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Forex Brokers

Tao Trade Review

Tao Trade is a Greek online foreign exchange broker that is registered and regulated by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission. They claim to offer a comprehensive online trading course, useful market tools, and a personal Account Manager. They also claim to provide access to free education, trading tools, offer a high-class customer service team, multiple accounts, and more. We will be looking deeper into the services on offer to see how they compare to the rest of the very competitive industry.

Account Types

There are a massive 7 accounts available to retail clients, we have outlined their major features below.

Basic Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $200 to $1,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts.

Discovery Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $2,000 to $4,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 10% price discount.

Silver Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $5,000 to $9,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 20% price discount and access to the trading central education center.

Gold Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $10,000 to $14,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 30% price discount, 17% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

Diamond Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $15,000 to $29,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 40% price discount, 20% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

VIP Account: This account requires a minimum deposit between $30,000 to $44,999. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 50% price discount, a 33% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

VIP+ Account: This account requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 or more. It comes with access to a free eBook, training, personal account manager, trading insider, one-click trading, and pop-up alerts. It also has a 60% price discount, a 50% rollover (swap) discount, and access to the trading central education center.

Platforms

The platform on offer is called PROfit, it is available as both a web trader and as a mobile application for your devices. Some of its features include a clear design with an easy-to-use interface, one-click trading orders, on-time trading alerts, real-time quotes, powerful trading tools, easy navigation, a set of charts and daily analysis, and no downloads or installations required for the web trader version.

Leverage

Tao Trade follows the recommendations from the ESMA which state that leverage limits on the opening of a position by a retail client from 30:1 to 2:1, which vary according to the volatility of the underlying:

  • 30:1 for major currency pairs;
  • 20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices;
  • 10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices;
  • 5:1 for individual equities and other reference values;
  • 2:1 for cryptocurrencies

If you are eligible to use a professional account then your leverages change to:

  • 200:1 for major currency pairs;
  • 200:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices;
  • 100:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices;
  • 10:1 for individual equities and other reference values;
  • 10:1 for cryptocurrencies

Trade Sizes

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

Trading Costs

Looking through the site it does not appear that there are any commissions added to the accounts as they use a spread-based system. There are however rollover charges which are charged when holding trades overnight and they are 0.015% for all assets except for Cryptocurrencies which has a 2% rollover for retail traders and 0.1% for professional traders.

Assets

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

Forex: AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCNY, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURUSD, EURZAR, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, GBPZAR, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNY, USDDKK, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDZAR.

Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash.

Spot Commodities: Aluminum, Cobalt, Gold, Silver, Tine, and Zinc.

Equities: Plenty of equities and shares are available including the likes of Apple, Coca-Cola, eBay, Disney, and Intel.

Indices: ASX 200, CAC 40, DAX, Dow Jones, EURO 50, FANG, FTSE, HANG, JSE, IBEX, MIB 40, Nasdaq, Nifty, Nikkei, OMXH 25, OMXS 30, S&P 500, VIG, and WIG 20.

Commodities: Brent Oil, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Palladium, Platinum, soybean, Sugar, and Wheat.

EFTs: FAS, iShares iBocxx, NIGT, QQQ, SSO, TNA, UCO, UPRO, UVXY and, UWT.

Spreads

Spreads seem to start around 1 pip, the spreads are variable and move with the markets so they will always be changing. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads, so some will naturally be higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $200 which allows you to use the Basic account. We do not know if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The funding information page indicates Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill, however at the bottom of the site there is an image of PayPal, but we are not sure if that method is actually available or not. There isn’t any information on any potential fees but also none to say that there aren’t any, we would always recommend contacting the provider you are using to see if they add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

You can withdraw back to the same method that you used to deposit with. So these are Credit/Debit Card, Bank Wire Transfer, and Skrill, and possible PayPal. Once again there is no mention of any fees but be sure to check with your own bank account or processor for any added fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will be processed by Tao Tarde within 1 business day. It will then take an additional 1 to 5 business days based on the method you use and their own processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There doesn’t appear to be any active promotions or bonuses taking place so if you are thinking of joining and want to know if there are any coming up, you could always contact the customer service team to find out.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different tools available, the first is an economic calendar that details different upcoming and past news events and the potential impact that they can have on the markets. There is a simple page showing the history of forex and a page telling you how to use different charts. Finally, there is also a glossary available which tells you the meaning of different trading-related terms. The account page also mentions a trading central and trading insider but we do not have any information about these.

Customer Service

You can get in contact with the customer service team in a number of different ways and they are available 24 hours a day from Sunday to Friday. You can contact them using the online submission form, phone number, postal address, and various emails for customer services, dealing desk, complaints, and company info.

Address: 4, 28th October Street, Marousi, Greece.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: + 39 068 3464810

Demo Account

We did not notice anything on the site which indicated the demo account so we are not sure if they are available or not. If they aren’t then it is a shame as they allow potential clients to test out the markets or existing clients to practice new strategies without any risk.

Countries Accepted

The following statement can be found on the website: “VIE FINANCE A.E.P.E.Y S.A. does not provide services to the territories of the USA, Canada, Belgium, and Iran.”

Conclusion

The accounts on offer don’t seem to have different trading conditions, just additional account features. We do not know for certain if there are any additional commissions as the accounts use a spread-based system. There are plenty of assets available to trade which is great too. There was a little confusion with the funding methods as PayPal is not mentioned but its image is present on the site. We also do not know if there are any added fees for the depositing or withdrawal of funds.