Beware! Cedar 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.
Cedar FX is an offshore Forex broker deploying an up-to-date marketing strategy by presenting itself as a green and environmentally friendly Forex broker. They claim to plant trees, so with their Eco Account, the traders will be charged with $1 in commission per lot for ecological purposes. They are committed to saving the planet, but are they committed to providing safety for the traders’ money? You will find the answer to this question in the full Cedar FX review.
Cedar FX REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Cedar FX is an offshore broker that originates in St. Vincent and the Grenadine, and that’s certainly a problem for the traders. It’s an infamous jurisdiction that’s known for the lack of adequate financial regulations, which is bustling with scam brokers, as a matter of fact. The local financial authority SVGFSA does not even license or control the Forex brokers operating on the island, which means that these entities are risky for the traders. We researched the registers of a few financial authorities in Europe, but couldn’t find anything about Cedar FX. Have a look at the result at the bottom of this section.
Your funds are not safe if you make a deposit with Cedar FX because it’s an unlicensed and unregulated offshore Forex broker which cannot guarantee the traders’ security.
If you are looking for a trustworthy Forex broker, choose a proven CySEC(EU) or FCA(UK) regulated company, which are not surprisingly the leaders in the retail Forex industry. In the EU and Britain, 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 so on. But most importantly, there are money protection schemes in operation, such as ICF in Cyprus and FSCS in the UK, that guarantee the safety of the deposits made by the traders. 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 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.
Cedar FX TRADING SOFTWARE
Cedar FX offers MetaTrader4 accounts to its clients; MetaTrader5 is not available for trading. That’s beneficial for the traders because MT is the best retail FX trading platform. It’s stable and reliable, but also include sophisticated trading tools and features such as Expert Advisors, Automated Trading and Complex Indicators, to name a few. There’s even a marketplace where the customers can buy or use for free a variety of third-party-developed solutions to enhance their trading performance.
We noticed an alarming sign, though. The traders are not allowed to open a trading account unless they make a deposit. Also, Cedar FX does not require identity verification to start trading, which is yet another warning sign! On the contrary, the regulated brokers always require an identification and will let the traders open the real account before they send money. As a result, we were only able to trade demo, so we cannot confirm that the trading conditions on their real accounts are the same.
The EUR/USD spread is 0.8 pips, which is a favourable Buy/Sell difference. With MT4 brokers, the spread forms the costs for the clients and the lower difference make trading more affordable and improve the profit potential.
The maximum leverage possible is 1:500, which is a level that’s too dangerous for the traders. Such a ratio may blow the trader’s account in minutes, if not seconds, because the margin call level will be very close to the opening price. The leverage is a powerful financial tool that allows the traders to enter the market with fewer funds, but at the same time, the risks increase dramatically. Precisely the hazardous nature of the leverage caused the financial regulators intervention on the markets. EU, UK and Australia (from 2021) forced a leverage cap of 1:30, while Canada and the US agreed on 1:50 as a customer protection measure. We do not recommend trading with 1:500 brokers also because most of these are low or non-regulated and that may cause troubles for the traders.
Cedar FX DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
The minimum initial deposit with Cedar FX is $10, which is a favourable requirement, but such a tiny amount certainly cannot help the traders make profits. The industry standard is $100 on average, though.
Warning! The account funding goes through Cryptocurrencies! The two funding methods are Bitcoin direct payments and Instacoin-a Crypto exchange. The Crypto payments are final, and the traders will not be able to chargeback in case something goes wrong. They can only retrieve the funds if the counterparty agrees to send the money, which certainly undermines the traders’ safety making them rely entirely on the broker’s goodwill. That’s a solid argument to stay away from Cedar FX.
The minimum withdrawal amount is $10, which is fair enough. Also, there aren’t any fees that apply, but the single withdrawal method is Bitcoin. That certainly might be a problem for many traders, who doesn’t have or doesn’t want to use Bitcoin wallets or Crypto exchanges, as we do. That’s yet another reason to avoid Cedar FX. The withdrawal requests are said to be processed within 24 hours, which meets the industry standards, and it’s fair enough.
We found no information about inactivity fees, and that’s a problem. The trustworthy brokers always explicitly define their dormant account policy in the contract between the parties, be it T&Cs, User Agreement, Client Agreement etc. It’s a set of rules which prescribe how the brokers handle the accounts that have become inactive- no login, no trading. The regulated brokers charge the dormant accounts with 5 to 10 dollars per month at most.
Cedar FX doesn’t offer bonuses to their clients, which is a good sign itself. The bonuses many brokers provide are a deception because it’s not free money, but a leverage tool that further increases the risk. The bonuses benefit the brokers, not the traders, so the EU and UK prohibited the trading incentives, helping the traders evade losses caused by misunderstanding.
Overall, Cedar FX probably aimed to save some money, so they chose to reside in SVG, where it’s very cheap to incorporate a Forex broker. They also seemingly take advantage of the lack of regulation to offer leverage levels that are prohibited by many regulators, but still sought after by many traders. Their decisions, however, make them an unsafe broker to trade with and we cannot recommend Cedar FX unless they get a license!
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
Anonymous offshore companies stand behind many scam schemes that aim to defraud the people. Jurisdictions such as the Marshall Islands, the Commonwealth of Dominica or St. Vincent and the Grenadines fail to adequately regulate their financial sectors and the three mentioned do not even issue Forex broker licenses. It makes it easy for scammers to quickly incorporate companies there and begin to unlawfully sell Forex products and services on regulated markets such as the Europen, American or Australian ones. Lack of regulation equals lack of customer protection and safety, so even if the broker is not ill-intentioned, the traders remain vulnerable. That’s why you should always avoid offshore brokers, regardless of the promises that they make.
The scammers love Bitcoins because this form of digital money is decentralised, and the payments are peer-to-peer, i.e. anonymous. It’s a warning sign if an alleged Forex broker accepts only Crypto deposits because it’s impossible to make a chargeback and get your money back! Very often, you’ll get redirected to a Cryptocurrency exchange where you have to buy Bitcoins and later send them to the scammers. As soon as you do it consider your money lost because the exchange you purchased the coins from is powerless to help you retrieve the funds sent.
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 crucial not to rush blindly trying to recover your funds because many scam recovery agencies and individuals are stalking, aiming to double scam the victims. They will 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!
David T
Decent broker, never had a problem with them myself. I’ve had numerous withdrawals processed and all arrived the same day. I love the fact that they plant trees to help save the planet. One of the best brokers out there…..