RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
RCGmarkets is a broker, registered with the South African regulatory body. This sets it apart from many other companies that we review here – it is certain that RCGmarkets is not running a scam and if it decides to, the people behind it can be held easily accountable. Still, there are a plethora of licensed brokers nowadays and we should see how RCGmarkets stacks up to them!
RCGmarkets regulation and safety of funds.
On RCGmarkets’ website, the broker claims the following about its regulation:
The FSCA is the regulatory body of South Africa – it is one of the few markets in the area that are generally stable and regulated. The regulator moves to keep these markets transparent and scam fee. The easiest way to check if a broker is licensed within the South African republic is by looking it up in the SFCA register – we did just that for RCGmarkets and got the following result:
So it seems that it all checks out, right? Well, RCGmarkets is licensed. But there is more to be desired – South Africa is not really one of the strictest regulators out there. Other jurisdictions, like the EU for example, provide better protections for traders.
For example, companies licensed in the EU are required to report on a daily basis on open and closed trades to prevent price fixing from taking place. Ponzi schemes are weeded out with the requirement for brokers to keep client accounts segregated from their own.
What’s more, the EU not only takes great care in removing scammers from the markets, but also in ensuring that traders are safe from the market’s fabled volatility. For example, brokers are required to keep over 730 000 euro in liquid funds to make sure they can mitigate losses. They are also made to participate in guarantee funds that ensure that even if the broker goes under, its clients can receive some form of compensation – each affected person gets up to 20 000 euro paid out in that case.
So, if you are just starting out and getting your first trades done, we can encourage you do so in a safer market than the South African one – due to the lack of Negative Balance protection on it, you can actually end up owing money to your broker! That is made explicitly impossible under EU rules! Here is a link to our top-rated EU brokers if you are wondering where to start with them.
RCGmarkets trading software
RCGmarkets provides access to the Metatrader 4 platform – that is quite good, as MT4 is revered as the industry standard when it comes to trading software. It has earned that title with powerful automated features, a clean interface and much more. Here is what that platform looks like:
One thing to note about it is the spreads – they are simply too wide for a currency pair, as common as the EURUSD. 2.2 pips is way above the generally accepted 1 pip difference. There is also something to be said about the leverage that RCGmarkets offers – 1:100. This might be a bit much for retail traders. Most regulatory bodies have banned the provision of such leverage as too risky for them, but the SFCA is not one of them. Also, sometimes high leverage can be the case you are dealing with an unlicensed broker – not here, obviously, but seeing such amounts in the wild warrants caution!
RCGmarkets deposit and withdrawal methods and fees
RCGmarkets claims it accepts deposits via credit cards, Bitcoin and wire transfers – but we were only able to access the last one of these methods. Also, wire transfers are not eligible for a chargeback, so be careful whenever investing with them!
RCGmarkets also offers bonuses, but does not intend for them to be withdrawable – check out its Bonus policy:
This policy might seem innocuous, but it might lead investors to take on higher risks than they normally would – which is why the provision of bonuses is also banned within most regulatory jurisdictions.
Conclusion
Even though RCGmarkets is licensed, it does not really provide a compelling alternative to other brokers, licensed in stricter countries than ones in South Africa. And though the broker is not a scam, there are better places to invest your money than with it!
