Beware! YTDmarkets 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.
YTDmarkets invites us to choose it as a forex broker through which we can trade currencies and other financial instruments under favourable conditions. But even a superficial glance at this website gives us numerous reasons not to believe that it is a legitimate financial services provider. Closer inspection confirms our suspicions – this is in fact nothing more than a typical online scam.
YTDMARKETS REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
If a financial services provider is legitimate, you will find on its website clear and detailed information about the company that owns and operates it, where it is based, and what licences it has. Genuine brokers also provide access to a comprehensive set of legal documentation. The availability of such information does not guarantee that it is not false or misleading. But the absence of these elements is very indicative that in all likelihood you are dealing with scammers.
YTDmarkets does not disclose which company is behind this website. Even the text of the Terms and Conditions does not mention a legal company name or applicable jurisdiction, making this document legally invalid.
The contact address provided by YTDmarkets is incomplete and presumably is in the United States. But such an anonymous website could not legitimately operate as a broker in a regulated jurisdiction.
To operate as a forex broker in the United States, a company must be registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and to be a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). There is no “YTDmarkets” among NFA members.
If you intend to invest in financial instruments, you should beware of the many fake brokers lurking online. Always check carefully whether the broker you choose really has the necessary licences. There are numerous benefits to working with a company that is truly authorised and supervised by a regulatory institution such as the CFTC in US, Australian Securities and Exchanges Commission (ASIC), UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or some EU regulator like Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
Clients of these brokers receive protections such as negative balance protection and segregation of the client’s funds from the broker’s funds. In the EU and the UK, brokers must also participate in guarantee schemes that cover a certain amount of the trader’s investment if the broker becomes insolvent. These guarantees amount to up to 20 000 EUR in the EU and 85 000 GBP in the UK. However, the likelihood of such a bankruptcy is low because regulators also have significant net capital requirements that companies must maintain – EUR 730 000 in UK and Cyprus, AUD 1000 000 in Australia and at least 20 million USD in the United States.
YTDMARKETS TRADING SOFTWARE
Another clear signal that YTDmarkets is a scam is the lack of trading software. After signing up for an account we only get access to very poor imitation trading software. This imitation consists of a simple chart with current asset prices and a completely non-functional menu for placing orders.
YTDmarkets is obviously a scam aimed at people with no experience who don’t know what to expect from a genuine forex broker.
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.
YTDMARKETS TRADING CONDITIONS
Legitimate forex 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.
YTDmarkets does not provide any information on the terms of the trade it claims to offer, other than promises of tight spreads. This is another good reason to use the services of a duly licensed broker rather than this fishy website. Many leading brands offer beginner traders Micro and Cent accounts with very low minimum deposits.
YTDMARKETS DEPOSIT/WITHDRAW METHODS AND FEES
The only method of deposit offered by YTDmarkets is cryptocurrencies. This is completely expected. Cryptocurrencies are the payment method of choice for most financial scammers. The reason is that these transactions on the one hand provide a degree of anonymity to the fraudsters, and on the other hand deprive the defrauded of the ability to claim a refund.
Licensed forex brokers typically offer clients a wide choice of transparent payment methods, including bank transfer, credit/debit cards and established e-wallets such as Skrill, Neteller Sofort and GiroPay.
Since YTDmarkets does not provide proper legal documentation, it is unclear what traps the fraudsters may have set. Typically, fake brokers make withdrawing money impossible through huge fees and impossible-to-fulfil traded volume conditions.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK
Many people are looking for ways to make money passively, but do not have the necessary knowledge to invest in the financial markets themselves. This makes them a target for the many online scammers posing as brokers. If you come across some of them and give them your contacts, you will be contacted by skilled scam artists who will assure you that they can take on the incomprehensible aspects of investing for you. You will only be required to invest and take profits.
But when you try to collect even just a fraction of your money, it will turn out to be impossible. Your supposed profits will suddenly evaporate, or you’ll find that you have to meet impossible traded volume requirements first. Fraudsters often insert huge withdrawal fees into client agreements amounting to 10%, 20% or even more. You won’t be able to hold scammers accountable because they hide behind fake names and shell-companies offshore. Scammers also typically use non-refundable payment methods.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED
First of all, you should be very careful not to fall straight into the clutches of other scammers. Another common scam is to promise money recoveries from fake brokers for an upfront fee.
If you used a credit or debit card for the transactions, you can charge a chargeback. Visa and MasterCard have a long period in which they allow such requests – 540 days. But keep in mind that fraudsters can dispute if you have provided them with a copy of your ID and proof of address. It would also be helpful if you alerted the authorities in your country and other people online to the activities of the scammers.
