Beware! Viewmaxfx 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.
Viewmaxfx is an unregulated broker based in a country that doesn’t license forex brokerage activities. Even though it falsely claims to be fully regulated, don’t let it fool you – this broker isn’t authorized to offer financial services and doesn’t meet any of the requirements needed. On top of that it offers highly risky leverage of 1:500 and has a very complicated registration process. Don’t deal with this sham broker if you value your time and money. For more details on why to avoid Viewmaxfx, read the following lines.
Regulation and safety of funds
Viewmaxfx claims its registered address to be in St. Vincent and the Grenadines – a country that is known for its lack of forex regulation. This country doesn’t license forex brokerage activities and the proof can be found on the website of the local Financial Services Authority (FSA) – there is an official warning explaining all the risks of dealing with unregulated brokers. Take a look at it down below:
As you see, using the services of such unlicensed firms would be at your own risk, as FSA clearly states. And even though Viewmaxfx claims to be fully regulated, this simply can’t be the case, as it became obvious already.
In fact St. Vincent and the Grenadines is known as a scam heaven for many reasons. In short, every broker based there can offer financial services without being obligated to meet any requirements and without being supervised by any financial authority. Such unregulated firms are especially tricky as you never know how shady they might turn out to be. What’s more, you can’t expect that your interests and funds are being protected or that the broker plays by the rules – such things are highly improbable when it comes to unlicensed brokers. In most of the cases they just turn out to be yet another scam scheme.
Reputable brokers on the other hand go by the book when it comes to offering financial services. For example legitimate brokers in the UK and the EU must have at least 730 000 EUR of minimum capital. They are also obligated to take part in compensation schemes – in short if the broker goes bankrupt a trader can be issued with up to 85 000 GBP or up to 20 000 EUR for most of the countries in the EU.
Genuine brokers in the EU and the UK must also keep their clients’ funds in segregated accounts so that they are protected from any kind of fraud. Viewmaxfx also claims to keep its customers’ money apart from its own capital, however we have no reason to believe that, given the fact this broker is absolutely illegitimate.
Trading software
Viewmaxfx claims to offer the popular trading software of MetaTrader 5. It also provides some links so that you can download the platform on your desktop or mobile device.
The registration process however was somewhat complicated – we had to receive several confirmation emails and wait till our account was created. Finally, we managed to open a demo account and can confirm that Viewmaxfx really offers MT5. Take a look:
Unfortunately, we couldn’t complete our registration as this broker requires an ID picture to be uploaded in order for our account to be verified. But anyway, don’t let this broker mislead you – it’s not advisable to trade with unregulated firms no matter what type of software they offer.
It is always for the best to use the services of a legitimate provider. Not to mention that genuine brokers tend to offer MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 anyway.
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
Viewmaxfx claims to offer three types of accounts – Standard, Pro and Raw. Take a look at some more details about each of them down below:
As you see, the Standard account offers a leverage of 1:500. This is way too high without a doubt and is considered too risky particularly for retail traders. To be precise, the leverage in most of the countries is limited – 1:30 for the UK and EU and 1:50 for the US. For this reason we do not recommend trading with higher volumes especially when it comes to unregulated firms. Yet, if you want to go for it and trade with higher leverage, we suggest looking at some of the offshore subsidiaries of reputable forex brokers.
As for the minimum deposit, this broker requires 10 USD in order to start trading. In fact this is a standard amount for the micro accounts that most legitimate brokers tend to offer. Otherwise, the usual minimum deposit for a regular account happens to be around 250 USD. In the case of Viewmaxfx the amount required seems very attractive, however don’t let it fool you. Investing with unlicensed firms is not safe, no matter what trading conditions they offer.
Finally, Viewmaxfx promotes a spread of 1 pip for its Standard account. On the platform of our demo account we saw a spread of 0.4 pips for EURUSD, which is fine for trading, as it won’t be so costly. Nevertheless, don’t trust such shady firms and turn to legitimate brokers that provide tight spreads below 2 pips.
Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
On its website Viewmaxfx claims to accept a variety of payment methods like Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, PayPal, WebMoney and bank transfer.
Sadly, we can’t confirm any of them, since we couldn’t complete our registration, as we already mentioned. Without verification of our account we simply didn’t have access to our profile and the funding options available.
Just be on guard if you see cryptocurrencies as the only possible payment method, as these transactions are proven to be completely irreversible and anonymous. All in all better avoid using the services of unauthorized brokers like Viewmaxfx.
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!
