The Importance Of Trading With A Regulated Forex Broker Such As FXTM
There are far more regulated Forex brokers in the industry than ever before, but the actual credibility of a company depends on how a broker treats its traders. There have been cases where even regulated Forex brokers have purposefully indulged in fraudulent activities to make quick profits. Regardless of all the negative experiences, there are a few Forex brokerages such as FXTM, which aims to create a secure trading environment for retail traders.
ForexTime has several excellent qualities that make it one of the most sought after Forex companies in the industry. Of course, not all trading features guarantee a perfect trading environment, but a majority of the broker’s features are certainly more conducive to trading for most trader requirements. It is not a surprise that FXTM has received the accolade of being the fastest growing broker in recent years, and we will evaluate the service further in this ForexTime review.
FXTM Regulation & Offices
FXTM launched its Forex brokerage in 2011 and has been steadily improving its services over the years. The broker incorporated its first office in Limassol, Cyprus, and has since increased its presence in other European, Asian, African, and American markets. ForexTime is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchanges Commission (CySEC) through its Cyprus office, while the broker is also registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK to offer its services to traders from the UK. CySEC is approved by the European Markets in Financial Instruments Derivatives (MiFID) and has a European Economic Area (EEA) passport to cater to all traders from EU member nations. However, the broker is very specific about its policies that prevent the broker from offering its services to traders from the USA, Japan, and Canada, which contribute to a fair share of traders in the retail market.
FXTM is also regulated by the Financial Services Board (FSB) of South Africa and the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) of Belize, which grants the broker access to the African, Central, & South American markets. The broker has indeed set up its offices in different parts of the world, which signifies their intent on increasing the exposure to attractive markets and for reaching traders at a personal level.
FXTM has been receiving numerous awards from reputed organisations for their dedication towards customer satisfaction and continues to outperform its rivals in all aspects. ForexTime has been voted as the Best Forex Broker in Europe and Africa last year and is a significant step up from being recognised as the fastest-growing Forex broker in the world. European regulation is indeed a vital component of enhancing customer safety, as all funds are protected by investor compensation schemes and segregation of clients’ funds. Overall, ForexTime is a reliable broker for all Forex and CFD traders, mainly due to their strong regulation and global presence.
ForexTime Assets & Leverage
FXTM is a CFD broker, which ensures that traders can choose from a wide variety of instruments from the most traded markets such as Forex, commodities, shares, indices, and ETFs. The trading conditions are largely different for individual markets and are dependent on the specifications of the asset and other market factors. We have provided a list of all financial instruments offered by FXTM below:
Forex: AUDJPY, AUDUSD, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDNZD, AUDSGD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFSGD, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURSEK, EURSGD, GBPNZD, GBPSGD, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDSGD, SGDJPY, USDHKD, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDSGD, CHFNOK, CHFPLN, EURHKD, EURPLN, EURTRY, GBPDKK, GBPHUF, GBPNOK, GBPPLN, GBPSEK, USDCNH, USDCZK, USDHUF, USDMXN, USDPLN, USDTRY, USDZAR
Spot Metals: Silver vs. Euro, Silver vs. US Dollar, Gold vs. Euro, Gold vs. British Pound, Gold vs. US Dollar
Stocks: Altaba Inc, AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP, APPLE, ABBOTT LABORATORIES, ADOBE SYSTEMS, AMERICAN EAGLE, AMERICAN CAPITAL AGENCY, American International Group Inc, APPLIED MATERIALS, AMGEN, Amazon.com Inc, ANADARKO PETROLEUM, ASCENA RETAIL GROUP, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, AVAGO TECHNOLOGIES, American Express Company, ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD, Bank of America, BED BATH & BEYOND, BAKER HUGHES A GE CO, BAIDU, BANK of NEW YORK MELLON, BP, BOSTON SCIENTIFIC, BLACKSTONE GROUP, CITIGROUP, CA, Caterpillar Inc, CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, CELGENE, Citizens Financial Group, Inc., CONTINENTAL RESOURCES, CENTERPOINT ENERGY, CABOT OIL & GAS, CONOCOPHILLIPS, COSTCO WHOLESALE, CISCO, CTRIP.COM INTL, COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTION, CVS CAREMARK, Chevron, CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR, DELTA AIR LINES, DuPont, Walt Disney Company, DOLLAR TREE STORES, THE DOW CHEMICAL, DEVON ENERGY, ELECTRONIC ARTS, eBay Inc, ENDO PHARMACEUTICALS HOLDINGS, ENTERPRISES PRODUCTS PARTNERS, EXPRESS SCRIPTS, ENSCO, ENERGY TRANSFER EQUITY, ENERGY TRANSFER PARTNERS, EXELON, FORD MOTOR, Facebook Inc, Fitbit Inc., FIFTH THIRD BANCORP, FLEXTRONICS INTL, Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., Twenty-First Century Fox , Inc. (A), FIRST SOLAR, General Electric Corporation, GOLDCORP, GILEAD SCIENCES, GOLAR LONG, CORNING, GENERAL MOTORS, Alphabet Inc, GAP, Halliburton Company, HUNTINGTON BANCSHARES, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, HOST HOTELS & RESORTS, HERTZ GLOBAL HOLDINGS, HORIZON PHARMA, Intel Corporation, JETBLUE AIRWAYS, JD.com, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, JUNIPER NETWORKS, JPMorgan Chase & Co, KEYCORP, The Kraft Heinz Company, KINDER MORGAN, Coca-Cola Company, THE KROGER, LendingClub Corporation, LULULEMON ATHLETICA, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES, MACY’S, MATTEL, McDonald’s Corporation, MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC, MEDTRONIC, METLIFE, Altria Group Inc, MOSAIC, MARATHON PETROLEUM, MARKWEST ENERGY PARTNER, Merck & Co Inc, MARATHON OIL, MORGAN STANLEY, Microsoft Corporation, MICRON TECH, MAXIM INTEGRATED PRODUCTS, MYLAN, Navient Corporation, NOBLE, NEWMONT MINING, NETFLIX, NIKE, NATIONAL OILWELL VARCO, NRG ENERGY, NETAPP, NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, NVIDIA, NEWELL RUBBERMAID, NEWS CORP, ON Semiconductor Corp., Oracle Corporation, OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM, PANDORA MEDIA, PLAINS ALL AMERICA PIPELINE, PEOPLES UNITED FINANCIAL, PACCAR, Pfizer Inc, Procter & Gamble Company, POTASH CORP of SASKATCHEW, PATTERSON-UTI ENERGY, PayPal Holdings, Inc., QUALCOMM Inc, Liberty Interactive Corporation, TRANSOCEAN, ROSS STORES, RANGE RESOURCES, Starbucks Corporation, CHARLES SCHWAB, SCHLUMBERGER, Snap Inc., STAPLES, SUNPOWER, STEEL DYNAMICS, SEAGATE TECH, SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, Synchrony Financial, SYMANTEC, AT&T Inc, TerraForm Power, Inc., TESLA MOTORS, TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR, TWITTER Inc, TIME WARNER, UNION PACIFIC, URBAN OUTFITTERS, US BANCORP, Visa Inc, VIACOM INC CL B, VALERO ENERGY, VODAFONE GROUP PLC, VALEANT PHARMACEUTICALS, Verizon Communications Inc, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., Wells Fargo Company, WHOLE FOODS MARKET, WHITING PETROLEUM, THE WILLIAMS COMPANIES, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, WYNN RESORTS, ExxonMobil Corporation, XEROX, YANDEX, ZIONS BANCORP
Commodities: UK Brent (Spot), US Crude (Spot), US Natural Gas (Spot)
Indices: Australia 200, France 40, Germany 30 (Mini), Hong Kong 50, Japan 225, US Tech 100 (Mini), US SPX 500 (Mini), Spain 35, Europe 50, UK 100, Wall Street 30 (Mini), Gold Bullion
Forex trading is a leveraged product, and it is virtually impossible for smaller traders to invest in Forex assets without using margin. Traditionally, Forex brokers offer a maximum leverage of 1:500 for Forex currency pairs, but as far as FXTM leverage is concerned, traders can utilise a maximum leverage of 1:1000 (depending on country of residence & experience) for FX products. Other instruments such as CFDs on shares and indices have a significantly reduced leverage that can barely go past 1:20, but other assets should be able to enjoy leverage of around 1:100, depending on the market.
FXTM Accounts, Bonuses & VIP Programs
FXTM broker has 3 trading account types for customers: Micro, Advantage, and Advantage Plus. Before we move to a detailed explanation of each of them, we should note, that Micro Account is convenient for novice traders, while Advantage and Advantage Plus are oriented towards experienced traders with some knowledge.
Let’s start with Micro Account. Traders who want to open this account need to have at least $50 or equivalent in other currency. Leverage on Micro Account starts ranges between 1:3 – 1:1000 for FX and 1:500 for Metals. Spreads start from 1.5. There are no commissions whatsoever on trading. You can choose between FX, Metals, Commodities, FX Indices, and Stock Baskets. MT4 is the supported platform on Micro Accounts. Maximum number of orders is 30, while pending orders are 100.
For you to open an Advantage Account $500 is necessary. The leverage can be up to 1:2000 and such large leverage is the best for experienced traders, who already have some information. Commissions vary between $0.4 and $2 depending on the volume size. Spreads start from 0. A maximum number of orders are unlimited and pending orders can be up to 300. MT4 and MT5 both are supported.
We should note that Advantage Plus is almost the same, with the difference that spreads start from 1.5 and there are no commission fees on trading.
Unfortunately, FXTM is a regulated broker and is not permitted to offer any bonuses or free money to its clients. FXTM is only authorised to provide a loyalty program that provides bonuses and cash backs with respect to the loyalty points collected by a trader, which means that traders can’t possibly enjoy any bonus on their deposit. We can’t really fault FXTM for their lack of any bonus programs, as almost all regulated Forex brokers don’t have any bonus program for their traders. Nevertheless, traders can win free money by competing in the broker’s trading contests, which does provide several attractive prizes for the top traders.
The deposit and withdrawal methods are pretty much what one would expect from a broker of FXTM’s caliber. ForexTime accepts deposits and withdrawal requests through multiple options, including Credit/Debit cards, Neteller, Alfa-Click, Skrill, WebMoney, Western Union, Payza, Dotpay, Qiwi, Yandex Money, and Bank wire transfer. The broker does have a history of fair and transparent financial transactions, where all deposits are moved to segregated accounts. FXTM also processes all withdrawals instantly, which ensures that traders can receive their funds without any major delays.
FXTM Trading Platform
ForexTime users can trade the markets through the MT4 or the MT5 platforms. The MetaTrader4 platform is the more popular among the two, but the MT5 interface offers more advanced features and trading flexibility over the MT4. Although the MT5 misses out on a few key features compared to the MT4 terminal, the MT5 has one of the best trading conditions for ECN accounts. The MetaTrader is indeed the most preferred trading platform for FX & CFD trading, and the platform offers access to all major assets through the MT4 version. The MT5 platform only offers access to Forex currency pairs and Spot Metals.
The minimum trade size starts from 0.01 lots for Micro, Advantage and Advantage Plus accounts. There is a restriction on the maximum number of orders for Micro Account which is 30. Advantage and Advantage Plus accounts have unlimited orders.
ForexTime Mobile Apps
FXTM does not have any proprietary mobile trading platform, but traders can choose to download the MT4 and MT5 apps for iOS and Android devices. The MetaTrader platform has excellent functionality and usability for both operating systems and is one of the best trading interfaces in the market for smartphones and tablets. The popularity of MetaTrader terminal among traders and brokers alike also gives the incentive for the platform’s developers to bring new updates to the trading platform, thereby ensuring that traders get the best features for their mobile trading ventures.
FXTM Spreads, Commission, & Investments
Spreads on Micro and Advantage Plus accounts start from 1.5 pips. Advantage Account spreads start from 0.0 pips. There are no commission fees on trading for Micro and Advantage Plus. On Advantage Accounts, commission fee is average of $0.4-2.
One of the primary features of FXTM is the ability to open an investment account or a copy trade account, which allows traders to invest in a managed fund or copy the trades of a professional trader. Social trading is becoming one of the most important aspects of trading, and traders will certainly appreciate the broker’s commitment towards offering a modern and efficient Forex trading service.
FXTM Customer Support
FXTM is well-known for their customer service department, which offers a professional platform for traders to interact with the brokers’ representative in a friendly and efficient manner. ForexTime has received multiple awards for their outstanding customer support policies, as traders can contact the broker via email, phone, live chat, web contact form, and social networks. FXTM offers personalised support for traders through its offices and customer service departments in Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Nigeria, Poland Spain, and the United Kingdom.
FXTM Trading Resources
Forex Time has recognised the importance of education and research in Forex trading, which has prompted the broker to provide several learning resources and market analytics for both amateur and professional traders. The broker provides comprehensive information on the markets through analysis, forecasts, and trading recommendations, while traders can also use the educational materials for gaining a better perspective on the markets. The FXTM trading resources are sufficient for most traders and should provide a comprehensive picture of the markets.
FXTM Verdict
Pros
- A regulated FX broker with a global presence.
- Competitive spreads and commissions.
- A large collection of tradable instruments.
- High leverage of 1:1000.
- Availability of ECN accounts.
- Excellent customer service.
- Access to both MT4 and MT5.
- Comprehensive access to trading resources and education.
Cons
- US traders not accepted.
- No bonus on deposits.
- ECN accounts have a few limitations on maximum order volumes.
FAQ
Does FXTM Offer A Free Demo Account?
Yes, a free FXTM demo account is offered to all traders. Forex brokers usually provide a virtual practice account to its users without requiring any deposit.
What Is The Minimum Deposit For A Standard & ECN Account?
Standard and ECN no longer exist on FXTM. There are 3 new types of trading accounts: Advantage, Advantage Plus and Micro. The minimum deposit for the first 2 is $500, while on the latter – $50.
What Are The Trading Platforms?
FXTM provides both the MT4 and the MT5 platform for FX and CFD trading.