Beware! Ico-Assets 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.
Ico-Assets is not the legitimate EU broker it makes itself out to be. Investing with this shady company will only result in one thing only – you getting scammed. We have many reasons to believe that pouring money into this broker is a quite horrible idea – read the full review to learn more.
Ico-Assets Regulation and Safety of Funds
Guaranteed Funds | Segregated Accounts | Negative balance protection | |
Ico-Assets | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
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 |
Ico-Assets claimed to be regulated by the Cypriot CySEC – one of the strictest financial authorities in the world. In the meantime, the broker is supposedly based in Switzerland but does not seem to have a local license. Brokers can only offer services in that county if they hold a banking license – which this broker did not have.
When we checked the register of CySEC, it turned out that a company with this license number did exist – the well-known broker Plus500.
Plus500 is one of the most respected brokers in the industry and definitely does not have anything to do with Ico-Assets. This means that the broker we are reviewing is using another company’s license information – something a legitimate broker would never do. This is sure proof that we are dealing with a scam scheme – one that is definitely best avoided.
Our suggestion is to work with a broker actually regulated in the EU if you want to be sure you would be treated in a fair and transparent manner.
Ico-Assets Trading Software
Analytical tools | Auto trading | Custom indicators | Mobile apps | |
Ico-Assets platform | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
MT4 | 30+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
MT5 | 50+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
cTrader | 40+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
Ico-Assets promised access to the web version of the well-known platform MetaTrader 5. This is quite weird – usually, when a broker offers the web version of the platform, they also offer the desktop and mobile ones. At any rate, the broker did not actually allow us to access any sort of trading platform. When we opened an account, we were urged to first deposit – only after that would we get access to a functional platform. And when we tried to deposit, the broker’s website malfunctioned and would not allow us to proceed.
What we would recommend is checking out some legitimate brokers that offer a functional MT5 if you are interested in trying out the platform.
Ico-Assets Trading instruments
Currency | Stocks | Indices | Crypto | Commodities | |
Ico-Assets | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
XM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FBS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FXTM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ico-Assets claimed that it offers access to trading instruments such as indices, metals, energies, other commodities, stocks, options, and cryptocurrencies. This seems like a fairly decent selection but we would still like to point out that the broker forgot to mention if it offered forex trading – and currencies are indeed one of the most popular trading instruments.
There are plenty of legitimate brokers that can offer an amazing selection of trading instruments – be sure to check out their offers instead of wasting your time on scammers.
Ico-Assets Spreads and Cost of Trading
Ico-Assets | XM | FBS | FXTM | |
Spread EURUSD | ❌ | 1.7 | 1 | 1.1 |
Spread GBPUSD | ❌ | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
Spread USDJPY | ❌ | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
Since we could not access a platform with Ico-Assets, we cannot say anything specific about the spreads the broker offers. What we would suggest is checking out some affordable regulated brokers – many of them offer amazing spreads, sometimes even around 1 pip or lower.
Ico-Assets Maximum leverage
Forex | Stocks | Crypto | Gold | Indices | |
Ico-Assets broker | ❌ | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown: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 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Ico-Assets did not provide specific information about the maximum leverage it supposedly offers. If this was indeed a regulated EU broker, they would not be allowed to offer leverage higher than 1:30 on forex majors to retail traders. The reason for such restrictions is that trading with high leverage could potentially result in enormous losses. The authorities of many countries have tried to limit the size of those losses by imposing said leverage restrictions.
Ico-Assets 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 |
On its website, Ico-Assets stated that it only accepts deposits made via wire transfer or with a credit/debit card. These are indeed two secure payment solutions but we cannot be sure that the broker actually accepts them. When we tried to make a deposit, the broker’s website malfunctioned and we were not allowed to proceed.
We would not recommend depositing with fraudulent scam brokers anyway. Such companies would surely try to rob you the momet=nt they get the chance to.
Ico-Assets Minimum deposit
Ico-Assets | XM | FBS | FXTM | |
Minimum deposit | $10 000 | $5 | $10 | $5 |
Ico-Assets’ cheapest account costs as much as $10 000 – which is simply too much to ask for for a basic account. Plenty of brokers offer extremely affordable solutions and would allow you to start trading with as little as $5. That is why there is absolutely no point in investing such a large amount of money into a scam scheme.
Ico-Assets Withdrawal requirements
Ico-Assets did not provide us with any sort of legal documentation which is a huge enough of a red flag on its own. What this also means is that we were unable to establish if the broker has any sort of requirements when it comes to withdrawals. What we would like to point out though is that many scammers do have such requirements. They might, for example, ask you to pay enormous withdrawal fees in order to get access to your money. Or they might not allow any withdrawals before you reach some outrageously high turnover – usually thousands of times the amount you have invested.
Be on the lookout for such conditions – they are a sure tell-tale sign that your broker is trying to scam you.
Trading volume | Fee/Tax on withdrawal | Minimum withdrawal | |
Ico-Assets / 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 |