365 Markets Review – 5 things you should know about 365markets.com

Beware! 365 Markets is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.

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365 Markets is a forex brokerage registered in Bulgaria. It provides a solid web-based trading platform and an extremely generous leverage of up to 1:200. Furthermore, there is a wide range of trading products from which to choose and a required minimum deposit of $$250 which is about the industry average. The spread on EUR/USD is 3 pips which is quite high nowadays.

365 Markets regulation & safety of funds

Even though the brokerage puts an UK contact address, it is in fact registered in Sofia, the capital of  EU-member state Bulgaria. The company behind the brokerage is registered under the name Trustnet Ltd. All forex brokerages in Bulgaria have to be licensed by the local Financial Supervision Commission. However, going through the website we could find no mention of such license which inclines us to believe that the brokerage is operating illegally. After checking with the online registry of the relevant Bulgarian authorities we can safely conclude that the brokerage does not fall under any regulatory oversight. This impels us to state that potential clients may be open to a substantial risk.

We urge traders to exclude such risk in trading by only associating with brokers regulated by prestigious regulatory agencies, such as the FCA and CySec, which require compliance with a number of strict rules that give significant assurance for the security of the clients funds.

The segregation of accounts is among the rules which are especially important in the trading world, because it drastically lowers the risk of possible commingling.

Another is the participation in a compensatory scheme by which the client’s losses will be covered in the unlikely case the broker goes bankrupt or attempts to swindle traders.

365 Markets deposit/withdrawal methods and fees

The brokerage is pretty informative about its trading conditions. We learn that potential clients of the brokerage may deposit or withdraw via Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Skrill, WebMoney, QIWI, giropay, wire transfer. We also gather that there is both a withdrawal fee and an inactivity fee.  Withdrawals via credit/debit card will be charged 5 per cent, bank transfers will be charged $10 and the fee for all the rest of the available withdrawal methods is $25. Accounts that have been inactive for more than three months will be charged 5 per cent every following month.

Such fees certainly are excessive and this is why we advise traders to always put up only the required minimum deposit, instead of risking a bigger amount with no certainty. Afterwards, they may also try to withdraw a small amount in order to check for any unexpected fees or delays. Such fees and delays are usually the signs of a scammer.

How does the scam work?

Unfortunately, the possibility of a scam looms over almost every trade in forex, especially if you are dealing with an unregulated brokerage. That is why we believe traders should be acquainted with the methods of a scam. Here is how it would typically go about:

Through clicking an ad with promises for fast money, you will be redirected to a website such as  Bitcoin Evolution or Crypto Revolt where registration will require you to give your address, email and phone number. After sharing your personal information, you will being receiving calls from brokers, compelling you to invest with them and win big. After a few minutes hearing their pitches, you decide to deposit some $200-250. And just like that – the scammers take a fat commission from this initial deposit.

After they are done with you, senior scammers begin working you into putting even more money. They say it’s the only way to profit from trading even more. After making the mistake of investing even further, you’ll begin wanting to get out of this and withdraw what you have left.

Unfortunately, the con-artists have no such thing in mind. They will now begin persuading you to wait it out and not withdraw right now. The motive here is quite straightforward – traders have a limited time window for filing a chargeback with their bank and get their money back. The “recovery department” will simply want to mislead you into missing this crucial period and, along the way, losing any chance you might have of getting the money back.

What to do when scammed?

As was mentioned above, scamming is quite the common in the trading world and, sadly, even you might suffer from it. In such an unfortunate case there still may be some available options for you.

You may contact your bank or credit card provider and file a chargeback. Furthermore, due to the high instances of fraud – both Visa and MasterCard have decided to sidestep scammers as best they can in forex trading. The first thing we have seen so far is that MasterCard has increased the previous time period of six months for filing a chargeback to a year and a half with their rival Visa expected to follow suit in December.

If, however, you have provided the broker with your credit card details, immediately cancel your credit card.

If you have given information regarding your online banking pass – you should switch it asap!

Beware of potential calls from self-described “recovery agencies”! They prey on scammed and vulnerable traders who are desperate to recover their losses. They will require an “up-front” payment to help you, but after paying them, no such help will be coming your way!