Beware! Fxtradeservice 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.
If you are looking for a broker who offers good conditions, a decent trading platform, a variety of account types, and, most importantly, reliability, Fxtradeservice is definitely not it. This is a broker who would rob you blind the moment you invest – but is still insolent enough to make impossible offers – such as to refund 100% of your losses:
This sounds great – but no legitimate broker would be able to promise you such things. Do not make the mistake of depositing with Fxtradeservice – this would only lead to huge losses for you.
Fxtradeservice REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Fxtradeservice claims to be a US-based broker – although it has not mentioned anything about being regulated in the country and licensed by its merciless financial authorities – the NFA and the CFTC. When we checked the register of the NFA where you can find US-regulated brokers for an enterprise with the name Fxtradeservice (we were not provided with a company name so the name of the broker had to suffice), we got zero matches:
It would not be acceptable or legal for an unlicensed broker to offer services to US customers – the strict regulatory framework in the country bans even legitimate and trustworthy overseas brokers from accepting US traders. A broker needs to be authorized by the NFA and CFTC in order to operate legally – no more discussions are needed. Obtaining such a license is not easy – US companies actually have to face some of the harshest requirements in the world. For example, they have to maintain a minimum capital of $20 million – more than anywhere else – and release certain transaction data to customers to ensure transparency. These strict measures have left few big brokerages operating on the US market.
Working with an unlicensed broker is very dangerous – especially one who chose to remain as anonymous as Fxtradeservice. The broker has not provided any essential information about itself or about the company behind it – and investing with people and enterprises you know absolutely nothing about is the worst idea imaginable.
If you turn to a broker licensed in a strict jurisdiction such as the EU, the UK, or Australia, you would be entitled to many protections you would not be getting otherwise, and you could be sure that you are trading securely. Such brokers also have to maintain a certain minimum capital to prove their financial stability, although the numbers are not as big as in the US – €730 000 for brokers in the UK and the EU, and A$1 million. Reporting to authorities regularly is mandatory – this ensures transparency and the fair (and legal) treatment of clients. Negative balance protection prevents you from suffering losses exceeding the amount of money you have in your account. Licensed brokers are also obligated to keep client funds in separate bank accounts – this keeps your investments safe in case of unfortunate events, speeds up withdrawals, and proves the broker would not be able to use your money for their own financial activities.
Fxtradeservice TRADING SOFTWARE
Fxtradeservice offers this web-based trading platform:
This is not a platform you can use for trading forex – a possibility the broker claims to offer. You would instead be allowed to trade binary options – a trading tool that is so risky that it has earned a ban almost everywhere around the world. The principle of binary options is the following – you bet on the movement of the short-term price of a certain asset. If you have guessed the movement correctly, you make money. If you are wrong, however, you lose whatever money you have put on the movement. There are very few calculations involved in such trading – in fact, it is much closer to gambling which has naturally led to many people losing huge amounts of money while trading binary options. Some of these losses were the result of scam brokers offering the tool – which has led to the almost worldwide ban on binary options that exists today. Some US brokers can still legally offer the tool but 9 times out of 10 if a broker is offering binary options trading, they are lying.
If you are interested in trying out a serious, functional trading platform that will allow you to trade multiple assets, give MetaTrader 5 a chance – with a reliable, licensed broker, of course. This is currently the trading platform with the most clients and given its easily operated, straightforward interface and the many amazing tools the software features, that popularity is understandable. You would be able to get access to Expert Advisors (trading bots that trade automatically), VPSs that keep EAs operating even when your computer is off, Strategy Testers, hedgings and netting options, a community chat where you can share experiences with others, a built-in economic calendar, customizable signals as well as the chance to subscribe to those set by others, and much more. Do not hesitate to try MT5 today.
Fxtradeservice TRADING CONDITIONS
Fxtradeservice only offered the following account type description – and only after we created an account:
We would gather that to open an account that offers any sort of benefits and additional tools, you would have to be willing to invest at least $1500 – which is a huge amount of money. Trading with a reputable broker is more affordable than ever – some brokers would offer great conditions on trading accounts that require a minimum deposit of as little as $5.
Fxtradeservice does not seem to offer leveraged forex trading – despite all its promises. As a result, any talk about important conditions like spreads, leverage, and commissions becomes redundant. The broker offered the following chart in the Client Area:
The spreads you can see here are great – as tight as 0.6 pips on EURUSD. But this is just another deception – the broker would not actually allow you to trade any of the currency pairs it has mentioned.
The talk of leverage as high as 1:100 is also pointless. But it is worth mentioning that no legitimate US broker could offer such high rates – leverage is limited by law to up to 1:50 on forex majors in the US. The rates EU, UK, and Australian brokers can offer are even lower – up to 1:30 for retail clients. Any broker who claims to offer higher rates is most probably a scammer.
Fxtradeservice DEPOSIT/WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
Fxtradeservice accepts deposits made in Bitcoin, or via Western Union or MoneyGram. Depositing directly to the broker’s Bitcoin wallet was easy – if you wanted to use the other two payment methods, you would have to contact the broker directly and request additional information. Judging from what we have seen from Fxtradeservice, we would make the guess that those two payment methods would turn out to be unavailable and we would be asked to deposit in crypto. In this case, the offer of other payment solutions would just be smoke and mirrors. This is a common trick among scammers – crypto transactions are irreversible which means that getting a chargeback on your payment would not ever be possible. If a broker urges you to deposit in crypto or only offers this payment method, keep one eye open.
The broker offers a $4000 bonus – but did not provide us with a Bonus Policy or with any Terms and Conditions for that matter. This, plus some general brand guidelines, is all we got when we tried to access Fxtradeservice’s legal documentation:
The lack of legal documentation is extremely bothersome – in such a case, how would you know what sort of fees and commissions you would have to pay and what your obligations are? The lack of a Bonus Policy is equally problematic – because scammers often attach dubious clauses to such promotions that later on make it impossible to withdraw even your own profits and deposits.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?
Scam brokers are becoming more and more of a constant feature in the world of financial frauds – which means that more and more people are losing their hard-earned money by depositing it with such unreliable companies. We advise readers to always turn to licensed enterprises and thoroughly check registers. Let’s take a look at how such scams usually work and how you can protect yourself from them.
You stumble upon a broker who seems to offer fast, effortless, sometimes guaranteed profits – and decide that there is no harm in opening an account with it to see what it has to offer. After all, you have heard stories of people earning a decent income by trading – why not be one of them. You would not have to deposit, not immediately. But the moment you provide the broker with your phone or email, they would not leave you alone before you do so. You will be promised all sorts of great things – after all, these are people who scam people for a living and who are well-accustomed to convincing. The initial deposit might not be big – but you would be asked for more and more money with time. In some cases, you might even see that money grow – but that is nothing more than a trick that usually involves some sort of platform manipulation.
A time will come though when you will want to withdraw money – and you would not be allowed to do so. The broker will claim that you have not fulfilled a clause in the Terms and Conditions, that there are additional taxes, and that you are obligated to wait a certain time before withdrawing. At this point, you will understand that you are being scammed – but the broker will disappear as soon as they discover they can no longer milk you.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?
The first thing you should do is change all your banking passwords, and uninstall any remote access software (if you have installed any). After all, you would not want the scammers to have any sort of access to your bank account so they could drain it.
Do not trust any so-called “recovery agencies” who ask you to pay a fee so they could track down the broker and retrieve your money – this is a whole other type of scam targeting desperate people. What you should do instead is inform the actual financial authorities, and look into chargeback options – both Visa and MasterCard, for example, battle scams by allowing chargebacks within 540 days of the transaction.
One final thing – it is important to share your story with as many people as possible. The more people know about this sort of scam, the fewer people will fall victim to it. Unfortunately, such stories rarely get a happy ending – which is why prevention is key.
