Beware! EsCapitals 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.
EsCapitals presents itself as a forex and CFD broker through which we could trade with trust. But even a basic fact check reveals plenty of evidence to the contrary. In this review, we’ll examine the clues that this is not a legitimate financial services provider and offer more trustworthy alternatives.
EsCapitals Regulation and safety of funds
Guaranteed Funds | Segregated Accounts | Negative balance protection | |
EsCapitals | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
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 |
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.
EsCapitals is completely anonymous. No company name is listed on the website and no contact address is provided. Even in the text of the Terms and Conditions, no name of a legal company is mentioned and no applicable jurisdiction is specified. We have no reason to believe that such an anonymous website is a credible forex broker.
The Spanish financial regulator CNMV is of our opinion and has blacklisted EsCapitals.
Before investing your money in financial instruments, it is imperative to make sure you do so through a licensed intermediary and not one of the many scammers lurking online.
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.
EsCapitals Trading software
Analytical tools | Auto trading | Custom indicators | Mobile apps | |
EsCapitals platform | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
MT4 | 30+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
MT5 | 50+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
cTrader | 40+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
After account registration we get access to a basic web-based trading platform. This platform lacks a menu for placing orders – we were unable to ascertain whether this was due to our account being unverified or whether it was in fact an imitation trading software.
But even if EsCapitals had a more convincing platform, that would not make this website credible. Fake brokers use rigged trading software to mislead their victims that their money is really being invested. But this trade is entirely sham.
Legitimate brokers offer clients a wide selection of trading software, including desktop, mobile apps and web-based platforms. The most widely used platforms in the industry are MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). These platforms have established themselves as industry standard because 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.
EsCapitals Trading instruments
Currency | Stocks | Indices | Crypto | Commodities | |
EsCapitals | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
XM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FBS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FXTM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
EsCapitals promises over 2,000 tenderable instruments but does not provide specific information. Genuine forex brokers provide detailed information about the trading conditions. Legitimate companies also offer different account types to suit clients with different experience, capital and investment intentions.
EsCapitals Spreads and cost of trading
EsCapitals | 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 |
The alleged EsCapitals trading platform does not provide information on the difference between a buy rate and a sell rate. The text of the Terms and Conditions describes many high fees and commissions that are not charged by genuine brokers.
Even if we were to believe that EsCapitals offers real trading, it would be extremely disadvantageous to the customer.
EsCapitals Maximum leverage
Forex | Stocks | Crypto | Gold | Indices | |
EsCapitals | 200:1 | 200:1 | 20:1 | 200:1 | 200:1 |
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 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
In the trading platform we see a very high leverage of 1:200 for forex and 1:20 for cryptocurrencies. High leverage creates the opportunity for more significant profit, but correspondingly increases the risk of sudden and excessive losses. All leading regulators therefore restrict leverage for retail traders.
All EU regulators limit leverage to 1:30 for major currency pairs, 1:20 for non-major pairs, gold and major indices, 1:10 for other commodities and non-major indices, and 1:2 for cryptocurrencies.
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.
EsCapitals Deposit and withdrawal methods
Deposit time | Withdrawal time | Price | |
Bank wire | 2-5 business days | 2-5 business days | $25+ |
Credit card | Instant | 24 hours | Not specified |
The EsCapitals deposit menu includes two options – bank transfer and credit/debit cards. When selecting the first option, we get a message that the website support will contact us, and the second option transfers us to obscure payment processors such as fxpaymentservices.com.
Legitimate brokers typically offer clients a wide choice of transparent payment methods, including established e-wallets such as PayPal, Skrill or Neteller.
EsCapitals Minimum deposit
EsCapitals | XM | FBS | FXTM | |
Minimum deposit | €250 | $5 | $10 | $5 |
EsCapital specifies a minimum deposit of 250 EUR, which is the industry standard. But this means that for the same amount you could open a trading account with an established and duly licensed forex broker. Some of the leading brands in the industry offer Micro and Cent accounts with a very low entry threshold that are suitable for novice investors.
EsCapitals Withdrawal requirements
Trading volume | Fee/Tax on withdrawal | Minimum withdrawal | |
EsCapitals | Not specified | Not specified | Not specified |
UK regulated brokers | No | No | No |
EU regulated brokers | No | No | No |
AU regulated brokers | No | No | No |
US regulated brokers | No | No | No |
If the account has received a bonus, it will only be able to withdraw funds once it has met the minimum traded volume requirements. These requirements are vaguely worded and very high – “40 times for every 1 USD bonus”.
Scammers use such clauses to block any withdrawal requests. Most financial regulators prohibit forex brokers from offering bonuses and promotions.