Beware! InvestEdge 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.
InvestEdge tries to present itself as a reputable broker, but in fact it’s nothing more than a fraud.It isn’t authorized to offer financial services and is not supervised by any financial authority. On top of that there is very little data on its website that can be considered helpful or useful as a whole.
For example there is no information about its account types or levels of leverage – a huge wake-up call if you ask us. Furthermore, this broker offers a rather shady payment method and a very simple trading software that isn’t worth wasting your time. We wouldn’t advise you to trust its sweet talk, as this broker seems a lot dodgy at least to say. For more details on why to avoid investing with InvestEdge, keep reading the following lines.
Regulation and safety of funds
InvestEdge claims its registered address to be in Australia. However it also displays a Google map address that is in Italy. This contradiction seemed quite suspicious at first glance, so we decided to check this broker’s credibility.
First of all, all brokers based in Australia must be authorized by the local Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). InvestEdge however doesn’t mention anything on the topic, which seemed even more shady. Every reputable broker would display all the legal documents and data regarding its regulation.
Anyway, we searched the registers of ASIC just to confirm that InvestEdge is not regulated by them. There is a company with a similar sounding name, but with no address or website displayed. We are quite sure however that it has nothing to do with the broker we are reviewing here.
We strongly advise you not to deal with such unlicensed firms, as the risk of getting scammed is real. These brokers don’t act honestly and certainly don’t follow any rules or guidelines. If you decide to trade with such an illegitimate broker be aware that you are doing so at your own risks. However don’t be surprised if you wake up without two nickels to rub together.
If you want to avoid such fatal consequences, better invest only with regulated and trustworthy firms who have a legit forex license and a proven reputation. Australian licensed brokers act under one of the strictest jurisdictions around the world and are certainly to be trusted. Some of the requirements include a minimum net capital of 1 000 000 AUD as well as a segregation of accounts. In short – your funds must be kept apart from the company’s own capital, this way you can be calm that they are safe from any kind of fraud.
Trading software
InvestEdge doesn’t say much when it comes to its trading software. The only thing that you can find out from its website, is that this broker offers a WebTrader. In other worlds you don’t have to download the platform, but can access it directly from the web.
Apart from that, there is no other data regarding the trading software. Furthermore, you can’t preview it before opening an account with this broker.
After we registered we were granted access to a simple web-based platform. Take a look at it down below:
As you see this software is nothing outstanding. There are just some basic tools and indicators. It certainly isn’t worth losing your time or money.
Better look for a reputable broker who offers the industry standard MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5.
MT4 and MT5 have been praised by both brokers and traders for a good reason. They definitely surpass their predecessors in so many ways – they are more advanced, have more functionalities and tools to choose from at least to say.
You can be sure your funds and personal information are safe, as all transactions are encrypted and so is your IP address. MT4 and MT5 are definitely platforms you can fully trust to execute your trading operations promptly and effectively.
Among all great features that MT4 has for example, the most popular are the Expert Advisors. These trading bots can do the job for you – they search for certain conditions and start trading the moment they find them. As simple as that!
MT4 and MT5 have desktop, mobile and browser-based versions. All of them are very easy to navigate even for beginners. Don’t worry – these platforms are free and don’t require any payments.
Unfortunately for all of us MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are no longer available on AppStore, as Apple has recently removed both of them. If you are using an iPhone or iPad and you have already downloaded one of them, you can continue using it but without any further updates or upgrades. Hoping this is only temporary and that Apple shall bring them back as soon as possible. MT4 and MT5 are still available for download on Google Play Store.
Trading conditions
InvestEdge doesn’t explain what types of accounts it offers – again a huge drawback that doesn’t speak well about this firm’s credibility. Every legitimate broker would normally describe in detail everything about its trading conditions – the spread and leverage it offers, as well as the minimum deposit requirement. That’s how you can decide if the conditions suit you or not.
In this case we are absolutely clueless what trading conditions InvestEdge offers. The initial deposit is unknown as well. In general, the usual amount of minimum deposit that most reputable brokers tend to ask for is around 250 USD or even less – micro accounts require around 10 USD.
The leverage that this broker offers is also uncertain. Just note that in Australia there is a leverage cap of 1:30 and any volume higher than that is considered not only too risky, but also forbidden. Still, if you want to try and invest with higher leverage, we suggest choosing some of the offshore subsidiaries of reputable forex brokers.
The situation with the spread is the same like everything else related to this shady broker. There is no data on the website, however after we opened the trading software there was a spread of 0.8 pips for EURUSD. There is no information if this is a raw spread or not, so keep in mind that there might be some commissions at the end. As a whole, every spread below 2 pips is known to be more advantageous as it comes with lower trading costs. That’s why it would be for the best to stick to regulated brokers who offer tight spreads for real.
Deposit/Withdrawal methods and fees
It comes as no surprise that there is nothing mentioned about the payment methods anywhere on the website. As we have stated a million times before – this is yet another red flag for scam which indicates that there is something shady regarding the broker’s deposit options.
After we tried to add funds to our account, it turned out that we had gut feelings for a reason. The only possible payment method is through Kryptova – a platform for crypto transactions that supports high-risk merchant accounts. See for yourself:
Apparently the only possible payment method is via crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Not to mention that this broker is obviously a high-risk merchant. Remember however that crypto transactions are very risky too, as they are proven to be 100% irreversible and anonymous. To sum things up – you won’t be able to get even a cent back once the payment is complete, so better stay away from InvestEdge for your own good.
How does the scam work
Remember that financial scammers are only interested in your money, not in your trading or financial success. They happen to come upon new ideas on how to deceive people every day. Unfortunately despite the efforts of all financial institutions there are still a lot of offshore brokers that claim to invest your money in the best possible way but in fact aim to steal everything. The worst part is that they use various techniques to win your trust and to make sure it’s almost impossible for a beginner to tell them apart from a reputable broker. Here’s a list of their most common tricks you should watch out for.
First of all, scammers tend to offer incredibly high return on investment. They assure you there’s nothing to worry about, as trading with them is easy as a, b, c. Offshore brokers might even promise they can handle the trading for you and your only job is to relax and wait for the “fantastic results”.
Bear in mind that scammers can manipulate their trading platform and make it seem as if your funds are being invested, but in reality no such thing happens. They also can fake your trading results thus making you believe they have been very profitable – this is made to make you invest more and more, because your trading is “so successful”.
Scammers might also claim that trading with them is risk-free and so on. That is another ridiculous lie – reputable brokers even tend to display on their website the exact amount of trading losses as a warning.
Furthermore they might offer you some kind of bonuses just to make you invest right away. Don`t believe them however as such promotions usually come with a very high volume requirement that is a challenge even for experienced traders.
Another scam alert is the presence of a certain fee upon any withdrawal request – this fee may start from 10%, 20% and go higher depending on the broker. It’s important to know however that most regulated brokers don’t usually ask for a fee in order to allow withdrawal.
Nevertheless even if you decide to pay the fee you still won’t have access to your money – with most scam firms this scenario is very likely to happen. You may realize that a withdrawal is impossible – no matter if it comes to your initial deposit or the so-called “profits”. So finally you may end up losing everything plus the paid fee.
What to do when scammed
Most people that have been scammed usually try to take some actions to retrieve their stolen funds. Unfortunately in such cases you can’t really turn to any official financial institution as offshore brokers` actions are not overseen by any regulator. So a regulatory body can’t help you here. What most people do in such circumstances is to turn to people on the internet who promise to retrieve their money in exchange for a certain fee. This is probably the worst thing you can do, actually. These people are most certainly also fraudsters who want to take advantage of your despair and steal even more of your funds. It may even turn out that they are the same scammers that already deceived you.
The best possible thing you can do is to turn to your bank and file for a chargeback if you used your Visa or MasterCard. If you have paid using PayPal or Skrill you can also open a dispute. Paying with crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum is not eligible for a chargeback as we already said and the funds cannot be restored.
