Beware! IV Markets 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.
IV Markets is a licensed broker offering CFDs with tight spreads traded on MT4. On paper, it should be a trustworthy trading partner, but in reality, there are too many issues to discuss. In the following review, you’ll find out all you need to know about IV Markets.
IV Markets REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Less than a decade ago, the Forex market was barely regulated or monitored, so brokers could basically do whatever they wanted, bearing little or no responsibility for their actions. However, the retail sector grew immensely big, and the industry became a heavily regulated one. Well, IV Markets probably doesn’t know about that or simply acts stupid because it breaches numerous financial regulations while offering its services. Let us explain now.
IV Markets is incorporated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and has two subsidiaries holding licenses in Seychelles (FSA) and Australia (ASIC). This grants the broker access to numerous markets, but it exceeds its authorisation by offering products that are no longer allowed by regulators in certain jurisdictions. To make matters worse, IV Markets pushes clients to sign agreements with its offshore entities. Namely, when you register, you need to accept the broker’s Seychelles Client Agreement, which means that you won’t benefit from numerous customer protection measures already imposed by ASIC.
Yes, Seychelles license brokers, but the regulation in the country is still far away from satisfactory- the only rule worth mentioning is the minimum capital requirement of $50 000, which doesn’t actually change anything at all. The Seychelles brokers are not required to keep clients’ funds in segregated bank accounts, which means that the risk of misuse and misappropriation remains very real indeed.
On the other hand, IV Markets claims that its SVG entity operates the business, meaning that your money may end up being transferred there, where it will literally disappear if this happens. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a shady tax haven that doesn’t regulate brokers, and it also allows the creation of anonymous IBCs that are totally unaccountable. Beware!
We need to note that the British FCA and other regulators, too, already revoked licenses and penalised brokers precisely because they made clients sign agreements with entities outside of the regulated jurisdictions. IV Markets may be authorised on paper, but it indeed operates like a scam broker, so your funds will be at risk if you deposit with it.
That being so, why don’t you check the high-rated EU brokers and British brokers if you are genuinely interested in trading and investments. The companies on top of both lists store money segregated and are also covered by deposit insurance funds- clients of CySEC brokers can claim up to €20 000 in compensation, while the British guarantees are even up to £85 00 per person.
IV Markets TRADING SOFTWARE
IV Markets provides MetaTrader4– a platform featuring sophisticated trading tools such as reliable indicators, easy-to-use charting tools, Expert Advisors making automated trading possible and even a marketplace with more than 10 000 trading apps. However, IV Markets already proved to be a fishy enterprise, so the platform doesn’t in any way make it a good brokerage.
The trading costs are tolerable- the EUR/USD spread is usually 1.5 pips, which means that clients pay $15 per lot traded. At the same time, though, most of the IV Markets’ regulated competitors offer even tighter spreads of 1 pip and below (less than $10 per lot), so you’d be anyway much better off with a reputable broker- which IV Markets proved not to be!
The leverage can be up to 1:500, regardless of your country of residence, which is due to the agreement clients should sign with the Seychelles entity. That’s a major problem and a reason to get IV Markets’s Australian license revoked because ASIC no longer allows higher ratios than 1:30. Beware!
IV Markets DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
The minimum deposit with IV Markets is $50, which is generally in line with the industry standards. However, the funding methods present a cause for concern: the brokerage accepts Credit/Debit cards, Wire Transfers, and numerous e-wallets, including cryptos. Well, that shouldn’t be a problem, but the Credit/Debit card funding procedure is questionable as clients get redirected to a fishy website- icc.5upay.com that can’t even be found during regular online research.
Moreover, as you can see from the screenshot below, the rest of the wallets are also unpopular and challenging to prove safe. IV Markets is once again acting suspiciously. While on deposits, though, we’d like to offer our lists with Skrill brokers, Neteller brokers and Bitcoin brokers if you have a trusted payment method. The high-rated companies are strictly monitored, and you won’t face scammers among them.
As for withdrawals and fees, there was nothing to find in any of the documents presented by the broker. That’s a red flag indeed because IV Markets apparently wants to hide certain provisions and services costs. Regulated brokers (IV Markets is still one of them) should always explicitly define the actual trading conditions. Beware!
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
IV Markets is licensed, but it’s highly unreliable and actually misleading, so we can’t recommend it to anyone. Moreover, the brokerage reviewed behaves like a typical scam broker, so we’ll shortly describe how scams usually happen.
In a nutshell, you get enticed by an offer that sounds too good to be true, deposited as instructed by scammers and eventually get ripped off. Actually, the Forex scam is a process that significantly differs from ordinary fraud, which is usually a one-time event. In contrast, in Forex fraud, you are in constant touch with scammers who will manipulate you to deposit over and over again. For example, they will pretend to manage your accounts and will show you incredible profits. Or, if you trade by yourself, they’ll distort market prices to make your account look profitable, thus luring you to put even more money in the scheme.
The scam becomes obvious as soon as you start insisting on getting your funds back. Scammers will reject withdrawal requests for whatever reason they choose and even instruct you to pay taxes first. It’s 100% a scam if you are required to send money when you want to withdraw. When it’s apparent that you won’t send money again, the cons will simply cut the communication, leaving you with losses almost impossible to recover.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
Unfortunately, no one is immune to scams. If you get scammed, the first thing you need to do is to consider the secondary risks. Deactivate your bank card immediately and contact your bank and ask for advice.
Report what happened to you, file a complaint, contact the authorities, call the police. Seek help actively!
Then, it would be best if you were careful with your attempts to recover funds because fraudulent chargeback agencies and individuals would be happy to take you for a ride again. They usually ask for upfront payment but will do nothing in exchange.
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