Beware! BT Invest 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.
According to the BT Invest website, this broker is a global leader in the forex and online trading industry. But closer inspection provides us with plenty of reasons to doubt that this is a genuine forex broker at all. In this review, we will take a detailed look at the reasons to stay away from BT Invest. We will also point you towards more trustworthy investment brokers.
BT Invest Regulation and safety of funds
Guaranteed Funds | Segregated Accounts | Negative balance protection | |
BT Invest | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
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.
In the footer of the website we see a statement that this broker is run by the company Divine Business Corp, which is based in the Marshall Islands.
This offshore area is a preferred base for financial fraud because it has no financial regulator and allows the incorporation of international business companies entirely online. The company name and jurisdiction are not mentioned in the text of the Terms and Conditions and other legal documents on the website.
Our suspicions about BT Invest have been confirmed by financial regulators in Belgium and Austria, which have blacklisted the website.
If you have decided to invest in financial instruments, and especially if you are a novice trader, you should use the services of a licensed broker based in a jurisdiction with strong regulations.
Depending on your location, it is advisable to choose a company that is regulated by an institution such as Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the US, Australian Securities and Exchanges Commission (ASIC), UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or some EU regulator like Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
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.
BT Invest Trading software
Analytical tools | Auto trading | Custom indicators | Mobile apps | |
BT Invest platform | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
MT4 | 30+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
MT5 | 50+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
cTrader | 40+ indicators | ✅ | ✅ | Android and iOS |
Like most shady brokers of this type, BT Invest uses a fairly basic online trading platform. Here’s what it looks like:
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.
If you use the services of a licensed broker, you will get the opportunity to use established software with advanced features and versions for all types of devices and operating systems. The most widely used trading 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.
BT Invest Trading instruments
Currency | Stocks | Indices | Crypto | Commodities | |
BT Invest | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
XM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FBS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FXTM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BT Invest advertises auctions in all major asset classes – major, minor and exotic currency pairs, stocks, indices, CFDs on commodities, cryptocurrencies. But as already pointed out, we have no good reason to believe that the trade offered by BT Invest is real and not fictitious.
BT Invest Spreads and cost of trading
BT Invest | XM | FBS | FXTM | |
Spread EURUSD | 0,3 | 0.6 | 1 | 1.1 |
Spread GBPUSD | 0,3 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
Spread USDJPY | 0,3 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
In the trading software we see a very low spread of 0.3 pips. Such a raw spread implies that the broker charges some kind of commission. But BT Invest does not provide information on the exact price paid by the client.
BT Invest Maximum leverage
Forex | Stocks | Crypto | Gold | Indices | |
BT Invest | 125:1 | 100:1 | 10:1 | 100:1 | 100:1 |
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 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
BT Invest offers leverage up to 1:125. Regulated brokers do not offer such levels to retail traders as trading with high leverage carries risks of sudden and excessive losses.
If you are willing to take the risk of trading with high leverage and benefit from bonuses and promotions, the best option is to invest through an offshore division of an established brand.
BT Invest Deposit and withdrawal methods
At the time of writing this review, there were no active options on the BT Invest deposit menu. The website also lacks specific information on payment methods.
Experience has shown that fraudsters often direct their potential victims to cryptocurrency transactions that do not allow refunds to be requested.
Legitimate brokers typically offer clients a wide choice of transparent payment methods, including bank transfer, credit/debit cards and established e-wallets such as PayPal, Skrill or Neteller.
BT Invest Minimum deposit
BT Invest | XM | FBS | FXTM | |
Minimum deposit | $5000 | $5 | $10 | $5 |
In the descriptions of the trading account types, a very high minimum deposit of 5,000 USD is specified. You should know that for 50 or even 5 USD you could open a starter trading account with an established and regulated broker.
BT Invest Withdrawal requirements
Trading volume | Fee/Tax on withdrawal | Minimum withdrawal | |
BT Invest | Lots=Bonus/4 | Not specified | $50 |
UK regulated brokers | No | No | No |
EU regulated brokers | No | No | No |
AU regulated brokers | No | No | No |
US regulated brokers | No | No | No |
The minimum withdrawal amount is 50 USD. But withdrawing funds becomes very difficult if the account has received a bonus.
The minimum traded volume requirements are strangely and confusingly formulated – number of lots equals the bonus amount divided by four. This means that a bonus of 200 USD requires trading 50 lots of 100,000 USD each.