Beware! Unified Stock Trade 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.
Unified Stock Trade, or UST, provides us with a graphic example of why it’s important to carefully verify the information you see online, especially when your money is on the line. This website pretends to be a forex broker licensed by some of the leading financial regulators. But this is completely untrue – which is why it would be a huge mistake to invest through Unified Stock Trade. Let’s take a look at how you could tell that this is nothing more than a scam.
UNIFIED STOCK TRADE REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
On the home page we see the statement that Unified Stock Trade “is authorised and regulated in various jurisdictions”.
The website itself mentions only one jurisdiction – the United Kingdom. The Terms and Conditions state that the Unified Stock Trade is a trading name of the Stock Group Limited, which is licensed not only in the UK but also in Canada and the offshore zone of Vanuatu.
However, after registering an account and logging into the Unified Stock Trade dashboard, we see a completely different version – that the company is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa.
For the purpose of this review, we searched the databases of these regulators. Nowhere did we find an authorised broker with the listed name, registration numbers and domain.
When choosing a broker through which to invest in the financial markets, you should not only make sure that all the information required by law is available, but also that this information is true. Always check that the company is indeed on the records of the specified regulator and that the domain used is among those officially approved for the particular broker.
Only invest your money through companies that you can confirm are indeed licensed and supervised by institutions such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. or Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
As their customer you will enjoy a number of guarantees including negative balance protection and guarantee for your funds if the broker goes bankrupt, which goes up to EUR 20,000 in EU and 85,000 GBP in the UK. Regulations in the UK and EU include some important measures designed to improve investor protection and promote market integrity and transparency, such as transaction reporting. Regulated brokers are also required to segregate their operational funds from the client’s money.
UNIFIED STOCK TRADE TRADING SOFTWARE
Software is the most important tool for a forex trader, which is why it is suspicious that the Unified Stock Trade website does not mention what platform it offers to clients. After registering an account we get access to something that has neither the look nor the functionality of trading software. It is a poor imitation, and a poor imitation of a binary options trading platform at that – a simplistic type of speculative trading that is banned in all jurisdictions in which Unified Stock Trade claims to be authorised.
But even if Unified Stock Trade had a more convincing platform, that would not make this website credible. Fake brokers use trading software to mislead their victims that their money is really being invested. But this trade is entirely sham.
Legitimate brokers offer clients a wide selection of trading software, including desktop, mobile apps and web-based platforms. The most widely used platforms in the industry are MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). These platforms have established themselves as industry standard because they offer a wide range of features, including a variety of options for customization, multiple account usage, designing and implementing custom scripts for automated trading and backtesting trade strategies.
UNIFIED STOCK TRADE TRADING CONDITIONS
The lack of legal authorization and especially of functional trading software means that it doesn’t really matter what terms and conditions Unified Stock Trade claims to offer.
In fact, what we don’t find on the website of Unified Stock Trade what we will find on the websites of any real brokers – a detailed description of the trading parameters, such as spreads, leverage, commissions and order execution method.
Legitimate companies also offer different account types tailored to the needs of traders with different experience, capital and investment intentions. Most leading brands allow you to start trading with a very low minimum deposit, often under 100 USD.
Instead, Unified Stock Trade claims to offer investment plans with very high and guaranteed returns. No real broker would or could promise you guaranteed returns. In fact, regulated companies are required to warn clients that most traders lose money when trading financial instruments.
Unified Stock Trade also claims to offer referral bonuses and other promotions. Regulated brokers are prohibited from such solicitation practices.
UNIFIED STOCK TRADE DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
Unified Stock Trade claims to accept deposits through a variety of cryptocurrencies, wire transfer, and electronic payment processors such as Western Union, MoneyGram and PayPal. But when we choose one of the conventional methods we get a message that our request has been received and the website administrators will contact us. So the only actually available option is cryptocurrencies.
Scammers prefer cryptocurrencies because these transactions are not subject to refunds. If you are interested in licensed brokers that also accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment alongside other transparent payment methods, take a look at this list.
Unified Stock Trade doesn’t provide information on deposit and withdrawal fees, but that doesn’t mean scammers won’t unpleasantly surprise you with hidden fees and terms that make withdrawing your money impossible.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
Many people have a desire to invest in the financial markets but lack the necessary knowledge and experience. This makes them a potential victim of the many internet scammers posing as brokers and investment intermediaries. These types of scams have exploded alongside the cryptocurrency boom.
If you trust such a website and give them your personal information, you will be contacted by experienced scammers who will entice you with promises of easy profits. The scammers usually offer to take over all aspects of investing for you, sometimes even prompting you to install remote access software on your personal computer. After investing an initial low amount, they will convince you that you are already making incredible profits and urge you to invest more.
But you will never get the promised profits, nor will you be able to get your money back. If you want to withdraw funds from your account, you will find that you have suddenly lost everything in the market, or that you have to meet impossibly high traded volume requirements, or that you have to pay huge fees. It is also possible that fraudsters simply disappear because they hide behind fake names and shell companies in offshore areas that are not subject to any control and regulation.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
One of the few options to get at least some of your money back in such a situation is to ask for a chargeback. But this is only possible if you have used a credit or debit card for the transaction. Scammers typically use cryptocurrencies or dubious e-wallets that make it impossible to get your money back.
Under no circumstances should you trust people and websites that promise to magically refund your lost money for an upfront fee. This is also a well established scam. You may even fall victim to the same scammers again.
