Beware! Bolt FX is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
Bolt FX is an offshore forex and CFD broker offering four account types with leverage between 100:1 and 500:1 according to the account type and the MetaTrader 5 platform.
Unfortunately we were not able to open a demo account and check Bolt FX trading conditions, but that seems like the least of their issues. If you are considering opening a trading account with them be sure to read this review first.
Bolt FX regulation & safety of funds
Bolt FX is owned and operated by ESS-Capital LTD – an offshore company, based on St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Bear in mind that the local Financial Services Authority (FSA) simply does not oversee forex and CFD brokers, and that means Bolt FX is not regulated
Beware that trading with unregulated brokers is extremely risky as they are completely unaccountable for the way they handle your money, and too often are simply involved in scam.
That is the reason our general advise is to deal only with brokers, licensed and authorized by well respected institutions such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
BoltFX deposit/withdrawal methods and fees
Bolt FX accepts payments with major cards like VISA and MasterCard, and bank wire, but not popular e-wallets like Neteller and Skrill. What is worth mentioning here is the new anti- scam policy adopted by Skrill several months ago according which their money service can be used only by properly licensed brokers. As we already discussed Bolt FX does not have a legit license.
Also you should be aware that Bolt FX reserves the right to apply additional charges and fees, and to change the existing ones whenever they decide.
On top of that according to their Terms and Conditions “the Company is permitted to charge the Client with an administrative fees equivalent to 25%” in case “the Client did not partake in any trading activity in his/her Account for such a period of time determined by the Company or the trading activity is at low level according to the Company’s determined standards”. This simply means Bolt FX reserves the right to take 25% of the money in your account, whenever they feel like to. See for yourself:
Finally, if you have received a trading bonus, in order to be eligible to request a withdraw you will have to reach a certain trading volume, which according to Bolt FX Terms and Conditions can also be changed at any given time. So basically Bolt FX reserves the right to cancel all you withdraw requests, in case you have received a bonus, as they may increase your minimum trade volume requirement on their sole discretion:
Otherwise the minimum deposit requirement of 250 USD is in line with what most other brokers will also ask for.
How does the scam work?
There is no free lunch so you should be especially wary if you are offered some too good to be true investment opportunity, promising you guaranteed returns on daily or weekly basis. And yet that is exactly what you will be offered if you happen top come to one of the so called robo scam websites like Bitcoin Profit and Brexit Trader. There you will be greeted by a video ad promising you “a once of a life time” investment opportunity – and all you will have to do is to leave your e-mail and phone filling a simple registration form.
After registering, instantly you will be transferred to the website of a unregulated scam broker, where you will be invited to open a trading account with about 250 USD. And take a note that your first trades will go surprisingly well, and pretty soon your 250 USD will almost double.
That however is just what scammers usually do – they will simply be manipulating your trading results with the sole intention to make you deposit more. And that is exactly what your “senior account manager” will be telling you as well (you will be getting regular phone calls by that time) – if you really want to make some real money you will surely have to invest a larger amount – like at least 10 000 USD.
And too many people do invest that kind of money without realizing they have been scammed until the very moment they decide to withdraw some of their funds. Than all of a sudden it turns out they are not eligible to withdraw because of some minimum trade volume requirement they have not met, most probably linked to a trading bonus. Certainly scammers may use a different pretext to cancel the withdraw request, but whatever the pretext may be, if you are scammed you will not receive a single penny back.
What to do if scammed?
The best chance you have to recover your deposit, if you are a victim of a scam is to file for a charge back with your credit card company. Fortunately since the fall of 2018, both VISA and MasterCard extended the period in which their clients are allowed to file for a charge back to 540 days.
Beware as well that some scammers may try to steal money directly form your bank account. So if by any chance you have been tricked to reveal your personal banking details like your credit card number or online banking password, immediately change the password and block your credit card.
And one final note. If the so called recovery agencies approach you with any offers to presumably recover your money, do not trust them. You will just be asked for some payment in advance and basically that will be the end of the story.
