IB Platform review – 5 things you should know about ibplatform.info

Beware! IB Platform is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.

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Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.

IB Platform have made a concerted effort to ensure that their website gives the impression of credibility and professionalism. But fact checking reveals that this is not the regulated forex broker it claims to be. In this review, we will look in detail at the clues that IB Platform is a scam, and guide you on how to select a truly trustworthy broker.

IB Platform Regulation and safety of funds

The most important information about a financial services provider is its regulatory status. Licensed brokers provide detailed information about which company runs them, where it is based, which jurisdictions it is authorised in and which regulatory bodies oversee its activities. But the availability of such information does not guarantee that it is not false or misleading.

On the homepage of the website, we see a statement that the company IB Platform Limited is licensed by an institution called the Capital Markets Authority.. This is the name of the financial regulator in Kenya, but IB Platform does not provide a contact address or licence number.

In the text of the Terms and Conditions we see a UK contact address.

A check of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) database leads us to a warning that the IB Platform is an unauthorised website which is imitating a legitimate company.

We find a similar warning on the Canada financial authorities website.

When choosing a broker through which to invest in the financial markets, you should not only make sure that all the information required by law is available, but also that this information is true. Always check that the company is indeed on the records of the specified regulator and that the domain used is among those officially approved for the particular broker.

You should only trust legitimate brokers operating in one of the established financial centres like the UK, EU, USA or Australia. There, the activities of brokers are controlled by powerful regulatory bodies such as UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in US or Australian Securities and Exchanges Commission (ASIC). Clients of these brokers receive protections such as negative balance protection and segregation of the client’s funds from the broker’s funds.

In the EU and the UK, brokers must also participate in guarantee schemes that cover a certain amount of the trader’s investment if the broker becomes insolvent. These guarantees amount to up to 20 000 EUR in the EU and 85 000 GBP in the UK. However, the likelihood of such a bankruptcy is low because regulators also have significant net capital requirements that companies must maintain – EUR 730 000 in UK and Cyprus, AUD 1000 000 in Australia and at least 20 million USD in the United States.

IB Platform Trading software

IB Platform advertises that it offers the three most popular trading platforms in the industry – MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5) and cTrader. But after signing up for an account we get access to a different, much less popular platform called Sirix Station. Such a discrepancy between advertised and actually available services is typical of financial fraudsters.

While this platform has the basic functionality to place orders, it cannot compare to the capabilities provided by MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). It is no coincidence that these platforms have established themselves as the industry standard. They offer a wide range of features, including a variety of options for customization, multiple account usage, designing and implementing custom scripts for automated trading and backtesting trade strategies.

It should be noted that the presence of some kind of trading software is no guarantee that this is a genuine broker. Financial scammers often use rigged trading platforms to fool their victims that their money is actually being invested. However, this trading is entirely fictitious and the money goes directly into the scammers’ pockets.

IB Platform Trading instruments

IB Platform claims to offer trading with currency pairs, commodities, stocks, bonds and cryptocurrencies. The latter is also evidence that IB Platform could not really be a licensed broker operating in the United Kingdom. The FCA prohibits brokers in the country from offering crypto derivatives trading.

IB Platform Spreads and cost of trading

In the trading platform we see a spread of about 0.2 pips, and the website lists a commission of 7 USD per lot. This is fairly standard for the industry. But as stated, we have no reason to believe that this unlicensed website offers real trading.

IB Platform Maximum leverage

A leverage of 1:100 is set in the trading platform. This is not a level that you see with regulated brokers. Trading with high leverage allows higher profits, but also increases the risk of sudden and excessive losses proportionally. All leading regulators limit leverage for retail traders.

Regulated brokers offer higher leverage only to professional clients who must meet very high standards for capital and experience and forgo the guarantees enjoyed by retail traders.

If you don’t qualify as a professional trader but are willing to take the risk of high-leverage trading, the most viable option is to use the services of an offshore affiliate of an established brand.

IB Platform Deposit and withdrawal methods

IB Platform  allows deposit via cryptocurrencies and credit/debit cards, but through obscure payment processors.

Legitimate brokers typically offer clients a wide choice of transparent payment methods, including bank transfer and established e-wallets such as PayPal, Skrill or Neteller.

IB Platform Minimum deposit

The deposit menu requires a minimum amount of 50 USD. You should know that for this amount or even less you could open a trading account with a licensed forex broker, including some of the leading global brands.

IB Platform Withdrawal requirements

IB Platform does not specify special conditions for withdrawal. But these types of scams always surprise you with hidden fees and other tricks that prevent you from withdrawing your money back.