Capital Index Review – The Best Forex Broker for Global Traders

Capital Index Review

Capital Index offers a multitude of trading conditions and accounts that people will enjoy. The broker also offers its Islamic account, which of course allows traders to forgo interest due to religious reasons. Capital Index puts the world at your fingertips, giving you the ability to trade global markets.

Capital Index Regulation & Company Information

Capital Index operates multiple companies around the world. The Capital Index (Cyprus) Limited branch is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, while the Capital Index (UK) Limited is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom. Beyond that, there is also Capital Index Pty Limited, a subsidiary of the Cyprus branch that operates in Australia and is registered with ASIC. All of these entities form the Capital Index group and offer essentially the same products and trading conditions.

Because of this, the company is highly regulated around the world and of course is required to adhere to safety of funds principles by the perspective regulatory bodies.

Trading accounts

Capital Index offers three main account types including: Islamic, Advanced, and Pro. The Islamic account is suitable for traders looking to forgo interest. The Advanced account is more targeted at the average trader, who isn’t looking to trade high-volume, but is looking for variable spreads. For the professional trader, the Pro account offers tight variable spreads, but spread betting is not allowed. Capital Index offers Forex, indices, commodities, bonds, metals, in the CFD and spread betting situations.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

Capital Index requires at least an initial deposit of £/$100 to open a live account. Compared to many other brokers, it offers the lowest barrier to entry. Capital Index allows deposits via debit/credit card, wire, bank transfer and Skrill.

Spreads and commissions

Capital Index offers both fixed and variable spreads. The fixed spreads in the Classic commission free accounts amount to two pips on EUR/USD. Variable spreads are available on the upper tier accounts, amount to roughly 0.9 pips on the EUR/USD pair, but also involves commission charges of $3.50 per lot per side.

Maximum leverage

Capital Index offers leverage up to 1:30, which is low for most brokers. There are brokers out there that offer more leverage, but quite frankly high leverage levels are a bit dangerous. Obviously, you can make large profits on a small deposit, but the exact opposite is also true.

Trading platforms

Capital Index offers MetaTrader 4, which should be known by most traders. This allows you to automate your trading by using Expert Advisors, it’s a lot a robotic algorithm do its thing. There are a wealth of technical indicators, a strong back testing environment, and the charting package which is second to none.

Extras

Capital Index has a significant offering of extras, including strong analysis and educational areas. There is a glossary, a “learning to trade” section, and a large news and in the analysis situation. They even have the “idea of the day” that is quite popular. Ultimately, this is a broker that is highly regulated and gives you the ability to trade the world, something you’ll enjoy.

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Darwinex Review – A Must Read Before Trading

Darwinex Review

Darwinex is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to brokers, because it is not only a brokerage, but it is also a social trading platform. This gives you the ability to open up a couple of different opportunities. There is only one account type itself, the standard account which simplifies things, and gives you the ability to either trade as per usual or follow others.

Darwinex minimum deposit

The minimum initial deposit to open up an account is $500, which is reasonable, especially considering the advanced social trading options offered by this broker. However, the social trading aspect of this broker may be one of its biggest downfalls, because quite frankly social trading platforms can lead to reliance on others who may not necessarily have much in the way of trading skill.

Trading accounts

As mentioned previously, there is only one type of account, it is the standard account. It offers a variable spread, averaging just 0.2 pips for the EUR/USD pair. You can trade micro lots, giving you the flexibility to place trades based upon your risk management profile. Beyond that, commission charges are based upon 0.0025% of the nominal value traded per lot side. This gives you the ability to save a significant amount of money in commission fees and charges.

The company

Darwinex was set up in 2012, but it didn’t start operations until 2014. It is both a broker and operator of an advanced financial technology social investment platform all regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom. It offers trading in more than 30 currency pairs, as well as several CFD indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. The holding company is Tradeslide Trading Tech Limited, authorized and regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom as well. Because of this, it must observe the most stringent of rules.

The company used to be an introducing broker for FXCM but terminated its relationship after the broker lost its license in America. It says it intends to find another US partner to serve as an IB.

Trading conditions

Average spreads and commissions

Darwinex offers some of the tightest spreads in the industry, averaging just 0.2 pips on EUR/USD. Even if you add the commission of five dollars per standard lot round-trip, the average trading cost for this pair would be 0.7 pips, which is very competitive. It’s closest competitor, eToro, offers a fixed spread of three pips on EUR/USD, which is significantly higher.

Leverage

Maximum leverage is 1:200, which is considered to be standard overall. There are brokers that offer more, but quite frankly at that point you are playing a dangerous game. Remember, the high leverage can significantly increase wins, but it can also do the same with losing trades.

Trading platform

Darwinex offers both the MetaTrader 4 and the MetaTrader 5 platforms. They also offer an investor platform, which is a form of signal copying software. What’s interesting about this scenario is that traders don’t control investors’ money directly, they simply send their intellectual property to Darwinex, for a 20% referral fee. The platform automatically picks the most stable trades and strategies to submit to investors.

Methods of deposit

Bank wire transactions, credit/debit cards, and online paying options such as China Union and Neteller are available.

Extras

Darwinex has a plethora of videos and webinars for educational purposes. Perhaps not the strongest of educational sections, but it certainly offers enough to get you started. This is of course all redundant if you are simply looking to follow someone else’s strategy.

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FXOpen Review: A Must Read Before You Trade

FXOpen Review

FXOpen has been around for some time and is well known. The brokerage firm has been used by thousands of traders around the world and has a long history of fulfilling order flow.

FXOpen Regulation and Company Information

FXOpen is a global broker, regulated in the United Kingdom and Australia. It started as an educational center bank in 2003, and has since launched brokerage services, starting that end of the business in2005. They offer services and trading financial markets in both retail and institutional investors.

FXOpen is a registered business authorized by the FCA, the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, but it also has a sister company in Australia, FXOpen AU Pty Ltd., Which is licensed by the ASIC. This ensures security of funds, as the clients of the UK broker will be automatically covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which pays compensation up to a maximum of £50,000 per regulated entity.

FXOpen ECN accounts and other trading accounts

FXOpen offers four basic account types, all of which also offer micro lots to trade. Clients are able to use either market or instant execution, as well as commission free trading or ECN execution with spreads plus commission. Beyond that, Islamic accounts are also possible, and micro accounts can also be had. Beyond that, they also offer a Crypto accounts.

FXOpen Offers and Trading conditions

Initial deposit

You can start trading at FXOpen with as little as one dollar, which of course is attractive because it gives you the ability to test out life conditions with no real danger. However, to take advantage of the ECN condition, you need to deposit at least $100.

Spreads and commissions

As they offer floating spreads, this can vary depending on liquidity. Typically on the commission free STP account, you will see spreads at roughly 1.6 pips on EUR/USD which is slightly above average. Spreads on the ECN account start from 0.2 pips on the EUR/USD, but are typically closer to 0.5 pips, and a commission of five dollars per lot, per side. Because of this, it makes the average cost of trading per lot on the EUR/USD pair approximately 1.5 pips, which is slightly higher than usual for these types of accounts. Commission discounts are available to high-volume traders and those with equity above $1000.

Leverage

FXOpen offers leverage up to 1:500, which is relatively high compared to many other FCA regulated brokers. This being the case, caution is advised when it comes to this type of leverage, as it can get you into trouble rather quickly.

Trading platforms

FXOpen offers both the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms, which many of you should be used to. It gives you the ability to use Expert Advisors, back testing, a host of advanced charting features, and of course indicators. It also comes with web and mobile versions of these platforms.

Methods of deposit

FXOpen will accept a huge range of payment methods, including credit/debit cards, bank wire, WebMoney, Skrill, Neteller, Payza, OKPAY, China Union, and both Bitcoin and Ethereum deposits. There are also some other methods as well. Because of this, money going back and forth will never be an issue.

Extras

This broker offers market analysis, trading tools, the ability to copy other traders, and a few others. As far as the educational aspect of this broker is concerned, it is a bit like to say the least. However, if you’re not looking for those types of extras it could very well work for you.

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HYCM Review – Deposit, withdrawal, regulation and trading conditions

HYCM Review – Best UK Regulated forex brokers Review

HYCM minimun deposit

To open up an account with Henyep, you can begin trading with as little as $100. In fact, you can use either the Fixed or Classic accounts with just the initial $100 deposit. To get a Raw account, you need to open up with $200.

Henyep allows deposits through bank wire, Visa, Neteller, Skrill, Mastercard, and WebMoney. There are no fees to deposit, or withdrawal. However, it should be noted that bank wires need to be at least $250. The other deposit methods can be as little as $20.

HYCM Account types

Henyep offers three different account types, all offering the opportunity to trade in micro lots. There is the Fixed account, the Classic account, and the Raw account. There are also Islamic swap free accounts available as well.
Trading conditions and deposits

Spreads and commissions

The Fixed account offers fixed spreads, with spreads being as low as 1.8 pips. The minimum trade volume is 0.01 lots, allowing for micro lot trading. The Classic account offers variable spreads, with spreads on currency pairs as low as 1.2 pips, and the ability to also trade micro lots. Beyond that, there is the Raw account, which offers the tightest spreads, but charges a commission of four dollars per lot. It also allows you to trade micro lots.

Also Read : OANDA broker review

Leverage

Henyep allows 1:200 leverage, which is a reasonable ratio. However, keep in mind that there are brokers out there that offer much more, but understand that leverage isn’t necessarily a good thing if you don’t know how to use it properly. While it does allow you to multiply the profits on a small account, it also allows you to blow up that small account much quicker.

Security of funds and company information

Henyep has been in the trading business since 1977, making it one of the oldest brokers that you will run across. It is also highly regulated, from its initial days at the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Exchange Society, to the year 1998, when it got its FCA license and the United Kingdom. Since then, it has gone on to be regulated in Cyprus as well.

Range of markets

Henyep offers a wide range of financial instruments to trade, including Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, and Cryptocurrencies. The Forex pairs that they offer include all of the usual suspects such as the Euro, but also offers such exotics as the Indian rupee. The stock offerings are a bit slim, but they do allow you to trade the CFDs on companies such as Facebook and Google. It should also be noted that stocks trade with leverage rated at 1:20. The indices include US and British ones, while the Crypto markets include the four most popular coins. Gold and silver are both offered in the US dollar and Euro denominations. All of these are available on Metatrader 4.

Added values

Henyep offers some of the usual Forex trading tools such as economic calendars and market opinion, as well as a knowledge base and the occasional webinar for their online classroom.

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OANDA Broker Review – Pros, Cons and Verdict

Oanda Broker Review

Is Oanda a good broker? Oanda is one of the pioneers of online Forex trading. The brokerage only offers two standard client accounts, which is extraordinarily flexible. Oanda has been around since 1996, and now features several offices around the world, one of the biggest online brokerages for both institutional and retail traders.

Oanda Forex Trading accounts

As mentioned previously, Oanda only offers two types of accounts, the standard account and the premium one. These account features 1:50 maximum leverage, or 1:100 maximum leverage in the European Union or Australia, due to some restrictive legislation. The premium one is simply a tighter spread with low commissions. The broker is a market maker, so be aware that they are on the other side of the trade. However, they are also heavily regulated and therefore are audited routinely.

Oanda company information and safety of funds

Oanda is one of the pioneers of online FX trading. Established in 1996 and now has offices in Toronto, San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney. All of the group companies are duly regulated by the relevant authorities in the United States, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia. The company has offered Internet-based Forex trading for both retail and institutional customers. Its portfolio includes FX, index, commodity, and bond see if these, as well as precious metals.

Oanda is registered with both the CFTC and NFA, both of which are extensive with their set of rules. This is part of the reason why the leverage at Oanda is a bit lower than most other places, and hedging isn’t allowed in some countries. When a company is NFA registered, they are required to have net capital of at least $20 million to guarantee customers positions, which makes them amongst the safest brokers in the world.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

Oanda has no minimum deposit requirement for opening an account, but obviously you need to have trading capital in the account to place a trade. You can trade for pennies as opposed to having a minimum investment of something like $250 like many other brokers, so this opens up the world to many other traders it wouldn’t necessarily have the opportunity, and also allows you to trade with real money in a low risk situation.

Spreads and commissions

The spreads are variable at Oanda, with the average spread on the EUR/USD pair being 1.4 pips. There are no commissions, as it is simply a situation where the broker gets paid in the spread, as is one of the oldest business practices in the Forex world.

Maximum leverage

Oanda offers a maximum leverage of 1:50 on FX products, which is lower than many other places, but being a US regulated company it has two follow these rules. However, one of the biggest killers of retail accounts is the massive amount of leverage that is available, so quite frankly it might not be a bad thing to avoid any way.

Trading platforms

Oanda offers three different trading platforms, including FXTrade, which is its proprietary platform, and MetaTrader4. You will find FXTrade to be robust, but most traders probably use MT4 as they are more than likely familiar with it. The third platform is Protrader, which allows everything that a regular Forex trading platform will do, but also has an algorithmic strategy development tool built into it.

Payment methods

Oanda offers the ability to deposit/withdraw funds from their accounts via debit/credit card, bank wire, checks, PayPal, and UnionPay.

Extras

Oanda has a reasonable amount of extras, including a decent blog with news and analysis, and of course the educational section is pretty good. There are also webinars as you see it most large brokerage firms, and overall Oanda is probably one of the safest brokerage firms to trade within the world.

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XM broker review 2018 by Thediaryofatrader.com

XM Broker Review

XM is one of the most popular brokerages globally, as traders from around the world have used it extensively. The broker offers a wealth of global assets, including Forex, CFD stocks, CFD commodities, CFD indices, CFD metals, and CFD energies. With this, you have the ability to trade multiple markets from one platform, using familiar trading conditions.

XM Trading accounts

XM offers three separate accounts for clients to choose from, this includes: Micro, Standard, and Zero. You can choose commission free trading in both Micro and Standard accounts, or tighter spreads that involve commission fees and higher initial deposit in the Zero account. XM offers extraordinarily high leverage, depending on the market traded, which of course can vary. There are over 700 trading instruments available. Because of this, you can trade the entire world from your platform.

The company

XM is one of the most well-known brokers in the Forex world and is a member of Trading Point Group. It has over 1.5 million clients from 196 countries. They have executed over 1.4 billion trades during their tenure. In business since 2009, the market has continually progressed and expanded as traders learned about it. The company has received several awards for its efforts, not only as a Forex broker, but also for its achievements involving its clients and employees. XM is heavily regulated as any respectable brokerage firm is. They are currently regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom, CySec in the European Union, and ASIC in Australia. They are also registered in several different countries beyond that. Because of this, there is plenty of regulation backing them up.

The state quite openly who they do business with, doing a large portion of their investment grade banking with Barclays Bank PLC, and many other companies who are regulated by some of the largest names in the financial world, such as the German and Dutch central banks. Beyond that, they also provide retail clients with additional protection through the Investor Compensation Fund, giving them recourse in the case of XM going insolvent.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

The initial deposit needed to open an account with XM is just five dollars. This is extraordinarily low, as many brokerages around the world will require at least $100 as the absolute minimum. Obviously, nobody is going to get rich trading with that small amount of money, but it does give you the ability to open up a Micro account and get a feel for how the platform reacts.

Spreads and commissions

XM offers variable spreads, with the commission free accounts averaging 1.7 pips on some of the most liquid major pairs. The Zero account has better trading conditions but charges a commission of $3.50 per standard lot traded, per side. So if you think that you’re going to be trading large amounts of transactions, perhaps the Zero account would be what you’re looking for. You can open up a Zero account with as little as $100.

Leverage

if you’re looking for leverage, XM offers plenty. The leverage can be anywhere from 1:1 to 1:888. This allows the small trader to handle larger amounts of money, but also increases the risk in trading, so by all means be careful. This is completely customizable, so XM is willing to facilitate whatever needs you have.

Trading platforms

XM offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as their main platforms. The platforms allow expert advisors, sometimes referred to as “trading robots”, to be added to your trading arsenal, giving you an opportunity to take advantage of algorithmic trading. Most of you should be familiar with these platforms, but if you are not, you will find that they are preferred by most traders around the world with good reason. These are available in a total of 16 different variations, allowing Apple and Windows users alike to take advantage, as well as iPhone and Android users.

Extras

XM offers video tutorials, economic calendars, signals, technical analysis, stock market news, webinars, and special reports. As far as extras are concerned, if you are looking for those XM has them in spades. This is a great brokerage for that reason alone. The large amount of clients also suggests that they have had plenty of happy customers over the years.

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Saxo Bank Review 2018 – What Can You Expect

Saxo Bank Review

For those of you looking to trade with a real bank, this could be the broker. Saxo Bank is known around the world and has operated as both a broker and a market maker. However, there is somewhat of a high bar to entry.

Saxo Broker Regulation and Company Information

Trading accounts

Essentially, there are two different account options. There is the all-inclusive price plan, which offer spreads of 2.0 pips on EUR/USD in a fixed spread environment. There is also the volume price plan, which offers an average of 0.5 pips as a spread, plus a commission anywhere from two dollars to six dollars per side.

The company

Saxo Bank established its trading brokerage in Copenhagen during 1992. It serves both retail and institutional clients, offering trading in more than 30,000 instruments including currency, binary options, contract for difference, stocks, futures, and bonds through its in-house SaxoTrader platform. Beyond offering trading, is a fully licensed bank in Denmark and several other countries. It has offices in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, South America, and South Africa.

It is regulated in a multitude of countries including the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, UAE, Switzerland, France, Australia, Singapore, and several others. Because of this, safety of funds isn’t even a thought.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

This is where Saxo will lose some people. In order to open up an account with Saxo Bank, you need to deposit at least $10,000, or £6500 UK residents. That’s a very high minimum to overcome, as some brokers will allow you to open an account with no deposit. However, your gaining access to a monstrous amount of trading vehicles and have probably what is the most secure market condition a retail trader can find.

Spreads and commissions

Saxo Bank offers both fixed and variable spreads. It’s fixed spread is relatively average, amounting to two pips on EUR/USD, while the variable spread is very tight, being around 0.5 pips in the same pair. However, keep in mind that volume comes into play so the more you trade, the less the commission will be that’s added to variable spreads. Trading conditions can vary greatly, so keep this in mind. If you are a low volume trader, variable spreads will do you any good as it will end up being $12 per round-trip per lot, which is a bit excessive. However, if you are trading over $600 worth of commissions a month, it drops to half of that.

Maximum leverage

Saxo Bank offers maximum leverage of 1:100, which is slightly under the average for most of the EU and UK markets. However though, higher leverage can bring higher problems, so keep that in mind. There are some brokers out there offering as much as 1:1000 in the form of leverage, but that is an invitation to blow up your account.

Trading platforms

In May 2015, SaxoTrader was launched, and Saxo Bank stopped supporting MetaTrader 4 afterwards. Because of this, if you are used to MT4, you will need to learn another platform to trade at Saxo. The platform does allow you to trade from desktop, web, and mobile versions of the platform, and Saxo Bank is very quick to update its software. It has great charting, trading directly from the chart, a wealth of technical indicators, live news, technical analysis tools and indicators, as well as algorithmic trading.

Methods of deposit

Saxo Bank offers its clients the ability to deposit via bank transfer, stock transfer, and credit or debit card payments.

Extras

Saxo offers a wealth of courses, webinars, and tons of market research. There is a morning call, quarterly outlook, and a whole wealth of other ideas. In fact, most of the analysis is freely distributed without the need to even open up an account.

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