Beware! DukeMarkets 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.
DukeMarkets is a shady broker that tries to present itself as a reliable investment company. In the following review, we have tried to explain why this is nowhere close to true.
DukeMarkets Regulation and Safety of Funds
Guaranteed Funds | Segregated Accounts | Negative balance protection | |
DukeMarkets | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
UK regulated brokers | £85 000 | Yes | Yes |
EU regulated brokers | €20 000 | Yes | Yes |
AU regulated brokers | No | Yes | Yes |
US regulted brokers | Yes | Yes | No |
DukeMarkets states that it is regulated in each jurisdiction in which it operates. That does not give us a lot to go by – since the broker did not mention any specific jurisdictions. Moreover, merely being registered is far from enough – each and every company that wishes to offer brokerage services must be licensed, not just registered. DukeMarkets specifically claims to be based in Switzerland but did not provide any information about a local license.
Swiss brokers need nothing short of a banking license in order to offer services – and those are obviously very hard to obtain. It is not surprising that an anonymous, shady-looking broker like this one did not manage to do so.
If you want to trade safely and get access to certain protections, turn to a licensed UK, EU, or Australian broker – those are generally considered to be the best options since they are regulated by some notoriously merciless authorities and have to maintain the highest standard of service. All such companies have to:
- maintain a capital of at least €730 000 in the UK, and the EU, and A$1 million in Australia to prove their financial stability. Moreover, that sum could go up to a few million for brokers with many clients to tend to
- keep client money separate from the broker’s own funds in segregated accounts so that no mixing of client and broker money would happen
- provide negative balance protection – you can never lose more money than you have in your account
- brokers licensed in the UK and the EU also must participate in compensations funds – so if such a broker goes bankrupt, each of their clients could receive compensation of up to £85 000 in the UK and €20 000 in the EU.
Trading with such brokers is immensely safer than choosing unregulated scammers – make the right decision and look up regulated companies.
DukeMarkets Trading Software
Analytical tools | Auto trading | Custom indicators | Mobile apps | |
DukeMarkets platform | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
MT4 | 30+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
MT5 | 50+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
cTrader | 40+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
DukeMarkets claims that it provides access to the well-known trading platform MetaTrader 5, as well as to its own app. We are, however, not able to confirm that since we could not open an account with the broker. When we tried to register, we were asked to provide a referral code – which we did not have. This a trick scammers often use – they distribute such codes to prechosen people they have deemed to be easy victims. This way, the scam can remain undetected for a longer period of time.
Our suggestion would be to turn to a broker that offers a leading platform such as MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5. Both of these platforms can offer a variety of tools and features such as Expert Advisors, VPSs, the chance to create your own trading bots and indicators, customizable signals, the possibility to subscribe to those set by others, and a market for add-ons.
DukeMarkets Trading instruments
Currency | Stocks | Indices | Crypto | Commodities | |
DukeMarkets | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
XM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
FBS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FXTM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
DukeMarkets claims that you would be able to trade on many popular markets if you chose to open an account with it – forex, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. However, without access to an account, we are unable to say if that is actually true.
DukeMarkets Spreads and cost of trading
DukeMarkets | XM | FBS | FXTM | |
Spread EURUSD | ❌ | 0.6 | 1 | 1.1 |
Spread GBPUSD | ❌ | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
Spread USDJPY | ❌ | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
Without access to a platform, we were unable to determine what sort of spreads DukeMarkets offers. Still, we would like to point out that many legitimate brokers offer spreads of 1.5 pips or lower so there is no point in opening an account with scammers.
DukeMarkets Maximum leverage
Forex | Stocks | Crypto | Gold | Indices | |
DukeMarkets broker | 10:1 | 10:1 | 10:1 | 10:1 | ❌:1 |
UK regulated brokers | 30:1 | 5:1 | ❌ | 10:1 | 10:1 |
EU regulated brokers | 30:1 | 5:1 | 2:1 | 10:1 | 10:1 |
AU regulated brokers | 30:1 | 5:1 | 2:1 | 10:1 | 10:1 |
US regulated brokers | 50:1 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
DukeMarkets did not provide us with access to a trading platform which is also why we are unsure what sort of leverage they actually offer. On its website, the broker stated that for accounts with deposits below $25 000, it only provides clients with the opportunity to trade with leverage of up to 1:10. This is actually very low – even brokers regulated in strict jurisdictions like the UK, the EU, and Australia can offer up to 1:30.
It is true that trading with high leverage can be dangerous and result in enormous losses. However, it can also potentially lead to bigger profits as long as you know what you are doing and are still cautious. Avoid trading with leverage higher than you can handle – but still choose brokers that allow more decent rates.
DukeMarkets Deposit and withdrawal methods
Deposit time | Withdrawal time | Fee | |
Bank wire | 2-5 business days | 2-5 business days | $25+ |
Credit card | Instant | 24 hours | Free |
PayPal | 1 hour | 24 hours | 2% |
Skrill | 1 hour | 24 hours | 2% |
Neteller | 1 hour | 24 hours | 2% |
Crypto | 24 hours | 24 hours | Fee depends on crypto |
DukeMarkets did not mention which deposit methods it accepts. However, such scammers often tend to rely heavily on cryptocurrency deposits since such payments are both anonymous and irreversible.
DukeMarkets Minimum deposit
DukeMarkets | XM | FBS | FXTM | |
Minimum deposit | $250 | $5 | $10 | $5 |
The minimum deposit DukeMarkets requires is $250. This is fairly standard if higher than average – plenty of legitimate brokers would open an account for you for $10 or less.
DukeMarkets Withdrawal requirements
DukeMarkets did not provide information on any specific withdrawal requirements. However, such brokers often think of various obscene conditions they can use to prevent you from withdrawing your money. They might, for example, ask you pay huge withdrawal fees or demand that you reach an extremely high turnover before allowing any sort of withdrawals.
Trading volume | Fee/Tax on withdrawal | Minimum withdrawal | |
DukeMarkets / offshore brokers | No information | No information | No information |
UK regulated brokers | No | No | No |
EU regulated brokers | No | No | No |
AU regulated brokers | No | No | No |
US regulated brokers | No | No | No |
G Molloy
Once you ask to withdraw some of your profits, another broker rings and tells you your account manager has got a promotion and has moved to a different department. Than this broker trades your money to lose the lot ($22000 usd), your money is gone in a second. You contacted their support asking what the hell, no response for 2 weeks. Than you get a call from another broker apologising for what happened and if I want all my money back I will have to pay $5700 in fees, once that’s paid within the hour you will be refunded the money. What a joke, how can they think you are that stupid twice hey. The website immediate connect is where they are hooked up with.