Beware! 21st Finance 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.
21st Finance falsely claims to be regulated by multiple jurisdictions. In reality this broker is as far from being reputable than one can imagine. Bear in mind that it isn’t licensed nor authorized to perform on the forex market, so if you decide to invest with it, you put your money at serious risk.
Not to mention the disadvantageous trading conditions it offers as for example the highly risky leverage of 1:100. Its payment methods aren’t reliable either – this broker accepts crypto transactions only and doesn’t provide any other alternative. So if you consider investing with 21st Finance, read the full review and you’ll change up your mind!
Regulation and safety of funds
21st Finance claims to be registered in the UK and provides some basic contact details like email and phone number. It also states that the company operates under the requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK, as well as the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) of South Africa and the Financial Services Commission of the Republic of Mauritius. In fact this broker lists a lot of reputable regulators as for example CySEC (Cyprus) and many more claiming to be licensed by them.
Now, being based in the UK means that it’s mandatory for any broker to be licensed by FCA in order to operate legally. We searched the registers of this financial authority however there was no data about 21st Finance we are dealing with. Sure, there were some companies with similar sounding names, but we can assure you they have nothing to do with the broker we are reviewing. Probably this was the whole point – 21st Finance chose a name that can be easily mistaken with another reputable broker. In reality however this firm is absolutely unlawful and unauthorized to offer financial services.
As for the rest of the watchdogs that 21st Finance mentions, the situation doesn’t change much. This broker is not licensed by either of them.
Trading with unregulated brokers hides a bunch of troublesome situations. Not only that there’s no client protection, but you can even end up stone broke and deceived before you can realize it. In such cases don’t bother asking for help from financial authorities, as there isn’t anything they can do. Even FCA clearly warns potential investors that dealing with unauthorized firms is not advisable and it can’t help you in case things go wrong. So, for your own safety, always look for legitimate brokers with proven reputation.
Genuine brokers in the UK follow many different rules and are constantly supervised by the local watchdog. They must hold a formidable minimum capital of 730 000 EUR in order to prove their financial stability. What’s more they are also obligated to keep their client’s funds in segregated accounts and must also participate in compensation schemes. The latter aim to protect your money in the unlikely event of broker’s insolvency – in such a case, you can be issued with up to 85 000 GBP of compensation by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Trading software
21st Finance claims that its platform is “a product of the work of the best developers and financial experts”, which contains “the most innovative instruments and functions”.
We registered in just a couple of minutes and were granted access to a simple web-based platform developed by TradingView. Take a look at it down below:
This software doesn’t catch the eye with anything special in particular – there are the basic well-known tools and indicators that every other web-based platform has. It certainly isn’t worth the risk of investing with an unregulated broker like 21st Finance.
On the other hand if you want to trade on a reliable and truly advanced software we recommend choosing a broker who offers 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
This broker seems to offer three types of accounts – Beginner, Confident and Expert. Take a look at them down below:
The Beginner account requires 150 USD of minimum deposit which is in fact a bit less than the usual amount for the sector. Just for reference, reputable brokers tend to ask for around 250 USD for a regular account and for around 10 USD for a micro account. Nevertheless, don’t trust 21st Finance and better don’t invest here no matter the minimum deposit.
The leverage that this broker offers is 1:100. This is way too much and hides a lot of risks of losing your investment entirely. What’s more, the leverage in the UK is limited to 1:30, so there is no way that 21st Finance could possibly be licensed there. Yet, if you still wish to try and trade with higher leverage you can turn to some of the offshore subsidiaries of reputable forex brokers.
This broker doesn’t specify what spreads to expect from it. However on the trading platform we saw a spread of 0.1 pip, which seems favorable for trading, but we are pretty sure that there is something shady around here. Note that even if you happen to trade with raw spreads there are going to be some commissions at the end. For your safety of funds we recommend choosing a legitimate broker that offers tight spreads for real.
Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
Again, 21st Finance doesn’t mention anything about its payment methods, a fact that can lead to no good.
After we registered it turned out exactly the way we expected. There was only one type of payment method – a crypto transaction with Bitcoin and Tether to be precise. See for yourself:
Remember that these transactions are not eligible for a chargeback and are completely anonymous, so there’s a zero chance to retrieve your money. In short – stay away from such fraudsters and don’t deposit even the smallest amount of money with them.
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!
