops level. Ripple has a reasonably higher minimum trade size set to 14 lots and 280 lots maximum. IOTA has a minimum of 6 lots and 60 maximum.

NAGA Margin Call will be triggered if the margin level drops below 100%. Your trades will start closing at the 50% Stop Out, starting with the most unprofitable one.

Trading Costs

NAGA does not charge commissions except for Stock CFDs where the commission is 0.2% and ETFs – 0.1%. Swaps are under normal levels with occasional positive values for strong currencies, calculated in points and tripled on Wednesdays. For the most traded Forex currency pair, EUR/USD the swap is -10.14 points long and 5.13 for short position.

The swaps are mostly single digit for the majors, higher swaps are noted with the AUD/EUR at -16.76 points long and 5.08 short, GBP/NZD -13.74 long and -1.08 points short, EUR/NZD -17.99 points long, 5.29 short, and EUR/CAD with -11.99 points for long and 4.15 for short position.

Higher swaps are expected with the more exotic pairs, for example, EUR/HUF -24.90 long, -18.12 short, EUR/SEK -65.59 long, -74.30 short. The highest swaps are for EUR/TRY at -531.34 for long and 270.05 points for short, USD/MXN at -508.81 long and 169.78 short, or for GBP/ZAR with -531.69 long position swap and 199.72 points for short.

For stocks and Indexes, the swaps are low while for Crypto they are calculated in percentages and tripled on Fridays. For long crypto long overnight position, -25% per annum is charged while for short is 20%.

Copy-trading fees exist and they are €0,50 for up to €5 trade result or for trade results above €5 the fee is €0,50 plus 5%.

NAGA has introduced an inactivity fee lately, as of 10/10/2019, a Fee of 50 EUR applies to all inactive accounts for 3 months.

Assets

NAGA is packed with assets and the list officially on the website is not complete as we have observed more assets in the MT4 platform. For example, USD/CNH exists in the MT4 and is fully tradeable while the web list does not show this pair. Forex has a total of 48 currency pairs in MT4 with all the majors and exotics crossed with GBP, EUR, and USD. So traders can find EUR/PLN but also USD/PLN or EUR/TRY and USD/TRY, or GBP/ZAR and USD/ZAR. The exotics not mentioned are MXN with USD and EUR as a base currency, Scandinavian currencies, HUF, CNH, CZK, HKD, and SGD. This Forex range is above average in the industry.

Indexes are available as futures and as Cash indexes. There is a total of 11 as Cash and 14 as Futures. All major Indices are present and others that are not common are SUI 20, N25, IBEX 35, while in the futures part traders can also find WGI 20, Hungarian Futures Index, and Italian 40 Futures Index.

Commodities category is not as good as the rest but still present in the futures class. Both Oil types are present – Crude and UK Brent, while the rest of commodities are futures contracts. These are Coffee, Copper, Wheat, Soybeans, Natural Gas and Corn. Note that these do not have standard 24h trading sessions but from 2:05–14:45–15:35 -20:00, Monday to Friday.

Precious metals are the weakest offer as only Gold and Silver are listed.

Stocks range Is great with recorded 682 companies. They are categorized by country so traders can find companies from the UK, US, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and Portugal. The range is extended to the point it is one of the best offers in the industry.

ETFs are also present with 17 tradeable in the MT4 platform. They are able for trading after 15:30 until 22:00. The bulk of the offer is country index ETFs, but also other types ETFs for diversification like Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, Powershares QQQ ETF, Ishares Dow Jones Us Real Estate ETF and so on.

Cryptocurrencies are one of the NAGA’s trademark. Yet, there are 15 digital assets listed in MT4 but the range is extended because of the addition of EUR quote currency. All of them are popular and apart from the ones with the biggest market cap like Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are alternatives. Crypto traders will also find IOTA, NEO, EOS, Tron, ZCash, DASH, and Monero. Cryptos also quoted in EUR are Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.

NAGA also has a unique asset that is providing you interest and is not a trading asset per se. In MT4 this asset is called NAGA Interest CFD. Buying 1 lot, which is the minimum, will require €102.79 and will provide you with a 2% interest for holding. This interest will be credited daily.

Spreads

NAGA has floating type spreads for all asset categories. They are not marketed “from” but on average for each asset. Spread are not the best but are acceptable. For Forex, the most liquid pair, EUR/USD has a spread of 11 points. Others are not far off, for example, USD/CAD 14 points, EUR/GBP 15 points, AUD/USD 13 points, GBP/JPY 15 points and so on. Some are above 2 pips like GBP/CHF 28 points, EUR/AUD 21 points, AUD/NZD 36 points, GBP/CAD 39 points and similar.

The more exotic pairs have high spreads as expected, for example, USD/CNH has 170 points, USD/MXN 510 points, USD/HUF 181 points, USD/NOK 202 points, and the highest spread is for USD/ZAR at 3361 points.

Spot Gold and Silver spreads are very good, both averaging 25 pips. Oil spreads are similar, with 22 points for both types.

Crypto spreads are acceptable and they are available for trading during the weekend. For BTC/USD the spread is like fixed to $50 or 5000 points for 1 lot/coin. Ethereum has 371 points spread and Ripple 1146 points – probably the least attractive spread comparing to the other crypto. Generally, the spread is about 10% of the price of other, non-major coins.

Minimum Deposit

NAGA does not require the minimum deposit for trading but some services like CYBO Automation will require at least $1000. NAGA Portfolio investments will require a certain amount of investment and each has the minimum stated. For example, “No fear of bear” ready-made portfolio has a $3700 minimum investment requirement, mid-risk Warren Buffet’s Portfolio requires $1700, “Crypto” portfolio requires just $200, etc.

Deposit Methods & Costs

NAGA has a great range of possible deposit channels. Deposits are available by Wire Transfer, cards, cryptocurrency, and Alternative Payment options like Neteller, Skrill, and GiroPay that have a maximum of $1-5k. Additionally, the NAGA Card and Trustly can be used. There are no costs charged by NAGA for deposits. There is a minimum amount needed for some methods. $5 is needed for cards and Alternative Payments. Bank transfers require at least $15 or equivalent.

Crypto supported for deposits are NAGA Coin, BTC, ETH, BCH, BNB, DASH, Litecoin, and Ripple. To us, only NAGA Coin was available for MT4 and Bitcoin, Ethereum and NAGA Coin for MT5 live account.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

One of NAGA’s biggest con is the withdrawal fee of $10 or equivalent for all methods. The method available for withdrawal will depend on the client’s residence but in general Credit Card, Bank Account or E-wallets already mentioned in the Deposit Methods section are available. Additional costs may incur by banks or other payment providers.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

NAGA will process the request within 24 hours. Depending on the method the withdrawal can take up to 5 working days.

Bonuses & Promotions

NAGA does not offer classic deposit bonuses. The benefits are based around the copy trading, NAGA’s main selling point, and referrals. Copy Bonus is received for every trade that other users copied from you. Whatsmore, the bonus amount is increased as the total number of copied trades go up. The scheme is presented on the NAGA’s website.
The referral program uses a shareable link to invite traders. Once your friend uses your invite link, verifies the account, deposits $250 (in fiat currency only) and closes at least one trade, a $25 bonus is rewarded.

Educational & Trading Tools

NAGA has all the educational material packed inside the Academy part of its Online trading platform. The Academy has videos, webinars, and tutorials. The content is rich in topics covered and in quality, specific to NAGA as this company offers some unique services. Some marketing is mixed in but the videos will provide value, especially for new traders.

Some of the basics are also present but are not related to trading specifically, like “What is CFD”, “What is a bid-ask spread?”, or “How to manage risks while trading with NAGA”. These videos are very short, superficial and do not give much info on how to set up any strategy. All the tools are already described in the Platforms section as they are integrated by the concept.

Customer Service

NAGA has very well developed customer service. They have regularly updated social network pages. There is the Support center with a search box, FAQ, Chat, and Phone lines available. FAQ sometimes has deal links and offers responses that are not always enough or questions that are not covered, for example about the MT4 or 5 platforms.

The chat service is available from 8:00 AM to 21:00 CET. The staff is responsive, you will not wait for more than 2 minutes. The responses they provide are not always to the full extent and sometimes will not understand what you ask, especially if it is more complicated like the 2% interest credit schedule from the NAGA Save asset. Still, the service is above average and has a very good app that will save your conversations with different agents.

Demo Account

A demo account is easy to open and is a first step towards the Live Account. Traders can open 3 demo accounts with different platforms and currencies. The demo will represent real trading conditions with the associated costs. Note that the MT5 demo account is available but currently NAGA MT5 platform is not available. Demo accounts will be closed after 3 months of inactivity.

Countries Accepted

NAGA will accept all clients from all countries except Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, DemocraticPeople’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, USA, U.S. Minor Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Yemen, Bahamas, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Pakistan, and Panama.

Conclusion

We will provide additional info to this NAGA review that may be of concern. The broker will state that 78.07% of clients lose money, although 64.73% of those clients that lost money lost less than 200 EUR. This means most are probably not experienced or use inadequate risk management. This information is encouraging and we have not seen similar statements with other brokers that have a losing client percentage notification.

The NAGA website looks still in development or needs an update as some pages are missing. NAGA offers some unique services that are well promoted and integrated with their platform, making a rounded experience that traders like. The company uses the social aspect as a key driver of its business model but also adds on to it with many other services and products.

On top, the asset range is great for Forex, Equity, and Crypto traders, but still is not yet at the top when it comes to the execution times. The focus is put on their platforms and this is evident with the lack of the MetaTrader platform promotion. Whatsmore, traders will be surprised that NAGA offers MT5 account but still does not have the platform to use it except theirs.

Another eye-poking drawback is the withdrawal fee that is not presented in a very transparent way. The only way to find about this fee is if you look for it in the FAQ or the legal documents. For this reason, the company suffered a negative review wave by some organized group and drastically reduced NAGA ratings. Before this event, NAGA had a very good score. Finally, we can say that the unique value propositions that NAGA offers to traders are worth to try out, especially knowing that the minimum deposit is extremely low.

GTCM is a forex broker that is situated in Cyprus and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Their aim is to provide the best service they can, however, do not give away a lot of information about themselves. In this review, we will be looking into the services provided to see if they are worth using as your broker.

Account Types

When it comes to accounts, there is a huge selection from GTCM, in fact, there are 7 accounts on offer, 8 if you include the professional account (we won’t be looking at this). Certain aspects such as spreads are not listed on the accounts page so we will be looking into those later in this review, the accounts page simply states features rather than trading conditions.

Basic Account: The basic account requires equity between $200 and $1,999. It comes with free ebooks, free training, a personal account manager, one-click trading and pop up alerts.

Discovery Account: The discovery account requires account equity of $2,000 to $4,999. It comes with a free ebook, free training, a personal account manager, one-click trading and a price discount of 10%.

Silver Account: Required equity increases further for the silver account, you are now required between $5,000 and $9,999. This account gets you a free ebook, free training, a personal account manager, one-click trading, pop up alerts, access to trading central and a 20% price discount.

Gold Account: The gold account requires equity between $10,000 and $14,999. This account comes with a free ebook, free training, a personal account manager, one-click trading, pop up alerts, access to trading central, a 30% price discount and a rollover discount of 17%.

Diamond Account: The diamond account further increases the required equity up to between $15,000 and $29,999. This account comes with a free ebook, free training, a personal account manager, one-click trading, pop up alerts, access to trading central, a 40% price discount and a rollover discount of 20%.

VIP Account: The VIP account required equity now sits at $30,000 and $49,999. This account comes with a free ebook, free training, a personal account manager, one-click trading, pop up alerts, access to trading central, a 50% price discount and a rollover discount of 33%.

VIP+ Account: The VIP+ account is the top-level account, this account requires account equity above $50,000. The account features a free ebook, free training, a personal account manager, one-click trading, pop up alerts, access to trading central, a 60% price discount and a rollover discount of 50%.

Platforms

GTCM use their own mobile and web trading platform instead of an already established platform, let’s take a little look at it:

WebPROfit: GTCM’s WebPROfit platform provides an extensive and user-friendly interface and easily customizable trading environment, as well as tools for enhanced functionality of graphics and sophisticated order management to help traders manage their positions easily and efficiently through their internet browser. With the web version of the PROfit platform, you can trade from anywhere where there is access to the internet without having to download additional plugins.

Some of the main features include instantaneous access from any computer with internet, same account details for all PROfit versions. (Web and Mobile), multilingual environment and, no download required

Leverage

The following list will give you the information regarding leverage, each asset type has different maximum leverages.

• Major Currency Pair: 1:30
• Non-Major Currency Pair: 1:20
• Gold: 1:20
• Other Commodities: 1:10
• ASX 200, CAC40, DAX, Dow Jones, FTSE, Nasdaq, Nikkei, S&P 500: 1:20
• Other Indices: 1:10
• Single Stock CFDs: 1:5
• ETF CFDs: 1:5
• Cryptocurrency CFDs: 1:2
• Protected Positions: 1:20

Major currency pairs refer to EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, EURGBP, EURCHF, EURCAD, EURJPY, GBPJPY, CHFJPY, CADJPY, GBPCHF, GBPCAD, CADCHF.

Trade Sizes

Trading sizes for all accounts start at 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lots. 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 could not locate information on the maximum trade size, however, no matter what it is we would not suggest trading over 50 lots in a single trade as it becomes increasingly harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades quickly and without any slippage the bigger they get.

Trading Costs

We have set out the following table to show the current spreads and commissions for each asset:

The above was taken directly from the GTCM website and was accurate at the time of writing this review.

The following table is relevant to the charges you will receive for holding trades overnight.:

• Currencies: 0.015% of the overnight exposure
• Commodities: 0.015% of the overnight exposure
• Indices: 0.015% of the overnight exposure
• Shares: 0.015% of the overnight exposure
• EFTs: 0.015% of the overnight exposure
• Cryptocurrencies: 2%
• Options: No charge

Assets

The assets at GTCM are broken down into various categories, they are Forex, Shares, Commodities, Indices, Options, Cryptocurrencies and EFTs. The full list of assets, as well as their costs, can be viewed above in the trading costs section of this review.

Spreads

The spreads have been detailed above in the trading costs section of this review.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is set at $200 which gets you the basic account, the more you deposit the higher grade account you will be able to use.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods of deposit are available from GTCM:

Visa / MasterCard, Bank Wire Transfer, PayPal, Maestro, Skrill, Neteller, Klarna, SafeCharge, and Trustly. There is no indication about any fees but there is also no mention of there being no fees so we can not comment on the costs of depositing at this time.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw from GTCM, however, it seems like GTCM has made the withdrawal process as complicated as possible requiring the faxing to withdrawal requests and other documents, this could put off a lot of potential clients who are looking for a streamlined and simple process.

Once again there is no mention of fees and it is important to note that you must withdraw back the amount deposited with a method before using a new one.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

The website states that the back office department will initiate the processing of a request within one business day as long as all the appropriate paperwork and requirements are met. The time it takes after this will depend on the method used, e-wallets generally take up to 15 minutes to receive the funds while bank transfers and card withdrawals can take between 1 to 5 working days for the funds to be available in your account.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is only one promotion active, this is that your first 10 trades are protected, meaning if they lose you get your money back, there are of course restrictions as you can not just bet your entire balance and get a refund if it loses.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational stuff provided by GTCM is pretty basic to say the least, there is an ebook we mentioned in the accounts section, however, we have no access to it so can not comment on its usefulness. There is also some market analysis but we waited a bit for the page to load, it never did. There is the standard economic calendar to tell you when any news events are coming up and which markets they may effect along with some very basic analysis which you can find all over the internet anyway.

Customer Service

The customer services team is accessible in a number of different ways. You can use the online submission form to fill out your query, you should then get a reply via email. Should you wish to email directly there are email addresses for the customer service and technical support departments.

You can also contact GTCM via telephone, plenty of numbers available for the office, customer support, and brokerage department. The phone lines are open between 07:00 and 21:00 GMT. Finally, there is a WhatsApp number available and this support is open from 08:30 to 19:00 GMT.

Demo Account

There is no demo account available with GTCM, which is a shame as a demo account gives new clients the chance to test out the trading environment and servers, it also allows current clients to test out new strategies without risking their own capital, GTCM should work on making demo accounts available.

Countries Accepted

There isn’t any specific information regarding which countries can use the service, however as GTCM is regulated by CySEC the usual countries will be excluded from them. If you are not sure whether you are eligible for an account or not, get in contact with the customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

GTCM has plenty to offer when it comes to accounts, however, there isn’t a real different between them, plenty of assets including the growth in popularity cryptocurrencies is a good sign. Things get a little shaky when it comes to the information provided for deposits and withdrawals, as this is a company that will be holding on to our money, we would want more solid information, not to mention how difficult it seems they are making withdrawals, not many people have a fax machine anymore.

We hope you like this GTCM review. If you did, please be sure to check out some of the other reviews here atForex Academy to help find the broker that is right for you.

FXLift is an international broker that is based in Bermuda. Their website states that they are committed to providing the highest standard of service with full transparency to its clients. In this review, we will be looking into the service being offered in order to find out if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are three different accounts to choose from when signing up with FLLift, each one has different features and requirements to open.

Standard Account: The standard account is the entry-level account and so there is no minimum deposit requirement. The account has an average spread of 2.5 pips and uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform (MT4). The base currency must be in USD and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots. The account has a maximum leverage of 1:1000 and has an account manager available 25/5.

Gold Account: The gold account has a minimum deposit requirement of $5,000 and with this account, you get an average spread of 2.2 pips. The account also uses MT4 as a trading platform and has the same minimum trade size of 0.01 lots with access to the same account manager and 1:1000 maximum leverage. This account has access to the dealing department hotline.

Platinum Account: The platinum account is the top tier account at FXLift, it requires a much larger $25,000 minimum deposit to open it. This account t has a slightly reduced average spread at 2 pips and uses the same MT4 trading platform along with the same minimum trade sizes, USD base currency and leverage of 1:1000.

Platforms

FXLift offers a singular trading platform in the form of MetaTrader 4 so let’s take a look at what MT4 offers.

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

Leverage on all account has a maximum of 1:1000, this is extremely high and we would not recommend trading more than 1:500 to help with risk management. The leverage can be selected when opening up an account and can be changed by getting in touch with the customer service department.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start at 0.01 lots which are also known as micro-lots, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We could not locate information on the maximum trade size, however, no matter what it is we would not suggest trading over 50 lots in a single trade as it becomes increasingly harder for the markets and liquidity providers to execute trades quickly and without any slippage the bigger they get.

Trading Costs

All three accounts use a spread based system (we will look at that later in this review) and so there is no added commission on any of the accounts. Swap charges are present, they can be both positive or negative and are charged for holding trades overnight, these can be viewed directly within the MT4 trading platform.

Assets

Assets are broken down into a number of different categories. The first listed is Shares, plenty on offer with far too many for us to list, so a few random picks include Alibaba, Amazon, Twitter, Tesco and many many more. Next up is what you expect, forex pairs. There are major pairs, minor pairs and exotic pairs available for trading including EUR/USD, AUD/CAD, and USD/HKD.

Metals are next, the usuals are present in Gold and Silver, there is the addition of Platinum and Palladium, Gold and Silver can be traded against both USD and EUR. Spot Indices and Commodities are up next with quite a few options, there is the GER 30, UK 100 and Brent Crude all available to trade. Futures are available in the form of UK Oil, US Oil, and Wheat, plus a few others. Finally, there are cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.

Spreads

The spreads are dependant on a couple of different aspects, the account that you are using and also the instrument that you are trading. All spreads are variable (floating) which means they move with the markets. The more volatile the markets are the bigger the spreads will be.

The different account has different spreads also, the higher tier accounts are slightly reduced, If we look at AUD/USD, the standard account starts ar 1.5 pips, the Gold account 1.4 pips and the platinum account 0.8 pips. Different instruments also have different natural spreads so while AUD/USD may be 1.5 pips on the standard account, AUD/CAD has a starting spread of 6.2 pips.

Minimum Deposit

There is no set minimum deposit required to open an account, If you want a more advanced account than the standard account you will need a minimum deposit of $5,000. Once an account is open, the minimum deposit amounts drop down and you can top up with any amount for future deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are 5 different deposit methods on offer, you can use Credit or Debit card, bank wire transfers, Neteller, Skrill, and China Union. There are no added fees for any of the methods, however, if using bank transfers, be sure to check with your bank to make sure that there are no added fees from them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, however, there are no added fees, we have outlined them below for ease of reading.

• Credit / Debit Card – up to EUR 1.5 per transaction
• Bank Wire – Own bank fees
• Neteller – 2% capped at USD 30, minimum USD 1
• Skrill – 1% capped at USD 10,000
• China Union – CNY 20 per transaction

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There is no real information regarding withdrawal times, so we do not know how quickly they are processed. What we do know is that once it has been processed, credit and debit cards along with bank transfers will normally take between 1 and 5 business days to clear into your account.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is no indication that there are any active promotions, based on this we are assuming that there are none available This does mean that there won’t be in the future though so if you are interested in bonuses to be sure to check back regularly.

Educational & Trading Tools

Not too much when it comes to education and trading tools. There is a basic economic calendar that tells you about any upcoming news events and which markets they may affect. There is also a news section that simply lists news articles from another website. Finally, there is a live currency rates section which simply tells you of the current rates.

Customer Service

There is very little in the way of options for getting in touch with FXLift, in fact, the contacts page contains nothing but a single email address. We tested this email address and after 48 hours are still waiting for a response, although 24 hours of that was on a Sunday so we would not be expecting a reply then. The support is stated as being available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and closes over the weekend with the markets.

Demo Account

You can sign up for a demo account when signing up you get the option to chose the leverage between 1:1 and 1:200, you can also choose the deposit amount from selections between 500 and 5,000,000. There isn’t any additional information such as how long the accounts last or which of the three account types it mimics.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the FXLift website: “FXlift does not offer its services to residents of certain jurisdictions such as USA, Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea.” If you are unsure whether you are eligible for an account or not, be sure to get in contact with eh customer service team to find out.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, the trading conditions offered by FXLift are not desireable, the spreads are incredibly high, especially for the higher tier accounts which require large deposits, it is also unfortunate that there are so few ways to get in contact with the support department. There are plenty of assets available though so you will always be able to find something to trade. Whether that is enough to counter the trading conditions is up to you.

We hope you like this FXlift review. If you did, please be sure to check out some of the other reviews on Forex Academy to help find the broker that is right for you.