Beware! Smart Trade CFD 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.
Smart Trade CFD has been blacklisted by the official regulator in Italy and its website is being blacked out. The reliability and regulation of Smart Trade CFD are very shady, since we came across several really disturbing facts about it – a risky amount of leverage as high as 1:1000 for instance. The trading platform is also insufficient, as it can’t be accessed without providing your personal information first. Keep reading for more details of why we think this broker is an outright scam.
Smart Trade CFD Regulation and safety of funds
On its website Smart Trade CFD says its address is situated in Talin, Estonia. After checking the site of Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA), we were fully assured that such a broker is not present on the list. At that point it becomes clear why we are 100% sure this broker`s only intention is to pocket your money without providing actual trading to its customers.
On their website they also claim to operate as a brand name of Via Finance – that is also a lie. Via Finance offers investment services and activities and operates under the brand names of Fortissio and TaoTrade, but not Smart Trade CFD! See for yourself:
Furthermore it turns out that Smart Trade CFD is black listed by CONSOB – the local Italian financial regulator, which states that this broker, alongside some other mentioned firms, offers “financial services/financial products abusively”. Take a look:
This fact alone is enough to turn you down on any attention to work with this broker. Investing your funds with such offshore firms brings the inevitable risk of losing your savings and unfortunately becoming one of the many victims of online scam. In most cases, the frauders` only aim is to make you believe you are at the right place for trading, then convince you to invest more and more until you realize all your funds are gone. Remember that scammers don’t care about your trading operations and most often don’t even trade your money for real. That is why customers should rely only on trust-worthy brokers with proven license – in this case issued by one of the EU regulatory bodies.
Holding a license indicates the fact that this particular broker is to be trusted, as it covers some very strict requirements. For example every broker must have a minimal registered capital – 730 000 EUR in most European countries.
Another requirement states that customers` funds must be kept in segregated accounts, apart from the company’s own operational capital. This way they ensure clients` funds are not going to be misused.
Every broker that wants to receive a license must take part in a compensation scheme. In different countries the amount of compensation varies – for example in the EU the sum payable to customers is 20 000 EUR. In UK the compensation scheme led by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) aims to protect traders’ deposits up to 85 000 GBP in case of broker insolvency, even though this kind of event is very unlikely.
Bear in mind that regulated brokers are limited to offering a leverage as much as 1:30 and are prohibited from proposing any type of bonuses or promotions. Even though the higher leverage seems tempting it’s actually very risky, and high trading bonuses are usually associated with fraudulent practices. So you are not missing much to be honest.
Smart Trade CFD Trading software
Smart Trade CFD describes its trading software as a “safe, fully-regulated online trading platform’’, which we can`t really confirm. After our registration we were sent to a very simple, if not to say lackluster web-based platform, that gives the opportunity to make a deposit, but doesn`t display any trading chart. It seems as if this is an absolute scam, whose only goal is to convince you into depositing more funds without the actual trading part. Take a look:
In this case the broker asks for your personal information first in order to have access to the platform itself. Something that is highly unprofessional, as every trader would like to see the trading software and then to decide whether to use it.
Moreover it’s ridiculously different from industry standard MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5, which most reliable brokers tend to use. In fact a lot of reputable brokers used to switch from more basic platforms to MT4 or MT5 with a good reason.
First of all MT4 is a multi-asset trading platform, meaning you can easily trade forex, indexes, stocks, commodities and CFDs. It also has cutting-edge analytical capabilities and can be downloaded from any browser, features that make it perfect even for novices.
One more excellent aspect of MT4 is the possibility to use Expert Advisors – trading bots that analyze the market and perform trading operations. This feature is unique and only to be seen on this trading software.
What’s more every trader should be able to rely on a trust-worthy and flexible platform – a requirement that MetaTrader 4 certainly covers. MT4 is an extremely secure trading platform, where information exchange between servers and client terminals is encrypted. In addition, the IP addresses of traders are also encrypted. This way traders can be calm that their accounts, data and funds are safe from hackers.
Unfortunately MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 apps for iOS can no longer be downloaded, as Apple has removed them from the AppStore. All customers that have already installed the application on their iIPhone or iIPad can continue using it but will not be able to make any future updates. For those using Android or non-iOS devices Google Play Store remains as an option. Apple has surely made a very disappointing move regarding all long-term users of MT4 and MT5, as these platforms used to have millions of downloads and positive reviews in AppStore.
Smart Trade CFD Trading Conditions
Smart Trade claims you can trade “without fear of losing your money” (as ridiculous as it sounds) and further states:
We sincerely recommend not to trust these claims, as this broker seems more and more shady. A demo account would be way more useful anyway. Also don’t forget that Smart Trade CFD has been black listed by CONSOB as an unreliable firm, as we already marked.
Apart from its deceitful promises, this broker offers several different types of accounts. See for yourself:
Here we would like to draw your attention to several very important details, first being the fact that this broker claims to offer micro accounts. This is not the case here however, as Smart Trade CFD states that the deposit starts from $100 (which is way too high for a micro account), but then writes that the minimum deposit is $200! Such a contradiction, don`t you agree? Furthermore a lot of reputable brokers offer a minimal deposit of $200 anyway, and some even go further into $10 minimum deposit.
The paradox doesn’t stop here. As you can see this broker says to offer a leverage as high as 1:1000. Just remember that such leverage is too much of a risk, making your trade look more like a gambling than actual investment. It surely seems tempting, but as you can gain a lot (which is highly improbable for a retail trader), you can also lose everything invested in a second. Scammers usually try to lure new customers using this technique so if you see one you should know it’s a red flag already. Also do not forget that the leverage is limited to 1:30 in the EU for retail traders, because of the associated risks.
However, if you still want to give it a try and invest with high leverage, we advise you to choose one of the offshore subsidiaries of reputable forex brokers here.
No information about spreads is to be found on the website, nor on the so-called platform. Be aware that a spread less than 1 pip is great for trading, as it comes with lower trading costs. Spreads between 1 and 2 pips are most often to be seen and are also fine to work with. We do not recommend trading with spreads higher than 2 pips, because of the reasons stated above.
Smart Trade CFD deposit/ withdraw methods and fees
Smart Trade CFD seems to accept several different types of payment methods – Credit/ Debit card (CardPayz), Credit/ Debit card (Getaway) and PAYPOUND. Nothing more or less – so typical for online scammers.
As you can see, cryptocurrencies or other popular payment methods such as Neteller, Skrill and PayPall are not among the options. Moreover the traditional payment methods like Visa and Mastercard give you the chance to opt for a chargeback in 540 days, in case you have been a victim of a scam. In the case of Smart Trade CFD we can not assure you this is possible. All in all we don`t think it’s a good idea to deposit on this platform at all, as you may lose not only your money, but also any taxes the broker may require.
How does the scam work
Unfortunately more and more people are being deceived by online scammers every day. That is why it’s so important to tell them apart and know what to look for in a new broker’s presentation.
Always make sure you can find the broker on some of the financial regulators’ websites. For example you can check the websites of FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus), ASIC (Australia), CFTC/NFA (US) – to name a few. If the broker is on the list it serves as a guarantee that this broker is licensed and is to be trusted.
Always be cautious if you see a broker offering a bonus scheme as it is usually accompanied by strings attached – often it’s a very high volume requirement that you have to achieve in order to make a withdrawal. Needless to say that such a requirement is impossible to achieve and scammers know that.
Offshore brokers also tend to ask for a certain fee upon every withdrawal request – 10%, 20% or even more, which is greatly unfair to be honest. In fact most regulated brokers don’t require any fees upon a withdrawal request. Be aware however that even if you happen to pay the amount to the offshore broker you still won’t be able to get even a cent back – this is the way scammers work!
Last but not least fraudsters tend to fake your trading results and make you believe you are on the right path. In reality not only that such profits don’t exist at all, but also it’s very probable that your money isn’t invested anyway.
What to do when scammed
Beware that scammers might also try to convince you they can help you restore your losses. In these cases scam firms promise to retrieve all stolen funds in exchange for a modest fee of course. Finally you may end up losing everything, so be careful if you come across such claims.
If you realize you were a victim of an online scam, you better turn to your bank as soon as possible, since you can file for a chargeback in 540 days as we already said. Unfortunately if you made your payment using crypto coins you won’t be able to retrieve your funds, as such transactions are proved to be completely anonymous and irreversible.
