Beware! Destek Capital 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.
Destek Capital offers 12 reasons why you should trade with this broker and the stress falls particularly on new or with little experience potential traders. Enough to entice you so you could entrust your funds, time and effort to this broker? However, doing this will be a huge mistake. Read on to find out why.
Destek Capital Regulation and safety of funds
Destek Capital is a registered company with the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB). However, we do not recommend to any potential traders to choose companies, such as Destek Capital, which are from offshore zones for forex trade as there are no sufficient measures set in place to provide protection against scammers and to guarantee the safety of clients’ funds.
On the other hand, selecting a licensed broker from one of the well-established jurisdictions, such as the US, the EU and the UK, may be a good choice. Forex brokers in these jurisdictions are strictly regulated and they must comply with many requirements in order to get their license. The first and foremost is to be well-capitalised which among other things serves as a barrier to keep scammers out. You can’t imagine that a scammer will invest $20 million as is the requirement for initial capital in the US just for the benefit of looking legit, or 730,000 EUR as is required in the EU and the UK. Furthermore, strict guidelines require that these brokers are externally audited on regular basis and they must report transactions on a daily basis. Do you believe that scammers will withstand such requirements? Keeping clients’ funds segregated, providing protection against negative balance and having capped leverage are all parts of the measures to protect clients and guarantee the safety of their hard-earned money, as well as reduce the risk of huge financial loss.
In addition to that, EU and UK brokers must participate in a local compensation fund or scheme from which their clients will be compensated in case of bankruptcy, something which is not available to the US brokers. However, remember those $20 million? By being well-capitalised, US brokers still have the means to protect their clients in case of unfavourable events.
In the UK, brokers regulated by FCA that participate in the local Financial Services Compensation Scheme will be able to provide up to 85,000 GBP per client in case of bankruptcy. In the EU, licensed brokers must participate and deduct funds towards a local investor compensation fund from which its clients can be repaid up to 20,000 EUR per client if the broker is insolvent.
Destek Capital Trading software
Destek Capital offers the following trading products: forex, metals, indices and commodities. The trading software available to the clients consists of the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. We chose to open a demo account on MT4 as opening a live account involved providing personal and financial information to this dodgy broker something we wanted to avoid. The demo account also gives a good idea about what the platform looks like and its properties.
On the left-hand side, you can see the menu for the trading products together with their bid/ask price and beneath is the navigator through which traders can open their account, indicators, expert advisors and scripts. The auto trading option and the charting options which are in the top horizontal bar consist some of the advantages MT4 is famous for. You can see for yourself a display of 4 charts showing 4 currency pairs with the fluctuation in price in a given time frame. The charting options provide different charts, time frames, colours and even the option of creating customised templates which in combination with the technical analysis indicators help traders predict the future direction of exchange rates and make a profit. The code base and the app market which can be found in the bottom horizontal bar are part of the tools and instruments that make MT4 so popular among brokers and traders alike despite being on the market for over 15 years. We want to mention also the VPS and the trading signals that can be obtained for a subscription fee that complete this excellent package.
However, as we always say, a platform is as good as its broker is reliable and after looking at the parameters of the spread and the leverage offered by Destek Capital, we have more reasons to believe that trading with this broker won’t be a happy experience. Looking at the image showing the different trading accounts, we see that the spread between 0.1 and 1.5 pips is within or close to the industry average of 1.5 pips which is good as the cost of transactions for traders won’t be too high. However, leverage is high – 1:200. Such high leverage is not beneficial for traders although on the surface it likes like it increases the potential for making a big win. What happens in reality, however, is that the high leverage amplifies the risk exposure which may result in a substantial loss if the transactions are unsuccessful. It is not by chance that regulated brokers have a limit on leverage which they cannot exceed. In the EU and the UK, it is 1:30 and in the US it is 1:50 which is part of the measures for protecting clients funds as it prevents them from trading recklessly and suffering big financial loss.
Destek Capital Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
Destek Capital offers 4 trading accounts (image below) – Standard, Gold, VIP and ECN. The minimum initial deposit for the Standard account is $100 and for the others, it is $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 respectively.
However, clients of this broker won’t be spoilt for choices in selecting their payment methods. The only deposit and withdrawal method is via bank transfer.
The minimum withdrawal amount is $100 and there is no information about what fees are involved.
How does scam work?
A lot of people get scammed every day, not because they are naive or stupid, but because scammers are inventive and they are masters of manipulation. Often, as you scroll up and down on the Internet or social media, you come across ads for a quick and easy profit which sometimes sound too tempting not to fall into their traps. So you deposit some money into the account and what happens next is the incessant calls of the scammers. First, they congratulate you for taking the first steps towards becoming rich and next, they try to convince you to invest even more money into their ‘profitable’ business. What you probably don’t know is that your money has just gone as a commission to some scammers. And so, you wait and build the sandcastles of your dreams for a better and ‘richer’ future. And you wait, and you wait, for the money to come. But where is it? Now is your turn to call the scammers and to ask what’s going on. They try to placate you and ask you to be more patient. But have had enough and all you want is to get your money back. The scammers kind of promise, but now they are asking you to provide this document or fill out that form, etc., etc., all done in an attempt to delay you from filing for a chargeback.
What to do if scammed?
If this happens to you, our advice is to act immediately and if you have paid your deposit via credit/debit card, to file for chargeback which is retroactive cancellation and refund of your previous transaction. Visa and MasterCard give you 540 days time limit to file for chargeback which gives you a fighting chance to recover your money.
However, if you have used bitcoin or bank wire for your payment, the chances of you recovering your money are really slim.
Whatever you do to recover your funds, beware of the so-called recovery agents. Please make sure that you are dealing with a genuine one by checking their credentials and company’s information transparency. Otherwise, you may fall victim to another form of scam.
Cancelling your credit/debit card in case you have given the scammers your CVV code may be another good idea. Also, make sure to remove from your PC any software that my give scammers access to your private data stored on your computer.
