Beware! Solar Markets 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.
Solar Markets claims to offer vaguely defined financial services, including cryptocurrency trading. But even a cursory inspection reveals that this website is not designed to help you profit from investing in financial instruments, but to scam you out of your money. Let’s take a detailed look at the reasons why it’s in your best interest to stay away from Solar Markets.
SOLAR MARKETS REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
Legitimate forex brokers provide clear and detailed information about the legal entity that owns and operates them, where it is based, what licences it has and which regulators oversee its activities. Lack of such details or improper presentation of them are always a red flag that we are probably dealing with a scam.
Solar Markets is completely anonymous and does not provide a contact address. Neither the website nor the Terms and Conditions specify a company name. The text of the document states that the agreement with the client “is governed by the law applicable in the country of our company“.
On the home page, we see a statement that Solar Markets is registered in the United Kingdom.
But this cannot be true because such an anonymous website could not offer financial services in a regulated jurisdiction. For this purpose, the owner of Solar Markets must have the relevant licences from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In the regulator’s database, we do not find an authorised broker using the trade name or domain of Solar Markets.
Before investing your money in financial instruments, it is imperative to make sure you do so through a licensed intermediary and not one of the many scammers lurking online. Under no circumstances should you trust your money to such anonymous websites full of false and contradictory information. Instead, you can turn to one of the many companies that really work under the supervision of respected regulatory bodies like 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.
SOLAR MARKETS TRADING SOFTWARE
The Solar Markets website doesn’t even mention the most important tool for trading financial instruments, software. After registering an account we get access to a very rudimentary cryptocurrency trading platform. In fact, we’re pretty sure it’s more of an imitation trading software than the real thing.
But even if Solar Markets 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.
If you use the services of a licensed broker, you will get the opportunity to use established software with advanced features and versions for all types of devices and operating systems. The most widely used trading 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.
SOLAR MARKETS TRADING CONDITIONS
Solar Markets’ claim that it offers cryptocurrency trading is itself evidence that it is not a licensed broker based in the UK. The FCA is particularly critical of cryptocurrencies and prohibits trading in crypto derivatives.
Legitimate brokers offer a variety of trading account types tailored to the needs of clients with different capital and investment intentions. These brokers also provide clear and detailed information on trading parameters – leverage, spread, commissions, order execution method, etc.
Instead, on the Solar Markets website we see a list of investment packages promising guaranteed returns. A genuine broker will not and cannot promise you guaranteed profits. In fact, licensed companies are obliged by regulators to warn their clients about the high risk of losses when trading financial instruments.
The minimum deposit for these plans is GBP 10,000. For a hundred times less you could open a starter account with a licensed broker and start trading for real.
The trading platform allows you to define your own leverage and increase it to unlimited levels. This is not even possible with offshore brokers, let alone regulated companies. High leverage creates the opportunity for more significant profit, but correspondingly increases the risk of sudden and excessive losses. All leading regulators therefore restrict leverage for retail traders. The FCA, like EU regulators, limits leverage to 1:30 for trading in major currency pairs and even lower levels for more volatile assets.
SOLAR MARKETS DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
Solar Markets claims to allow deposits via credit cards, bank transfer and cryptocurrencies. In the deposit menu itself, the only option is to provide your credit card details, but depositing is not automatic. Instead, a message appears that website support will contact you.
Financial scammers often deceive their potential victims into believing they can use conventional payment methods, but actually steer them towards cryptocurrency transactions. This prevents the defrauded from claiming a refund.
While there are some legitimate brokers that accept digital currencies like Bitcoin, they do so alongside other transparent payment methods, including popular e-wallets like PayPal, Neteller or Sofort.
In the text of the Terms and Conditions we find a typical scam trap. If the account has received a bonus, it can withdraw funds only after it has met the high minimum traded volume requirements – one standard lot for every 5 USD bonus. This clause serves to block any withdrawal requests. Regulated brokers are prohibited from offering bonuses and promotions.
Solar Markets also charges a 5% administrative fee for accounts that are inactive and do not maintain the required minimum deposit.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
With all the buzz surrounding cryptocurrencies and NFTs, many people are starting to consider investing in the financial markets as a bid to improve their fortunes. Scammers on the internet have taken notice of that and take advantage of the ignorance of the general public by creating countless websites posing as brokers. These websites offer no real brokerage services and only deceive people into believing that their money is really being invested.
If you come across such a scam website and give out your contacts, you will be contacted by experienced scammers who will convince you that they can take on all the frighteningly complex aspects of investing for you. But you will never get any real profits, nor will you be able to get back the money you deposited. The terms and conditions of these websites are riddled with clauses that make withdrawing funds from your account unfeasible – for example, extremely high minimum trading volume requirements or hefty fees of 10%, 20% or even more of the amount.
Scammers hide behind fake addresses and names and operate through offshore companies that are not subject to regulation and scrutiny. So even if all the withdrawal requirements are met, they may simply disappear and move on to their next fraudulent scheme.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
It is very important not to rush into trusting people on the internet who offer to magically refund your money for a fee. These are also scammers, and they may even be the same ones who scammed you in the first place.
If you have made the transfers using credit or debit card, you can claim a chargeback. Visa and MasterCard allow this to be done within 540 days. However, such a request may not be approved if you have given the fraudsters documents such as a copy of an ID and proof of address. This will allow them to claim that the transaction is legitimate and approved by both parties.
