Beware! AlphaForex 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.
AlphaForex claims that it is “committed to provide the highest standard of services with full transparency to clients and become a one-stop destination for online trading” – however, we are not sure what exactly they perceive as “the highest standard” and “full transparency”. Is it no contact information, lack of regulation, or a mere imitation of a trading platform? If yes, this broker has you covered. Trading with AlphaForex would be a dire mistake since they are obviously a scam – our suggestion would be to turn to someone regulated instead.
AlphaForex REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
AlphaForex is a completely anonymous company – the only contact information the broker has provided is an email. You would not be able to find a phone number, address, or any license information anywhere on the website. The broker’s Terms and Conditions state that AlphaForex abides “by the law in force in England”.
The problem is that some of the broker’s conditions – like the extremely high leverage – go directly against UK laws. Moreover, we could not find any information on an enterprise with the name AlphaForex in the register of the UK’s financial authority, the FCA, which is responsible for regulating forex brokers. This automatically means that AlphaForex is not regulated and that they could not legally offer services in the UK.
Dealing with an unregulated broker is risky as you would have no guarantee that your money is being handled properly and that the broker would not just disappear with it the moment you deposit. Moreover, clients of regulated UK brokers get access to certain protections that would be unavailable if you turn to a scammer. UK brokers keep client money separate from their own in segregated accounts – this means the broker would not be able to use your investment for any of its own purposes. Negative balance protection is mandatory – you could not lose more money than you have in your account. UK brokers are obligated to participate in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which ensures your capital up to £85 000 against a broker’s insolvency. The bonus and binary options ban as well as the leverage restrictions currently in power wrap the whole thing up.
AlphaForex TRADING SOFTWARE
AlphaForex supposedly provides access to their own advanced platform called simply alphaforex Platform that comes in a web version or as a desktop app. However, we were unable to download the installation file for the app because of some malfunction. We were allowed to access the broker’s webs platform which surprisingly looked a lot like MetaTrader 4’s web terminal.
Moreover, this was a bare skeleton of a platform – we were not allowed to use any of the functions MT4 is famous for, or even open a position. It seems like AlphaForex managed to replicate MT4 but forgot to add any functionality to the mixture.
Check out our list of brokers who offer MT4 if you want to see what this advanced software has to offer. The platform is more than amazing and offers features such as Expert Advisors, VPSs, customizable signals you could set as well the option to subscribe to those set by others, custom script creation opportunities, a market for add-ons, and much more. MT4 is also fairly beginner-friendly so there is no reason for you not to see what the software has in stock for you – even if you have just started trading.
AlphaForex TRADING CONDITIONS
AlphaForex offers a variety of account types – the Micro account would be the most affordable as it requires a minimum deposit of just $250.
However, this amount would be more of an upper limit for most brokers – trading is more affordable than ever, and finding a broker who would set up an account for less than $100 would be fairly easy. Moreover, AlphaForex only allows forex trading on Micro accounts and would only let you get access to markets like indices, commodities, and stocks if you invest far more money – which means your trading opportunities would be quite limited.
The maximum leverage you could get with this broker is up to 1:500 (on Micro accounts) – which is far too much considering the fact that AlphaForex claims to be governed by UK laws. The maximum leverage UK brokers are allowed to offer to retail clients is 1:30 on forex majors. This restriction exists to protect you from the higher losses trading with high leverage could result in – so you should be extra careful with your leverage settings as a beginner trader and stay away from any broker who claims to be based in the UK, the EU, or Australia and still promises leverage higher than 1:30 to you as a non-professional client. They are certainly a scam and are breaking the law.
Finally, the spreads we got were around 1.4 pips on EURUSD which is slightly better than average. However, AlphaForex is a scam so turn to a broker like XM, FBS, or FXTM instead if you are looking for good spreads.
AlphaForex DEPOSIT/WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
AlphaForex only accepts deposits made with the online payment solution Cardpayz or with something called GWS – as you can probably tell, these are two less than conventional payment solutions at best. Legitimate brokers always accept credit or debit card deposits, as well as wire transfers and different popular online payment solutions such as Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, PerfectMoney, etc. However, AlphaForex stated explicitly that all withdrawals must be made via bank transfer which is unusual – you must generally use the same payment method for deposits and withdrawals.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?
Read the following paragraphs carefully – such scams are more frequent than you could imagine so being able to recognize them is important. They are usually not very imaginative and follow pretty much the same pattern.
The scam starts with you seeing an ad on the Internet for a broker – the promises of fast, easy money, and amazing trading conditions follow. You register with an account because you are interested to see what forex trading is all about – after all, you know that some people make decent money as day traders. The moment you provide the scammers with your phone number or email, however, you would not be left alone before you deposit. Keep in mind that these are people who scam others for a living – they can be rather convincing. Once you have made your first deposit you would probably see some profits so you will be tempted to deposit more – the scammers would urge you to do just that.
Once you try to withdraw, however, you will run into trouble – additional taxes, clauses in the Terms and Conditions, not high enough trading volume, etc. At some point, you will figure out that you are probably being played – but the broker will be long-gone by then. Don’t count on being able to contact them.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?
Keep in mind that, unfortunately, such stories rarely end with the client retrieving their money. That does not mean, however, that there is nothing you could do.
Firstly, change your banking passwords – you would not want the scammers to steal even more money. If you have given them remote access to your computer, make sure to remove the software immediately – they might have claimed that they could help you trade if you install software like AnyDesk or TeamViewer but the scammers just want to get free access to your computer and even make transactions on your behalf.
If you have deposited using Visa or MasterCard, ask for a chargeback immediately – both card providers allow such chargebacks within 540 days. Retrieving money if you have used a wire transfer, or an electronic payment solution is much harder – but still, contact your bank or payment method provider to see if anything can be done. And if you have deposited in crypto – as such scammers often urge you to do – you would never be able to get your money since crypto payments are irreversible.
Notify the responsible authorities, and share your story online and in your acquaintance circle – information is power, and your experience might save someone from being scammed in the same way.
Finally, don’t trust any “recovery agents” promising to retrieve your money for a certain fee – this is just another type of scam targeting desperate people.
