The most important thing you have to know about WaveSolutions is that it isn’t authorized to offer financial services, even though it may claim the opposite. In reality this broker doesn’t have a forex license and only tries to mislead its customers into believing it’s reputable. The truth is that WaveSolutions operates on the market absolutely illegally – this can easily be verified on the website of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
On top of that this broker hides some very essential details about its trading conditions. Eventually it becomes clear that WaveSolutions offers too risky leverage of 1:100 and very shady payment methods as well. If you want to find out more, keep reading the following lines.
Regulation and safety of funds
WaveSolutions’s website seems suspicious at first glance. There are countless bold claims and promises for reliable service and secure trading, but as you’ll see shortly, this isn’t the case at all.
Firstly, this broker claims to be based in Zurich, Switzerland. Note that every broker situated in this country must be licensed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in order to operate legally. WaveSolutions however doesn’t mention anything on the topic which seemed very shady and instantly made us check the registers of FINMA. It turned out that this firm doesn’t have a license and isn’t authorized to offer financial services. Therefore, there’s a great possibility that the address it displays is fake as well. Not to mention that this broker doesn’t specify which company runs it either. So as we don’t know where it’s located and who stays behind this website, WaveSolutions happens to be absolutely anonymous.
In fact, this broker claims to be regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and by the Cyprus CySEC. However these statements happen to be false as well – we searched the registers of both authorities, but couldn’t find any data about WaveSolutions. See for yourself:
At this point it’s already clear that this broker tries to manipulate unwitting customers and make them believe in its credibility (which doesn’t exist at all). There’s no doubt that its only aim is to rip off uninformed traders. The worst part is that you’ll have zero client protection in case you invest with such unregulated firms.
Regulated brokers in Switzerland have to stick to the rules and meet all the necessary obligations. The license comes with a formidable minimum capital requirement of 20 000 000 CHF comparable only to that in the US – 20 000 000 USD of minimum capital. What’s more, all legitimate brokers in this country have to keep their customers’ funds in separate accounts, safe from any kind of misuse. And even though WaveSolutions also claims to keep your money in segregated accounts, we simply don’t trust anything it says – remember this broker doesn’t operate under the supervision of any financial authority. Lastly, reputable brokers in Switzerland must participate in customer protection schemes – in case the broker goes bankrupt you can be compensated by a relevant authority for up to 100 000 CHF. Of course, you won’t be able to get such fund protection if you trade with unlicensed brokers like WaveSolutions.
Trading software
WaveSolutions doesn’t specify what type of trading software it provides and this is yet another clear sign we are dealing with a scam.
We registered in a wink of an eye and were ready to go. The platform we saw was just as we expected – a mediocre web-based trading software with simple tools and indicators. Certainly it isn’t worth investing your time or money. Take a look at it down below:
Given the fact that this broker is totally under the counter, we suggest avoiding it and choosing a reputable one instead. What’s more, most of the legitimate brokers offer the top-notch trading platforms of MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
MT4 and MT5 are appropriate even for both advanced traders and beginners. You can be assured that the safety of your funds and personal information is granted as all transactions are encrypted as well as your IP address.
You can also choose between a wide range of educational resources, forex news and technical analysis tools. Most of the customers consider the trading bots to be the best part however. These bots, also called Expert Advisors, analyze the forex market in a search of certain conditions and then perform trading operations once they find them.
MT5 and MT4 can be easily downloaded on PCs, smartphones and tablets and have regular updates. Unfortunately, since Apple removed both MetaTrader 4 and 5 from its AppStore, these platforms can’t be downloaded any more from iPhone/ iPad users. All of you that have already installed the apps can continue using them, but without the above-mentioned updates. On the contrary you can still download MT4 and MT5 from Google Play Store.
Trading conditions
WaveSolutions claims to offer four different account types – Silver, Gold, Platinum and Exclusive. Take a look at some of them down below:
The minimum deposit for the Silver account is said to be between 150 and 3000 USD. Now, 150 USD is a pretty standard amount – in fact most reputable brokers tend to ask for around 250 USD. In our opinion every amount higher than that is completely unnecessary for a beginner. Not to mention that sometimes you can benefit from micro accounts which require around 10 USD. In the case of WaveSolutions we don’t recommend investing here at all, for the reasons stated above.
Apart from the minimum deposit, there isn’t anything else related to the trading conditions that can be useful. No data about the spread or leverage, which is yet another red flag. The only way to find out is to register and take a look at the trading software, which isn’t advantageous at all. Anyway, on the platform we could see spreads from 2 pips for the EURUSD. This amount isn’t too bad in fact, as any spread less than 2 pips come with lower trading costs. However, keep in mind that WaveSolutions isn’t authorized and nothing in its trading conditions can compensate for that. Instead look for a licensed broker who offers tight spreads together with advanced platforms and secure payments.
As for the leverage, as you see the chart doesn’t specify anything on the topic and there’s no data on the whole website as well. On the trading platform there was a leverage of 1:100, which is too high and tricky. Remember that the higher the leverage is, the greater the risk gets and if you combine this with an unregulated broker’s service the failure is almost 100% certain. Keep in mind that Switzerland hasn’t limited the levels of leverage, unlike some other markets like the UK and the EU which have a leverage cap of 1:30. So, if you want to trade with higher leverage, you have two options – you can either invest with a regulated Swiss firm, or choose some of the offshore subsidiaries of reputable forex brokers.
Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
Don’t be surprised to find out that there’s no information about the payment methods as well. After we opened an account and tried to fund our account there were several options, take a look:
And even though there’s Visa/Mastercard alternative, it turned out to be yet another straight up lie of WaveSolutions. We tried to deposit using it, however an error occurred saying “Not Active Payment Methods”.
The rest of the options are in fact crypto payments, which makes things even worse. Bear in mind that crypto transactions are completely irreversible and anonymous, so don’t invest here if you value the safety of your money!
How does the scam work
Be very careful to whom you provide your personal information like email or phone number. The moment scammers have your number they will start calling you in an attempt to make you invest right away.
They will most certainly assure you that trading with them is risk-free, which is highly doubtful at least to say. Also be prepared to hear that you can get a fast and incredibly high return on investment – this is also a shameless lie of course. Scammers tend to sweet-talk traders into making a deposit and then vanish like thin air.
Before that however they might try to manipulate their trading software so it looks as if your money is being invested. They might also fool you into believing that your results are very profitable. This is done with one specific purpose – to make you invest even more before you find out that everything is a lie.
Expect all kinds of hidden fees the moment you try to withdraw even a cent and what is the worst part – to find out that a withdrawal is declined no matter what you do.
What to do when scammed
If you have been scammed, the first thing you can do is to turn to the bank that issued your credit or debit card and ask for a chargeback. If you have paid with your Visa/ Mastercard, a chargeback is eligible within 540 days.
Wire transfers are more difficult to return, and the best thing you can do in this situation is to change your online banking username and password as soon as possible.
Using payment methods like Neteller, Paypal or Skrill also gives you the opportunity to open a dispute in case of online scam.
Unfortunately crypto transactions are irreversible as we already stated and therefore your money can not be returned. All in all we advise you not to trust brokers that use only crypto coins such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Last but not least, certainly don’t trust people on the internet offering to return your funds only after you pay a certain fee. They might also be scammers so don’t risk losing more money than you already have!
