RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
VoyaFX aims to offer a wide variety of trading instruments and an accessible, easy-to-use platform even to traders who do not want to invest a huge amount of money. The broker is licensed to offer services in the UK (by the FCA) and in the EU (by the Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria) and accepts clients from 110 countries.
VoyaFX REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
It is worth noting that the company behind VoyaFX – Ever Financial AD – is the one who launched Trading212 in 2009, a broker that in recent years has become one of the most successful forex trading and investing brands. Even though Trading212 became an independent company in 2011, Ever Financial AD remained its sole liquidity provider up until 2014.
VoyaFX is a newer project that is already heavily regulated in multiple jurisdictions. The company has offices in Bulgaria, France, Luxembourg, Dubai, and Vanuatu and strives to offer accessible trading with fast order execution, low commissions, and excellent 24/5 customer support.
VoyaFX is regulated by the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission and, under the MiFID regulations, registered with a number of other EEA financial authorities such as AFM (France), AFM (Netherlands), BaFin (Germany), CMVM (Portugal), CSSF (Luxembourg), CNMV (Spain), CONSOB (Italy), CySEC (Cyprus), FMA (Austria), FI (Sweden), FSA (Denmark), FSA (Estonia), FSMA (Belgium), KFN (Poland), and NBS (Slovakia) among others. MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) allows brokers who are licensed in one EEA country to offer services in all such countries without having a local license. After all, the requirements all such brokers have to meet are the same. EEA brokerages have to prove that they are financially stable by maintaining a minimum operational capital of at least €730 000, keep client money in segregated bank accounts, and provide negative balance protections – which means that you could never lose more money than you have in your account. Additionally, EU brokers participate in compensation schemes – in the unlikely event of a broker going bankrupt, each of their clients is entitled to a compensation of up to €20 000.
In the United Kingdom VoyaFX partners with a well established local company, which is licensed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The requirements UK brokers have to meet are pretty much the same as in the EU – hold minimum operational capital of €730 000, keep client money in separate accounts, and provide negative balance protections. The only difference is that such brokers are obligated to participate in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which ensures client capital up to £85 000 in case the broker goes bankrupt.
Finally, VoyaFX has an international branch in the face of Global Clearing House (GCH) – a company incorporated in Vanuatu and regulated by the local VFSC. This is hardly the strictest regulator – in order to obtain a license, all a broker has to do is hold a security bond of $50 000 with the Registrar of the Supreme Court. Many legitimate brokers register offshore companies – laws in countries like Vanuatu are far looser and allow brokers to offer more competitive conditions to their clients. There are, for example, no leverage restrictions and bonus bans – so if your goal is to trade with higher leverage or get access to attractive promotions, opening an account with the offshore branch of a legitimate broker is a fairly good choice. However, you should make sure that the broker holds a solid license elsewhere to be certain that you can trust them. A broker like VoyaFX which is regulated in the UK and the EU – probably the sternest jurisdictions in the world – would be a good choice.
Branch | Country | Minimum Capital Requirments | Compensation Funds | Negative Balance Protection |
Alchemy Prime Limited | UK | €730 000 | £85 000 | Yes |
Ever Financial AD | Bulgaria (the EU) | €730 000 | €20 000 | Yes |
Global Clearing House (GCH) | Vanuatu | $50 000 | No | No |
All in all, VoyaFX is a heavily regulated broker that has to report to authorities regularly and that has met multiple requirements that are in place in order to ensure safety and transparency. Opening an account with such a broker means that you would always be protected by the law and could trade safely and hopefully profitably.
VoyaFX TRADING SOFTWARE
VoyaFX offers access to its own web-based platform – you can take a look at it below:
The platform has a slick and modern look to it and offers a decent number of charting and analysis tools. Additionally, clients can set a Stop Loss/Take Profit, or place pending orders, and are provided with real-time economic news. However, algorithmic trading and social trading did not seem to be possible. This is hardly the best trading platform we have ever tried but the fact that it was so accessible and well-designed makes it a good choice for traders who are just starting out and testing out the waters.
The platform also provides access to a high-quality financial news stream – real-time updates, fundamental analysis, and reports on various topics such as the general state of the economy and the condition of a specific company.
Additionally, VoyaFX seems to offer accounts on the leading trading platforms MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 but to open such an account we had to undergo a complex process of account verification. As a result, we were unable to test out the terminals this broker offers.
Nevertheless, it is always good to hear that a broker offers some version of MT – this software has been the most popular in the trading industry for years. The reasons for that are many – while both MT4 and MT5 are still quite intuitive and easy to navigate, both platforms also manage to be packed with a ton of useful functions. You would be able to use trading bots to track markets and trade automatically, create custom scripts, purchase a VPS to keep your bots operating even when your computer is off, set signals for prices going up or down, subscribe to successful traders’ signals, access a full charting and analysis package, and much more.
VoyaFX TRADING CONDITIONS
VoyaFX offers an impressive number of trading instruments across all major asset classes – over 1000 CFDs including currencies, ETFs, Stocks, and Commodities. The fact that trading most of these assets is free of commission fees is a true highlight. The broker provides access to a high-quality financial news stream – real-time updates, fundamental analysis, and reports on various topics such as the general state of the economy and the condition of a specific company.
The broker offers three account types – Silver, Gold, and Diamond Account.
The maximum leverage you could reach is the same on all of them – up to 1:30 for retail traders who choose to work with the EU or the UK branch of the broker, and up to 1:100 for those who open an account with the international branch. This is to be expected – because of EU and UK leverage restrictions, brokers are banned from offering rates higher than 1:30 to retail traders. However, if you meet some additional conditions and qualify for a professional account, you could trade with 1:100 even if you are working with the EU or UK branch of VoyaFX.
The minimum deposit amount for a Silver account is $500 – which is an acceptable price for such an account if higher than what most big brokerages can offer these days. The spreads start from 2.1 pips on forex majors – which corresponds with the 2.7 pips on EURUSD we got when opening such an account with the broker. This is quite high – for every lot (100 000 currency units) you trade with VoyaFX, you would have to pay $27. It is still worth noting that the broker only profits through this markup and does not charge additional commissions while trading.
If you would like to open a Gold account, you would have to invest at least $10 000 but you will be benefiting from much lower spreads – starting from 1.5 pips. The broker also promises access to additional educational materials if you choose to open such an account.
The Diamond account costs $25 000 and promises spreads starting from 0.9 pips and more technical and fundamental analysis information.
VoyaFX does not offer demo accounts at the present moment.
VoyaFX DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
Clients would be able to open an account in USD, EUR, GBP and CHF.
VoyaFX did not exactly provide comprehensive information about the deposit methods it supports – in fact, you had to contact the broker in order to get access to their banking information. Still, in the Terms and Conditions, the broker mentions that you would be able to use the most popular deposit methods – credit/debit card and wire transfer.
VoyaFX itself does not charge deposit fees but warns clients that some payment service providers might charge up to 4% of the deposited amount.
In case you have not used your account for more than 3 consecutive months, VoyaFX charges a standard inactivity fee of 1% but no less than BGN 10 per month of inactivity.
BOTTOM LINE
On the one hand, VoyaFX is far from the most affordable broker we have reviewed. The minimum deposit amounts the broker asks for are fairly high and their spreads are wider than what most established brokerages can promise. There is also not a huge variety of payment methods to choose from either.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a reliable, trustworthy brand to start trading with, this broker is definitely worth checking out. VoyaFX offers an impressive variety of tradable instruments and a number of efficient trading platforms while also charging very few additional fees and commissions. We would recommend looking more closely into the broker’s offer to decide if trading with them would suit your specific needs.