Beware! OpenBroker is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
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The first impression OpenBroker gives to potential clients is that there is some important information missing on its website. Will trading with this broker be a source of additional profits and pleasant mood as they promise on the company’s interface remains to be seen.
OpenBroker Regulation and safety of funds
From the footer of the company’s interface, we find out that the address of this broker is Tallinn, Estonia. The Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) is the independent government body that regulates forex brokers in this jurisdiction. We searched its register of supervised entities but the name of the company VestaFuture OU that owns and operates the website was not in it. As Estonia is not one of the mainstream forex destinations, many scammers attempt to mislead potential traders by feeding them false information about supposed Estonian regulation. We want to warn the readers that OpenBroker is a potential scammer and the best course of action is not to join this broker.
As Estonia is a member country of the EU, it means that the Estonian brokers must comply with the regulations imposed by ESMA which means that they must deposit no less than 730,000 EUR initial capital, keep clients’ funds segregated from the broker’s, provide negative balance protection, report transactions on a regular basis for the sake of transparency, keep leverage not exceeding 1:30 for forex currencies, etc. All these are measures to prevent scammers from sneaking in and also to guarantee the safety of clients’ funds. In addition to that regulated Estonian brokers must participate and deduct funds towards the local investor compensation fund which serves to reimburse with up to 20,000 EUR per person the clients of a broker that has gone bankrupt.
If you want to widen the scope of your search for a suitable and reliable broker, we must tell you that in the rest of the EU the same trading conditions exist and you may want to check up the link for the best EU brokers.
Also, in the UK, there exist similar trading conditions as in the EU with the difference that UK brokers regulated by FCA must participate and deduct funds towards the local Financial Services Compensation Scheme from which up to 85,000 GBP per person serve to repay the clients in case of bankruptcy.
OpenBroker Trading software
As we already mentioned, some of the crucial information is missing from OpenBrokers website and that includes information about the trading software. Normally, with legit brokers, such information will be visible and easily accessible on the website. We registered an account but did not get any login details or an email confirming the registration. Because of the broken links and errors in the system of the website, we were unable to get any information regarding what trading platform is offered or how the parameters for spread and leverage are set up.
We suspect that in fact there isn’t any trading platform available on this broker website. However, when you click on any trading product on the ticker tape, it opens TradingView, a third-party chart developer.
We strongly advise you against trading with this broker. Instead, choosing a licensed and reliable broker offering a good quality trading software such as MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 trading platforms will enhance your trading experience as both platforms offer an excellent package of trading tools and instruments. For example, there is the auto trading option, code base with customs scripts, VPS, trading signals, an app market, a financial calendar, etc. In addition, both platforms offer a plethora of charting options and technical analysis indicators that help traders predict the future direction of exchange rates and make a profit.
OpenBroker Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
OpenBroker does not provide information about what trading accounts are available to the clients neither says what the minimum initial deposit is. The only information regarding deposits we were able to dig out is that there is no deposit fee. What the deposit methods are is also unknown.
What we noticed, however, is that the company charges a lot of fees on withdrawals and inactive accounts. The minimum withdrawal amount is 100 EUR. The withdrawal methods include credit card, Ewallets, Neteller, PerfectMoney, QIWI and WebMoney. For all the methods, the withdrawal fee is 5% which may result in clients paying a hefty amount of money in the form of withdrawal fees. In addition to that, if the client places a withdrawal request with only one single position open or if he/she hasn’t provided proof of identity, then a 50 EUR fee will be applied.
A trading account that stays inactive for up to 2 months will incur an 80 EUR fee, from 3 to 6 months – 120 EUR and for over 6 months – 200 EUR.
In addition to that, the company charges 50 EUR maintenance fee.
We also notice that this broker provides bonuses and loans which are subject to some hard to fulfil conditions. After accepting a bonus, the client is required to execute a minimum trading volume that is equal to 40 times the amount of the bonus. However, if the trading account stays inactive for more than 30 days after accepting the bonus, the company will withdraw the bonus amount from the client’s account. If there are no transactions for over 3 months after receiving the bonus, the company will debit the bonus plus all profits made during that period.
If the client receives a loan from the broker, it must be repaid in 7 calendar days otherwise, the company will debit the loan and any income received from the period of lending as interest rates will be applied.
Does this sound good to you? Imagine the mess a bonus or loan may creat with your funds and withdrawal options. Also, be aware that legit brokers in the EU are banned from offering bonuses. Yet, another proof that this broker is a scammer.
How does scam work?
If scammers make a movie, it will probably be called “Dream on”. They make everything sound credible and build their scam on your dreams of getting an easy and quick profit. People get duped if they decide to deposit money into one of the scammers’ schemes. What you probably do not know is that your hard-earned money goes as commission to the scammers. Next, you get inundated by daily calls. First, the scammers congratulate you for joining their business, next they try to persuade you to invest even more money. After all, the more money you send, the bigger money fall you can expect. This of course is not how things work. By the time you realise that no money is coming your way, it might be too late. All you want now is to get your money back and get out of there but the scammers have other plans for you and they won’t late get away so easily. Now they try to delay you so that you miss the deadline for a chargeback.
What to do if scammed?
If you get scammed, our advice is to act immediately and if you have paid your deposit via credit/debit card you may still have a chance. Visa and MasterCard allow 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.
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.
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.
