Beware! Wirexinvest 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.
When you look at the imagery on the Wirexinvest interface, you will think “Here goes another forex broker”. And you will be right because there is nothing remarkable that makes the interface stand out in any way. But we don’t want to judge a book by its cover, so we are going to analyse the information available on the website and advise you whether it is safe or not to trade with this broker.
Wirexinvest Regulation and safety of funds
The first thing any potential clients should do when selecting a broker is to find out whether it is registered and legit. The address of Wirexinvest is shown to be in the UK, so we check the register of the Financial Conduct Authority (CFA), the official regulator of forex brokers in the UK. From the image below you can see for yourself that the name of the broker is not in the FCA register. This is sufficient proof that this broker is non-registered and non-legit, possibly a scammer, and trading with it will expose your precious money to risk.
Fortunately, FCA is a strict regulator and it is not easy for scammers to sneak in. UK brokers are required to fulfil stringent requirements to be able to get their license. For example, they must invest no less than 730,000 EUR as initial capital, keep clients’ funds segregated from broker’s with top-tier banks, provide negative balance protection, report regularly their transactions for the sake of transparency, have regular internal and external audits, etc. To provide a better guarantee for the safety of clients’ funds, brokers must participate and deduct funds towards the local Financial Services Compensation Scheme which allows for up to 85,000 GBP per client to be dispensed in case of broker’s bankruptcy.
You may be aware that in the EU the trading conditions are the same as brokers follow the same ESMA regulations for initial capital and protection of clients’ funds. The major difference comes from the local investor compensation funds in which EU brokers must participate and deduct funds. In case of bankruptcy, these funds can compensate the clients with up to 20,000 EUR per client.
Wirexinvest Trading software
Wirexinvest is a forex broker trading in forex, commodities, indices and stocks. To its clients, the broker offers a web trader and the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. We downloaded MT4 to show you how it works and what advantages it offers to the traders. First of all, MT 4 is equipped with many trading tools and instruments that can enhance traders’ performance, such as an auto trading option, VPS, code base with customs scripts, an app market, trading signals which can be obtained for a subscription fee, etc. We can’t omit to mention the variety of charting options and the array of technical analysis indicators that help traders predict the future direction of exchange rates and make a profit.
The image below shows you what MT4 looks like – on the left-hand side, you can see the trading products with their bid/ask price and beneath, the navigator for the accounts, indicators, expert advisors and scripts. The middle of the screen is reserved for the charts which number may vary as per the trader’s needs. In this case, you see displayed 4 charts of 4 currency pairs with the fluctuation in price in a given time frame. The top-left chart shows the EUR/USD currency pair and from its bid/ask price we can calculate that the spread is 1.2 pips which is below the industry average. Such a tight spread is beneficial for traders as the cost of transactions will be low and they will be able to achieve a sustainable profit.
We find the parameters for the leverage in the trading accounts section (last image) which is up to 1:50. Although the leverage is not too high, it is another proof that this broker is non-legit. In the EU and the UK, there are limitations on leverage and for forex currencies it cannot go over 1:30. Imposing a cap on leverage is another measure to protect clients’ funds by preventing traders from engaging in risky and reckless transactions where the scope of financial loss in case of unsuccessful transactions can by amplified by the high leverage.
Wirexinvest Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
From the image below you can see that Wirexinvest offers 4 trading accounts – Mini, Standard, Gold and Platinum. The minimum initial deposit for the Mini account is $500. This may not look like a huge amount of money but just for comparison bear in mind that some legit brokers will ask for as little as $1-5.
The payment methods for making a deposit or a withdrawal include credit card, wire transfer, UnionPay and WebMoney. If you use a credit card payment to make a deposit, then the minimum amount is 250 EUR/GBP. The minimum deposit amount via wire transfer is 3,000 EUR/GBP.
If a trading account stays inactive for over 6 months, the company charges a monthly 10% fee. Using a percentage fee rather than a fixed fee may result in clients paying hefty amounts of fees.
The minimum withdrawal amount via wire transfer is 3,000 EUR/GBP and it takes between 5 and 10 business days to process a withdrawal request.
We noticed in the Deposit and Withdrawal Policy, as well as in the Terms and Conditions document that Wirexinvest offers non-deposited funds which are funds belonging to the broker, not the trader. Such funds are not free for withdrawal and are always subject to certain conditions. However, in neither of the above documents was there any explanations about what these conditions are. You should know that accepting non-deposited funds from the broker may have serious consequences on your withdrawal options and we do not advise accepting such funds from the broker. Also, be aware that legit brokers in the EU and the UK are banned from offering non-deposited funds, bonuses or any incentives.
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.
