Beware! Askemarket 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.
Askemarket is just another offshore Forex broker, which promises to offer the most accessible ways for people to become rich, but we doubt that they’ll deliver. This broker is somewhat linked to other fishy brokers and dodgy entities, some even officially confirmed as a scam! Find out which these are in the full Askemarket review.
Askemarket REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
As seen on the picture above, Askemarket is allegedly owned by an offshore company called Inter Media Ltd, that’s headquartered at Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. SVG is an island in the Caribbean Sea that is known for the lack of adequate financial regulations and its financial authority- SVGFSA doesn’t even issue Forex broker licenses, which means that the agents are operating out of any control. The watchdog even explicitly stated that the retail FX activities that take place on the island are going to remain unregulated in the foreseeable future.
The lack of regulation equals lack of security and customer protection, meaning that the traders might quickly lose their funds to scam. Not surprisingly, SVG is a spot where you can find a significant number of scammers and other dodgy entities, which are conducting business activities that might be considered financial crimes throughout the world.
Your funds are not safe if you make a deposit with Askemarket, because it’s an unlicensed, unauthorised and unregulated Forex broker, which exhibits too many warning signs indeed.
The EU (mostly CySEC regulated) and the UK (FCA regulated) Forex brokers are considered to be the safest in the world, so we recommend them to the traders. It’s not about the trading conditions only, but because Europe managed to create a financial environment that’s reliable and secure for the customers of financial products and services. But most importantly, there are deposit insurance funds that protect the funds of the traders such as ICF in Cyprus and FSCS in the UK. Each EU member state is compelled to create and further operate similar insurance funds, which are seen to be the last resort for the traders, in case a Forex broker faces difficulties to meet its financial obligations. In Cyprus, you can claim up to 20 000 EUR, while in the UK you are guaranteed of even up to 85 000 GBP.
Askemarket TRADING SOFTWARE
Askemarket offers MetaTrader4 to its clients; MetaTrader5 is not available. It’s not surprising because Metatrader is the most popular Forex trading in the world that is highly renowned by the traders for its stability and reliability. It also comes with sophisticated trading tools such as Expert Advisors, Automated Trading, Complex Indicators, its own programming language- MQL and a marketplace, where you can buy or use for free a variety of third-party-developed trading tools. You can hardly find a better platform if you want to trade Forex.
It seems that Askemarket relies on a service provider called TeamNorthPartners. It remains unknown whether Askemarket is just another trading name of the Partners, or they simply provide the broker with the Metatrader platform. However, some of the links on their website download MT5, which is actually not active for trading and installs the default version you straightforward gef from the Metatrader website. It’s a solid scam sign, which shows that Askemarket is a fishy broker and most probably a scam!
The EUR/USD spread is 1.8 pips, which is a bit higher than the industry standards. The legit Forex brokers offer much more competitive spreads- 1 pip difference or below, so that’s yet another reason for us not to recommend Askemarket. The spread is the price to execute a trade, and it directly affects the potential profits that the traders can make. A lower spread gives much better opportunities to generate earnings.
Warning! The leverage levels are unknown! We signed up with some default ratio that applies, but there is no information about nor a way to change it, and that’s a very scam sign! The leverage is a powerful financial tool that allows the traders to increase the size of their positions, respectively, the profit potential. Still, it comes at a cost as the risk increases dramatically. Increased leverage levels are considered too risky for the traders, which caused the financial regulators around the world to enforce leverage caps- 1:30 in EU, UK and Australia (coming into effect from the spring of 2021) and 1:50 in the US.
Warning! No demo trading allowed! We were unable to open a training account neither from the Dashboard nor in Metatrader. It’s yet another red flag, which suggests that Askemarket is a scam broker! It’s a must for the brokers to provide demo accounts, and it’s a must for the traders to test the platform provided before making a deposit with real money!
Askemarket DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
The minimum initial deposit required is $250, which is in line with the rest of the offshore brokers. However, the legit brokers usually ask for no more than $100 to start trading, while some of them are happy with as little as 5 to 10 bucks.
Warning! The funding methods defined are misleading the customers! Wire Transfers, Credit/Debit cards and Bitcoin are said to be the options, but when you try to make a deposit with your bank card it redirects you to some fishy Crypto wallet! You should never use e-wallets and payment systems that you are unfamiliar with!
No minimum withdrawal amount requirements, but you would be unable to make a withdrawal because of the bonus policy that applies, and we’ll explain why in a minute. No withdrawal fees determined in size and scope, but Askemarket claims that there are some transfer fees, which is totally unfair a clause. They might withhold a considerable percentage of your withdrawal amount, claiming that it’s a charge incurring due to some reason. And they are allowed to invent any reason that they want you shouldn’t doubt that!
No dormant account policy was found, which is a disturbing sign. This policy is a set of rules and conditions that deal with accounts that have become inactive- no login or trading. The lack of such a policy means that the broker might simply freeze the account and pocket the money. The legit brokers, on the contrary, specify all the conditions and charge the account with no more than 5 to 10 dollars per month to administer the account.
Warning! Askemarket applies a Welcome Bonus of 30% on the deposit, which effectively freezes the account and the trader cannot withdraw any funds unless the minimum trading requirements are met! The bonus requirement alone is 25 times the amount of the bonus plus the deposit to trade, but further 3.3 lots per $10 apply. It’s quite an obscure clause nonetheless, and the next red flag to note!
And finally, there is the ultimate scam sign we detected as they mention that Platinumstrade grants the deposit, which doesn’t make any sense at all and that name comes out of nowhere. It’s important to note, however, that Platinumstrade is a broker that was blacklisted by several financial regulators back in 2018 and 2019 including the Italian CONSOB, the Belgian FSMA, the Dutch AFM and others!
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
The scammers and the offshore brokers are crazy about bonuses, promotions and other trading incentives. Everyone loves gifts and candies, and the scammers are taking advantage of that in their attempts to entice the people! It’s a warning sign that many traders are searching for brokers that offer bonuses or promotions because they might end-up trading with scammers. EU and UK disallowed the regulated brokers to offer trading incentives, because of the risks involved. At the same time, the scam brokers went in love with the bonuses, as they saw a great opportunity to rip off the clients more efficiently, especially if the trading incentives combine with increased leverage such as 1:500.
The bonuses are not free money, but a leverage tool that significantly increases the risks for the traders further. The sham brokers, however, will not explain this to the clients but will let them believe that they’ve hit the jackpot. Precisely the opposite is true though because the trading incentives entirely benefit the brokers, not the traders. Moreover, the scammers will not miss the chance to introduce additional provisions and requirements that are way too challenging to meet and often block the funds in the account, making it impossible for the traders to make a withdrawal.
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 very important 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!
Pete Swanson
I have just been scammed by Askemarkets I was dealing with Thomas York he is EVIL do not hae anything to do with them.
Stefan
I do not recommend anyone to operate with askemarkets, my account has been burned, I can send them captures with their method of operation, you will never be able to withdraw your money.
—————————–
No recomiendo a nadie operar con askemarkets a mi me an quemado la cuenta.Les puedo mandar capturas con su metodo de operar ,nunca vas a poder retirar tu dinero.