Beware! Zurich Trade Finco 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.
Zurich Trade Finco looks just any run-of-the-mill forex broker’s website. At first glance, it seems that all the necessary information is in place and visible for peruse. However, is this broker really reliable to trade with? We find the answer for you.
Zurich Trade Finco Regulation and safety of funds
On the Zurich Trade Finco website, we find that the company’s office and registration are in the UK. As the official regulatory body for forex brokers in the UK is the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), we search its register to verify whether this broker is licensed. From the image below, you can see that Zurich Trade Finco is not in the FCA register which is proof that this broker is not licensed and as such is not reliable to trade with.
Licensed brokers in the UK are strictly regulated by FCA and they must meet many rigid requirements in order to get their license. First of all, they must invest no less than 730,000 EUR in the form of initial capital, keep clients’ funds separately from the broker’s, provide protection against negative balance, report their daily transactions, etc. All these are measures to prevent scammers from infiltrating the ranks of legit brokers and to provide clients’ safety of funds. In addition to that, regulated brokers must participate in the local Financial Services Compensation Scheme which serves to recompense their clients if the broker goes bankrupt. The amount of money the compensation can reach is up to 85,000 GBP per person which provides the traders with a peace of mind that their hard-earned money will be protected in case of unfavourable events.
If you want to enlarge the scope of your search for a suitable broker, we can advise you that in the EU the conditions for licensing forex brokers are similar and also very favourable for the potential traders. The main difference is that the amount of compensation is smaller compared to the UK and can reach up to 20,000 EUR per clients if the broker is licensed by CySec and contributes to the local Investor Compensation Fund.
Zurich Trade Finco Trading software
Zurich Trade Finco is a forex broker trading in forex, metals, commodities, indices, shares and cryptocurrencies. The trading software consists of the MetaTrader 4 platform. This platform is one of the most popular trading platforms among forex brokers largely due to the excellent package of trading tools and instruments that it offers among which we can mention the auto trading option, trading signals, code base with customs scripts, an app market, VPS, etc. One of the main features of MT4 is the charting options that contain many charts, time frames and colours to choose from, even the option of creating personalised templates. Also, we must mention the big array of technical analysis indicators that help traders predict the future directions of exchange rates and make a profit.
From the image below, you can see what the platform looks like. On the left-hand side, there is the menu with trading instruments which shows in this instance the forex currency pairs together with their bid/ask price. Beneath is the navigator that opens the accounts, indicators, expert advisors, scripts, etc. In the top horizontal bar is the menu for placing new orders, auto trading, charting options, tools, etc. In the middle of the screen, you see the display of 4 charts showing 4 different currency pairs with the fluctuation in their price in a given time frame. The number of charts may vary according to the trader’s needs. If we look at the top-left chart, we see that it shows the EUR/USD currency pair. From the bid/ask price, we find out that the spread is 8.1 pips. Such spread is way too high compared to the industry average of 1.5 pips. The implications for traders will be that the cost of transactions will be too high and they won’t be able to make a sustainable profit. Also, do not forget that brokers derive their revenue from the spread, so the higher the spread, the richer this broker will get … at your expense if you start trading with it!
The leverage, as shown in the account types information (last image) is set to a maximum of 1:30 which is in compliance with the regulations in the UK and the EU for keeping a cap on leverage that cannot exceed 1:30. Trading with low leverage works to clients’ benefit as the risks of financial loss in case of unsuccessful transactions won’t be that big.
Zurich Trade Finco Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
Any potential traders who wish to trade with Zurich Trade Finco will have a choice of 3 trading accounts – Standard, Gold and VIP (image below). Judging by the information provided there, there is no minimum initial deposit for any of the accounts.
To feed their trading accounts, clients of Zurich Trade Finco can pay via credit card, bank wire, Neteller, Skrill and Giropay.
If a trading account stays inactive for a period of 6 months, it is considered dormant and a monthly fee of 10% will apply to it. Be careful because a percentage fee may result in substantial amounts of money being taken out of your account should you choose to trade with this broker!
The minimum withdrawal amount for wire transfers is 250 EUR/USD/GBP and for any other methods, it is 100 EUR/USD/GBP. Please note that there are some hefty withdrawal fees, i.e., for wire transfer, it is 50 EUR/USD/GBP, for a credit card, 25 EUR/USD/GBP plus a processing fee of $10/ 7 EUR / 5 GBP and 25 EUR/USD/GBP for ePayments. Also, it is important to know that if the trader has not executed more than 200 in turnover before placing a withdrawal request, then there will be a levy of 10% of the withdrawal amount.
Similarly to many shady brokers, this one also offers bonuses. Bonuses may look tempting as it seems that they add some extra trading power. However, what is important to know is that they are funds belonging to the broker, not the traders and they come with heavy to fulfil conditions attached to them In this case, should you accept a bonus offered by Zurich Trade Finco, you will have to execute a minimum trading volume equal to 25 times the deposit plus the bonus amount before you are eligible to withdraw the bonus amount. Can you imagine how hard it will be to fulfil this condition even for experienced traders? Also, the mess it will create with your funds and withdrawal options. Please be informed that licensed brokers do not offer bonuses and that this is another proof that this broker is not reliable to trade with.
How does scam work?
Actually, it’s quite simple and people often fall into the trap of experienced scammers. We bet you have seen those attractive ads on the Internet promising big and quick profits over a short period of time. Just provide your personal information, and voila! The scam brokers are waiting for you and you will be inundated with phone calls promising easy profit. Tempting, right? You think ‘ok, I can spend $200-300 and see what profit it brings me’. Congratulations, you just provided a fat commission for your scammers that will be distributed down the food chain. Now you have ‘graduated’ to be handed over to a senior ‘broker’, a smooth talker who will try to convince you that there is no more perfect time like now to invest more money. After all, you want to make more profit, right? However, something starts to feel off and now you start asking yourself questions and all you want is to withdraw your money and get out fast.
Unfortunately, it is too late! Someone has pulled the cheese and you are trapped because scammers don’t give up easily. Scammers will do anything in order to delay you so that you miss the deadline for a chargeback.
What to do if scammed?
Our advice is to immediately file for a chargeback if you have been lucky enough to make your deposit via credit card. VISA and MasterCard allow for 540 days chargeback period, so you still have a chance to get your money back.
Things don’t look so good if your currency of choice has been Bitcoin or bank wire. In that case, you may have to wave your money goodbye.
There are some other things that you can do in case of being scammed – cancel your credit card if you have given your CVV code to the scammers. Also, erase any software from your computer that gives scammers access to your private data.
Be warned, as well, that some so-called ‘recovery agents’ may approach you promising to recover your funds for a fee. It could be another form of scam where scammers prey on your misfortune. Should you choose to use one, you must make sure that you are dealing with a genuine and legitimate agency by checking their credential and company’s information and transparency.
