Beware! BlazeMarkets 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.
BlazeMarkets is a Forex broker that offers competitive trading conditions for the traders, we have to admit. But it doesn’t fall under any regulatory oversight, and the mere fact raises a lot of questions that should be asked. Besides, the legal documents presented to the public provide very scarce information about the products and services offered by BlazeMarkets, which itself is a red flag! Find out everything you need to know about this Forex broker in the full BlazeMarkets review.
BlazeMarkets REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
BlazeMarkets is an offshore Forex broker that’s allegedly headquartered in SVG, as seen from the picture above. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is an island in the Caribbean Sea that poorly regulates its financial sector and doesn’t issue Forex broker licenses. SVGFSA- the financial authority on the island, explicitly stated that the brokers would remain unregulated, which creates a big problem for the traders. The unregulated entities are not bound to follow any rules, so they might potentially harm the clients’ funds. Even if the broker is not ill-intentioned, the lack of customer protection makes the traders vulnerable because in turbulent times they might lose their money, and there is very little chance to recover the losses.
Your funds are not safe if you make a deposit with BlazeMarkets because it’s an unlicensed and unregulated Forex broker that cannot guarantee the safety of your funds.
We recommend that you should only trade with the EU (mostly CySEC regulated) or UK (FCA regulated) Forex brokers because these two jurisdictions provide the safest environment for the funds of the retail traders. Furthermore, most of the leading brokers in the world hold EU or UK license, which will definitely help you with the choice. Customer protection is a top priority, and there are a variety of stringent rules and regulations imposed on the Forex brokers that keeps the system stable. These include a minimum capital requirement of 730 000 EUR, segregation of the clients’ accounts, negative balance protection (the trader cannot lose more than the sum deposited) and predefined stop-out levels, to name a few. Most importantly, however, the traders are guaranteed by the deposit insurance funds that were inaugurated to further contribute to the health of the system. Under CySEC (Cyprus) regulation, the clients can claim up to 20 000 EUR in compensation, while under FCA (Britain) the clients can claim up to 85 000 GBP per client. If you trade with an anonymous or offshore broker, you are entitled to nothing, but troubles and issues.
BlazeMarkets TRADING SOFTWARE
BlazeMarkets provides its clients with MetaTrader4– Desktop and Mobile distributions; MetaTrader5 is not available for trading. It’s an obvious choice because Metatrader is the most popular and at the same time the most powerful retail Forex trading in the world. It’s highly renowned for its stability and reliability, but also features sophisticated trading tools that you can hardly find in other platforms on the market. The features mentioned include Expert Advisors, Automated Trading, Complex Indicators, its own programming language- MQL, and a marketplace, where you can find even more third-party-developed trading tools to implement in your strategy.
The lowest spread possible is said to be as low as 0.0 pips; however, it comes with the accounts that require higher initial deposits. Their micro account though comes with 1.7 pips, which is a bit high compared to the rest of the industry, where the legit brokers will usually keep the difference at 1 pip and below. The spread is the price to execute a trade, and it directly affects the performance and the results. We recommend that you should find a broker that offers low spreads, but regulated one!
The maximum leverage is said to be 1:200, which is a ratio that’s quite risky for the clients. The leverage is a powerful financial tool that allows the traders to increase the size of their positions, but the opportunity comes at a cost as the risks escalate. If misused, the leverage might drain up your account very quickly- a single bad trade is enough. EU and UK imposed a leverage cap of 1:30 because the higher ratios were considered too risky and inadequate for the traders. Australia will also join them coming in effect in the spring of 2021. In the USA the maximum allowed leverage is capped at 1:50.
BlazeMarkets DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
The minimum deposit is $10 for Bitcoin payment and $100 for Wire Transfers and Credit/Debit cards, which is in line with the rest of the industry. The three funding methods mentioned are the only available to make a deposit through.
As already mentioned, the Terms and Conditions do not include much useful information for the traders, which is a warning sign indeed.
No information about the minimum withdrawal amount required or fees applicable found.
No information about the dormant account policy was found anywhere on their website. It’s a set of rules that deals with the accounts that have become inactive. On average, the legit Forex broker will let 6 months to a year pass before putting an account dormant and will impose an administrative fee of 5 to 10 dollars a month at most.
No information about bonuses or other trading incentives. You need to know that the trading incentives such as bonuses or promotions are not free money, but a leverage tool that further increases the risks for the trader. But the scam brokers will not give you this information and will let you believe that you’ve hit the jackpot. On the contrary, with bonus inserted you are more likely to self-destroy your account before you know it!
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
The scam is a criminal activity; the scammers are trying to defraud people by making them believe that the markets are nothing to worry about, and it’s no hassle to make vast amounts of money. Mostly, the scammers are hiding behind offshore companies, offshore Forex brokers, trusts and so on, trying to remain anonymous and difficult to trace. It is also little or no FX regulation in the offshore domains such as Vanuatu, Marshall Islands, Commonwealth of Dominica or St. Vincent and the Grenadines- the most popular destinations for shady and illegitimate enterprises. The lack of regulation makes the scammers invincible, as they are not going to bear the consequences of their felonious actions. Regulation and authorisation mean customer protection and safety, no financial regulator such as CySEC or FCA will make it possible for a scam Forex broker to conduct illicit activities.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
No one is immune to scam, and anyone can fall into the trap. Scammers are always looking for new and different ways to scam consumers. What you need to do first, in case you got scammed, is to protect yourself from further risks. Contact your bank and explain to them your situation, they will give you necessary instructions to follow and will help you, if possible, recover your money.
Report what happened to you, file a complaint, contact the financial regulator, contact other government institutions related to trading and investing. Seek help actively!
It’s essential not to rush blindly trying to recover your funds because many scam recovery agencies and individuals are stalking, aiming to double scam the victims. These will most likely ask for an advanced payment, but will do nothing to help you recover your losses!
Share online your experience; it’s important to protect others, as well. Be responsible!
