Beware! Amtop 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.
Amtop Markets is yet another scam broker pretending to be someone else. It uses another broker’s legal details in order to mislead customers, but in fact Amtop Markets isn’t authorized to offer investment services. On top of that there’s an official warning set by the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK which exposes this firm as a “clone firm” that shouldn’t be trusted.
The services it offers aren’t better either. There’s no data about its trading conditions, the payment methods it accepts seem highly shady and on top of that this broker doesn’t really provide any trading platform you can use. Read the following review for more details on why Amtop Markets is the type of broker you should avoid at all means.
Regulation and safety of funds
As we already mentioned Amtop Markets is a clone firm, mimicking another reputable broker and taking its legal details like phone number, address and license number. Amtop Markets claims to be based in the UK however the contact details aren’t its own, as we mentioned. This broker displays a screen shot from the registers of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which shows some data about the genuine broker – AMT Futures Limited. Amtop Markets however has made some mild changes via photoshop and tries to mislead potential customers that these legal details are its own. The truth can be seen on FCA’s website.
To top it off, it turned out that there’s an official warning set by FCA that states that Amtop Markets is an unreliable firm, who is trying to steal another genuine company’s details. See for yourself:
At this point it’s 100% sure that this broker is an unauthorized and especially dangerous type of scam scheme. As FCA has already stated, it’s not advisable to deal with unregulated firms, as there are a bunch of risks like losing your investment entirely at least to say. Don’t forget that you put your personal details at risk as well. Not to mention that there is no client protection if you decide to invest with unlicensed brokers, so financial authorities like FCA won’t be able to do much in case you get scammed.
For this reason we always recommend choosing a regulated broker with a proven reputation. There are many licensed brokers in the UK that stick to the rules and meet all the requirements in order to operate legally. You can know for certain that these firms are financially stable, as they must have at least 730 000 EUR in order to get a license. What’s more, they ensure your safety of funds in the unlikely event of brokers’ insolvency by participating in compensation schemes – if such an unfortunate event really happens, you can be issued up to 85 000 GBP. Your money is taken care of in one more way – legitimate brokers must use segregated accounts and keep their clients’ funds apart from their own capital.
Trading software
Amtop Markets claims to offer the globally recognized MetaTrader 5 and describes in detail all the perks of trading with this software.
After we registered however there was no sign not only from MT5, but from any trading platform in general. Yes, it seems that you can download MetaTrader 5, however this is just another gimmick – in fact nothing happens after you click on the link. This is how it looks:
As you see, this broker is obviously not to be trusted. It doesn’t even provide a real platform you can trade on and the only thing it aims is to pocket your money in record time.
As we already mentioned, there are many genuine brokers who would offer the industry standard MetaTrader 4 or 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
Amtop Markets also doesn’t mention anything about its trading conditions thus leaving you no other choice but to register. This is the worst type of a broker, as it hopes to string along unwitting customers without actually offering any services at all. As you already have figured out, there was no data about the spread, leverage and minimum deposit even after we opened an account with Amtop Markets. That’s why we advise you to stay away from it. However here’s what to look out for when choosing a broker:
First of all, always look for spreads below 2 pips as they come with lower trading costs. Here’s a list of some genuine brokers who offer tight spreads for real.
The leverage is also very essential for your trading experience, as higher amounts are associated with greater risks of losing your money. That is why the leverage in the UK is restricted to 1:30, so keep in mind that no reputable broker based there would offer more. If you still want to trade with higher leverage, there’s another option – you can choose some of the offshore subsidiaries of legitimate forex brokers.
As for the minimum deposit, remember that the standard amount that most licensed firms ask for is around 250 USD. Sometimes you can even open a micro account which requires around 10 USD.
Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
Amtop Markets claims to accept international wire transfer, local remittance and crypto transactions with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether. This is how the payment form looks like:
However this is yet another deception this broker uses to pull the wool over your eyes. In fact it’s impossible to fill in the forms of the first two options – wire transfer and local remittance, so they turn out to be impossible to use. On the contrary the cryptocurrency transaction works just fine, but we aren’t surprised at all. Scammers like this one tend to insist on depositing with crypto coins like Bitcoin, as these payments are 100% irreversible and anonymous which makes it impossible to retrieve your money. For this reason and everything we have stated so far, just don’t deal with this fraudulent website!
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!
