ETHBTC Investment Limited Review – 5 things you should know about ethbtcforex.com

Beware! ETHBTC Investment Limited is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.

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Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.

A quick glance at ETHBTC Investment Limited interface is enough to find out why you shouldn’t be trading with this broker. A lot of fundamental functions and information is missing from this company’s website – no proper Terms and Conditions document, no information about the trading accounts, not even a button for registering an account. To sum it up, ETHBTC Investment Limited, a.k.a. the lazy broker, is not reliable to trade with as your funds will be exposed to risk.

ETHBTC Investment Limited Regulation and safety of funds

ETHBTC Investment Limited claims to be regulated by the US National Futures Association (NFA), the self-regulatory organisation for forex trade and even provides a regulatory ID number. However, after checking the NFA register, we found out that the company is no longer an NFA member which means that this broker is non-registered, non-regulated and judging by its website is probably a scammer. We advise you not to join this broker and not to engage in any trading activities with it.

You must know that US brokers are heavily regulated and they must meet strict requirements aiming at protecting the clients’ funds. First of all, US brokers are required to maintain net capital of no less than $20 million so they can protect their clients from unfavourable events. In addition to that, they are allowed to provide leverage of up to 1:50 for major currencies to prevent clients from exposing their funds to the high risk of significant financial loss. US brokers also must observe strict record keeping and reporting guidelines and they are also obliged to provide their clients with access to transaction execution data.

If you are looking for a suitable forex broker, you might want to consider what brokers in the EU and the UK have to offer. In these two jurisdictions, the initial capital is 730,000 EUR which although much lower than the required capital in the US, is enough to keep scammers out. The requirements EU and UK brokers must meet are similar to those in the US in terms of reporting and keeping clients’ funds segregated. The differences are that in the EU and the UK the leverage for major currency pairs is capped at 1:30 and that there are existing compensation funds and schemes which serve to compensate clients if the broker is insolvent. For example, if the broker is regulated by FCA and contributes to the local Financial Services Compensation Scheme, its clients can be repaid up to 85,000 GBP per client if the broker goes bankrupt. In the EU, there are many local investor compensation funds where forex brokers can participate and provide reimbursement of up to 20,000 EUR per client in case of bankruptcy.

ETHBTC Investment Limited Trading software

ETHBTC Investment Limited trades in forex, oil, metals and indices.  The trading software consists of the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. As there was no link to registering a trading account with this broker, we provide an image of an unactivated MT4 platform which gives an idea about the trading software without providing the real parameters for spread and leverage.

In the image below, you can see on the left-hand side the menu for the trading products which shows the currency pairs with their bid/ask price. In the middle of the screen, you displayed 4 charts of 4 currency pairs with the fluctuation in their price in a given time frame. One of the key features of MT4 that makes it very popular with brokers and traders alike is the charting options. Actually, there is a big variety in charts, time frames and colours to choose from and the number of charts displayed may vary according to the trader’s needs. The navigation for the charting options is in the top horizontal bar together with the auto trading options which represents another great advantage compared to other trading software. We must mention that MT4 is equipped with a code base for customs scripts, trading signals and an app market which can be found in the bottom horizontal bar. The navigator which is beneath the trading products allows traders to use the technical analysis indicators which help traders predict the future direction of exchange rates and make a profit.

As we mentioned, a demo account does not provide real parameters for spread and leverage, so we searched and we found those parameters in the Forex section on the company’s website. We are very alarmed that the spread shown in that section is sky-high (image below) and for the EUR/USD currency pair is 25 pips. Compared this spread to the industry average of 1.5 pips and you will find out that it is around 17 times higher. The implications for traders are that the cost of transactions will be incredibly high and it is unlikely that they will manage to achieve any sustainable profit. On the other hand, the broker who derives revenue from the spread will have the golden opportunity to fleece its clients. Furthermore, in the same section calculating the leverage from the trading volume and the margin requirement, we found out that it is 1:100 which is also very high. We already mentioned that US brokers have leverage capped at 1:50 which cannot be exceeded, so this is another proof that the broker we are discussing here is a scammer. High leverage increases the risk exposure for clients’ funds and any financial loss as a result of unsuccessful transactions will be amplified by the high leverage.

ETHBTC Investment Limited Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees

As we already mentioned, ETHBTC Investment Limited does not provide Terms and Conditions and trading account information. However, on its website, we found out that the minimum deposit is $1,000. This is a very high amount for an initial deposit compared to the amount asked by legit and reliable brokers which is as little as $1-5.

Crucial information, such as the minimum withdrawal amount and any related fees is also missing.

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.