Beware! CGFX 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.
CGFX is a licensed offshore broker that offers surprisingly decent trading conditions, as well as a good trading platform. However, the fact that they do not hold a reliable license definitely bothers us. There are regulated brokers that offer conditions that are just as good and even better but also provide a high level of security. For this reason, we do not believe that you need to take CGFX into consideration when choosing a broker to trade with.
CGFX REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
CGFX is a broker that is based and registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines but also claims to hold a license from the FSC of Mauritius and implies that it is licensed by ASIC (Australia).
ASIC is one of the strictest regulators in the world and brokers regulated by it are generally very reliable. A company with the name and license number the broker has provided did show up in ASIC’s register. However, if you read the text above carefully, you will learn that this company – Commercial Group FX Pty Ltd – only “acts as a technology provider to Commercial Group FX Limited and does not offer financial services”. This means that the broker itself is definitely not regulated by ASIC.
Unlike Australia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not a top regulatory hub. In fact, the local financial authority, SVGFSA, does not regulate forex brokers at all and does not issue licenses. There are no laws and requirements in place for such brokers. That is why the country has turned into a favorite location for scammers in recent years. Not all brokers based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are scammers but many are. That is why we would generally advise you to avoid such brokers unless they are a branch of an established international brand.
CGFX is indeed licensed by the FSC of Mauritius:
Some license is certainly better than no license because it proves that the broker had to meet some sort of requirements. However, the FSC is an offshore regulator which means it is hardly the strictest. The only thing local brokers have to do is maintain a capital of between €25 000 and €250 000 depending on the kind of services they want to offer.
Brokers regulated in the UK, the EU, or Australia, on the other hand, are obligated to follow many rules and meet many requirements in order to prove that they are reliable. In order to obtain a license, a broker is obligated to maintain a minimum operational capital of €730 000 in the UK and the EU, and A$1 million respectively – this way, the company could prove its financial stability. Negative balance protection is a must – the losses you could suffer while trading could not exceed the amount of money you have in your account. Client funds are kept segregated – your money will be kept separate from the broker’s own funds so you can be sure that the broker would not be able to reinvest your deposits. UK and EU brokers must also participate in compensation funds – so in case your broker becomes insolvent, you could receive a compensation of up to €20 000 in the EU and £85 000 in the UK.
For all of these reasons, turning to a broker based in a stricter jurisdiction is a much better idea.
CGFX TRADING SOFTWARE
CGFX offers access to the well-known platform MetaTrader 4:
This is, without a doubt, one of the best platforms in the industry to date. Not only is MT4 quite easy to navigate but it is also full of useful tools and features worth exploring. This makes the platform a good choice for beginners and experienced traders alike.
MT4 provides a wide array of indicators, chart types, graphical objects, and timeframes to choose from. Moreover, it allows algo trading – you can use preprogrammed Expert Advisors to track markets and trade automatically. Creating your own trading bots and indicators with the MQL 4 programming language is also an option. Finally, you can purchase VPSs to keep your trading bots running even when your computer is not on. Another useful feature is the option to set custom signals or to subscribe to those set by other traders. This way, you will immediately be notified about price movements. MT4 also offers access to a vase market where you could purchase additional trading apps.
Without a doubt, MT4 is a great option for a trading platform. However, we urge you to check out some more reliable brokers that offer it.
CGFX TRADING CONDITIONS
CGFX offers two account types – Starter Pro and Advanced Pro. Both accounts offer clients the chance to trade Forex, Commodities, and CFDs.
The Starter Pro account is extremely affordable – the minimum deposit here is just $50. The Advanced Pro account costs $200 which is still pretty good. However, CGFX is definitely not alone in its offer of cheap trading options. Some of the best brokers in the industry offer accounts for $100 or less. On some occasions, you would be allowed to start trading with as little as $5.
CGFX does not charge additional commissions on either of its accounts. We were told to expect spreads starting from 1.5 pips on the Standard Pro account, and from 0.5 pips on the Advanced Pro one. This is quite standard. What worries us, however, is that we got around 0.3 pips on our demo standard account. This inconsistency does not make the broker look good. Moreover, we do not consider good spreads to be reason enough to open an account with an offshore broker.
Finally, the leverage you could get access to with this broker could go as high as 1:200. Offshore brokers can offer any leverage they decide but this is not the case for companies regulated in stricter jurisdictions. UK, EU, and Australian brokers, for example, can only offer leverage of up to 1:30 to retail traders. The reason for these restrictions is that trading with higher leverage is risky and could result in fast, big losses. You should always be careful with leverage, especially as a beginner, and only trade with rates you are sure you can manage.
CGFX DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
The only payment solution CGFX accepts is wire transfer. This is less than pleasing considering the fact that such transactions are both quite slow, and extremely pricy. You might have to pay as much as $50 for an international wire transfer on some occasions. Such fees can quickly add up, especially if you only want to deposit small amounts of money. Another problem is that such transactions can rarely be reversed. So you probably would not be able to ask for a chargeback, even if you were not satisfied with the broker’s services.
Most legitimate brokers offer a number of deposit methods including but not limited to wire transfers. You can easily deposit with a credit or debit card, with an electronic payment solution such as Skrill or Neteller, and sometimes even in crypto.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?
In recent years, such scams have become more frequent than you can imagine. That is why it is very important to learn how they usually work and how to tell scam brokers apart from legitimate ones.
Always make sure to check the registers of regulatory bodies to make sure that a broker is licensed and reliable. Stay away from shady-looking websites that promise enormous profits in no time with zero effort. Do your own research – never blindly trust what a certain broker is telling you.
All scams start in a fairly similar way. You see an ad on the Internet promising immense fortune in no time – the only thing you have to do is open an account with a particular forex broker. You give in to curiosity and provide the scammers with your phone number and e-mail – at this point, you might still be reluctant to deposit. But once the scammers have your contact information, you will start getting calls and messages from them. They will ask you to deposit to unlock the full potential of their platforms and turn a profit. Keep in mind that such people are well-versed in the art of sweet-talking – they can promise amazing things and make effortless profits seem possible.
After you make an initial deposit, they would not leave you alone and keep asking for more money. You might even be happy to deposit since, at this point, it might seem like you are turning a profit. Scammers tend to manipulate platforms and results to make it look like you are doing great when you are actually just pouring money into their schemes.
The moment you try to withdraw, you will find out that something is not quite right. Reasons why withdrawals are impossible will show up – additional taxes, new clauses in the broker’s Terms and Conditions, etc. At some point, you will figure out that you are being scammed – but it would already be too late. The scammers will stop answering your calls and e-mails – and they will simply disappear with all your deposits.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?
The first thing you should do is contact your bank and inform them about what has happened. Change your banking passwords to ensure that the scammers would have no way of stealing more money.
If you have installed remote access software – such as TeamViewer or AnyTesk – make sure to remove it. Some scam brokers will try to convince you that such software is necessary for a better trading experience – in order for them to help you with platform issues, or even with trading. Their true goal is to get access to your computer and banking systems – so they can start draining your accounts.
If you have deposited with a credit or debit card, make sure to contact your card issuer as soon as possible. Both Visa and MasterCard try to combat scams by allowing chargebacks within 540 days of the transactions. Retrieving your money might still be possible. If you have deposited in crypto, on the other hand, there would, unfortunately, be no way for you to get your money back.
Make sure to inform the authorities in your country about the broker and share your story – online and with acquaintances. This will prevent people from getting scammed in the same way.
One final important note – never trust anyone that calls themselves a “recovery agent”. Such “agents” promise to track down the scammers and retrieve your money – for a fee, of course. This is nothing more but another type of scam directed at desperate people.
