RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
We are reviewing LiquidityX, a broker regulated in Greece, and we are curious to find out if it holds to scrutiny, as we rarely encounter companies licensed by HCMC. A spoiler, it’s a brand new brokerage, and as such, it has some problems, which will be discussed in the full LiquidityX review.
LiquidityX REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
LiquidityX is operated by Capital Securities S.A., a Greek Investment Firm, authorized and regulated by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) with licence number 2/11/24.5.1994. The company is registered at 58, Metropoleos Street, 105 63, Athens, Greece, under registration number 31387/06/Β/94/18. Checked; it’s a licensed broker.
Greece is already MiFID 2 compliant, so the brokers authorized in the country have to meet certain conditions and follow many customer protection rules, including:
- Capital adequacy requirement of at least €730 000 and note that it may vary depending on different factors. This rule is laid down to guarantee that the brokers have sufficient capital at their disposal to remain solvent in turbulent times.
- Deposit segregation- brokers should store deposits in segregated bank accounts, which benefits clients in numerous ways- improved transparency, increased security, accountability, faster withdrawals, less complicated chargebacks etc. Above all, though, if a broker goes under, clients won’t lose their money as it’s kept separate from the broker’s accounts.
- Negative balance protection, meaning that clients can’t lose more money than they deposited. An account balance gone below zero should be brought back to positive by the broker, free of charge.
- Leverage restrictions- a maximum of 1:30 for retail clients, which is a rule aimed to reduce leverage related risks and guarantee an overall safer environment.
The Greek brokers also participate in the Investor Compensation Fund of Greece, which guarantees that clients can get up to €30 000 in compensation in case of an unforeseen event. Conclusively, LiquidityX is licensed and regulated, so your funds will be safe if you deposit.
However, 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. Worth considering if you are interested in opening an account with a Forex broker.
LiquidityX TRADING SOFTWARE
LiquidityX offers MetaTrader4 and a Webtrader. We know the former very well, as it’s an industry leader providing by far unmatched advantages coming for free. The list includes sophisticated tools such as Expert Advisors, reliable indicators, easy-to-use charting tools and even a marketplace with more than 10 000 trading apps and counting- a peerless advantage for traders interested in automated strategies.
That being so, we accessed the Webtrader only, but it’s certainly not as good as the MT4 in terms of functionality, but at least it looks prettier, in our opinion. Nevertheless, the Demo we opened is a bit misleading because the EUR/USD spread will be available for Real accounts only if a client deposits more than €250 000. The Buy/Sell difference would be more than 3 pips for the Basic account, meaning that each EUR/USD lot costs more than $30. That’s three times more than the regulated industry standard of $10 on average. LiquidityX’s services are costly, which certainly lowers its rating down.
Also, it’s worth noting that the brokerage doesn’t charge commissions, meaning that it’s simply a market maker. There is nothing wrong with that, but currently, all self-respected brokers are also offering ECN accounts, which generally come with more affordable spreads.
As to leverage, it’s up to 1:30 for retail clients and up to 1:400 for professionals- ratios in accordance with the EU guidelines imposed by ESMA. It’s also worth noting that the same leverage restrictions apply for all EU, UK and Australian brokers as in these jurisdictions, the Forex regulations are pretty much the same, with some minor differences.
LiquidityX DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
Now, in this section, things are going to deteriorate for the broker as the withdrawal conditions and the fees imposed are just unacceptable. To start with, the minimum deposit is €250 or almost 3 times more than the industry standard of $100. At the same time, though, many brokers ask for as little as $5 to let clients trade with real money, so it’s worth finding a better option- there are many legit companies on the market.
The funding methods accepted are Credit/Debit cards, Wire Transfers and numerous e-wallets depending on the client’s country of residence, but generally include Euteller, GiroPay, iDeal, Przelewy24, Sofort etc.
As already mentioned, the withdrawal conditions are unbearable. There is no minimum amount required for most of the methods used, except for the Wire Transfers- no less than €100/$120 per transaction. However, the fees imposed are hefty.
First of all, every Basic account is entitled only to one free withdrawal, with the rest being charged 3.5% for Credit/Debit cards and $30 flat for Wire Transfers. Well, the brokerage claims that banks charge the transactions, but that’s seemingly a misleading statement. We know a plethora of companies that charge no fees whatsoever, while the bank takes a few dollars for the transfer. LiquidityX’s charges are irrationally big.
However, the inactivity fees are even worse. As you can see from the screenshot below, an account becomes dormant after one month only and will be charged €80 per month, which is totally unacceptable. So, if you don’t trade for a year, you should pay fees in excess of 1000 dollars to the company just to handle your funds. Too much! In contrast, most of the regulated brokers let at least 6 months pass and take 5 to 10 dollars for inactivity. We advise against depositing with LiquidityX merely because of the adverse inactivity fees.
Conclusion
Overall, LiquidityX is duly licensed and regulated, but its services are unreasonably expensive, so we can’t recommend it or give it a higher rate. It’s newly created, and that partly explains why it charges so much, but the brokerage certainly will remain non-competitive if it fails to shrink the trading costs down.
