Beware! SVHFX 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.
SVHFX is an offshore Forex broker that doesn’t pursue to hide its nature, so they present an abundance of legal documents that define in-depth the provisions that apply to use their products and services. At the same time, however, we were unable to register due to some technical problems we are not fully aware of. Annoyingly they fail to give any detail about the trading platform supplied, as well. But there are even more disturbing signs, which you can find in the full SVHFX review.
SVHFX REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
SVHFX is an SVG offshore broker that’s allegedly owned and operated by SVHFX LTD (an SVG company), which itself is run by or somewhat linked with Saint Vincent Holdings LTD- a business entity that’s also incorporated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It’s a company that introduces itself as a commodity options clearing firm and a leverage provider.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadine is an offshore jurisdiction that’s widely regarded as a tax haven and it’s also known for the lack of satisfactory financial regulation. The financial authority on the island- SVGFSA doesn’t even issue Forex broker licenses and doesn’t control the FX business in any way, too. It indicates that the traders choosing such a broker are taking tremendous risks because there is no customer protection available, which might cause losses that are almost impossible to recover.
Your funds are not safe if you make a deposit with SVHFX, because it’s an unlicensed, unauthorized and unregulated Forex broker, which cannot guarantee the safety of the traders’ funds.
If you are looking for a reliable, true Forex broker choose a CySEC(EU) or FCA(UK) regulated company, which are not surprisingly the leaders in the retail Forex industry. The customer protection policy is placed on top of their priority list, not because they want to, but because they have to. In the European jurisdictions, the Forex brokers have to comply with many strict rules and regulations, such as minimum capital requirements of 730 000 EUR, personnel qualification standards, segregation of the clients’ accounts and others. But most importantly, there are money protection schemes in operation, such as ICF in Cyprus and FSCS in the UK, that guarantee the deposits made by the traders and further contribute to the health of the system. Under CySEC(Cyprus) supervision, you can claim up to 20 000 EUR in compensation, while in the UK under FCA you are guaranteed of even up to 85 000 GBP per client. 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 fails to meet its financial obligations.
SVHFX TRADING SOFTWARE
As mentioned in the Intro, we were unable to sign up due to some technical error we know nothing about. Overall, SVHFX makes a good impression, even though it’s an offshore entity. The sign-up fail, however, brings them down, and it’s just another red flag which makes us recommend that the traders should avoid this broker. But it’s even worse because they don’t mention a single word about the trading software provided.
As the trading platform remains concealed, we cannot verify that they offer MetaTrader4 or MetaTrader5 accounts to the clients. We mention these two because Metatrader is the most popular trading platform in the world, which is also free to use when you chose to trade with MT Forex broker. It comes with sophisticated tools and features such as Expert Advisors, Algorithmic trading, Complex Indicators, Strategy Testing and even its own marketplace where the traders can buy or use for free third-party-developed trading solutions.
There is no information about spreads available. The spread is a fundamental component in trading, and it forms part or all of the trading costs to buy or sell in the market. The lower spreads allow the traders to reduce the price to open a position and thus increase the profit potential. You should search for brokers offering tiny competitive spreads, but regulated ones, that’s a must!
The maximum leverage is said to reach 1:500, which is a level that’s dangerous for the traders. The leverage is the other essential component because it makes trading affordable. It allows the clients to trade on margin, meaning that they have to provide just a fraction of the sum that they want to place on the market. But this opportunity comes at a cost because the risks increase proportionally and levels such as 1:500 might cause losses that are very difficult to repair. The financial authorities around the world forced a leverage cap- 1:30 in EU, UK and Australia (coming into effect from the spring of 2021) and 1:50 in the USA as a customer protection measure. We advise that the traders should stop looking for brokers that offer increased leverage ratios because they will either lose their money on the markets or will get scammed!
SVHFX DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
The minimum initial deposit is 50$, which is quite a favourable requirement. Still, you shouldn’t get attracted because SVHFX is an offshore broker which cannot guarantee that your funds are safe. The legit brokers standard, however, is $100 on average, and some companies will be happy to let the traders begin with 5 to 10 dollars. The profit potential with such a tiny deposit is shallow though!
The funding methods are Debit/Credit card, Wire Transfers, Skrill, Neteller, FasaPay and Bitcoin, but we cannot confirm that these are actually available, as we were unable to make a test.
There is no minimum withdrawal amount demanded and no withdrawal fees to incur. The request is said to be processed within a day with the transfer taking place within 3-5 days. It’s in line with the rest of the industry, as most of the regulated brokers will not restrict the traders as to the amount that they can withdraw and will process the requests as quickly as possible.
An account becomes dormant after 6 months of inactivity and will be charged with $5 per month. That also meets the industry standards.
No bonuses are available at the moment, but the company reserves the right to launch promotion campaigns in the future. The traders should know that the bonuses are not free money, but a leverage tool that further increases the risk because the balance in the account doubles which means that a bigger position might be opened, but the funds that cover the trade are still the same! The bonuses benefit only the brokers, but not the traders, and it made the EU and UK prohibit the trading incentives.
Warning! SVHFX allows indebted account and at some point, they might ask from you to deposit additional funds to cover a negative balance or other expenses. If you trade with regulated brokers, that’s an impossible scenario because they are bound to provide Negative Balance Protection of the clients’ accounts. It means that in case the balance goes below zero, the broker will automatically add funds to bring it back positive. And will not ask for money from the traders to cover expenses as such! Stay away from SVHFX because your funds will be at risk if you make a deposit with them and start trading!
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
A group of scammers usually operates many different scam brokers, scam websites and call centres. Sometimes they will simply rely on the quantity, so they will publish tens or hundreds of websites and will just wait for traders and investors with little or no experience to bite. Nowadays, it’s very cheap to create one, and it looks like a profitable strategy, as they carry on doing it.
Fraudsters are working in social media nowadays, an increasing number of scammers is approaching people on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, you name it. They will create pages showing lush lifestyle, cars, yachts, celebrities etc. and will insist that you will make even more money if you click on the like button. Often the scammers will give free advice or a tryout and before you know it, they will be asking for your money upon subscription. You will see pictures showing profits of tens of thousands of dollars, and if you have no FX experience, you might easily believe them.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
No one is immune to scam, and anyone can fall into the trap. Scammers are constantly 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 important 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!
Share online your experience; it is important to protect others, as well. Be responsible!
