Beware! Gerchikco 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.
Although the interface of Gerchikco does not look super attractive, we were impressed by the fact that its president and founder, Alexander Gerchik is quite famous in the US and took part in the series of Wall Street Warriors documentary. However, our responsibility is to dig deep into the information provided on this broker website and advise you how safe it is to trade with it.
Gerchikco Regulation and safety of funds
From the information on Gerchikco website, we find out that the company is registered in Vanuatu which is an offshore zone for forex trade. We searched the register of the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (FSC) and we can confirm that, indeed, the company is registered there (screenshot below). The requirement for forex brokers in this jurisdiction is that they must deposit an initial capital of $50,000 which serves as a security bond with the local Registrar of the Supreme Court. Such an amount is sure to keep scammers out and provide to some extent protection to clients in case of unfavourable events.
Furthermore, while perusing the legal documents, we found out that clients’ funds are kept separately from the company’s funds. This is a positive sign and an assurance that potential clients of this broker won’t be scammed. What is even better is the fact that in case of a dispute between the company and the client which is decided in favour of the client by the Financial Commission, reimbursement of up to 20,000 EUR will be provided to the client from the special Compensation Fund. Having such stipulations in place provides peace of mind for potential traders that their hard-earned money will be protected.
Alternatively, you may want to research some brokers in the well-established jurisdictions of the EU and the UK. Licensed brokers there must have an initial capital of 730,000 EUR which is a measure to prevent scammers from infiltrating their ranks. Also, they must keep clients’ funds segregated with tier-1 banks, provide protection against negative balance, report daily on their transactions, etc. In addition to that forex brokers must participate in compensation funds or schemes from which, in case of bankruptcy, their clients will be refunded. If the broker is regulated by FCA in the UK and deducts funds towards the local Financial Services Compensation Scheme, its clients can be refunded up to 85,000 GBP per person. In the EU, brokers regulated by CySec must contribute to the local Investor Compensation Fund from which its clients can be repaid up to 20,000 EUR per person if the broker becomes insolvent.
We hope that this information will allow you to expand the scope of your search for a suitable forex broker to trade with.
Gerchikco Trading software
To its traders, Gerchikco offers the two top-notch trading platforms – MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Both platforms enjoy a well-earned reputation among 80% of the brokers thanks to the excellent package of trading tools and instruments they offer. For example, the have an auto trading option, VPS, an app market, a financial calendar, trading signals that can be obtained for a subscription fee, code base with customs scripts, etc. Their charting options are out of this world and contain various charts, time frames, colours and even the option of creating personalised templates. The technical analysis indicators, such as Fibonacci retracement, Bollinger Bands, moving averages, etc., help traders predict the future direction of exchange rates and make a profit. Both platforms offer demo accounts which can be used by traders with little or no experience in forex trade to practice and learn the ropes without putting their funds at risk. In the screenshot below, you can see what the demo account for MetaTrader 5 looks like. On the left-hand side is the menu for trading instruments which is open on the forex currency pairs with their bid/ask price and beneath is the menu for the navigator that opens the accounts, indicators, expert advisors, scripts and other services. In the middle of the screen is the display of charts for different currency pairs showing their fluctuation in price in a given time frame. The number of charts may vary according to the trader’s needs. In this case, you can see 4 charts for 4 currency pairs. In the horizontal bar on top of the screen, you can see the buttons for opening charts, tools, placing orders, algo trading, etc.
From the information provided on Gerchikco website regarding the different account types (screenshot below), we can see that the spread for the various trading accounts starts either from 0 pips or from 0.4 pips. Other information on the company’s website indicates that the spread for EUR/USD currency pair is 0.2 pips. Such spread is quite low and is beneficial for traders as the cost of transactions will be low and they will be able to make a long-term sustainable profit.
On the other hand, we find that the leverage can reach up to 1:100 which is high. Using high leverage increases the risk exposure of suffering a substantial financial loss if the transaction is unsuccessful. For your information, in the EU and the UK, licensed brokers cannot offer leverage higher than 1:30 which is one of the measures of protecting clients’ funds and preventing them from entering reckless and risky transactions.
Gerchikco Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
Gerchikco offers a variety of trading accounts (screenshot below) – Easy start for investors, Minim simple, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The minimum initial deposit for the Easy start for investors account is $100. The other accounts start at $500, $1,000, $10,000, $25,000 and $100,000 respectively.
To feed their accounts, clients of this broker have a huge variety of payment options that include payments via credit card, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, ADVCash, WebMoney, PerfectMoney, Payeer and payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The company does not charge fees for deposits or withdrawals. Deposits and withdrawals are done mostly instantly or within one business day.
There is no limit on withdrawals except for bank transfers and cryptocurrencies which is $100.
In the legal documents, we saw mentioned bonuses, however, there is no further information on the amount/percentage or any conditions bonuses may be subjected to. We advise our readers not to accept bonuses as they usually come with heavy to fulfil conditions. It is important to note that licensed brokers do not offer bonuses or other incentives.
Overall, we consider that the deposit/withdrawal methods offered by Gerchikco are beneficial to the clients.
