Beware! Tradehall 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.
A strong pilar for your wealth, this is the motto of this forex broker. However, not everything is as it looks, so we are going to look at some key features on Tradehall’s website and advise you whether it is safe to trade with this broker or not.
Tradehall Regulation and safety of funds
First, we check if this broker is really registered and regulated in the jurisdictions it claims to be (screenshot below). The first jurisdiction that you see in the image is of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Tradehill claims to be licensed there. This is a big lie! A year ago, the Financial Services Authority in this jurisdiction issued a warning that it does not regulate forex brokers! So, Tradehill is not licensed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines!
After that, we checked if this broker is registered and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). From the screenshot below, you can see that it does exist in the register. However, there is a discrepancy in the number provided which in the screenshot above is 001282038 and in the ASIC register, it shows ACN 641032401. So we are not 100% convinced whether this is a genuine company or someone mimicking it.
The last one we checked was the registration with the National Futures Association, the forex regulatory body in the US. We found out that the company is not a current member of NFA, therefore is not licensed in the US (screenshot below)
The discrepancies in the information provided by this broker and what we found out in the registers of the countries listed on the website are so tiny that it is difficult to make a definite conclusion about the legitimacy of this broker. However, doubt does exist and in this case, we advise you to search for another broker.
If you look up forex brokers from the well-established jurisdictions of the EU and the UK, you will find out that they have a lot to offer in terms of providing a wall against scammers and a guarantee for the safety of clients’ funds. To be licensed in either of these jurisdictions, forex brokers must have an initial capital of no less than 730,000 EUR. As you can imaging, scammers will never invest so much money just to look legit! In addition to that, licensed brokers must contribute to a compensation fund or scheme from which traders can be compensated in case the broker goes bankrupt. If the broker is regulated by FCA in the UK, then its clients can be refunded by up to 85,000 GBP per person. If the broker is regulated by CySec and contributes to the local Investor Compensation Fund, then its clients can be compensated by up to 20,000 EUR. These are perhaps the best conditions a broker can offer to its clients and we advise you to research and select the best option for yourself.
Tradehall Trading software
Tradehall is a forex broker trading in crypto, indices, forex, commodities, shares and ETFs. The trading software consists of the MetaTrader 5 platform. This is one of the best platforms in the forex trade world as it has an excellent package of trading tools and instrument that help to enhance traders’ experience. It has automated trading systems and it enables traders to execute trades on different financial markets through a single account and in 2016 a hedging option was added that made it very popular among forex traders and brokers. Its charting options are as good as those of its ‘older brother’ Metatrader 4 and contain a great charting package and support for custom technical analysis indicators. It’s also equipped with VPS, code base with customs scripts, trading signals, an app market and a financial calendar.
Below, you can see the demo account for MT5 that gives you an idea what the platform looks like. In the top horizontal bar, the menu contains icons for operating the algo-trading option and the charts. On the left-hand side is the menu with the currency pairs with their bid/ask value and beneath is the navigator for accounts, indicators, expert advisors, scripts and services. In the middle of the screen is a display of 4 charts with the fluctuation in the price of 4 currency pairs. Traders can use the sell and buy buttons to execute transactions.
We did not open a live account as the precognition for it was to make a deposit, so we are not able to provide information about the spread and whether it is within normal limits. However, we found out that the leverage for the live account is 1:200. For a company that is registered in Australia, that is not very surprising as there is still not any cap of leverage for the moment. It will be put in place in March 2021. However, for a company that claims to be registered with NFA in the US, this looks fishy. Licensed brokers in the US have a cap on leverage and it cannot exceed 1:50. High leverage may look tempting with the promise of a big win but actually, it’s a trap and if you fall in it, it may result in a big loss as the exposure to risk is very high.
Our advice is to stick to licensed brokers that offer leverage within more acceptable parameters – 1:30 in the EU and 1:50 in the US.
Tradehall Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
On the website of this broker, there is no information about different trading accounts. Also, the Terms and Conditions document that regulates the legalities and the financial matters is missing. We found out that when you register, the only options available are a demo or a live account. We found out that the minimum initial deposit is $100. It may not look like much money, however, please compare with other licensed brokers who ask for as little as $1-5. On the company’s interface, we found displayed the payment methods which included VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, Webmoney and ePayments. However, when we opened the deposit option for the live account, we were surprised to find out that the only options available to traders were bank transfer and cryptocurrencies (screenshot below). Such discrepancy in the payment methods is not to traders’ benefits. First of all, it is misleading, and second, when you read the last section of this review, you will realise that how you choose your payment methods is very important in case you decide to file for a chargeback.
There is no other information regarding how financial matters are organised, so we don’t know if there are any fees for deposit/withdrawal and dormant accounts.
How does scam work?
A lot of people get scammed every day, not because they are naive or stupid, but because scammers are inventive and they are masters of manipulation. Often, as you scroll up and down on the Internet or social media, you come across ads for a quick and easy profit which sometimes sound too tempting not to fall into their traps. So you deposit some money into the account and what happens next is the incessant calls of the scammers. First, they congratulate you for taking the first steps towards becoming rich and next, they try to convince you to invest even more money into their ‘profitable’ business. What you probably don’t know is that your money has just gone as a commission to some scammers. And so, you wait and build the sandcastles of your dreams for a better and ‘richer’ future. And you wait, and you wait, for the money to come. But where is it? Now is your turn to call the scammers and to ask what’s going on. They try to placate you and ask you to be more patient. But have had enough and all you want is to get your money back. The scammers kind of promise, but now they are asking you to provide this document or fill out that form, etc., etc., all done in an attempt to delay you from filing for a chargeback.
What to do if scammed?
If this happens to you, our advice is to act immediately and if you have paid your deposit via credit/debit card, to file for chargeback which is retroactive cancellation and refund of your previous transaction. Visa and MasterCard give you 540 days time limit to file for chargeback which gives you a fighting chance to recover your money.
However, if you have used bitcoin or bank wire for your payment, the chances of you recovering your money are really slim.
Whatever you do to recover your funds, beware of the so-called recovery agents. Please make sure that you are dealing with a genuine one by checking their credentials and company’s information transparency. Otherwise, you may fall victim to another form of scam.
Cancelling your credit/debit card in case you have given the scammers your CVV code may be another good idea. Also, make sure to remove from your PC any software that my give scammers access to your private data stored on your computer.
