Ether Finance review – 5 things you should know about etherfinance.net

Beware! Ether Finance 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.

Ether Finance presents itself as a forex and CFD broker geared towards professional traders. But fact checking reveals that this website is an anonymous online scam targeting people with no experience in financial trading. Let’s take a detailed look at why you shouldn’t trust your investments to Ether Finance and what better alternatives you have when choosing a broker.

Ether Finance Regulation and safety of funds

The first and most obvious problem with Ether Finance is the complete anonymity of this website. Nowhere is a company name, contact address or applicable jurisdiction listed. If you don’t know exactly who you are dealing with and what the terms of the deal are it would be an obvious mistake to put your money on the line.

When you visit the website of a legitimate broker you can expect to find clear and detailed information about the company that owns and operates it, where it is based and what regulatory regimes it is subject to.

The website is available primarily in Russian. The Bank of Russia has taken notice of Ether Finance’s fraudulent activities and blacklisted it.

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 Investments 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.

Ether Finance Trading software

After account registration we get access to a basic web trading platform. Here is how it looks like:

While the platform has the basic features for placing orders, customising charts and application of technical indicators, it lacks the more advanced functionality found in the most widely used trading platforms in the industry, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5).

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.

Ether Finance Trading instruments

Ether Finance’s trading software includes indices, currency pairs, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies. But as stated, there is no reason to trust that this anonymous and unregulated website offers real trading. It is in your best interest to invest only through established and regulated brokers.

Ether Finance Spreads and cost of trading

In the trading platform we see a spread of over 5 pips. In the industry, even a spread of 2 pips is considered too high and disadvantageous for the trader.

Ether Finance Maximum leverage

Ether Finance offers leverage up to 1:400. 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. In the EU, UK and Australia the maximum permitted level is 1:30 and in the US it is 1:50.

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.

Ether Finance Deposit and withdrawal methods

We can see credit/debit card logos on the home page of the website, but the deposit menu itself was not active for an unverified account.

Experience has shown that fake brokers routinely advertise conventional payment methods, but actually steer their potential victims towards cryptocurrency transactions. This not only guarantees them anonymity, but also deprives the defrauded of the option to request a refund or chargeback.

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.

Ether Finance Minimum deposit

Ether Finance specifies a minimum deposit of 150 USD, 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.

Ether Finance Withdrawal requirements

If the account has received a bonus, it can withdraw funds only after it has met the confusingly described requirements for minimum traded volume – the bonus amount multiplied by the leverage. Such clauses are typical of fraud and are designed to block withdrawal requests.

Ether Finance also charges a very high inactivity fee of 50 USD per month, which is activated only after 30 days of dormancy.