RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
Skilling is a forex and CFD broker, based in Cyprus and authorized by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). This is good news as the seal of an EU regulator do ensure the security of your funds.
Otherwise the broker offers an impressive variety of forex pairs – over 70, many of which minor, crosses or exotic like USDILS, USDTHB, USDRON, USDCNH, USDRUB, USDCZK, USDHUF, USDZAR, USDHKD, USDTRY, USDDKK, USDPLN, USDSEK, USDSGD and USDMXN.
And the selection of CFDs is also worth mentioning with some 17 major indices, gold, silver, natural gas, WTI Oil, Brent and even a couple of crypto coins – Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple.
Skilling trading conditions
With its Standard Account Skilling advertises spreads starting form 1,6 pips, and yet when we tested their platform with a demo account thighs looked even better – the benchmark EURUSD spread floated around 1,4 pips.
With the Pro Account, where the minimum deposit requirement is much higher, spreads are said to start at 0,4 pips, but with a trading commission, which basically adds another 0,4 pips to the actual spread, making it 0,8 pips in total. Bear in mind that spreads starting below 1,5 pips with a standard account are generally considered attractive.
Skilling offers leverage of up to 1:30, which is in line with the latest regulations of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
And besides, with Skilling you can trade with Micro Lots or just 1000 base currency units, which additionally lowers the trading risk.
Skilling regulation & safety of funds
As we already noted Skilling is a EU regulated broker, licensed and authorized by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The company behind Skilling, Skilling Ltd was previously known as Finovel Cyprus Ltd and is based in Nicosia, Cyprus.
The CySEC in Cyprus along with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is among the most popular regulatory destinations in the forex industry.
The CySEC regulations are strict and give traders peace of mind about the safety of their investment, and yet balanced enough to give brokers operational flexibility.
For example the minimum operational capital requirement for all CySEC regulated brokers is set at 730 000 EUR, while the client compensation fund they are required to participate in, protects all traders accounts for up to 20 000 EUR, even if the broker happens to be insolvent.
On top of that traders are given a negative balance protection, which means no one can lose more money than he or she has deposited.
Finally, all CySEC brokers are required to file regular reports, to allow external audits and to keep all clients funds in a segregated, protected form creditors, trust account.
Skilling trading platforms
Skilling offers a web based platform called Skilling Trade Platform, which you may see here.
The platform has a user friendly interface nice charting tools and features a number of market indicators. Still, we miss the flexibility of MetaTrader4, where you can easily modify almost all components, including your trading robots, or Expert Advisros, which allow you to run automated trading sessions.
Skilling deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
Skilling accepts payments with two of the best known e-wallets Skrill and Neteller, as well as major cards like VISA and Master Card and bank wire. The minimum deposit requirement, depending on the account type varies from 50 US with the Standard Account to 50 000 USD with the Pro Account.
And besides, you can open a trading account with 5 different currencies – EUR, GBP, USD, NOK and SEK.
