Beware! Fi-Da 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.
Fi-Da is an unregulated broker who acts out as a reliable and trustworthy firm, however this just can’t be the case. After a thorough examination of its bogus website we can definitely state that this broker isn’t licensed and offers financial services outside the law.
Its trading conditions aren’t favorable either – Fi-Da offers risky leverage and a spread that is on the borderline of being costly. Its payment methods are also very shady so we don’t recommend investing even the tiniest amount of money here otherwise you can be left stone broke overnight. In the following review you can read some more details on why we consider Fi-Da an outright scam.
Regulation and safety of funds
Fi-Da claims its registered address to be in London, the UK and provides a phone number but no email. It’s easy as pie to find out if a broker is really regulated in the UK – you can just visit the website of the local regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and search its registers. In the case of Fi-Da it took us just a couple of minutes to realize that this broker is not authorized to offer financial services as it wasn’t present on the lists of licensed firms. See for yourself:
Apparently Fi-Da tries to mislead potential customers with false claims to be “one of the leaders of providing access to CFD trading in the European and Asian regions”. In fact however it lacks a forex license and is totally unlawful as we already pointed out. For this reason its contact details are very likely to be fake which makes this broker absolutely anonymous. Don’t trust such impostor websites as they are most probably run by scammers.
Legitimate brokers in the UK on the other hand must keep in step with the numerous requirements and guidelines set by the local watchdog. In order to be granted a license in the first place they must have a minimum net capital of 730 000 EUR as proof for their financial stability. Moreover genuine brokers in the UK must also keep their client’s money apart from their own capital – it’s called segregation of accounts and it serves as a guarantee that your funds won’t be stolen or misused. But the cherry on top happens to be the compensation schemes all regulated brokers in the UK are obligated to take part in. In short, if the firm happens to be insolvent, its customers can be issued compensation for up to 85 000 GBP. Of course you can’t expect such client protection if you deal with unlicensed brokers like Fi-Da.
Trading software
Fi-Da doesn’t mention anything at all about its trading software. This is a scam alert beyond doubt, as most reputable brokers describe in detail all the perks and benefits of their trading platforms. Some genuine firms even provide a web terminal so that you can preview the software and get to know its functionalities – this way you can decide for yourself if the platform suits you or not. In the case of Fi-Da however, there is no option either to preview its trading platform or to open a demo account, so we had to register straightforwardly.
It turned out there is a reason for this broker to hide the details about its platform. It’s just so plain and ordinary that there’s no point in opening an account here. Take a look at it down below:
As you see, this is an elementary web-based platform with custom indicators and simple tools. To be honest we can’t say anything good about it, as this piece of software won’t help you much in your trading experience. It would be of much more benefit to choose a regulated 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 claims to offer three types of accounts – Standard, Advanced and Master. Take a look:
The minimum deposit of 150 USD seems just average, as most reputable brokers tend to ask for around 200 USD anyway. You can even open a micro account with around 10 USD, so what Fi-Da offers is really not worth the risk of being deceived.
The leverage of 1:100 is also disadvantageous. In fact it’s associated with great risk of failure and isn’t recommended especially for retail traders. In addition, note that the leverage in the UK is limited to 1:30, so this broker proves once again that it doesn’t obey the rules. Furthermore, if you still want to trade with higher leverage we suggest looking at some of the offshore subsidiaries of reputable forex brokers here.
As for the spread, Fi-Da doesn’t specify anything on the topic as well. It’s just another drawback of this broker, but it comes as no surprise at all. Anyway, on its trading software we saw spreads from 2 pips for EURUSD which happens to be just on the borderline of being costly. Nonetheless, don’t invest here no matter what trading conditions this broker provides and better look for regulated firms that offer tight spreads for real.
Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
Again, there’s no data about the payment methods on the whole website which makes this broker even more distrustful, if this is even possible.
After we opened an account there were three payment methods, which turned out to be very shady. Take a look at them:
First of all, there is a crypto transaction via Tether. The other two options are highly suspicious – the “insurance” gives you the opportunity to generate a new crypto wallet, so it looks as just another way to trick uninformed customers into paying with cryptocurrencies. As for the BestChange-Telegram, this alternative redirects you right to a Telegram chat with BestChange (a platform for exchanging e-currencies). All of the above mentioned methods seem unreliable so we don’t recommend investing here at all. Not to mention that crypto transactions cannot be overturned so there’s a zero possibility to retrieve 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!
