finexchnge.com Review – 5 things you should know about Fin-Exchange

Beware! finexchnge.com is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.

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Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.

Although finexchnge.com presented us with a fairly decent website and promised that its goal is to “provide satisfaction to our investors, supporting them in achieving their financial objectives by providing the knowledge and innovation in modern investment”, we were not fooled for even a second. This is your average unregulated offshore scam providing you with nothing more than ambiguous conditions and dubious clauses in the Client Agreement designed to prevent you from withdrawing your money.

finexchnge.com REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS

finexchnge.com is registered on the Marshal Islands – our first red flag. This country does not even have a financial regulator, and it is fairly easy to register a company there without even having visited it – all you need is access to a computer. Offshore companies are not obligated to disclose financial information – this enables all sorts of illegal activities like money laundering, tax evasion, and other types of fraud. To speak nothing of the fact that your broker will not be obligated to follow any laws and procedures, and could handle your money however they would like without worrying about strict financial authorities.

Turn to a broker licensed in the UK, the EU, or Australia – in this case, your broker will be monitored by reputable authorities making sure that the company you have chosen is conducting business in a legal and transparent manner. UK, EU, and Australian companies have to maintain a minimum operational capital of €730 000 and A$1 million respectively to prove their long-term approach and financial stability. Client money must be kept separate in segregated accounts – this proves that the broker would not be able to reinvest your money elsewhere, promotes transparency, and speeds up withdrawals. Negative balance protection is provided – this means you cannot lose more money than you have in your account, at least as a retail client. UK and EU brokers are obligated to participate in compensation funds (this is not the case for Australia-regulated brokers) – if such a broker goes bankrupt, each of their clients could receive compensation of up to £85 000 in the UK and €20 000 in the EU.

finexchnge.com TRADING SOFTWARE

finexchnge.com promised us access to their own advanced trading software – available in desktop, mobile, and web versions. Of course, we were interested and wanted to try that software to see if it is really all the broker makes it out to be – but as soon as we tried to download the platform’s desktop version, we were warned that its publisher is not verified and that we could be installing something potentially dangerous. We had no luck with the platform’s web version either – to access that, we had to verify our account, and we had no intention to provide unreliable companies with pictures of our personal documents. But before account verification, we were not able to get access to any of the features in the client area. This is quite the opposite of what legitimate brokers would usually do – they are generally eager to demonstrate how good their services are, and often offer demo accounts where you could “test out” the broker, so to speak, without risking any money.

Our suggestion is to take a look at our list of brokers who offer MetaTrader 4 – this platform revolutionized the world of trading when it was first introduced in 2005. This advanced platform offers not only a decent charting analysis package but also tools like Expert Advisors, VPSs, possibilities for developing custom trading bots and indicators, customizable signals, Strategy Testers, and more.

finexchnge.com TRADING CONDITIONS

finexchnge.com did not mention the minimum deposit amounts it asks for – this is weird since the broker’s website is pretty comprehensive otherwise. However, this is a dangerous scam that will steal whatever you invest – check out some reliable low-cost brokers instead.

The leverage this broker supposedly provides access to is between 1:200 and 1:400 depending on the account. Keep in mind that leverage is restricted in many jurisdictions – UK, EU, and Australian brokers are only allowed to offer up to 1:30 to retail clients. We always advise new traders to be careful with their leverage settings as trading with higher leverage can lead both to bigger profits, and to bigger losses. If you are an experienced trader looking for a broker who can offer higher ratios, however, check out FBS or FXTM – the offshore branches of both brokers can offer very high leverage on certain accounts.

finexchnge.com DEPOSIT/WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES

Although finexchnge.com would not allow us to make a deposit or even see what payment methods were available before we had verified our account, the broker specifically mentioned that it accepts credit and debit card deposits. We suggest that you contact your credit or debit card provider as soon as you can if you have already deposited with this broker – to request a chargeback. With both Visa and MasterCard, such chargebacks are possible within 540 days of the transaction.

Finally, the broker offers bonuses – the only problem is that you would not be able to make any withdraws before you reach a turnover of the bonus divided by four. This could turn out to be a lot – for a bonus of just $100, you would have to reach a turnover of 25 lots or 25 000 000 currency units. And if you fail to do that, the broker would take the bonus back.

The broker explicitly states that all withdrawal requests you make before reaching said turnover will be denied – definitely not something that a legitimate broker would ever do.

HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?

You might think that not many people fall for such scams but you would be dead wrong – some scams are quite elaborate and have managed to fool a lot of people. That is why it is important to know what to expect and look for in order to spot a scam broker from a mile away.

The scam starts with an ad on the Internet promising you an easy gateway to forex trading or investing – the only thing you would have to do is open an account with the broker. You know that there are people who trade for a job and that even regular Joes manage to earn a nice side income through trading and wonder why not do the same, there is no harm in trying. So you give in and provide the scammers with your contact details.

This is the moment when you will start getting constant calls and emails asking you to deposit – even if you have only opened a demo account. At some point, since everything seems legitimate, you do deposit and in the beginning, things might be looking great. The profits you were promised come soon but you should remember that it is easy for scammers to manipulate platforms to make it look like you are turning a profit. But you will be asked to keep on investing – and you would have no problem doing that because you will be smooth-talked into it by people who scam others for a living.

But when you try to withdraw, you will start running into different obstacles – obscure clauses in the Terms and Conditions preventing you from withdrawing, additional fees and taxes, weird procedures. At some point, you would not be able to deny the fact you have been scammed – but it will be too late. The scammers will disappear and stop answering your calls and emails and leave you wondering what to do.

WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?

Don’t trust anyone who calls themselves a “recovery agent” and promises to retrieve your money for a fee – this is just another type of scam targeting desperate people. Sometimes, the same people that were behind your “broker” are also behind your “recovery agent”.

What you should do instead is notify the responsible authorities and change all your banking passwords to avoid additional scams. If you have installed any remote desktop software, remove it instantly – you would not want scammers having access to your computer since they would be able to make whatever transactions they want and access all sorts of information. Contact your card provider if you have deposited with a card and ask for assistance. Both Visa and MasterCard allow chargebacks within 540 days. However, if your account has been verified, scammers might use this as a pretext to claim that you have been informed about the risks involved with trading, done everything voluntarily, and lost money due to bad luck and lack of experience, not due to fraud.

Be prepared that such stories rarely have a happy ending and there is a high chance that you would not be able to retrieve your money. That is why it is vital to trade with reliable, licensed brokers, check regulators’ registers and always read the Terms and Conditions carefully.